^LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. I 
 
 ^ ■ — -_ — i^-^j — - 
 
 I UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
THE 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 PRINCIPLES AND RULES FOR THE CULTURE OF 
 VEGETABLES, FRUITS, FLOWERS, AND SHRUBBERY. 
 
 TO WHIOII ARE ADDED 
 
 DRIEF NOTES ON FARM CROPS, WITH A TABLE OF THEIR AVERAGE 
 PRODUCT AND CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS. 
 
 BY ALEXANDER WATSON. 
 
 ,4 
 
 , SUtjstrateb. 
 
 .1 ' 
 
 1 " And the Lord God planted a j^aiden." — Gen., ii., 8. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
 
 186 0. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty-nine, by 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, 
 
 in the Clerk's OiRce of the District Court of the Southern District of 
 
 New York. 
 
 
 b 
 

 DEDICATION. 
 
 To those young men and women of the Union Avho would 
 make their present or prospective homes rich with the com- 
 forts, bright with the beauties, and fragrant with the sweets 
 that a garden may be made to yield, this work is respectfully 
 dedicated by their sincere friend, 
 
 The Author. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It is related of one Eliezar, in proof of the vastness of his 
 knowledge, that " he made not less than three hundred consti- 
 tutions concerning the manner of cultivating cucumbers," The 
 author of the following work has no ambition to rival or to im- 
 itate Eliezar. He has aimed to present, in a digested and plain 
 form, such directions and information as will, if applied, enable 
 any one who has a garden to supply the home table with its 
 pleasant and healthful products at the least possible outlay of 
 labor and expense, and add choice fruits and flowers to the fam- 
 ily stock of rational, cheap, every-day enjoyments. 
 
 He has sought to instruct his readers by general principles 
 and directions rather than by extended details, believing that 
 the good sense of those for whom he wTites will readily and 
 under standingly apply them, with or without modifications, as 
 the circumstances of soil, season, or latitude may require. 
 With much less labor he might have made a book twice as 
 large, and not half as intelligible. 
 
 The time of planting the principal corn-crop forms an iso- 
 thermal line throughout the various latitudes, and may there- 
 fore serve as a kind of equator for the cultivator in respect to 
 the times, earlier or later, for putting in garden crops ; and 
 this circumstance has been, to some extent, taken advantage of 
 in the directions given in this work, so that it will be found 
 intelligible and suitable in any latitude or locality. Adapta- 
 tion to this generality of use has also been consulted in the 
 enumeration of insects, and their remedies or preventives. 
 
 The details of the culture of fruit, flowers, and shrubbery are 
 
VI PREFACE, 
 
 more fully elaborated than might otherwise have been deemed 
 necessary, with the view of inducing our youth to give some 
 attention to them ; by their own skill and labor multiplying 
 around the homes of their boyhood those pleasant associations 
 and enjoyments, the fragrant and ever- blooming memories of 
 which may yield them refreshment in the dusty road of after- 
 life. 
 
 Additional interest might be given to such efforts by obtain- 
 ing the seeds, or scions, or grafts from scattered school or class- 
 mates. With the cheap mail facilities we now possess, there 
 seems to be no reason why there should not be, through this 
 channel, an extensive annual interchange of grafts of valuable 
 fruits, and flower and vegetable seeds, between the different 
 parts of our country. 
 
 With the still farther hope that his book may find a famil- 
 iar place in many a farm home, the author has added brief 
 notes on farm crops, with the modes of estimating their value, 
 etc., and a table of their chemical analyses. 
 
 In preparing the limited selections of the various fruits con- 
 tained in this volume, the author has been aided by the treat- 
 ises of Downing, Cole, Thomas, Elliott, and others. In the de- 
 scriptions given of particular insects he has o ten availed him- 
 self of the reports of Dr. Asa Fitch, made to the Legislature of 
 New York, on the noxious and other insects of the state, and 
 the report on the insects of Massachusetts, made to the Legis- 
 lature of that state, by the late Dr. T. W. Harris ; while for 
 most of the illustrative drawings which form an important fea- 
 ture of the work he is indebted to his wife, and has pleasure 
 in acknowledging the obligation. His thanks are also due to 
 the engraver for the general truthfulness and excellence of the 
 illustrations, some of which presented peculiar difficulties in 
 their execution ; and to the publishers for the liberality and 
 taste with which the work is got up. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Plan. — The Garden. — Form, Aspect, Fencing, Protection, &c. — Mechanical 
 Preparation of various Soils, Draining, Plowing, &c Page 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Appendages. — Garden-house, Pit, Frame, Cold Bed, Hot Bed, &c 26 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Implements of common Culture from Plow to Dibber 38 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Sources of Vegetation. — Elements of Vegetable and Animal Life. — Ma- 
 nuring and Manuixs, Composts, etc 59 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Reproduction in wild and cultivated Plants. — Vitality of Seeds dependent 
 on certain conditions 66 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Vegetable Forms, Importance of; Original ; Improvements in. — Vegeta- 
 bles, Color of; Deterioration of; Stock or Character of. 69 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Fertilization, in perfect, monoecious, and dioecious Flowers. — Necessary to 
 the Production of perfect Seed. — Modes of natural and artificial Fertil- 
 ization. — Production of new Varieties of Vegetables 74 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Sowing, Manner of; Time of; Depth of, etc. — Combination of Vegetable 
 Crops. — Transplanting, Ridging, Hilling, etc 82 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Insects; general Characteristics of ; Changes of ; Prevalence of. — Means of 
 Defense and Offense against them 94 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Insects injurious to Garden Vegetables, &c. — Aphides. — Larvae, or Worms. 
 —Moles Page 99 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Vegetables for the Garden, &c., with Descriptions, and Directions for their 
 Culture. — Assortment of Seeds for a Family Garden 114: 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Fruits. — Effect of Soil, Climate. — Shape of, Color, Flavor, Specific Gravity. 
 — ^Fruit-trees; selecting Varieties, bearing Qualities, new Kinds 189 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Propagation of Fruit-trees by Seeds, Cuttings, Layei"s, &c. — Various 
 Stocks for Fruit-trees 195 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Implements for Pruning, Budding, and Grafting 207 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Nature of Budding. — Bud Scions. — Stocks for, and Modes and Times of 
 Budding. — After-treatment, &c 218 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Grafting. — Grafting large Trees, &c. — Various Modes and Times of Graft- 
 ing. — After-treatment 225 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Setting out Trees, preparing Holes, &c. — Tables of Arrangement of Dis- 
 tances, Area, «&c. — After-culture. — Combination of Fruits 243 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Pruning ; various Objects, Periods, and Modes of. — Cleaning and Scrap- 
 ing Fruit-trees. — Fruiting; healthful Tendency to. — -The Law of prema- 
 ture or forced Fruiting, and various Modes of its Application 251 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Diseases of Fruit-trees. — Insects injurious to Fruit and Fruit-trees, with 
 Remedies. — Washes to destroy Insects 259 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Fruits in alphabetical Order, in their Varieties, with Descriptions and Di- 
 rections for their Culture 286 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Flowers, Shrubs, &c., of various Classes. — Propagation of Flowers, &c., by- 
 Cuttings, Layers, Budding, and Grafting. — Soils and Composts for Flow- 
 ers. — Select Lists of Flowers of various Classes. — Treatment of Plants in 
 House and Green-house, Heating Apparatus, &c. — Select Lists of hardy 
 Shrubs, Roses, Climbing Shrubs, Evergreens, Shade-trees, &c., with Di- 
 rections for their Propagation and Culture Page 434 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Brief Notes on Farm Crops, with Table of Quantities of Seed required per 
 Acre. — Crop estimated by its Money Value, and by its Capacity to support 
 Animal Life. — Table of average Product of various Farm Crops, and of 
 their chemical Constituents. — Remarks explanatory of the Table 495 
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 Forcing Vegetables, &c. — Training Fruit-trees .507 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Plan.— The Garden.— Form, Aspect, Fencing, Protection, &c.— Mechanical 
 Preparation of various Soils, Draining, Plowing, &c. 
 
 PLAN OF GARDEN. 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 lAl ^r^Vr^ L" 
 
 G 
 
 H (5 
 
 1 ' 
 
 '2 
 
 F 
 
 K 
 
 k- 
 
 F 
 
 3 
 
 1 -y 
 
 4< 
 
 J 
 
 A, Garden House. 
 
 B, Pit. 
 
 C, Cold Bed. 
 
 D, Hot Bed. 
 
 E, North Border. 
 
 F, F, F, East, West, and South nar- 
 row Borders. 
 
 G, G, Entrances. 
 
 H, North Border Path. 
 
 I, I, I, East, West, and South Border 
 
 Paths. 
 J, J, Centre Path north and south. 
 K, K, Centre Path east and west, 
 
 temporary or permanent. 
 
14 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 THE GARDEN. 
 
 FORM, ASPECT, ARRANGEMENT, &C. 
 
 There is, of course, no absolute rule for either the size, 
 shape, aspect, or arrangement of a garden ; each one may follow, 
 in each of these respects, the dictates of possibility, convenience, 
 or fancy. But, keeping in view the main purpose of this work 
 as a directory for an American home garden, I have given a plan 
 suitable for gardens of various sizes, and such directions for 
 their general arrangements, as will, if adopted, economize labor, 
 and afford facilities for successful culture; 
 
 It is desirable that the garden spot be nearly level, and if 
 with a gentle descent toward the south or southeast, so much 
 the better. 
 
 If convenience and other considerations permit, it is very de- 
 sirable that your garden be located upon high and dry land, 
 rather than in a low and more moist spot. In moist valleys, 
 and even from the small dished hollows in a lot otherwise level 
 and dry, the greater amount and rapidity of evaporation causes 
 the early fall and late spring frosts, which so often injure crops. 
 They result from the operation of the same principle upon 
 which, by the rapid evaporation of ether, ice may" be formed 
 even in the sunlight of a summer day. They " fall in the hol- 
 lows," as it is familiarly expressed, and are avoided by choosing 
 an elevated and dry spot for the garden. 
 
 Should any one, disliking the simplicity of the plan given, 
 desire to have his vegetable gai'den cut up into small beds or 
 fanciful forms, he will find it easy to do it, or hire it done to 
 his satisfaction. On the other hand, the " mechanical prepara- 
 tion" may be less thorough than that proposed, the " protec- 
 tion" omitted, and the " appendages" entirely dispensed with, 
 and the garden be yet made to yield an abundant retm^n, if the 
 directions in regard to planting and culture are observed. 
 
 In form the garden may be square, or nearly so, an oblong 
 form perhaps being preferable, of which the measurement east 
 and west is somewhat greater than north and south. 
 
 The garden-house, if you should build one, with the other 
 appendages described p. 26 and onward, should occupy the 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 15 
 
 northwest corner, and if the garden be not fenced on the north, 
 as directed p. 17, a high, close fence must be continued east- 
 ward from the garden-house, at least so far as may suffice to 
 shelter your pit (B), your cold bed (C), and your hot bed (D) 
 from the northerly winds. 
 
 Eastwardly from the pit, &c., along the north fence, a border 
 (E), ten or twelve feet wide, should be made for the raising of 
 early and tender vegetables, &c. ; a portion of it may also be 
 appropriated to early strawberries and asparagus. 
 
 To make it more suitable for these purposes, if the ground 
 have no natural descent to the south, it should be made to slope 
 by raising it gradually until the back of the border is six or 
 eight inches higher than the front. It must also be kept in 
 the highest possible condition by the application of warm, stim- 
 ulating manures. (See p. 60.) 
 
 Entirely across the garden, along the front of this border, 
 should extend a path at least six feet wide (H), at either or 
 each end of which may be an entrance (G, G). In a small gar- 
 den no other path will be found absolutely necessary ; but, if 
 deemed desirable or expedient, a border three or four feet wide 
 may be made along either side, or all the other sides of the 
 garden (E, F, F), with accompanying paths two or three feet 
 in width (I, I, I). In addition to these, a wider path may run 
 north and south through the centre (J). On either side of 
 these latter paths, and on the south side of the former, such ar- 
 ticles as are ordinarily sown in small beds or plots may be 
 raised, strawberry beds may be made, and the various fruit-trees 
 and bushes which properly find a place in a vegetable garden 
 may be planted, the whole being interspersed with such flowers 
 and shrubs as may suit the taste of the owner. The relative 
 positions and proportions of the difierent kinds of fruit-trees 
 and shrubbery introduced may be varied to suit the individual 
 fancy, but the aggregate should by no means be large, if we 
 would have a garden that will yield full crops of choice vegeta- 
 bles. Nothing interferes more with the free growth and con- 
 sequent excellence of vegetables than the roots of trees running 
 in the same soil, the eJOfect of which is often but erroneously 
 attributed to their shade. 
 
16 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 If thought desirable, additional temporary paths may be 
 made, as at K, K in the plan, and edged with annual herbs or 
 flowers for the season. These are to be disregarded in the 
 spring plowing, and may be renewed or not, at will ; or, if the 
 garden is dug and not plowed in the spring, they may be made 
 permanent. All vegetables sown or planted in the garden, 
 whether in rows or hills, should, if possible, be ranged north 
 and south ; the making of small beds in the main divisions 
 should be avoided, and the rows be as few and as long as the 
 arrangement of the garden, and the necessity for fully cropping 
 the ground will permit. This will save much otherwise wasted 
 labor, and allow more readily of advantageously second crop- 
 ping those portions from which early peas, &c., &c., may have 
 been removed ; and with a farther view to this, crops that will 
 matm'e early should be arranged together, so that as large a 
 space as possible for recropping may lie in one spot, instead of 
 having many mere fragments ; also, all crops that are intended 
 to stand out over winter should be arranged in one section side 
 by side. 
 
 All permanent paths should be edged either with box kept 
 in order by an annual trimming with the dressing-shears, or 
 with a narrow strip of sod, carefully prevented from spreading 
 by the use of the grass-edger, and kept cut short with the 
 grass-hook, or any hardy perennial plant of dwarf growth that 
 will bear the necessary trimming without injmy may be used 
 for this purpose. If box is planted, though its smell is quite 
 unpleasant to some persons, open a trench along the edge of the 
 border into the pathway as large and wide as the ordinaiy furrow 
 of a two-horse plow, the garden-line being stretched along the 
 edge of the border, and the back of the trench cut square down 
 by it, and perfectly true to the line. Old box edging, which 
 will be a foot or more long, must then be taken and divided by 
 tearing it asunder, or so spreading it that one yard will plant 
 three or four ; lay in the butts across the ti-ench toward the cen- 
 tre of the path, so that only one or two inches of the young growth 
 may remain above the line. As it is laid in and held with the 
 left hand, put earth upon it with the right, and either with 
 the knee or foot press it solid and secure to its place, so bend- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 17 
 
 ing the stems in the process as to bring the points almost or 
 quite upright. After the whole is planted, fill up the trench, 
 treading the earth lightly as it is filled in, and finish by a 
 firm but shufiling tread along with one foot on each side of the 
 newly-planted row, and close to it. It should then be dressed 
 with the shears to an even height, and if the season prove 
 very dry, water it until it is out of danger. If planted in the 
 fall, the dressing should be deferred until spring. 
 
 FENCING. 
 
 Having determined the size and form of your garden, inclose 
 it on the north and west sides with a high, close board fence, 
 and on the east and south sides either with close fence or 
 picket. 
 
 Hedges combining ornament with additional protection may 
 be planted along the inside of these latter fences, and, if pre- 
 ferred, along the west fence also. They may be of arborvitae, 
 cedar, cypress, cydonia japonica, privet, pepperidge, the buck- 
 thorn, either Em-bpean or American, the Washington thorn, or 
 the Osage orange ; to which list may be added, for the warmer 
 latitudes, the sweet bay, the euonymus japonica, the pomegran- 
 ate, and others. The common and honey locusts, though 
 beautiful, grow too strongly for this jjurpose ; and the haw- 
 thorn, though effective where secm-ity is the chief object, is 
 excluded by its scalded and unsightly appearance in the sum- 
 mer and faW. 
 
 In making young hedges, the plants may be set either in a 
 single row at six inches apart, or a foot apart in a double row, 
 and alternated so that the actual intervals will still be only 
 six inches ; and if the plants are slightly sloped in the setting 
 out, the growth will probably thicken sooner. 
 
 PROTECTION. 
 
 Whether hedges are planted or not, if you would make the 
 thing perfect, unless hills or woods already protect it, plant a 
 belt consisting of a double or triple row, or more, of evergreens, 
 of such varieties as you may prefer, along the outside of the 
 fence on the east, north, and west sides. Let this belt over- 
 
18 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 lap at the entrances, so as to exclude all winds except the 
 southerly. Set the trees pretty closely together, and the pro- 
 tection afforded when they grow up will enable you to sow and 
 plant with safety from one to two weeks earlier than would 
 otherwise be expedient, and in a majority of seasons the ma- 
 turing of your crops will be equally advanced. The birds, too, 
 your best friends in garden or orchard, will winter with you, 
 which friends do not always, and be ready to enter with you 
 upon the labors of spring. 
 
 MECHANICAL PREPARATION. 
 In making a new garden, it is desirable, if it be possible, to 
 effect Avhatever meclianical preparation it may require before 
 fencing it. If the plot selected be a deep rich soil, free from 
 stone, a thorough and deep plowing is sufficient. If a deep 
 free soil and subsoil, but not rich, manm-e heavily and trench- 
 plow it. If the soil be shallow, and the subsoil very compact, 
 or a hardpan, yet free from stone, manure heavily and trench- 
 plow as directed (page 23), running, however, a subsoil plow 
 ahead of the second stroke, and following it wdth the same to 
 loosen it still deeper, if you think expedient. See Subsoil 
 Plowing. A subsequent cross - plowing with the common 
 plow, followed by the subsoiler, will perfect the preparatory 
 Avork. Should the soil of your garden plot be stony, it must 
 be trenched at least eighteen inches deep, and all stones taken 
 out that are too lai^ge to be gathered by the rake in the course 
 of ordinary cultivation ; but if trenching is found necessary, it 
 may be done in sections at any time after the plot is fenced. 
 If the soil of your plot is a moderately light loam, when en- 
 riched it will become a perfect garden soil. If it be strong 
 loam, repeated and high manuring with stable and other stim- 
 ulating manm-e will steadily imjDrove it. If it be heavy loam 
 or clay, cart on sand or road-wash as freely as you can from 
 time to time, and manure often and highly. If, on the con- 
 trary, the soil is sandy, cart on loam or clay, and mix it well 
 by repeated plowing and harrowing, using at the same time 
 cow and hog manm-e, leached ashes, marl, or swamp muck, 
 avoiding the use of barn-yard or stable manure, unless in com- 
 liost, or when perfectly rottc<l. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 19 
 
 In estimating the quantity of sand or its opposite required 
 for changing the mechanical character of soil, it may be reck- 
 oned that 247 cubic yards of earth will cover an acre to the 
 depth of two inches. 
 
 DRAINING. 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 A, A. The line of ooze. F, F. Side drains. ^^'^ 
 
 B, B. Diagonal drains. G, G, G, G. Points of discharge on 
 
 C, Side drain. the surface. 
 
 D, D, D. Points of discharge on the H. Blind ditch. 
 
 surface. 1. Covered stone drain. 
 
 E, Double pitch drain. J. Covered pipe drain. 
 
 It is sometimes found necessary or convenient to make a 
 garden in a wet spot. Li such a case, draining, though requir- 
 ing considerable labor, is indispensable. 
 
 If the spot be a dead level, in which it is only necessary or 
 possible to sink the water from the surface, surround your gar- 
 den on the outside of the fence with an open ditch of such 
 
20 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 depth and "width as you may deem sufficient for the pm'pose, 
 always making the depth of your open ditch equal to its width 
 at the surface, and grading the sides so as to make the width 
 of the bottom equal to one third of the depth. If required, let 
 blind ditches or covered drains, as deep as the ojien ditch, and 
 discharging into it, be made to underlie the intersecting paths, 
 as J, J, K, K in the garden plan. Upon descending ground, the 
 main drains or blind ditches should not be made either parallel 
 with the slope or at right angles to it. In the former case 
 they will be of little service, and in the latter will be liable to 
 stoppages from want of current, which may convert them into 
 mere dams, forcing the water to the surface at a lower point. 
 If, then, the ground of your plot be sloping, and the Avater ooz- 
 ing to the surface, note carefully the upper edge of the line of 
 ooze (A, A, Fig. 2), which is simply the natm-al drainage, 
 whose cuiTent flows always in the direction of the ground 
 slope. At an average distance of tAventy feet above the upper 
 edge of the ooze cut a blind ditch or drain three or four feet 
 deep (B 1, Fig. 2), running diagonally across the plot to the 
 side drain, C ; or if it can be done with less labor, omit the 
 side drains, and carry it outside of the fence, letting it dis- 
 charge upon the surfiicc at D. This may either be doubled, 
 as B 1, B 2, D, D, or changed in form, as E, F, F, G, G, G, G, 
 the latter mode being especially useful when the wet spot is in 
 a hollow or dishing form. 
 
 BLIND DITCHES. 
 A blind ditch (H) should be cut in the same form as above 
 directed for the outside open ditch around the garden plot ; 
 w^hen it is thus opened, throw in by hand small loose smfiice 
 stones, say from one to ten pounds in weight, until it is one 
 third or one half filled Avith them ; over these lay small brush, 
 or shavings, or straAv, or sod Avith the grass side doAvn, and fill 
 up Avith the eai'th that came out, rounding it a little directly 
 over the drain to prevent surface water settling into it Avhile 
 the Avork is fresh. 
 
AMEKICAN HOME GARDEN. 21 
 
 COVERED DRAINS. 
 
 These are formed by setting flat stones edgewise along each 
 side in the ditch, and fitting a covering of the same to rest 
 upon them. Over this hollow drain, stones, such as are suita- 
 ble for blind ditches, may be thrown, so far as seems conven- 
 ient or desirable, the whole being covered with the earth and 
 rounded as above directed for the blind ditch, thus combining 
 the advantages of both forms of draining (I). The ditch for a 
 covered drain need not be cut so wide at the surface as an open 
 or a blind ditch, but may have the sides nearly perpendicular ; 
 and where flat stones can not be readily obtained, the drain- 
 pipes or tiles made by the potters may be used (J). 
 
 PLOWING. 
 
 The plow and harrow, wherever it is practicable to use them, 
 are the most efficient known instruments in the proper prepa- 
 ration of the soil for the reception of seeds or plants. Much 
 has been said and written to demonstrate the superiority of the 
 spade, but it has not come into general use as a substitute, and 
 is now less likely than ever to do so. Repeated deep, narrow- 
 sliced plowing and thorough harrowing are, beyond question or 
 comparison, the best means that w^ possess for thoroughly pul- 
 verizing the soil, and so reducing its particles as to prepare 
 them to enter into the composition of plants. How to plow 
 well must be learned. Happy the youth who, to his other 
 learning, willingly adds this. Plowing should be performed 
 when the earth will crumble as it is turned up. The old 
 Roman maxim, "Plow stripped, sow stripped," is a good, 
 though not an absolute rule. Fall plowing, either plain or 
 ridged, may be done without injury, even though the ground 
 be pretty wet and the weather cold, the frosts of winter coun- 
 teracting the ill eifect that in other circumstances would re- 
 sult. But the cultivator who in spring turns up a wet, smooth, 
 heavy furrow-slice to the bright, strong sun, will find his sea- 
 son's labor largely increased or his crop a failure. 
 
 Plowing should be performed with a strong team. On all 
 good soils, and especially in a garden, it should be from twelve 
 
22 ARTERICA]^ HOME GARDEN, 
 
 to fifteen inches deep. What is called " cut and cover" plow- 
 ing must be carefully avoided. The furrow-slice should be 
 narroAv, not much exceeding two thirds the width from the fore 
 end of the land-side to the outer corner of the share. It should 
 not be laid over quite flat, but at an angle of about forty-five 
 degrees, Avhich, for the benefit of very young readers I remark, 
 is represented by each pair of lines radiating from the centre 
 of this star ^. No care need be taken in plowing to fill any 
 in-egular holes that may happen to remain, nor efibrt of any 
 kind made to help the plow perform its work, unless it be to 
 foot over an obstinate tussock or sod. Smoothness is not an 
 excellence in plowing. The land so plowed should be left for 
 a time in its rough state, open to the influence of the sun and 
 air ; when, after thorough haiTowing, it may be re-plowed or 
 dug, as may be found suitable for the particular crop. 
 
 HARROWING. 
 
 Harrowing should be done after the land has lain plowed a 
 week or more, as it may require, and, if practicable, when the 
 surface soil is not dusty, but only moderately dry and perfectly 
 friable. The " tritm-ation" and reduction of the soil by the 
 harrow will be more perfect when in this state than if quite 
 dry ; and if it should be wet, the harrowing must not be done 
 except under a pressing necessity. 
 
 The first stroke of the harrow should always be " Avith," or 
 in the same direction as the fuiTow ; the subsequent strokes 
 crossing it and each other at right angles, or obliquely, until 
 the work is satisfactorily done. 
 
 RIDGING. 
 Ridging is performed with the common plow by throwing 
 two furrows together, which thus meet upon and overlap a 
 space about as wide as each of them ; or with the spade, by 
 digging the two furrows, and laying the earth up in ridge form 
 upon the intervening space. In very light soils, which, how- 
 ever, should never be ridged for winter, or in the preparation 
 of plowed land for crop ridging, the work is sometimes done by 
 the use of a large and pretty strong double-mould plow, which 
 seems to save half the labor, but seldom does its work avcII. 
 
AMERICAN HOMK GARDEN. 28 
 
 Strong loam or clay land, which, if plowed or dug in the 
 fall and laid flat, might be injured rather than benefited, is 
 greatly improved by careful ridging for winter, particularly if 
 lime, ashes, or manure, or all of them, be previously applied, and 
 are covered up or incoi-porated in the process of ridging. 
 
 SUBSOIL PLOWING. 
 
 In subsoil plowing, a deep furrow turned with the common 
 plow is followed by another in the same track with the subsoil 
 plow (Fig. 17, p. 39), which, being without mouldboards, simply 
 loosens the subsoil without throwing it up to the sm-foce. The 
 convenient and obvious mode of performing it is to have two 
 teams, the one with the subsoiler following the other in its 
 rounds. 
 
 The depth of the two furrows may easily reach eighteen 
 inches. 
 
 TRENCH PLOWING. 
 
 Trench plowing is performed by two teams following one an- 
 other, as in subsoiling, but with common mouldboard plows, the 
 mouldboard of the last, or trench-fm'row plow, being generally 
 somewhat longer than the first. It may, however, be well done 
 with a good plow and one team, by simply plowing first to the 
 depth of nine or ten inches, and repeating the stroke in the 
 same furrow with longer gearing. It should be done with a 
 steady team, and the plow be driven as deeply as two strokes in 
 the same furrow can be made to carry it. 
 
 TRENCHING. 
 
 Trenching maji be performed on a small or large plot with 
 equal proportionate convenience. If, therefore, it is found nec- 
 essary to the proper preparation of the garden plot, it may be 
 deferred until the fencing is completed, or even be done gradu- 
 ally through a series of years, after the garden is used. 
 
 It consists simply in marking ofi" from the end or side of any 
 given field or piece of land of even width a strip, say two feet 
 wide, and digging it out, and carting it or wheeling it to the 
 opposite end or side, where it must be laid in a row all along. 
 
24 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 that it may be ready to fill up the last trench at the completion 
 of the job, the earth that comes from the bottom layer or layers 
 being dumped in a separate ridge, a little beyond that taken 
 from the sm-face, so that the latter may be conveniently put first 
 into the bottom of the last trench. 
 
 K the depth proposed be eighteen inches, let the spade be 
 driven full ten inches deep in taking ofi" the first layer ; then, 
 with a good sharp shovel, let the " crumbs" or loose earth be 
 taken out, cutting the bottom a little as you go, which Avill 
 deepen the trench another inch ; then dig another spade-length 
 deep, and the work is done. 
 
 If, however, the subsoil is so hard that the second layer can 
 not be dug out with the spade, the pick and shovel must be 
 used, and if the necessary depth can not be attained by one op- 
 eration with these implements, it must be repeated. 
 
 Ha\dng this first trench completed, another equal space is 
 marked off, and another, and another, to the end, the earth from 
 each being regularly turned over into the excavation that pre- 
 ceded it, by a precise repetition of the process of digging and 
 shoveling above described, the surface-earth being thrown into 
 the bottom of the trench, and the lower stratum on the top of 
 it, with some care to keep the side of the loose earth laid up 
 square, and the top of the ncAV layer nearly level, until you 
 come to that which was carted back, which fills up and finishes 
 the whole. 
 
 . By this operation the body of earth is more completely turned 
 upside down than is possible in plowing; and in the process 
 stones can be thoroughly gathered out, and any desired quan- 
 tity of manure may be mixed in by spreading it upon the suc- 
 cessive layers after they are turned into tli£ trench. If the 
 soil is really poor, this should not, on any account, be neglected. 
 
 DIGGING. 
 
 In certain circumstances we must resort to digging instead 
 of plowing, and in the garden, particularly, it is almost exclu- 
 sively used in the preparation of the ground, or in working be- 
 tween certain crops in wide rows. It is performed with the 
 spade (Fig. 37, p. 48), or a strong fork made for the purpose, and 
 
AMERICAN HOME GAEDEN. 25 
 
 called a spade-fork (Fig. 50, p. 54). The depth of digging, in 
 experienced hands, seldom exceeds ten inches, and the inexpe- 
 rienced will rarely go so deep. A careless digger will some- 
 times make the thickness of his spade-slice equal to its depth, 
 and, in consequence, will very imperfectly move much of the 
 lower portion of it. As a general rule, let the thickness of the 
 slice be equal to half the length of the blade you use, and the 
 work will probably be well done. 
 
 If the handle of the implement used be not too long (Fig. 37, 
 p. 48), digging affords perhaps the very perfection of bodily ex- 
 ercise for the convalescing invalid or the dyspeptic. It gives 
 exercise to the chest and abdomen, and calls almost every mus- 
 cle of the body into action, yet is so entirely measm-able in its 
 degree that it may become the amusement of a child or a task 
 for a strong man. 
 
 As with the plow, so with the spade, land may be properly 
 dug or ridged in the fall, even though it be pretty Avet, But 
 in the spring the earth should not be dug when the surface is 
 wet, nor until, on being turned up, the body of the soil is found 
 friable. The first spring digging in the garden should be 
 roughly but effectually done, no care being taken to break it up 
 smaller than "egg coal" or "rubble." After lying in this 
 state till it is warmed through, it will be found an advantage 
 to " chop it over" as deeply as possible, either with the hoe or 
 potato-hook. It may then be roughly raked preparatory to the 
 second digging, or, if it be clear of stones and bad weed-roots, 
 this raking may be omitted. 
 
 When dug a second time, in preparation for the seed or 
 plants, let the digging be more carefully performed, and the 
 soil well pulverized in the process. If afterward, from the oc- 
 currence of sudden beating rain, or other cause, it seem des-ira- 
 ble to repeat the operation of chopping over, let it be done, and 
 having given it a finish with the rake, it will be ready for sow- 
 ing or planting. 
 
 B 
 
26 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Appendages. — Garden-house, Pit, Frame, Cold Bed, Hot Bed, &c. 
 
 APPENDAGES. 
 
 GARDEN-HOUSE. 
 
 A SMALL garden-house, say twelve feet wide by twelve or 
 eighteen feet long, with earthen floor, is a convenient and de- 
 sirable appendage to the garden, for storing garden-pots, com- 
 post for choice plants, and tools when not in use. It serves 
 also for various pui-poses of in-door work, as repairing imple- 
 ments, potting plants, sowing in pots when desirable, preparing 
 cuttings, &c. K built in the garden, which it ought to be, it 
 should be so placed as to form the northwest corner of the in- 
 closure, having a shuttered window or two to the south and 
 north, and a door in the east end. Inside, a work-bench should 
 run almost or quite along the front or south side. On the 
 right, near the door, should be fixed a bar or slat, upon which 
 to hang rakes, hooks, and hoes ; also nails or pins for thi-ust- 
 hoes, spades, &c. A few shelves along the back, for such pm-- 
 poses as they may be found to serve, will complete the internal 
 arrangement. 
 
 The garden-house, though convenient, is not indispensable, 
 if a cellar or any of the ordinary out-buildings can be used in- 
 stead. On the other hand, if built, it may be furnished with a 
 cellar for storing fruits and vegetables, and a frost-proof dark 
 room for choice pears, &c. 
 
 PIT. 
 
 The pit is a sunken frame- work, covered with glass, protected 
 by shutters or mats, but without artificial heat, and may be of 
 wood, brick, or stone. 
 
 To make a pit for three sashes, such as are commonly known 
 as hot-bed sashes, choose a spot that will enable you to front it 
 to the south or southeast. Dig out the earth about six feet 
 
' AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 27 
 
 wide and ten feet long to a uniform depth of eighteen inches ; 
 within this make a frame of thick plank, or slabs hewed to fit 
 close, and nailed firmly to locust or chestnut posts. These 
 posts should be three and a half feet long for the back, and two 
 and a half feet long for the front of the frame, thus allowing it 
 a slope of one foot, to which, of course, the ends must suit. Its 
 inside width, when completed, will be about five feet, and its 
 length about nine feet. Pack the earth lightly around it, tak- 
 ing care to keep the frame at right angles ; then, with a draw- 
 ing-knife and plane, finish the upper edges of the whole with a 
 smooth, even slope. Prepare two cross-bars or slides for the 
 sashes to nm on, made of two strips of stout plank, three inches 
 in width, each having along its centre a thin strip of the same 
 width nailed finnly edgcAvise, to serve as a sash-guide ; nail a 
 coiTesponding strip on the outside of each end plank to serve a 
 similar pm-pose, the ends themselves serving as slides. Hav- 
 ing measured off the frame accurately into three divisions of 
 equal width in the clear, notch or dovetail the plank cross- 
 bars or slides into the frame flush with its back and front edges, 
 carefully preserving the proper width of the divisions, so that 
 each sash, when put on, will lie perfectly fair and snug in its 
 place. Immediately underneath each of the two cross-bars, and 
 fitting closely up to them, you may, if you please, set a rough 
 plank or board partition, thus dividing the pit into three sepa- 
 rate compartments. The packing of the earth around the frame 
 may now be more thoroughly done, and, as a protection against 
 some degree of cold, bank earth thickly around the pit up to 
 within an inch or two of the edge of the frame, treading or 
 beating it as you go to make it solid, and sloping the bank 
 carefully so as to shed water. This done, fit on yovu* sashes 
 properly, and cover them with board shutters or thick straw 
 mats (see p. 37), or both, and your pit is ready. 
 
 As the pit is calculated to be a permanent appendage to the 
 garden, it is plain that brick or stone is greatly to be preferred 
 for making it. If laid up dry with common farm stone, and 
 well pointed or plastered, it will last a lifetime ; but in this 
 case, or if built of brick, it will require a frame or plates for the 
 sashes, which may be made of good three or four by six inch 
 
28 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 pine timber, well set in mortar upon the walls, and thoroughly 
 painted. 
 
 A pit is intended to serve as a place for wintering half hardy 
 and even tender plants, and for blooming roses and other flowers 
 earlier and later in the season than would be practicable in the 
 open ground. For these purposes, the pit may be partially 
 filled with leaves from the Avoods, tan, sawdust, sand, or spent 
 manm-e well pulverized. If the pit is too deep for the plants, 
 so much filling must be used as is needful to bring their tops 
 to within ten or twelve inches of the glass, the pots being 
 packed or set thoroughly into it. A pit thus filled should have 
 light, and a little air admitted about noon of every bright win- 
 ter day that is not too intensely cold to permit it with safety, 
 increasing the amount of these as the mild days of early 
 spring come on, until it becomes safe to uncover it entirely to 
 the vernal showers. It should be occasionally examined 
 through the winter, and defended against mice, which are apt 
 to nest in it. 
 
 When divided into compartments, as above suggested, the 
 pit may readily be put to various uses. In one of these the 
 spring hot bed may be made more easily and with less manure 
 than when made in the common mode. For this purpose the 
 manure should be evenly and solidly laid, as directed for hot 
 beds, p. 30, to the depth of eighteen or twenty inches, which 
 being covered with the usual depth of rich earth, will bring up 
 the sm'face sufficiently near to the glass and into the sunlight. 
 If two compartments are used for hot beds, the additional ad- 
 vantage is gained of being able to classify your plants, sowing 
 the hardier varieties, as cabbages, salad, &c., in the one, and in 
 the other the tenderer, as pepper, egg-plant, &c., which require 
 greater warmth and more careful treatment. (See Hot Bed.) 
 One or more compartments of a pit may, if found desirable, be 
 used as a " cold bed," requiring only to be filled up with rich 
 earth or compost to a little higher than the natural surface of 
 the ground, and then treated in all respects as directed p. 29. 
 
 GARDEN-FRAME. 
 
 The garden-frame is usually made of inch and a half plank, 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GAEDEN, 29 
 
 Fig. 3. eighteen inches deep at the back, and 
 
 nine inches at the front, the ends be- 
 ing gradually sloped to suit. A con- 
 venient width is about five and a half 
 feet, though this may vary. The 
 frame is divided by cross-bars three 
 inches wide, notched into the upper 
 edges of the back and front of the frame at say three feet one 
 inch apart from centre to centre, with a thin centre-board or 
 sash-guide standing edgewise, from an inch and a half to three 
 inches high, along each, the two ends of the frame having 
 strips nailed on to serve the purpose, as directed for pit, p. 27. 
 Frames are sometimes made to hold thi-ee or four sashes, but 
 it is more convenient to handle those made for only two, sev- 
 eral pairs of which can be set together, if a longer bed is re- 
 quired. 
 
 The frame is carefully and strongly nailed together, or each 
 part is cleated at the corners, and drawn closely together with 
 hooks or links and staples, so as to be readily taken apart. 
 
 To suit the dimensions of the frame named above, the sashes, 
 which should be of inch and a half stuff, require to be about 
 five feet nine inches long and three feet wide, having either 
 five rows of six-inch glass or six rows of five-inch, in either 
 case each sash containing about fifteen feet of glass. This 
 should be of good quality, flat, and strong, and in the process 
 of glazing the panes should overlap as little as possible, say 
 one fourth of an inch at the most ; or, if the glass be of superior 
 make, the width of the lap need not exceed the thickness of 
 the pane. 
 
 The garden-frame so made and sashed is used to form of 
 itself a cold bed, or to place upon a hot bed for the purpose of 
 raising early plants, &c. 
 
 COLD BED. 
 
 A cold bed is made by simply setting a garden-frame (Fig. 
 3, above) in a favorable spot for your purpose, whether you 
 desire sun or shade ; or it may be stationary, and provision 
 made for shading it at will. For winter protection it should 
 
80 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 be banked around as directed for the pit (page 27), and is used 
 for the same general purposes where depth is not required. 
 
 HOT BED. 
 
 Take fresh stable manure that is ready to heat or already 
 Fig- 4. heating, and spread a thin 
 
 layer of it upon the ground, 
 of the size and form of the 
 bed you wish to make, cal- 
 culating this always full one 
 foot longer and wider than 
 the frame you intend to set 
 upon it. On this spread 
 other layers, mixing the 
 long and short manm'e to- 
 gether, and shaking it perfectly out of all large lumps or bmich- 
 es in the process. Keep it equally packed and level by beating 
 it over regularly, but not heavily, with the back of your four- 
 pronged fork at about every third layer, filling up any soft 
 spots or hollows you find. 
 
 Keep the edges true and the comers firm, and when it at- 
 tains the desired height, shovel up the loose fine manm-e around, 
 and spread it evenly over the top. Set on your garden-frame 
 with care, and fill in with rich earth, not throwing it in heav- 
 ily or in heaps, but spreading it lightly and evenly to the depth 
 of four or five inches. Rake the surface, sow your seeds in 
 drills about four inches apart, and put on the sashes. Some 
 defer sowing until the bed heats, but it may be safely sown at 
 once ; and when the heat rises give plenty of air, not by sliding 
 your sashes down, but by raising them at the back, having a 
 longish triangular block or piece of plank to tilt them upon, so 
 that you can open them with it two inches or five. 
 
 In sowing your hot bed, let peppers, egg-plant, and other 
 tender plants be sown together or under the same sashes, and 
 cabbages, lettuces, &c., under others, so that they can receive 
 more or less airing as they may require ; or set a thin board, as 
 a temporary pai'tition, between them, under the cross-bar of the 
 frame. Shade the bed mitil the plants are well up, and water 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 31 
 
 regularly, but not heavily, toward evening, with water that has 
 been warmed in the sun or by the fire — say to the temperature 
 of fresh-drawn milk — and cover the sashes at night with shut- 
 ters, and bass or straw mats, or other sufficient covering. 
 
 Give air abundantly, but never suddenly, throughout the time 
 your plants remain in the bed, uncovering them entirely during 
 the day and in mild nights for a week or ten days before they 
 are set out. If you pot your plants, or transfer them to a sec- 
 ond hot bed, the treatment should be the same. The ordinary 
 time for making hot beds near New York is from the middle 
 of February to the middle of March ; but the proper time can 
 be calculated any where by making the hot bed from six to 
 eight weeks before the plants are needed to set out. 
 
 CISTERN. 
 
 Wherever it is found necessary or desirable to have the ap- 
 pendages to the garden complete within itself, a cistern of such 
 size as may be deemed suitable should be constructed in the 
 ordinary manner, to receive the water from the garden-house 
 or any neighboring out-building. Its dimensions may be six 
 feet deep and five feet diameter, or nearly 900 gallons capacity ; 
 or eight feet deep and six feet diameter, which will hold about 
 1600 gallons ; or larger if preferred. A cheap and yet durable 
 cistern may be made with the aid of an ordinary workman by 
 digging a hole of the necessary size, covering the whole bottom 
 with a thick layer of small stones, filled in, or rather mixed, 
 with hydraulic mortar, prepared for use in the ordinary man- 
 ner^ — that is, allowing two barrels of sand to each barrel of 
 first-rate cement, and packing them solidly with a rammer. 
 Upon the floor thus prepared set a rough plank frame, such as 
 is often used in well-digging to prevent caving in, but leaving 
 a space sufficient for the cistern- walls between the frame and 
 the surrounding earth, and brace the frame thoroughly on the 
 inside. 
 
 Having provided a supply of rough stone, such as are com- 
 monly gathered by hand from the lots or road sides, proceed to 
 fill up the wall-space around the frame with them in regular 
 layers, mixed, like the bottom, with hydraulic mortar, and 
 
32 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 rammed moderately, but so as to make It solid. Each layer 
 should be carried entirely around the frame before ramming, 
 care being taken to ram evenly, that the pressm'e on the frame 
 may be kept equal ; and the whole work should be done as rap- 
 idly as possible, mixing the mortar in small quantities as want- 
 ed, that the settling and drying may be uniform. In the 
 course of ten days remove the frame- work, plaster the whole 
 thoroughly with cement mortar, made with one third sand and 
 two thirds cement, and finish the whole by putting on the top. 
 Should leaks occur subsequently, they may be stopped by a 
 coat of thin cement, laid on with a whitewash-brush. 
 
 ICE-HOUSE. 
 
 An ice-house for family supply may be made of the same 
 size and in the same manner as a cistern, having a draining- 
 floor formed of rough joists or plank, under or between which 
 a few inches open space is left at the bottom when the ice is 
 put in, with a waste-pipe leading from it, having a plug by 
 which it may be closed at its outer end. Or it may be built 
 in a dry soil as a small cellar, with the above provision for 
 drainage, and be closely covered by setting a roof or building 
 over it. Or it may, if preferred, be built entirely above ground, 
 with double siding of boards or slabs, the space between being 
 packed as directed for green-house, which see. 
 
 It should be substantially braced, and provided with an in- 
 ner and outer door ; the space between these, together with the 
 whole roof or floor covering it, in whatever manner it is built, 
 should also be packed as directed for the sides. The draining- 
 floor being first thickly covered with straw, the ice may be set 
 in snugly in blocks, the spaces between them being filled with 
 the fragments rammed solidly in ; or, if thin ice is used, the 
 whole may be broken up and rammed, water being added from 
 time to time to fill the crevices by its freezing ; the mass must 
 be kept a little raised in the middle as the filling progresses, 
 and the sides should be lined with straw set upright. When 
 it is completed, the whole must be thickly covered with the 
 same, or with sawdust, or salt hay, and kept securely closed 
 until the ice is wanted. Not less than from forty to fifty 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 8:^ 
 
 loads or cubic yards of ice should be relied on to keep well in 
 a house built entirely above ground. In the cellar or cistern 
 form a much smaller quantity may be preserved ; but in all 
 cases, the larger the aggregate mass, the better it will keep. 
 
 TANK. 
 
 A tank sufficient for the purposes of a small garden may be 
 made by sinking a water-tight tierce or hogshead into the 
 ground, and covering it safely, having first pitched it within 
 and without. For larger gardens, or where a more permanent 
 tank is desired, it should be built in the same manner as a 
 small, shallow cistern, having a sufficient opening to allow of 
 stirring the contents or adding to them, but which ordinarily 
 must be closely covered. 
 
 For the purpose of stirring, it will be found very convenient, 
 and not expensive, to set in the centre of the tank a shaft fur- 
 nished within the tank with two or three pairs of arms nearly 
 equal to its diameter. The upper end of the shaft should pro- 
 ject four or five feet above the cover, and having a two-inch 
 hole through it near the top, the contents of the tank may be 
 easily stirred by turning it with a small bar. Into this tank 
 the soap-suds and other waste water from the house should be 
 conveyed, for the preparation of liquid manure, if needful. See 
 page 64. 
 
 WHEELBARROWS, 
 Fig. 5. Fig. 6. 
 
 Canal Wheelbarrow. Box Wheelbarrow. 
 
 The common canal wheelbarrow, Fig. 5, is very much to be 
 preferred for general purposes, though in most gardens the box 
 form, with loose sides, Fig. 6, or something nearly similar, is 
 still generally used. 
 
 B2 
 
u 
 
 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 GAEDEN ENGINE, WATEEING-POT, AND SYEINGE. 
 Fig. 7. Fig. 8. 
 
 Garden Engine. 
 
 Watering-pot. 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 
 Syringe. 
 
 The garden engine, Fig. 7, is a small force-pump, with a pipe 
 or hose of any desired and suitable length, placed in a barrel or 
 water-tight box, and fitted upon a wheeled frame for the con- 
 venience of removal at will to any part of the garden. It is 
 used instead of watering-pot and syringe. 
 
 The watering-pot. Fig, 8, requires no description. It is 
 used with or without the rose, and a convenient size for use 
 will hold about twelve quarts. 
 
 The syringe, Fig. 9, is commonly of brass, having a small, 
 delicately perforated rose (a), without which it is seldom or 
 never used. It is calculated chiefly for syringing plants in the 
 green-house, &c,, which would otherwise suffer from the dry heat, 
 
 HAND AND BELL GLASSES, 
 
 Hand glasses. Fig. 10, A, B, are made of various dimen- 
 sions, from six to eighteen inches in diameter, or larger, and 
 of divers forms, being square or many angled, conical or flat, 
 deep or shallow. The frames are usually lead, sometimes 
 strengthened by an iron bottom band, and the glass and glaz- 
 ing are ordinarily of the first quality. A small hinged venti- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 85 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
 Fig. 11. 
 
 ::</ ''^ 
 
 \ A 
 
 
 \>< 
 
 i V^ 
 
 B 
 
 77" ■■ 
 
 '"i>v 
 
 
 /.-{ 
 
 M 
 
 Pi 
 
 ; i 
 
 _.! 1 
 
 
 \ 
 
 i 
 
 
 i 
 
 '"'x 
 
 
 .'" 
 
 
 OJ 
 
 Hand Glasses. — A, square ; B, octagon. 
 
 lator (c, c) is sometimes made in the top, which, with a slight 
 tilting of the lower edge, permits of airing the plants without 
 uncovering them. They are used for covering newly-sown and 
 delicate seeds, and newly-made cuttings, to prevent too rapid 
 evaporation, or for protecting tender hilled crops, as early mel- 
 ons, cucumbers, egg-plants, &c. 
 
 Their general purposes, particularly for hilled crops, may be 
 answered by an oblong or square wooden box, with a slight 
 pitch to its upper end, over or into which a single large pane of 
 glass is made to slide in small side grooves, so that it may be 
 opened at pleasure, forming, in fact, a miniature garden-frame. 
 
 Bell-glasses, Fig. 11, are used for the same general purposes 
 as small hand-glasses, viz., to hasten and secure the vegetation 
 of seeds of special character, and, in case of certain cuttings 
 which do not root readily, to prevent exhaustion before they 
 become prepared to obtain new supplies. They are not glazed, 
 but blown, and sometimes need watching and shading, lest their 
 concave surface become a burning-glass to the young plants 
 they cover. 
 
 SIEVES. 
 
 Sieves are distin- 
 guished by the number 
 of meshes woven to the 
 inch. 
 
 The opposite figures 
 
 A, \ inch mesh sieve : B, 1 inch mesh sieve. . -nt i -i 
 
 represent JN umbers 1 
 and 2, or inch and half-inch mesh, which are the only sizes 
 needed in the garden or green-house ; and even these may be 
 well dispensed with, unless in extraordinary cases, as where 
 
M) AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 stones abound in flower compost, or for the purpose of reducing 
 and mixing guano or other powerful manures. 
 
 In the preparation of compost in general, it is much better 
 to mix and reduce the materials with the spade or shovel than 
 with the sieve, which takes out the small lumps that, to most 
 plants, are the very " tit-bits" upon which their roots fasten. 
 
 For the purpose of cleaning flower-seeds, &c., at least two 
 small sieves, of about a foot diameter, will be foimd useful ; 
 one should be No. 12, and the other No. 16, to which others, 
 coarser or finer, may be added, if desired. 
 
 FLOWER-POTS. 
 
 Flower-pots are designated by their capacity, as half pints 
 («), pints (6), quarts (c), &c. 
 
 They are sometimes 
 made too deep for their 
 diameter, or too tapering 
 toward the bottom. 
 
 The proportion of their 
 diameter to their depth 
 should be at the top as one to one, and at the bottom as two to 
 three. 
 
 These proportions are nearly represented in Fig. d. 
 They should never be glazed or over-burned, by which plants 
 in them are injured, probably from exclusion of air, but should 
 have the ordinary porous texture of sound brick, tlii'ough which 
 air passes, and evaporation and absorption proceed naturally. 
 The drainage-holes in the bottom should range from a full 
 half- inch diameter in the " quarts" to a full quarter inch in 
 the very smallest size. In rooms or on fancy stands they are 
 placed in saucers (as Fig. c), which catch the drainage, but 
 the water should not be allowed to remain in tliem, 
 
 STRAW MATS. 
 
 Straw mats (Fig. 14) are convenient and valuable for frame 
 sashes, whether used for winter covering of pit or cold bed, or 
 upon the green-house or spring hot bed. They are easily and 
 quickly made, oven by a boy, and may be rather wider and Ion- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 37 
 
 ger than a single sash, so that 
 they may overlap, if need be. 
 For a mat intended to be four 
 feet wide, take strong, well- 
 twisted hempen string, about 
 the thickness of a straw, and 
 stretch five strings at ten or 
 eleven inches apart, or six at 
 eight inches, from a bar near the floor upward to another 
 bar or beam six or seven feet above ; strain them tight, and 
 fasten them securely to nails or pins driven for the purpose. 
 Knot firmly on to each of them, just above the lower bar, a 
 second string of the same size, or a little smaller, and only 
 three or four feet long, for lacing- strings, which you can add 
 to as you find necessary in the progress of the work : these are 
 left hanging loosely on the floor. Next provide a quantity 
 of pretty long straw ; place it upon your left hand as you seat 
 yourself like a basket-maker in front of the stretched strings. 
 Take about a boy's handful of the straw, and place it with the 
 butts projecting a few inches outside of the outer string, and 
 lace it to its place by the second or third lacer, passing this 
 around the stretcher, and fastening it with a half-hitch knot ; 
 take another handful for the other side, and lay it in with the 
 heads inward, so overlapping the former as to make the whole 
 layer eveii ; fasten it in place, and proceed to lace clear across 
 the mat. Take other equal quantities of straw, and lace them 
 in in the same manner until you attain a height equal to the 
 desired length of your mat. Having fastened your last lacing, 
 cut the stretchers, and tie the ends securely ; then lay the mat 
 at length upon the floor, and, with a board or slat for a straight- 
 edge, cut the projecting ends so as to make your mat of the 
 desired width, leaving the ends of the straw not more than 
 three inches beyond the outer stretchers (Fig. 14). Such 
 mats will last for several years if kept dried and under cover 
 when not in use. Special care should be taken not to roll 
 them up for summer storing while they are damp. 
 
 If it is found convenient to make a frame, upon which the 
 stretchers can be extended horizontally, the work may be still 
 
38 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 more easily performed. An old bedstead would answer the 
 pm*pose well. In this case the straw being at first placed 
 on both hands, the operator, standing between the stretchers, 
 works backward, and, as soon as there is room for it, the straw 
 is laid immediately before him upon the finished portion of 
 the mat. Care should be taken to lace uniformly, and only 
 moderately tight, otherwise the mat will be rigid, as a too 
 closely-knit sock is harsh. 
 
 Common bass mats, or loose straw, mulch, or salt hay, are 
 often used for covering frames, &c., but the straw mats made 
 as above directed are better and more convenient. 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 Implements of common Culture from Plow to Dibber. 
 
 IMPLEMENTS OF COMMON CULTURE. 
 
 Anxious to restrict the size of this book, the author would 
 willingly have omitted descriptions of implements, &c., but it 
 was perceived that such a course would leave it very incom- 
 plete. The advancement of civilization is strikingly marked 
 by the improvements in instruments in aid of labor, whether 
 physical or mental. . I have, however, limited the number of 
 implements figured, yet giving all that the most successful 
 cultivator really needs. Those who desire to try more will 
 find it easy to make large additions. 
 
 All implements, whether large or small, should b'fe kept clean 
 when not in use, the handles and other wood- work being oiled 
 or painted once a year. 
 
 PLOWS. 
 
 _^ ^'s- 15. There is no end to 
 
 ,,w^.',^ the nominal varieties 
 
 of plows, but Fig. 15, 
 intended to represent 
 the old - fashioned 
 «2i D" of Wood, 
 Common two-horse Plow. vfho was the Original 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 39 
 
 patentee of plows made with pieced castings, which is a favorite 
 with the farmers along the Hudson, is a fair specimen of the 
 most useful and handy plow for common purposes, to be work- 
 ed in all soils with a single pair of oxen or horses, with or 
 without the forward gauge-wheel and coulter. 
 
 Fig. 16 is a longer-fashioned and more wedge-like plow, 
 
 Fig. 16. 
 
 Longer-faahiouud two-horse Plow. 
 
 often preferred for land that is smooth and free from stones, as 
 upon our Western prairies ; but the shorter the gearing of the 
 plow, the closer will it run to the ends, and be turned and oth- 
 erwise managed the more easily. 
 
 The subsoiler (Fig. 17) is simply a heavy, strongly-made 
 
 Fig. 17. 
 
 Subsoiler. 
 
 plow-frame and share, without mouldboard, calculated for fol- 
 lowing in the wake of the common plow to loosen thoroughly 
 the deeper soil. 
 
 Small plows should never be made with double handles ; 
 why they ever were so made I am at a loss to divine, unless in 
 
40 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 mere imitation of the larger plows, which require them. In 
 small plows, the second handle is a useless and very inconven- 
 ient encumbrance ; but at the Fair of the American Institute 
 for 1857 not a single-handled plow was exhibited. 
 
 The small one-horse plow (Fig. 18) should be of the same gen- 
 eral fashion as Fig. 15, but with a single and rather more upright 
 
 Fig. 18. 
 
 bmall one-horse Plow. 
 
 handle, from which a brace extends to the outer extremity of 
 the mouldboard. It may often be used in the second plowing 
 of patches in the garden, where a larger plow and double team 
 could not work, but it is chiefly used for furrowing and hilling. 
 The half mouldboard plow (Fig. 19), when properly made, 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 
 Half mouldboard I'low. 
 
 is a rather narrower and fuller-breasted, but lighter plow than 
 Fig. 18, of the same general style, but with the hinder end or 
 
AMERICAN HOME (JARDEN. 
 
 41 
 
 Fig. 20. 
 
 wing of the mouldboard left off, so that it is calculated for stir- 
 ring the earth without turning the furrow-slice over. It may 
 therefore be driven deeply between growing crops without risk 
 of covering them, though it suffices in general to form hills of 
 the most desirable kind. See Hilling. It is often called 
 the " Potato Plow," from its very common use in that crop. 
 The best double mouldboard plow (Fig. 20) is a small sin- 
 gle-handled plow, with 
 two movable mould- 
 boards (a), the fore 
 edges of which fit into 
 grooves in the stand- 
 ard, and are kept firm- 
 ly in place by a wood- 
 en wedge at the beam, 
 each being braced out- 
 ward by a small wood- 
 en pin (c) near the 
 heel. The share is of 
 a triangular or duck- 
 bill form (6), fitting on 
 to the point of the sole, 
 and secured to it by a 
 
 Double mouldboard Plow. WodgO OU itS Under 
 
 side. It is used for hilling potatoes, &c., after the earth has 
 been first plowed from them. 
 
 In light, clear soils it may be useful, but in ordinary land 
 must be run shallow and scooping, and works unsteadily, and 
 on various accounts can seldom be made to save labor Avithout 
 corresponding loss to the crop. Larger and stronger ones are 
 made, which, except possibly for ridging, are still less valua- 
 ble. 
 
 The skeleton plow (Fig. 21) is, in fact, a small subsoiler, 
 made by taking off the double mouldboards from Fig. 20. It 
 closely resembles the old Roman plow, without its wings or 
 triangular followers. This plow is invaluable in the opera- 
 tions of the farm gardener, particularly for giving the last deep 
 movement to the earth between the rows of growing vegeta- 
 
42 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Skeleton Plow and Horse Driller. 
 
 Fig-SL bles, such as cab- 
 
 bages, carrots, beets, 
 &c. It may also be 
 used for ordinary- 
 furrowing by fasten- 
 ing an old shoe or 
 something equiva- 
 lent in front of the 
 curved standard or 
 shaft, so as to give 
 width to the opened 
 furrow ; or, if it be 
 used with an old 
 share having the corners broken off, it serves a good purpose 
 as a horse-driller in making drills for wide-rowed crops, where 
 a proper drill or corn-planter is not used. 
 
 This and the half mouldboard plow (Fig. 19) are the most 
 marked and valuable improvements among the lighter forms 
 which have been adopted since patent plows came into use, 
 
 A small hand-plow is found in our agricultural stores, with 
 a long, straight, stout handle, into which it is fastened by an 
 iron shank, upon which the plow proper moves, so that its 
 depth may be regulated by a screw. In light soils such an 
 implement may often be found useful in garden culture. Its 
 present construction, however, is ridiculously Avrong, since it is 
 made to draw as a common hoe, requiring the workman to walk 
 backward as he labors, making its use a task for a convict rath- 
 er than a pleasant labor for the amatem\ 
 
 Any country blacksmith can set the shank the other way in 
 a few minutes, and when thus changed to thrust instead of 
 draw, and gauged to a proper depth, the workman, by throwing 
 his weight a little forward upon the handle, and moving stead- 
 ily, will be able to make it perform satisfactorily without much 
 waste of muscle. 
 
 HARROWS. 
 
 The harrow, whether triangular or square, is commonly made 
 without being jointed or hinged for folding ; but the improve- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 43 
 
 Fig. 23. 
 
 Triangular foldiog Harrow, single. 
 
 Triangular folding Harrow, double. 
 
 ment is so obviously valuable on various accounts, that it should 
 be universally adopted. The square or oblong harrow, made 
 with three bars in each leaf, will be found more convenient to 
 carry on an ordinary stone-boat or sled than if larger. 
 
 Square or oblong folding Harrow, with either six or eight bars. 
 
 The corn harrow (Fig. 25) is a small triangular harrow, 
 about four feet in length, made with clamp hinges in front, 
 and movable rack or gauge-bars near the back, by means of 
 which it may be spread in width to thirty inches, or closed to 
 about sixteen, at pleasure. 
 
 It has a single handle set into the centre-bar, just back of 
 
44 
 
 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 25. 
 
 Corn Harrow. 
 
 the gauge-bars, which is braced securely from near the outer 
 
 end of the bar, hav- 
 ing sufficient slope 
 backward to enable 
 the holder to walk 
 freely behind it, and 
 lift it readily by the 
 hand-pin when nec- 
 essary. 
 
 It is usually made 
 with two or three 
 teeth in the centre- 
 bar, and four in each 
 of the wing bars. Sometimes a short beam is attached, as in 
 the cultivator, rising ten inches or a foot above the bar, so that, 
 if desired, the power may be increased by the pressure of the 
 draft in front and the hand of the holder behind ; or, insteax^l 
 of the beam, a well -braced iron rack-bar may be used, upon 
 which a loose link is raised or lowered by a short wooden pin, 
 as in the above figure (25), or both this and the cultivator may 
 have the semicircular rack and gauge-wheel (Fig. 26 a) at- 
 tached to the centre-bar. 
 
 A smaller and very light harrow of the same construction, 
 Avith teeth of f or ^ inch iron, is especially useful to follow the 
 skeleton plow among root crops while young. 
 
 CULTIVATOR. 
 
 The cultivator (Fig. 26) is framed precisely like the corn 
 
 hari'ow, but Avith a 
 double handle, and 
 each tooth has a small 
 doubl e - mould share 
 attached, or the entire 
 tooth is cast in one 
 piece, with double- 
 cuitivator. mould sharc points; 
 
 it is by some called a " Horse Hoe," and by others the Hoe 
 
 Harrow. 
 
 Fig. 26. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 45 
 
 Sometimes the two outer back teeth have only single-mould 
 shares, which, by changing from side to side, may be set so as 
 to tm-n their little fm-rows either to or from the rows between 
 which they may be running. The beam may be dispensed 
 with if the rack and gauge-wheel described below is preferred'. 
 The cultivator is a mere surface implement, and unless, pos- 
 sibly, in very light soils, will not save much labor, except at 
 cost of crop. The single-horse plow, or the half mouldboard, 
 followed by the corn harrow, does greatly superior work. 
 
 The semicircular rack,&c. (Fig. 26 a) consists of two perfora- 
 Fig. 26 a. ted and matched cast-iron bands, with brace- 
 
 bands across the diameter. The brace- 
 bands have at the forward end projecting 
 sockets, in which the arms of the gauge- 
 wheel axle work. They have also a single 
 Cast-iron semicircular ^olc at the ccutrc, by which they are se- 
 Rack and Gauge-wheel, ^ured to the bar with a bolt that forms the 
 axle of the rack. Upon this it is moved at pleasure, and set to 
 the desired depth by means of a loose pin or bolt passed through 
 the rack-holes above or below the bar; the draught is by a 
 movable link, which can be fixed at any point in the semi- 
 circle. 
 
 The rack is made to suit a bar of about four inches width, 
 and can be fitted in a few minutes to any han*ow or cultivator 
 having its centre-bar of sufficient length beyond the hinges. 
 
 SEED-SOWERS. 
 
 The corn-planter. Fig. 27, p. 46, is a skeleton plow, with a 
 hopper, sowing-tube, and covering apparatus attached, con- 
 nected with a contrivance which, by a spring, or circular brush, 
 or otherwise, passes the requisite amount of seed from the hop- 
 per into the tube for planting, at the proper distances. There 
 are several good ones patented ; the figure represents Emery's. 
 
 The hand seed-sower, or " barrow drill," Fig. 28, p. 46, is a 
 smaller machine, but of the same general description as the 
 corn-planter. In well-prepared soil it makes the drill, sows 
 the seed, either continuously or at given distances, covers, and 
 gently presses it. Sometimes the arrangement for covering is 
 
46 
 
 AMEKICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 Fig. 28. 
 
 ward covered by raking, 
 one who is rheumatic. 
 
 Hand seed-sower. 
 
 such as to throw the small 
 limips first upon the seed 
 rather than the finer soil. 
 This is undesirable, and 
 should be obviated by gear- 
 ing a small spring-governed 
 rake after the coverer, or by 
 some other device. 
 
 The sowing-tube, Fig. 29, 
 is a tin tube, about four feet 
 long and an inch in diame- 
 ter, with a small bend or lip 
 at the lower end, and at the 
 upper a funnel mouth. The 
 soAver, holding the tube in 
 his left hand, draws its low- 
 er end after him in a previ- 
 ously-prepared drill, drop- 
 ping the seed as he goes, in 
 due proportion, into the fun- 
 nel, whence it passes to the 
 prepared drill, being after- 
 It is suited to the mere amateur, or 
 
 Fig. 29. 
 
 Sowing-tube. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 47 
 
 PICKAXE, STUB-HOE, &C. 
 
 The crowbar, Fig, 30, is too well known, with its uses, to re- 
 quire description. To be handy for its various common pur- 
 poses, it should be about five feet long, weighing at the most 
 
 Fig. 30. 
 
 twenty pounds, rounded and tapering toward the top, squared 
 and heavier toward its steel-tipped point ; or the whole may 
 be a little lighter, and entirely of cast steel. 
 
 Fig. 31. 
 
 Fig. 32. 
 
 Stub-hoe. 
 
 The pickaxe. Fig. 31, should have its two 
 steel-pointed arms of equal length, weight, 
 and curv^e ; its eye oval, strong, larger outward than inward, 
 and rather heavy in proportion to the arms, to add force to the 
 stroke, but for common purposes the whole should not weigh 
 more than ten pounds ; with an ash or hickory handle, about 
 three feet long, perfectly fitting the eye. 
 
 The stub-hoe, Fig. 32, is simply a strong, rough adze, not 
 quite so much incurved as that used by shipwrights, and serves 
 well for cutting up by the roots bushes that are found too 
 strong for the plow. 
 
 The mattock, Fig. 33, is a combination of the stub-hoe with 
 
48 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 33. 
 
 Mattock. 
 
 a rough root-axe, in- 
 tended for the same 
 general purposes as 
 the former ; but, as 
 commonly made, with 
 its blades too long and 
 awkward, it is a clum- 
 sy tool, to which the 
 stub - hoe, aided, if 
 needful, by a common 
 axe, is greatly prefer- 
 able. 
 
 SHOVELS AND SPADE. 
 Fig. 36. Fig. 3fi. 
 
 Fig. 37. 
 
 Scoop-shovel, 
 
 Spade. 
 
 Stable-shovel. 
 
 The shape of shovels differs 
 with the purposes for which they are in- 
 tended. Some, for special uses, are large 
 and scoop-like, as Fig. 34 ; others more mod- 
 erate in size, and fashioned less with a view 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 49 
 
 to carrying their load than to facility in its discharge, as Fig, 35. 
 Such are our canal and rail-road shovels, which, being also of 
 sufficient capacity, serve well for the varied purposes of the gar- 
 den. Perhaps the best size for common use is that known as 
 No. 2, of Ames's manufacture, with a handle about twenty-six 
 inches long, including the eye, and a flattish, bright steel blade, 
 cropped at the corners to aid its balance and general efficiency 
 in excavating, its blade inclined slightly inward or upward by 
 the shortening of the front strap and the bend of the handle. 
 
 Long-handled shovels and spades occasionally serve a pur- 
 pose, as in removing matter which it is unpleasant to approach ; 
 but, except as prys, there is a great loss of power in using 
 them, and in general they are suited only to the lame or the 
 lazy. 
 
 The sheet-iron scoop-shovel. Fig. 36, is every where known 
 as an instrument perfectly adapted to its ordinary uses. 
 
 The spade. Fig. 37, should be of stout and polished steel, 
 generally of the size known as No. 2, of which the blade is us- 
 ually twelve inches long, running from seven and a half inches 
 wide at the insertion of the handle to seven inches at the edge, 
 strengthened by a very slight curvature, and having strong 
 bands laid up a sound ashen handle, properly curved to give a 
 forward set to the blade. The ordinary length of the handle 
 should be twenty-six inches, including the eye ; but this may 
 vary a little to advantage for persons of different height and 
 flexibility. 
 
 HOES. 
 
 Fig. 38. 
 
 steel-blade Hilling-hoe. 
 
 The hilling-hoe. Fig. 
 38, is a thin, flat plate 
 of steel, perforated, and 
 having its eye or socket 
 formed by inserting a 
 solid band of pretty stout 
 sheet iron, the outer rim 
 of which is turned down 
 upon the back of the 
 blade, and riveted to it, 
 
 C 
 
50 AMEKICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 as shown in the figure. The smaller end of this slightly-ta- 
 pering eye-band stands inward, with a very slight inclination 
 toward the edge, or downward, to give set to the blade. This 
 hoe has almost no capacity for ordinary work, where force upon 
 the edge is required. Its advantages are that it may be pre- 
 pared for use in a moment by slipping it downward to the butt 
 of a tapering handle, or smoothly-dressed light bean-pole, and 
 that its peculiar lightness, size, &c., enables an ambidextrous 
 workman to hill more rapidly than with any other hoe in all 
 loose soils tolerably free from stones. Inferior iron-bladed hoes 
 of this description are worthless. 
 
 Fig. 39. 
 
 Goose-necked steel Garden-hoe. 
 
 The goose-necked steel garden-hoe, Fig. 39, long and exten- 
 sively known as Tuttle's patent, is probably perfect for its pur- 
 poses, no essential change having been found desirable in its 
 material or form from the first, though of late attempts have 
 been made to improve it as a hilling-hoe by welding the goose- 
 bill more nearly upon the back edge of the blade, and lessen- 
 ing the curve ; but it loses value as a garden-hoe by the 
 change. In its original and proper shape, it has a forged and 
 polished steel blade, slightly incurved, welded to an iron goose- 
 necked shank, which is firmly keyed into a rather light han- 
 dle about four feet long, the tapered end of which is sheathed 
 and secured by a sufficient iron ferule. The blade is lessened 
 a little in width from the edge backward, and by beating out 
 portions of the back part of the blade toward the ends, two 
 wings are formed, rising slightly above the neck of the shank, 
 between which, thus spread, the goose-bill is welded to the 
 blade, being set in a little toward its centre. By this ar- 
 rangement the direction of the force in using it is so balanced 
 that, whether the stroke be made with the centre or corner of 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 51 
 
 Fig. 40. 
 
 the edge, tliere is about equal power, 
 and no " wring" upon the hand of the 
 AYorkman. 
 
 The goose-necked crane's-bill hoe, 
 Fig, 40, is a light, long, tapering hoe, 
 with a socket for the handle, which 
 may sometimes be found useful for 
 loosening the earth among flowers, or 
 when taking out strong weeds, or 
 around young vegetable plants after 
 beating rains. 
 
 The thrust-hoe (Fig. 41 a) is a thin 
 steel blade, about two inches deep and 
 of any desired width, welded or riveted to a nearly semicir- 
 cular frame attached to a socket, into which a pretty long and 
 stout handle is inserted, and the hoe is thrust instead of being 
 drawn in the various uses to which it is put. 
 
 a _ _ Fig- 42. 
 
 Goose-necked crane's-bill Hoe, or 
 Weeding-hoe. 
 
 " Missionary Hoe. 
 
 Fig. 41 6 is a somewhat 
 improved form, in which 
 6. Improved Thrust Hoe. the sockct and frame are 
 of malleable iron, and the ends of the frame, or arms, are riv- 
 eted near the middle of the blade, which should be about three 
 inches wide, and so set that it can be used either in thrusting 
 or drawing. 
 
 Hoes of this kind are calculated for shallow hoeing upon a 
 level surface, as among very young vegetable or other crops, or 
 for cleaning paths, &c. Their proper management requires 
 some experience, and their width should not exceed eight inch- 
 es, which is exactly enough to pass safely between rows that 
 were sown a foot apart. Any larger size than this becomes 
 unwieldy even for a strong man. 
 
52 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 The missionary hoe (Fig. 42) is simply the thrust hoe with 
 a squai'e frame, and a wooden roller geared ahead of the blade 
 for the pm-pose of " breaking the crust" among young seedling 
 crops. 
 
 It also gauges the cut of the hoe to a uniform depth, thus 
 rendering it an excellent path hoe. In soils clear of stones it 
 will do a great deal more work in the same time than either 
 the common garden hoe or the thrust hoe. In fact, if the soil 
 be clear and light, an experienced hand will pass it through 
 foot-rows of young plants, cleaning them thoroughly, at a rate 
 very little slower than an ordinary walk. 
 
 However naturally the special object of this humble instru- 
 ment might have suggested its name, it was not, in fact, so de- 
 rived ; but the hoe itself was invented by a missionary connect- 
 ed with a company sent to the Osages of Arkansas Territory by 
 the American Board nearly forty years ago. 
 
 TROWELS AND TRANSPLANTER. 
 
 GARDEN TROWELS. 
 
 Gai'den trowels (Figures 43 a, b) are tapering, half romid 
 
 Fig. 43. 
 
 Fig. 44. 
 
 a. Smaller Garden Trowel. b. Larger Garden Trowel. 
 
 trowels, of different sizes, which are used where 
 special care is required in removing small 
 plants. The blades should always be of pol- 
 ished steel, and ought not to be suffered to be- 
 come rusty. 
 
 The flower transplanter (Fig. 44) may be re- 
 garded as a pair of trowels loosely hinged to- 
 gether at the edges by a single rivet, so that 
 when thrust down, one on either side of a plant, 
 their points can be braced together, and the 
 whole root and earth be lifted and transferred 
 to a new and previously prepared hole or pot. 
 Flower Transplanter. The Same did may be a<3Complished with a pair 
 
AMEBICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 53 
 
 of loose trowels and an iron ring of suitable size, which, being 
 passed over the head of the plant, and the trowels thrust per- 
 pendicularly down within it, will afiford the necessary fulcrum 
 to each when strained upon. 
 
 GRASS AND BUSH SCYTHES, &C. 
 
 The scythe (Fig. 45), not being intended for ordinary mow- 
 ing, but for cutting grass while short upon lawns, and plots. 
 
 Fig. 45. 
 
 Grass-scythe. 
 
 and paths, if such are made, and in odd comers, ought to have, 
 as represented in the figure, a pretty short blade, with a " sneath" 
 so bent as to lay the edge almost perfectly level with the sur- 
 face ; and instead of the old-fashioned wedged " knebs" and 
 "heel-ring," let it be fitted with the screw knebs and the 
 screw or clamp heel-ring of Lamson's patent, or some other 
 equally convenient and stanch. 
 
 The bush-scythe (Fig. 46), which is often found useful for 
 
 Fig. 46. cutting coarse weeds, has a very short blade, 
 
 strongly, even rather heavily made, and 
 
 should have a short strong sneath, not 
 
 Bush-scythe. much bcut, and hung with extra strong 
 
 clamp heel-ring, or with the heel-ring doubled. 
 
 ^ Fig. 47. The bush-hook (Fig. 
 
 47) is a powerful in- 
 strument for cutting 
 brush at arms' length, 
 Bush-hook. but is Icss efficient 
 
 than the bush- scythe, which will generally supersede it. 
 
54 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 The grass-hook (Fig. 48) resembles the old sickle, or reap- 
 Fig- 4:S. ing-hook, except in being some- 
 
 what shorter, and having a plain 
 instead of a toothed edge. It 
 is used for cutting the grass 
 from edgings or other limited 
 spaces where the scythe can not 
 be worked. 
 Grass-hook. The grass-edger (Fig. 49) is 
 
 a strong, crescent-formed steel plate, with a socket for the han- 
 Fig. 49. die extending from its inner centre. It is used 
 JT" for cutting the edges of grass-paths, plots, or 
 
 edgings, either with a stretched line or by the 
 l\^ ^ eye, the handle being of sufficient length to ena- 
 
 ble the operator to throw his weight on to it as 
 he presses it before him. A slight change is 
 sometimes made in the foim of the knife, and a 
 small wheel geared to run ahead of it, which has the advan- 
 tages of giving it gauge and steadiness. 
 
 Grass-edger. 
 
 FORKS, 
 
 All pronged and toothed implements for working in the earth, 
 Fig. 50. Fig. 51. Fig. 52. &c., should liavc their prongs or 
 
 teeth of steel, and neither round 
 nor flat, but either oval or four- 
 sided, the thickness or depth of 
 the prong or tooth being made 
 greater than its width, so that its 
 greatest strength may always be 
 opposed to the greatest strain. 
 
 This is of special importance in 
 the implements figured above and 
 in the potato-hook. In rakes it 
 is desirable, though not essential. 
 The spade-fork (Fig. 50) is simply a 
 strongly-made, square-headed, four-prong- 
 ed steel fork, of which the prongs should 
 spade-foik. Manur .-fork, be about ten iuches long, from one half to 
 
 Hand-fork. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 50 
 
 three eighths of an inch wide, and full half an inch deep or 
 thick, standing almost perfectly straight, tapering but very 
 slightly, if at all, and being dubbed off rather than pointed. 
 It should have a heavy shank, secured by a strong ferule and 
 riveted straps into the handle, and so bent as to give the 
 prongs a little set forward. The whole should be of the length 
 of an ordinary spade, or a little longer — say rather more than 
 tliree and a half feet. It is used to great advantage in the fall 
 or spring for stining and cleaning the ground around and among 
 herbaceous plants and shrubs, and for the proper spring clean- 
 ing and loosening of asparagus, strawberry-beds, &c. ; and, in 
 general, for all light digging, whether deep or shallow. 
 
 The manure-fork (Fig. 51) should be of steel, with prongs 
 of the same general form, square-headed or semicircular, rath- 
 er wider than the spade-fork, but lighter, keenly tapered, well 
 curved, and polished. It may either be braced with strong 
 bands to the handle, or, if the additional strength be less desir- 
 able than lightness, it may be simply keyed into the handle 
 through a strong end-band or ferule, extending about the same 
 length upon the handle as the shank or tang within it. It is 
 used for moving manure, weeds, rubbish, &c,, and is often found 
 convenient in heaping hay. 
 
 The hand-fork (Fig, 52) is a miniature spade-fork, with a 
 handle twelve or fifteen inches long, useful for the light work 
 of ladies in flower-plots and borders. 
 
 POTATO-HOOK, 
 Fig. 53. 
 
 The potato-hook (Fig, 53) is a steel hook, which should be 
 strongly made, with four prongs shaped like those of the spade- 
 fork, but proportionably smaller, set well forward, and very 
 slightly curved, having a pretty stout shank secm-ely keyed 
 into a strongly-feruled ordinaiy hoe-handle. In general the 
 prongs are made of other forms, and often give trouble, and the 
 mode of securing them in the handle is not yet jjerfected by 
 
56 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 the manufacturers ; in heavy work they are apt to become loose. 
 Besides their common use as potato-diggers, they are also val- 
 uable for loosening the earth among young crops, around plants, 
 and in narrow borders where it is desirable to avoid treading 
 upon the newly-loosened soil ; for removing grass that has be- 
 come sodded among edging or near the roots of plants ; also for 
 " chopping over" ground that has become dry, before sowing 
 it ; for covering seeds sown in drills, and for many of the gen- 
 eral purposes of a small rake. 
 
 Smaller wood-headed 
 Rake. 
 
 RAKES. 
 
 The wood-headed rake (Figures 54, 55) is a familiar garden 
 Fig. 54. Fig. 55. tool. The head of a rake is 
 
 3 the bar, into which the teeth 
 are fastened, or to which 
 they are attached. When 
 this is of wood, the end of 
 the handle is tapered and 
 inserted at the centre of the 
 bar, having two or more 
 side-braces of tough wood or 
 pretty strong wire. They have eight, or 
 ten, or twelve teeth, at about an inch apart, 
 which are either clinched, or, more neatly, 
 riveted in with small bmrs. Such rakes are 
 to be found, of excellent make, in almost every country store, 
 their single general defect being that the handles are from six 
 inches to a foot too short. It is not force, but reach, that is 
 required in a rake ; and the handle of a garden-rake should be 
 but little, if any, shorter than that of the ordinary hay-rake. 
 Cast-steel rakes of various sizes (Fig. 56), with heads to 
 Fig. 56. which the teeth are welded, not riveted, having 
 
 either shank or socket for the handle, though, 
 in general, the former is preferable, are also 
 found in company with the former, the handles 
 having the same defect ; but in other respects 
 they are all that can be desired, except where, for special rea- 
 sons, the wood head may be preferred. 
 
 Larger wood-headed Rake. 
 
 Cast-steel Rake, with 
 shank. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 57 
 
 Fig. 5T. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS IMPLEMENTS, &c. 
 The line-reel and its pin may be of iron, as shown in the fig- 
 ure (57), or a couple of wooden pins, of an 
 inch diameter and fifteen inches length, 
 may be substituted, upon each, of which 
 one half the line may be wound, as boys 
 wind kite-cord. 
 
 The line itself should be of tarred 
 cord, twisted pretty hard, such as ship- 
 chandlers and boatmen call " marlin," 
 a hundred yards' length of which will 
 not cost above a dollar, and with care 
 will last for twenty years. Paths, beds, 
 plots, &c., are laid out by the aid of the 
 garden-line. It is also used as a guide 
 Line and Line-reel. in setting out rows of plants, or in the 
 preparation of drills for sowing, which are usually cut along it 
 with the hoe, or merely marked along with the end of the han- 
 dle, or with a stick. 
 
 The marker (Fig. 58) is a home-made implement, devised 
 
 Fig. 53. 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 u 
 
 Marker. 
 
 to obviate the necessity of repeatedly setting a line, and draw- 
 ing single drills by it. To make it, take a piece of any com- 
 
 C 2 
 
58 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 mon joist that is not too liglit, five feet and a half long, and 
 with an inch and a half auger bore six holes through it at a 
 foot apart, leaving three inches solid on each end. Insert the 
 handle, five or six feet long, in the centre, almost horizontally, 
 and brace it well. Next take six pieces of common pointed 
 picket, about eighteen inches long ; shoulder them uniformly 
 on both edges at a foot from the point end, forming a shank to 
 each of six inches long, dressed so as to pass the auger holes 
 (Fig. 58 a). Having set them all in, nail a light strip along 
 the upper and under sides of the bar, back of the teeth, to set 
 them in proper range and keep them from turning, and finish 
 by wedging them carefully and firmly to their places from the 
 upper side. 
 
 Where a large piece or bed is to be sown or planted, it is 
 used in the following manner : The line, being tightly stretch- 
 ed in the desired direction upon one side, forms a guide to the 
 outer tooth of the marker in the first draft ; subsequently the 
 outer mark of each draft forms the guide, the tooth being run 
 in it at each repetition of the stroke, as the operator, walking 
 backward, draws the marker carefully after him. With this, 
 six marks are made at the first draft, and five at each repeti- 
 
 Fig. 59. tlOn. 
 
 Lighter or heavier ones, with narrower or wider spaces, 
 can of course be made. 
 
 The dibber or planting-stick (Fig. 59) is best made 
 from an old spade-handle, which is usually of the prop- 
 er thickness for the purpose. It should be about fifteen 
 inches long, including the hand-hold or eye. The 
 point should not be shod with iron, nor sharpened as 
 if for piercing, but formed rather obtusely, as nearly 
 of an egg form as possible. It is used in setting out 
 Dibber. Small plants. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 59 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Soui-ces of Vegetation. — Elements of Vegetable and Animal Life. — Ma- 
 nm"ing and Manures, Composts, etc. 
 
 SOURCES OF VEGETATION. 
 
 As all plants sprang originally from the earth, were watered 
 by the rain, and surrounded by the air, we may properly ex- 
 pect to find in these, or some of them, all the elements of which 
 plants consist ; and such Chemistry shows us is the fact. 
 Plants receive from continually renewed, and therefore ex- 
 haustless sources in the earth and air, through the water which 
 dissolves or absorbs them, those elements which each variety 
 of plant secretes and appropriates according to its particular 
 nature and wants, aided or modified by the influence of light 
 and heat. These same elements, the constituents of vegeta- 
 bles, form also, with certain peculiar modifications, the com- 
 plete circle of the elements of animal life. Milk is the only 
 perfect and entire compound of the essential elements of ani- 
 mal support and gi'owth ; but those elements already existed 
 in the grasses from which the milk was secreted, and are de- 
 rived even still more richly from certain other vegetables and 
 grains, receiving from them in the process of secretion their 
 own peculiar taste or odor, or that of other things mixed with 
 them, as the wild onion, etc. " All flesh is grass" in some- 
 thing more than a merely figurative or poetical sense. 
 
 Animal digestion and partial decomposition by fermenta- 
 tion are the common means by which the various elements, orig- 
 inally derived from their natural sources through the action of 
 the vegetable world, are prepared to be returned to it, that they 
 may be gathered in new forms, to be again consumed, and again 
 returned ; and again regathered, in the incessant circle of 
 changes which shall end only with time. 
 
(50 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 MANURING AND MANURES. 
 Manuring, then, is to furnish to the plant, in a fit state and 
 under suitable conditions, those elements which are essential 
 to its healthful growth ; in other words, to feed it, accompa- 
 nied with such stimulants as will induce more vigorous action 
 in the appropriation or assimilation of the food we offer. Some- 
 times, indeed, we modify the form, or withhold the stimulants, 
 having rather in view permanent than immediate benefit, as 
 when we apply alone crushed bones, lime, unrotted manure, 
 muck, etc., all of which we use with more or less calculation 
 of benefit to futm'e crops, or to the composition of the substance 
 of the soil. There is, however, much yet to be learned as to 
 the precise modes of operation of divers manures, and the pe- 
 culiar secretions of different vegetables. As an illustration, 
 we may instance the fact that white bush-beans, which con- 
 tain some sixty or more per cent, of largely nitrogenous nutri- 
 ment, are so commonly raised upon poor land that it has be- 
 come proverbial to say of soil absolutely impoverished, it is 
 " too poor to raise white beans." 
 
 CLASSES OP MANURES. 
 
 Manures are sometimes conveniently classified as, 1st. Ani- 
 mal manm'es. These are either decaying animal matter, fish, 
 etc., or they are certain natm-al or prepared manures, in which, 
 with the other ingredients, animal matter, or the product of its 
 putrefaction, in the form of ammonia, fixed or free, may to some 
 extent abound, as ta-feu, guano, poudrette, etc. 
 
 They are regarded as powerful stimulants to vegetation. 
 
 2d. Vegetable manm'es. These are stable and bam-yard 
 manures, green crops, swamp-muck, etc., in all of which vege- 
 table matter predominates, though they are neither destitute 
 of animal matter nor free from admixture of earthy matter and 
 salts. They are especially calculated to favor and promote the 
 growth of vegetables as distinguished from seeds or grain. 
 
 3d. Earthy or saline, sometimes called specific manm-es, be- 
 cause containing only one, or, at most, a few of the necessary el- 
 ements of vegetable growth. These are lime, gypsum, or sul- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 61 
 
 phate of lime, ashes, etc., in which earths and salts are almost 
 exclusively present ; and with these may be reckoned charcoal 
 (including coal-cinders or coke), though perhaps, chemically 
 considered, it does not class with them, its chief value being 
 supposed to consist in its capacity to absorb or " fix" ammonia. 
 
 These, with those of the first class, are regarded as peculiar- 
 ly useful in the production of the seed or grain. 
 
 Another classification sometimes adopted, which has some 
 special importance in garden culture, is that which rates ma- 
 nures according to their power of absorbing moisture. Those 
 which are highly absorbent, as the manm'e of hogs, oxen, cows, 
 etc., are called cooling ; and those which are less, or very slight- 
 ly so, as horse manure, are called heating. Of those classed 
 above as earthy or saline manui-es, gypsum and charcoal are 
 the most powerful absorbents, and these are also distinguished 
 by their capacity to fix ammonia. Perhaps we may conclude 
 that their power in the one case is a gauge or indicator of their 
 value in the other. 
 
 MANURES SUITED TO VARIOUS SOILS. 
 
 Manures, particularly for the garden, should be carefully 
 adapted to the soils they are intended to enrich. If the soil 
 be sandy and hot, especially if it be sand lying upon gravel, 
 the cold and moist manures above named are greatly to be pre- 
 ferred, and stable manure 'should be entirely decomposed, and 
 reduced almost to the state of vegetable mould before it is ap- 
 plied. The applications of manure to such soil should be fre- 
 quent rather than heavy ; and ash compost and liquid manure 
 applied to growing crops through the season will be found of 
 especial benefit. 
 
 On loamy soils there is a wider range for choice. All kinds 
 of manure will be found suitable, their application being reg- 
 ulated by the necessities of the particular crop or season. 
 
 On cold soils, as strong loam or clay, stable manure and city 
 street-manm-e should be almost exclusively used, with dress- 
 ings of ashes, guano, etc., and, if possible, the soil should be 
 mechanically improved by the frequent addition of sand or 
 road-wash. See page 18. 
 
62 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 APPLICATION OF MANURES. 
 
 As a general rule, barn-yard manure, including that from 
 the stable, will be found suitable for all garden pm'poses. If 
 well rotted, it may be applied unmixed to the soil ; or it may 
 be formed into compost, for doing which directions will be found 
 under the appropriate head, p. 63. If applied in an uncomposted 
 but half-rotted state, it should be laid on the garden at the 
 rate of from forty to a hundred loads to the acre, at the earli- 
 est possible moment after spring opens, and must be imme- 
 diately dug or plowed in. The subsequent preparation of the 
 ground for the reception of crops will mix it sufficiently with 
 the soil. If compost be used, it may be in smaller or still 
 larger quantity per acre, and may be applied to the land as the 
 crops are about to be put in, being then carefully and thor- 
 oughly mixed with the soil in the process of its preparation for 
 the seeds or plants intended to occupy it. 
 
 Animal matter, with " ta-feu," guano, hen manure, poudrette, 
 lime, ashes, and the other earthy and saline manures, possess 
 the very great advantage for garden use of being free from weed- 
 seeds, and on this account are desirable as far as they can prop- 
 erly be made available ; but it must not be imagined that they 
 can permanently become substitutes for ordinary manure. 
 
 Guano and hen manm-e that has been kept diy ai'e safest 
 when used in compost or as liquid manm-e. They may also be 
 sown broadcast upon a fresh, rough surface, and chopped, raked, 
 or haiTowed in. 
 
 Bone-dust, lime, leached ashes, home-made or from the soap- 
 makers, may be used freely — say from twenty to sixty bushels 
 to the acre — either lightly plowed in, or sown upon the rough, 
 fr-eshly-plowed smface, and mixed in by a thorough harrowing. 
 
 Unleached ashes may be used in the same manner at half the 
 rate per acre, or applied as ash compost. See p. 64. 
 
 Ta-feu and poudrette, the former being about double the 
 strength of the latter, should be sown broadcast, and Avell mixed 
 with the soil in the final harrowing or raking previous to sow- 
 ing or setting out ; or they may be mLxed in hills prepared for 
 sowing or setting plants, one or two good handfuls to a hill ; 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 63 
 
 or they may be safely sown in drills, with or upon the seed, at 
 the rate of one light handful of the former or two such hand- 
 fuls of the latter per foot. 
 
 When sown broadcast, ta-feu may be used at a rate varying 
 from one to five barrels, and poudrette from ten to forty barrels 
 per acre. They prove efficient aids to almost every variety of 
 vegetable crop ; but they are by no means so useful if their ap- 
 plication be deferred until the crop is growing, unless when 
 mixed in hills prepared for setting out, though the disadvan- 
 tage may be partially overcome by carefully mixing and cov- 
 ering them in the earth around the young plants. 
 
 MANURE HEAP. 
 
 Every homestead, however small, should have upon it a cor- 
 ner or hollow where refuse matters of all kinds may be thrown 
 together as they accumulate, upon which slops may be thrown, 
 and ashes sifted, &c., &c. In the course of the year a pretty 
 large heap of valuable manure, or, rather, compost, will be pre- 
 pared, which should be occasionally turned and mixed with 
 good earth. 
 
 GARDEN COMPOSTS. 
 
 Ordinary compost for garden use may be made by mixing the 
 manure of spent hot beds with equal quantities of fresh barn- 
 yard or stable manure and SAvamp muck, or sods pared from 
 alongside fences, or from any spot where water often settles. To 
 these add air-slaked lime equal to one twentieth of the whole 
 bulk, and an equal quantity of unleached ashes, or double this 
 quantity of leached, and throw in and cover any decaying animal 
 matter or drainage of the slaughter-house. Watch the heap, 
 keeping a stick thrust into its centre to serve as a thermome- 
 ter. Whenever, on Avithdrawing the stick, you find it getting 
 hot, turn the heap over, and inside out ; reinsert the stick, turn- 
 ing the whole again when the heat begins to rise, and at each 
 time, after tm'ning, sow plaster (gypsum) pretty thickly over it. 
 In a few weeks, if the weather be moderate or warm, it will 
 be ready for use. 
 
 It is proper to obseiTe that lime should be mixed with stable 
 
64 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 or barn-yard manure while it is yet cool, and not after ferment- 
 ation has made much progress, or while the process is going 
 on, otherwise it drives off instead of preserving the ammonia. 
 
 ASH COMPOST. 
 
 Ash compost may be made with equal parts of unleached 
 ashes and gypsum, carefully mixed or sifted together. The 
 mixtm-e should be kept dry, and applied to crops for which it 
 is suitable before rain, either full-handed, broadcast, or a good 
 handful to each hill spread over it. 
 
 GUANO COMPOST, &C. 
 
 Guano or mileached hen manure, mixed with one half the 
 bulk of ground gypsum and four or five times the bulk of light, 
 rich loam, the whole being thoroughly mixed and sifted to- 
 gether, and allowed to lie for a few weeks in a dry place, being 
 turned once or twice in that time, will become thoroughly in- 
 corporated, and may be applied, even by inexperienced hands, 
 without the risk which often attends their use in an unmixed 
 state. When applied, this compost should be covered, and not 
 merely spread upon the hill like ash compost. 
 
 For top-dressing grain, for grass, or fruit-trees, guano should 
 always be well sifted and powdered, and mixed with at least so 
 much common earth as may serve to keep down its mipleasant 
 dust in sowing, as well as to prevent loss by wind. In this 
 state it may be used at the rate of two, three, or four hundred 
 pounds to the acre. 
 
 For flower composts, see directions under that head, p. 443. 
 
 LIQUID MANURE. 
 
 Ordinary liquid manure is the drainage of the stable or the 
 barn-yard, preserved in a tank or pond-hole, and applied by 
 means of a sprinkling-cart or watering-pot. Of the drainage 
 from the stable, each forty gallons may be reckoned worth as 
 much as an ordinai-y camian's load of manure. The value of 
 barn-yard drainings is very variable, depending on the form 
 and soil of the yard bottom, amount of exposure, and quantity 
 of rain. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEX. 65 
 
 For special uses, it has long been a practice in " the rural 
 districts" to prepare liquid manure artificially by putting wa- 
 ter upon hen manure or other material in a barrel, stirring it 
 once in a while, and using it when it has settled for various 
 crops, particularly onions, for the raising of which in a superior 
 manner it has had for fifty years a sort of farmers' patent. It 
 may, however, be made useful to almost all crops, particularly 
 upon poor land, and where light manuring has been unavoid- 
 able. In a tank, such as that described p. 33, it is easy to pre- 
 pare it in quantity by adding as may be found necessary ma- 
 nure from the hen-roost, or poudrette, or guano, either of which, 
 or a mixtm-e of them, may be used in the proportion of about 
 one barrel of either of the two former or twenty pounds of the 
 latter to a hundred gallons of water. On each occasion for its 
 use, after the quantity required has been taken out, it should 
 be thoroughly stirred, adding water or manure, if necessary. 
 
 It may be made in a barrel at discretion, with one pound of 
 guano, or ta - feu, to from three to five gallons of water, or 
 with a mixture of bone-dust and sheep manure, or with pou- 
 drette and hen manure, without special regard to proportions, 
 but applying it carefully to the earth around the plant, and not 
 to its foliage. With this view, whenever it is applied to grow- 
 ing crops, a watering-pot without the rose should be used ; but 
 in applying it to ground that is not sown, or in which the seed 
 has not yet sprouted, the rose should be upon the watering-pot. 
 The repeated and moderate use of it is better than an excessive 
 supply at once, and evening will be found the best time for its 
 application. 
 
66 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Reproduction in wild and cultivated Plants. — Vitality of Seeds dependent 
 on certain conditions. 
 
 REPRODUCTION. 
 
 No clearer statement can be made of* the general objects of 
 tbe vast vegetable growth covering and beautifying our earth 
 than that furnished by the pen of inspiration, " He causeth 
 grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the servace of man, 
 that he may bring forth fruit out of the earth." But in rela- 
 tion to each separate species or variety of plant, an inherent 
 tendency or disjwsition to reproduction is its special and most 
 marked peculiai-ity, as if simple self-perpetuation and multipli- 
 cation in its oflFspring were the sole ends of its existence, 
 though it is also apparent that through this tendency or dis- 
 position the general and ultimate objects proposed are effectu- 
 ally and directly reached. 
 
 It is interesting also to observe that this tendency or dispo- 
 sition to reproduction is in general put forth freely only in a 
 single channel ; it may be by offshoots or by seeds, but com- 
 monly, if freely by seeds, then not lai-gely by offshoots ; and if 
 by offshoots, whether naturally or as a result of cultivation, 
 then not freely by seeds. 
 
 This latter result is not uniformly accompanied by a destruc- 
 tion or disappearance of those organs of the plant which are 
 necessary to the production of seed, for a few seeds are often 
 produced ; but, if the expression may be allowed, it seems to 
 arise from a change in the direction of the virile force. 
 
 Striking illustrations of this are found in those vaiieties of 
 onion which are cultivated chiefly for their offsets, and in the 
 giant seedless pie-plant ; and among flowers, by the tiger lily 
 (lilium tigrinum), in which, although the floral organs of repro- 
 duction are full and prominent, yet no seed is yielded by them, 
 the plant being increased moderately by offshoots or dividings 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 67 
 
 of the old root, and largely by the production upon the stem, 
 at the bases of the leaves, of minute but perfect bulbs, which at 
 first appear like small black buds. These are gradually loosen- 
 ed from the stem, and in due time, by throwing out a single 
 root, cant themselves over on one side, and are shaken out of 
 their parent leaf-cup by the slightest wind. This dislodgment 
 being effected, the second or companion-root is pushed forth 
 to effect the self- planting of the young bulb. 
 
 This tendency to mere increase, in whatever way it may be 
 manifested, is satisfied, as we ought carefully to observe, by 
 the most scanty growth in the plant, and in the grain with the 
 very thinnest coating of flesh, or even, as in most seeds, by the 
 production of the mere germ with its skin covering. 
 
 But the meagre growth of the wild plant, and the scanty 
 covering of the seed, however abundantly sufficient for the ab- 
 solute necessities of simple reproduction, fail utterly to meet 
 the demands which are made upon them for support and com- 
 fort by the increased and increasing millions of mankind. 
 
 To obviate this difiiculty, the efforts of cultivation are direct- 
 ed to the increase of the growth of the plant, or the enlarge- 
 ment of the fleshy substance of the seed. This effort, in the 
 various grain-bearing plants, has resulted generally in an in- 
 crease both of the plant-growth and of the grain, without any 
 special drawback ; but in many garden-plants the improved 
 growth of the vegetable is attained at the expense of a partial 
 or total loss of the power of seed production. 
 
 Thus a large, finely-headed cabbage or lettuce, or an im- 
 proved melon, or pumpkin, or cucumber, will be likely to yield 
 a much scantier crop of seed than one which is inferior. 
 
 The same law holds among flowers. Almost all wild flow- 
 ers are single, and these, as well as the inferior single flowers 
 of cultivated varieties, seed freely ; but from those fine double 
 flowers which cultivation has produced, it is often very difiicult 
 to obtain seed at all, as is often experienced in the case of su- 
 perior balsams, pinks, &c. 
 
 VITALITY OF SEEDS. 
 The vital principle of a seed resides in its germ, which is a 
 
68 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. "tJ 
 
 perfectly-formed but minute plant of its specific variety. It 
 seems probable that under suitable conditions the vitality of 
 most small seeds might be retained for an indefinite period, ex- 
 tending even to many centuries, as in the " mummy wheat," 
 the seeds thrown up from far below the earth's surface, or those 
 which, being largely difi'used through the surface soil, vegetate 
 where they had been unknown for ages, when opened to the 
 sun's influence and supplied with appropriate stimulus, or when 
 the long-flooded upland produces swamp plants. 
 
 The strength and continuance of this vital principle in seeds 
 depends on a great variety of circumstances in their production 
 and storing. Seeds imperfectly ripened or insufficiently dried, 
 as is not unfrequently the case with imported European seed 
 and grains, even after they have passed thi-ough the process of 
 a moderate kiln-drying, though they may be of fine, plump ap- 
 pearance, yet will not, in general, bear keeping. Seeds that 
 have in any manner become damp and heated, or musty, are 
 risky or worthless ; or if kept in a very hot place in vessels or 
 packages through which evaporation goes on freely, or contin- 
 ued in it so long that the heat itself induces a change in the 
 chemical condition of the seed, they may lose the vital power. 
 Tables professing to give the various ages to which different 
 seeds may be kept are therefore of little value ; but, assuming 
 that seeds are well ripened and stored Avith ordinary care, most 
 kinds may be safely sown at five, and many at ten years old. 
 
 As in trees checking the exuberance of growth induces dis- 
 position to fruitfulness, so it has come to be regarded as a 
 general rule that plants, particularly of the more luxuriant 
 kinds, if raised from seeds which have been kept a year or 
 two, run less to mere plant growth, and are more productive in 
 fruit or seed than those raised from new seeds. Upon this 
 theory cucumber and melon seeds intended for planting in 
 frames are carefully kept for many years by persons cm'ious in 
 such matters, and sometimes, when for any reason it is desired 
 to use them prematurely, artificial drying is resorted to as an 
 equivalent. 
 
 In most seeds, however, age seems only, or at least chiefly, 
 to affect the length of the period required for their germina- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 69 
 
 tion ; as, for illustration, turnip seed sown fresh from the pod 
 in i\.ugust may vegetate in forty-eight hours, while that which 
 is two years old, sown at the same time, will require four or 
 six days, or more. But peas two years old not only require 
 longer time to vegetate ; they are also expected to grow with 
 shorter vines, and yield an earlier and more abundant crop of 
 seed. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 Vegetable Forms, Importance of; Original; Improvements in. — Vegeta- 
 bles, Color of; Deterioration of; Stock or Character of. 
 
 VEGETABLE FORMS. 
 
 The form of certain vegetables is of importance on various 
 accounts. It affects the cost of production and the weight of 
 crop. It sometimes indicates quality, and often settles at 
 once the desirableness or undesirableness of a particular varie- 
 ty, either for the cook or the cultivator, or for both. 
 
 Excepting the small wild bulb from which the onion has 
 been obtained, and not forgetting that the parsnep and carrot, 
 in their wild state, are somewhat fleshy, we may assume that 
 all swelling, fleshy rooting or heading vegetables originally 
 threw downward a single hard, wiry root, as the burdock, or 
 upward a single and almost naked stem, as the wild lettuce. 
 
 In all these, cultivation, working sometimes blindly, and at 
 others with precalculation of results, has produced various 
 striking changes. The leaf of the well-cultivated cabbage has 
 become thick and marrowy, and it has acquired a habit of head- 
 ing before throwing up its seed-stalk. 
 
 In the beet, turnip, etc., we find a habit of fleshy enlarge- 
 ment or swelling. So great is the change thus induced that, 
 instead of a naked, hard root or stem, we have vegetable forms 
 advancing from this by various gradations, until the root 
 spreads itself horizontally to a thin, flat form. The change 
 has, in fact, proceeded beyond this, and shown us forms, as in 
 some varieties of the turnip, concave on one or both sides, of 
 which latter the yellow Malta is an illustration. Figure 80 f, 
 page 18-(i. 
 
70 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 But the form of any rooting or heading vegetable may, by 
 neglect of proper treatment, reapproximate to the natural form 
 of the plant in its uncultivated state, becoming branched and 
 fibrous in its roots, as figures 80 c, d, page 186, or thin and 
 wiry, as Fig. 76 c, p. 131, Fig. 78 a, p. 161, and in danger of 
 losing character entirely as a fleshy vegetable, and running to 
 a mere tap or brush root. The cabbage or lettuce, on the other 
 hand, when its head assumes the form of a cone, is approxi- 
 mating to a loose, headless growth, like that of the kale, or the 
 rape, or the wild lettuce. 
 
 For the purposes of this work, it may sufiice to note the in- 
 termediate stages between the Avild form and that which we 
 have designated as the flat (Fig. 80 li, p. 186) ; and it will per- 
 haps be convenient if, for the present, Ave assume this to be the 
 maximum of the change which cultivation has effected. 
 
 The advantages of this form are that it matures quickly, 
 scarcely ever fails to yield a crop, and, in root crops, is easily 
 gathered, even after some other forms may have been frozen in ; 
 that it measures well, i. e., seems to yield largely ; and that, 
 whether in the lot or in the market, it " shows for all it is 
 worth." Its disadvantages are, that it really yields but light- 
 ly or moderately, and that it is " unprofitable" in the hands of 
 our cooks. Some of them would peel it to semi-transparency. 
 
 The shape intermediate between the flat and the globe, the 
 cheese form, as it is sometimes called, or, in the language of 
 Geometry, the flattened spheroid (Fig, 80 g, p. 186), has about 
 all the advantages we have enumerated for the flat, without 
 any drawback upon them farther than that, in general, it may 
 be expected to mature a little later. 
 
 The round or globe form (Fig. 80/), it would seem, should be 
 regarded as the standard of excellence, since it affords a larger 
 amount of solid contents in proportion to its surface than any 
 other ; but, notwithstanding, this might be taken to imply 
 that it Avould also yield largely ; such is not generally the fact. 
 Roots that take this form have almost always, too, a habit of 
 underground growth, looking as if they were moulded by the 
 equal pressure of the earth upon them, and this renders them 
 comparatively difiicult to gather, especially in frosty weather ; 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 71 
 
 while a globe that grows above ground is seldom of first-rate 
 quality. It is a good form, but not the standard. 
 
 Receding from the globe, we find the " heart" form, the 
 lower portion of the globe elongated, and tapering to a strong, 
 deep root. Fig. 80 e, p. 186. The heaviest croppers are mostly 
 of this form ; but its usually large top and coarse habit, togeth- 
 er with the difficulty of gathering, in respect to which it is as 
 bad or worse than the globe, render it undesirable. 
 
 The egg form is desirable as an improvement upon the heart- 
 shaped in roots that have not yet been brought to better forms. 
 In ruta-baga the obtuse egg form. Fig. 80 h, p. 186, is at present 
 perhaps the best that is found in general cultivation, although 
 occasionally very superior single roots are met with which are 
 nearly globular in form, and without the habit of wholly bury- 
 ing themselves in the earth during growth. 
 
 There are uncouth or fancy forms, such, for instance, as 
 Dale's hybrid. Fig. 80 a, p. 186, which, while they serve as a 
 distinctive mark of certain kinds, have little or nothing else to 
 recommend them above others. Originators of new varieties 
 and others interested directly or indirectly are apt to favor 
 such, and generally claim for them some peculiar merit ; but 
 the aim of the true cultivator should be to combine superiority 
 of quality with excellence of form, and this experience has 
 shown to be readily attainable. 
 
 In heading vegetables the same changes and varieties of form 
 are found. The cabbage, and lettuce, &c., are either loose col- 
 lections of leaves, or screw form, or conical, or heart-shaped, or 
 globular, or cheese-shaped, or flat. Of these the heart-shaped 
 for early, and the cheese form or the globular for winter cab- 
 bages, and among lettuces the screw and the globe forms, may 
 be regarded as the best, and no plant of them which does not 
 come near or up to this standard should be used in the produc- 
 tion of seed. 
 
 COLOR OF VEGETABLES. 
 Although in rooting vegetables color as well as form may 
 seem to be of secondary importance, yet the practical cultivator 
 is aware that it is so commonly associated with certain quali- 
 
72 AMERICAN HOME GAKDEN. 
 
 ties or characteristics that lie seldom or never omits it as an 
 item in liis estimate of the value of any given variety. Thus, 
 if a caiTot be of a light or lemon color, he infers that it lacks 
 richness of flavor ; if a beet be streaked with white, he con- 
 cludes that, however valuable it may be for early use, on ac- 
 count of its free growth, it will prove strong, or, at best, want- 
 ing in sweetness when kept for winter use ; and in respect to 
 turnips, he is familiar with the fact that, other things being 
 equal, the yellow varieties are uniformly richer and sweeter 
 than the white. 
 
 DETERIORATION. 
 
 There is an ever-recuiTing tendency in improved seeding 
 vegetables backwaixl to their primitive condition as mere self- 
 reproducers ; and here, as in the matter of vegetable forms, the 
 constant effort of the cultivator is required to counteract this 
 tendency, with this difference, however, in the mere business 
 view of it, that while it is almost always the interest of the 
 cultivator to improve vegetable forms to the utmost, the dimin- 
 ished average product of seed from such improved varieties con- 
 stitutes a standing and strong temptation to the mere seed- 
 raiser to permit this natural deterioration to occur, quantity in 
 the yield being generally the measure of his business profits. 
 
 This retrograde tendency may be suddenly stimulated and 
 strengthened by various causes in the different kinds of vegeta- 
 bles. In peas, beans, and the various running vines, it often 
 becomes apparent in a single season, when the seed is saved 
 from the later portions of the crop, the earlier product having 
 been eaten while comparatively rare, or sold before the market 
 became glutted. Such seeds produce what may properly be 
 termed new and debased varieties, "early peas" that are late 
 and unprolific, or " six-week beans" that in sixteen weeks may 
 possibly ripen a scattering and scanty crop. 
 
 A similar effect, though not always equal in degree, is pro- 
 duced when plants which, being properly biennial, ought to 
 " bottom," as the turnip, or " head," as the cabbage, are sown 
 at unsuitable seasons, and in consequence are driven up to seed 
 without these important preliminary processes. Thus xerj 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 73 
 
 late-sown turnips are often found to stand the winter unharmed, 
 and at the opening of spring to run immediately up to seed. 
 Early cabbage-plants that have been wintered also exhibit this 
 tendency. Very early-sown beets and carrots often throw up 
 seed-stems in the course of the first summer. Such seeds ac- 
 quire an obstinate impulse in the wrong direction, which years 
 of careful cultivation will scarcely suffice to overcome. 
 
 Climate has also an important influence in this respect. 
 Heavy oats are not commonly raised in a hot, dry climate. Li 
 such a climate, fleshy, thick-leaved summer cabbages, of which 
 the seed is saved through consecutive seasons, are not perpetu- 
 ated, but, losing their improved cabbage habit, become leathery 
 and worthless ; and radishes are apt to become mere sticks ; 
 though, in regard to the latter, it is probable that, if it were 
 deemed worth while, this climatic injury might be counteracted 
 by wintering the seed-roots, or by a vigorous system of trans- 
 planting them with care and frequency. The refusal of lettuces 
 to head finely when sown so late as to carry the period of ma- 
 tm-ing beyond the warmth of spring into the strong heat of 
 summer, is due to the same cause. 
 
 STOCK OR CHARACTER. 
 
 When, in speaking generally, we say that certain vegetables 
 are of " good stock," we mean that they are of good quality for 
 consumption, and, with ordinary care, productive. But when 
 we use this expression in reference to a particular variety, we 
 may or may not include the idea of its intrinsic character ; but 
 we always mean that it has the true form, and the quality, 
 whether good or bad, of its proper variety, and is in all respects 
 free from intermixture. We sometimes in this connection call 
 it, perhaps more accurately, " pure" or " genuine stock." In 
 this work the terms " good stock" are intended to express both 
 excellence of character and pm-ity of kind. 
 
 From what has been remarked, it becomes plain that it is 
 even more important to obtain seeds of good stock than seeds 
 that will be certain to grow. It is also plain that there is some 
 extra risk of injury to seeds raised in private or market gar- 
 dens, from which vegetables are gathered for use or sale ; so 
 
 D 
 
74 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GAUDEN. 
 
 that, on the whole, it will be found wiser to obtain them from" 
 seedsmen of reliable character, whose interests are also promoted 
 by the sale of really good seeds, and who may be assumed to 
 understand anil apply to their production those principles upon 
 which their excellence depends. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Fertilization, in perfect, monoecious, nnd dia'cious Flowers. — Necessary to 
 the rroduction of perfect Seed. — Modes of natural and artilicial Fertil- 
 ization. — Production of new Varieties of Vegetables. 
 
 FERTILIZATION. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 76 
 
 a. The Apple Blossora, a common perfect or bisexual Flower. 
 6, Cucumber BloHHomH, a monasoiouH Plant. 
 
 1, The Fertilizer, or faluc UlosBom. 
 
 2, Tho fertile lUoHHoni attached to the young Fruit, 
 
 c, Tho Fertilizer, or falHO llop-vinc, with ita blosBoms, 
 
 d, Tho fertile Hop-vine, its blossoms being hid between tho 
 
 scales of tho " Hup," 
 
 (_a di 
 
 f ri 
 
 dioBcious 
 lant. 
 
 The following figures present the arrangement of the various 
 floral organs without their petals, and are inserted for farther 
 and clearer illustration. 
 
 Fig. 61.' 
 
 1, A perfect or bisexual lilosaom. 
 
 2, MonceciouH liloHHoms, on tho same Root. 
 8, 4, Dloeciotis niossoniH, on separate Roots. 
 
 a, rt, a. Fertilizing Organs, or Stamens. 
 
 b, b, b. Fertile Organs, or Pistils. 
 
 All flowers have a sexual character, that is, they are fur- 
 nished with fertilizing or fertile organs, or both, known in bot- 
 any as stamens and pistils. For the most part, these organs 
 grow together in each individual blossom, as in the apple and 
 all our common fruit-trees, the flowers of which are perfect or 
 bisexual. Flowers of this class are distinguished in botany by 
 the nuin])cr and peculiar character of these organs, which vary 
 in the different Linnsean orders from a single stamen and pistil 
 to an indefinite number of each (Figs. 60 a, 61, 1). 
 
 In some cases they reside in separate blossoms, though upon 
 the same root, as in corn, melons, cucumbers, &c.. Figs. (>() h, 
 61, 2 ; the topgallant in corn, what are called false blossoms 
 in cucumbers, and melons, the catkins of the birch and hazel, 
 &c., being only the fertilizers, which of themselves bear no 
 fruit. These plants are called in botany " monoecious," or of 
 one house. In others they are borne upon separate roots, as in 
 
76 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 the hop, &c., Figs. 60 c, d, 61, 3, 4 ; asparagus, spinach, the 
 papaw also, and persimmon, often the sassafras, and some vari- 
 eties of our wild grape-vines, Jire of this cliaracter. These are 
 known as " dioecious," or of two houses, the whole plant bear- 
 ing the fertilizers being fruitless. 
 
 In mere seed or grain-bearing plants, the fertilization of the 
 fruit-bearing flower or its equivalent organs — for some plants 
 do not produce flowers, properly so called — is absolutely neces- 
 sary to obtaining product. Thus, where single spears or hills 
 of com stand far apart from others, the ears never fill, because, 
 whichever way the wind may draw, the fertilizing powder, 
 as it falls from the topgallant, is carried away, and but little 
 of it settles upon and fertilizes the silk, each thread of which 
 connects with an incipient grain, and hence the failure. 
 
 In the various fruit-bearing plants, the fertilization of the 
 fruit-bearing flower is equally essential to the production of 
 perfect seed, and generally it may be regarded as important to 
 the formation of fruit, inasmuch as the latter, being a mere ap- 
 pendage or covering for the former, may Ix; supposed likely to 
 fail with it ; and such, in general, is the fact. The first drop- 
 ping of young fruit, which, even after an abundant show of 
 blossoms, sometimes extends to the whole orchjird crop, is, I 
 believe, mainly due to the imperfection or total failure of the 
 fertilization, whether this arises from drought and glaring sun- 
 shine, from unseasonable cold, an inopportune storm, or from 
 other less manifest causes ; all such dropped fruit is seedless 
 or germless. But at least a partial crop of fruit may be ob- 
 tained where this fertilization has not been effected, as we 
 sonictimes find apples without seeds in the core ; and in the 
 larger vegetable fruits, as melons, &c., which are mainly re- 
 sults of cultivation, it is easily conceivable that, without fer- 
 tilization of the flower, fruit may be produced, yielding, how- 
 ever, only shriveled and abortive seeds, or such as, if appa- 
 rently full formed, yet actually lack the essential germ, and 
 are, of course, without vitality. The " fig-apple," as it is called 
 by Duhamel, which has only pistils, being destitute of stamens, 
 as well as Avithout petals, beai's fair and tolerable fruit, but never 
 yields seeds. In these exceptional cases of fruitful nonfertil- 
 
AMERICAN HUME GARDEN. 77 
 
 ization it commonly happens that the fruit loses size, though 
 it does not entirely perish. Of this the white Corinth or Kis- 
 mishi grape, from which the seedless Sultana raisins are made, 
 furnishes an interesting illustration. Its flowers are perfect or 
 bisexual, yet, from some cause as yet undiscovered, it never 
 produces seed, and, although its clusters are of fair size, the 
 fruit upon them is not much larger than common currants ; but, 
 as we might expect in connection with this defective reproduc- 
 tion in the ordinary channel, the luxuriance and vigor of its 
 plant-growth is prodigious. 
 
 INTERMIXTURE. 
 
 From this sexual character in flowers arises the possibility 
 and danger of intermixture of kinds. This, however, is limited 
 to species that are kindred to one another, which is generally 
 indicated by a certain similarity in the appearance or construc- 
 tion of their flowers. Thus the varieties of ca))bage, turnip, 
 rape, and probably radish, all bearing cruciform flowers, read- 
 ily intermix, when blossoming at the same time in close prox- 
 imity, as in small private gardens, or whenever planted care- 
 lessly near to each other for seeding. Cucumbers, melons, 
 pumpkins, &c., are ecjually liable to intermixture in similar 
 circumstances. The product of seeds so raised becomes a mon- 
 grel and usually worthless combination ; but cabbages and 
 beets, or cucumbers and onions, &c., &c., never intermix, there 
 being no congruity or affiliation between them. Certain plants 
 also, which seem to possess this congruity, are not known to 
 intermix, as the apple and pear, the currant and gooseberry, 
 &c. The reason of this it does not seem easy to find. 
 
 In many flowers the organs of fertility are comparatively ob- 
 scure or hidden by their peculiar arrangement ; yet intermix- 
 tm'e occurs readily among them, as in the various kinds of peas, 
 and bush-beans, many new varieties of which have originated 
 incidentally through careless planting or the sowing of min- 
 gled seed. 
 
 Sometimes the intermixture of kinds, whether by natural or 
 artificial fertilization, is imperfect, and the new variety contin- 
 ues for years to be unsettled in character ; or, inste.id of one 
 
78 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 new variety, we obtain two, or even three, by easy selection, as 
 in the case of the black, and white, and common mercer pota- 
 toes, which, though diflfering in appearance, are nearly similar 
 in character, and all from one stock. 
 
 MODES OF NATURAL FERTILIZATION. 
 
 Natm'al fertilization is effected in flowers containing both 
 the fertilizing and fertile organs by such an arrangement of 
 the parts as secures the deposition of the pollen or fructifying 
 powder shed by the former upon the latter, sometimes as it de- 
 scends, and at others as it ascends, and in some flowers it is 
 scattered upon them by an explosive force or bursting. In 
 monoecious and dioecious plants the pollen is shed usually in 
 great abmidance by the fertilizer, and, floating in the air, or 
 borne by the wind, aided perhaps by magnetic of chemical at- 
 traction, finds its appropriate place. This may be seen at once 
 in any corn-lot when the ears are in full silk, the exposed end 
 of each fibre of which is then dusted with the powder from the 
 topgallant. Bees and other insects also carry the pollen upon 
 them from flower to flower as they seek their food, and thus 
 accomplish the same end. 
 
 MODES OF ARTIFICIAL FERTILIZATION. 
 
 Flowers of vegetables and of fruits are artificially fertilized 
 by precisely similar processes, which may be described as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 In all perfect flowers — that is, those in which the fertilizing 
 and the fertile organs reside in the same blossom — watch care- 
 fully the time of the natural opening of the flower you wish to 
 fertilize, and just as, or before it fully opens, insert the points 
 of a very small pair of scissors, and clip off and carry away all 
 the stamens, leaving the pistils alotie, entire, and uninjured. 
 When this is accomplished, take a newly-opened but full flow- 
 er of the kind with which you desire to fertilize ; cut off, if nec- 
 essary, all the petals or flower-leaves, and place it within the 
 blossom to be fertilized , or, without repaoving its petals, place 
 it as a cap over the former in such a manner that its stamens 
 may surround, or at least be near to the pistil. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 79 
 
 This fertilizing flower, if it withers, may be repeatedly renew- 
 ed, or rather replaced by fresh flowers, until the flower-leaves 
 of the other begin to fade or fall. It is plain that erect blos- 
 soms, especially on fruit-trees, should be chosen for this opera- 
 tion, so that the fertilizing flower may rest securely in its 
 place. 
 
 There is a more scientific mode of fertilization, in which this 
 latter precaution is not essential. It is to prepare the blossom 
 you intend to fertilize as above directed, and, taking care to 
 mark the time of its maturing, which will be about the fore- 
 noon of the day in which the blossom becomes naturally full- 
 blown, take one or more of the fertilizing flowers in the ripe 
 state — that is, when the stamens willingly shed their pollen 
 or dust, and, gathering this upon a fine camel-hair pencil, ap- 
 ply it lightly but freely to the top of the pistil or stigma. 
 
 A very little observation and practice will enable one to 
 adopt this mode successfully. The general security for the 
 result will also be increased by fertilizing several blossoms in 
 a bunch, and removing the rest, or even all the bunches upon 
 a small branch, reducing the number of the blossoms in each. 
 To prevent the intrusion of insects, fix over, but not in contact 
 with them, a gauze net, spread upon a wooden frame of any nec- 
 essary form and size, which should be securely braced to the 
 tree or branch so as to bear the wind, which may be left in its 
 place until the fruit sets. 
 
 In plants that are monoecious, as melons, cucumbers, etc., or 
 dioecious, as some grape-vines, it is only necessary to set the 
 plants, to be fertilized by themselves, at least a hundred yards 
 distance from any others of the same kind, and,4aking ofi" and 
 carrying away all the mere fertilizers, or filse blossoms, as they 
 are commonly called, bring flowers from other plants and fer- 
 tilize them by either of the processes described above, and with 
 similar precautions against insects. 
 
 PRODUCTION OF NEW VARIETIES OF VEGETABLES. 
 
 The tendency of seeds to deterioration and intermixture, 
 whether aiising from their necessary proximity in small gar- 
 dens, or from the interest, the ignorance, or the carelessness of 
 
80 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 cultivators, gives importance to the production of improved va- 
 rieties. 
 
 This is most commonly effected by careful and long-contin- 
 ued SELECTION, to which high culture should be superadded, 
 in which we continually choose the most perfect or earliest 
 plant, or fruit, or pod from which to obtain our seed. 
 
 Upon this latter principle rests the old familiar rule of tak- 
 ing for seed the cucumber or melon growing nearest to the 
 root, etc. This rule, however, is seldom rigidly adhered to, and, 
 if it were, would natm-ally tend to produce an earlier but small- 
 er-fruited variety than the original. 
 
 Perhaps the most promising course for improvement is to 
 choose the second, and generally finer fruit for seed ; or, if the 
 object be simply to avoid depreciating the variety, the whole 
 crop, being left ungathered from the first, will yield satisfac- 
 tory seed. Unless, indeed, it should happen that from pecul- 
 iar circumstances the plant makes a very extended or a sec- 
 ond growth, in which case the earlier product alone should be 
 permitted to seed. 
 
 New and improved varieties are also sometimes obtained by 
 careful and intelligent intermixture, in which we aim to 
 combine the desirable qualities of both the old varieties in the 
 new one we expect as the product. This valuable result is 
 also sometimes effected accidentally. In such intermixture the 
 general rule is that the product will have the form and ap- 
 pearance of the fertilizer, with the character or peculiarities 
 of the fruit-bearing plant. To illustrate this : Very early peas 
 are generally small. Suppose we desire to produce a variety 
 in which the seed should be larger, but the crop not materially 
 later. Then, on the general rule given, we may fertilize the 
 cedo nulli with the Spanish dwarf, and expect to accomplish 
 our purpose ; but if we fertilize the latter with the former we 
 ought not to expect success, though it is not inconceivable that 
 we might succeed, from the accidental concurrence of certain 
 occult causes or combinations connected with the previous proc- 
 esses through which these varieties may have passed in ar- 
 riving at their present state. 
 
 Intermixture is effected only between kinds that blossom at 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 81 
 
 the same time ; and it is probably from blooming a little out 
 of the ordinary season that certain kinds of peaches, and per- 
 haps also apples, often or constantly reproduce seedlings like 
 themselves. The several sub- varieties of the Eewtown pippin 
 apple, and other valuable fruits, sometimes attributed to soil, 
 etc., are probably the results of exclusive and perfect self-fer- 
 tilization in isolated blossoms. 
 
 New varieties are not unfrequently obtained by transfer 
 to a different climate. In a period more or less prolonged, the 
 plant becomes acclimated, and its habit fixed in conformity 
 with its new circumstances, and on being returned to its for- 
 mer latitude it can not be identified as one with the variety 
 from which it sprang. The early Canada pea is an instance 
 of this, being the early frame pea raised for a series of years 
 in Canada. 
 
 The effect is precisely analogous to that induced without 
 change of climate by taking only the very first formed pods 
 for seed. The maturing of the crop is hastened, but its size 
 and yield somewhat reduced. 
 
 Transfer to a southern climate tends, of course, in the oppo- 
 site direction. All this, however, would be greatly affected by 
 the absolute natural fitness or unfitness of the climate to pro- 
 duce the crop which it is sought to change. 
 
 New varieties are occasionally produced by disease, which 
 becomes hereditary, but of these it is not worth while to speak. 
 
 They are also often introduced from foreign countries, 
 either by scientific research or under the stimulus of interest. 
 The cocoanut squash (noted in its place) was introduced from 
 Valparaiso by the late Commodore Porter ; and the common 
 large white kidney bush-bean, which now abounds in our 
 stores and markets, was brought into New York from Madeira 
 some thirty years ago, when dumpling beans were scarce. At 
 that time it furnished the text for a free-trade article in the 
 New York Journal of Commerce, which indicated clearly that 
 the vrriter " knew beans." 
 
 D2 
 
82 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER Vm. 
 
 Sowing, Manner of; Time of; Depth of, etc. — Combination of Vegetable 
 Crops. — Transplanting, Ridging, Hilling, etc. 
 
 SOWING. 
 MANNER OP SOWING. 
 
 In broadcast sowing the land is generally laid off, either by 
 furrows or sight-poles, into spaces of suitable width for two 
 casts of the seed, which meet and slightly overlap as the sower 
 throws the return cast ; but in small lots the eye is often de- 
 pended on to gauge these distances. 
 
 To perform the operation rightly, a basket or sheet contain- 
 ing the seed is slung upon the right shoulder and across the 
 breast, so as to be partially under the left arm and governed 
 by the left hand. The sower beats time as he steps, dipping 
 a handful of seed with his right hand at each advance of the 
 left foot, and casting it with a steady sweep as he steps for- 
 ward with the right. A good sower does not cast the seed 
 from his hand at once, and right before him, as in feeding 
 chickens, which would cause it to fall in streaks, but, by adroit 
 management with his thumb, and an upward cast, spreads it 
 as it issues, causing it to fall in a broad, scattering shower, 
 like the spreading jet of water drops from an engine-pipe when 
 thrown into a showering semicircle by the finger of the en- 
 gineer. 
 
 In broadcasting small beds or plots in the garden a pinch 
 of seed is taken instead of a handful, but the same skill is 
 used to spread it evenly as it is thrown. 
 
 In drill sowing, also, a large pinch of seed only is taken, 
 which, in the process of sowing, is strickled along the drill by 
 just such a motion of the thumb upon the fore and middle 
 fingers as a skillful housewife uses in carefully salting a steak. 
 A smart boy accustomed to the work will sow evenly, and of 
 any desired thickness, at the rate of a fast walk, or faster in 
 an emergency. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 83 
 
 TIME OF SOWING. 
 
 The proper time for sowing varies not only with the various 
 kinds of seeds, but often also with the same kind, according to 
 the period at which the crop is expected to mature, or the use 
 for which it may be wanted. Vegetables intended for spring 
 or summer use, if hardy, should be sown in the fall or at the 
 very earliest opening of spring ; if tender, the seeds should be 
 sown and the plants prepared in hot beds, and be set out at the 
 time of the principal corn-planting, or a little earlier if the ob- 
 ject is deemed worth the risk. Unless the soil and location 
 of your garden is very favorable, do not plant or sow your full 
 crops, even of early. vegetables, until the ground becomes warm- 
 ed and free ; let a border, at most, suffice for extra early ex- 
 periments. 
 
 By this practice you will often excel in the quality and 
 yield of your crops, and sometimes in the earliness of their 
 products. " On time, but not ahead of time," is as good a rule 
 for the garden as for the rail-road. 
 
 For all tender vegetables, the planting time of the main 
 corn-crop constitutes a fixed point at which, in all latitudes, it 
 will be found safe to sow or set. The time of leisure between 
 planting and first hoeing is the good time for farmers to make 
 garden, the ground being plowed or dug a month or so before. 
 
 Those vegetable crops intended for winter feeding to cattle, 
 and those of the same kind intended for the table, should not 
 be sown at the same time, a large crop being a main object in 
 raising the former, and excellence of quality chiefly desirable 
 in the latter. 
 
 All crops for winter use should be sown late enough to avoid 
 the summer heat upon the half-matured crop ; those intended 
 for feeding to cattle as early as possible consistently AYith this 
 indispensable rule ; while those for table use should be defer- 
 red to as late a period as may in any way consist with the 
 probability of their matming before winter. Through the cool 
 weather of autumn all vegetables that have not been checked 
 in consequence of too early sowing, or by some other cause, if 
 properly cultivated, grow with great rapidity, and furnish prod- 
 
84 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 ucts very superior in quality to those raised even from the 
 same stock, but sown before the proper time. 
 
 Whenever root vegetables, having attained to from one fourth 
 to one half or more of their ordinary growth, experience a check 
 from any cause, it is almost impossible to start them anew so 
 as to obtain either handsome or well-tasted roots ; they will, in 
 general, be either hollow, or stringy and necked, or have an al- 
 kaline taste, or all of these may combine to render them worth- 
 less for the table, and of but little value for any purpose. Even 
 if the check occur while they are quite small they are scarcely 
 ever recoverable. The judicious cultivator will, therefore, so 
 time the sowing of his winter root crops as to carry them clear 
 of the summer heats and into fall weather, with its cool nights 
 and heavy dews, while they are yet in the first or second stages 
 of their growth. If this be done, and their after cultivation be 
 faithfully attended to, he may reasonably expect a crop abun- 
 dant in yield and excellent in quality. 
 
 North of latitude 40° the spring sowing of general crops 
 may ordinarily be performed in April and May, Root crops 
 intended for cattle may generally be sown with safety about 
 the middle or latter end of June, and those intended for win- 
 ter table-use from early in July to mid-August, according to 
 the kinds ; but in southern latitudes, earlier and later sowing, 
 with a longer summer intermission, becomes necessary. In a 
 well-cultivated garden it will be found safe to allow about 
 twelve weeks for the growth of fall-sown vegetables, counting 
 from the time that their third leaves attain the size of a 
 " squirrel's foot," though some of them, as turnips, or bush- 
 beans for salting, will be ready for use in shorter time, 
 
 DEPTH OF SOWING. 
 
 It is sometimes imagined that the seeds of tap-rooted plants, 
 as radishes, beets, &c., should be sown at a depth proportioned 
 to the expected length of the product. Men otherwise intel- 
 ligent occasionally entertain this puerile notion, and lay the 
 blame of failure upon seeds which, in fact, they themselves 
 have buried beyond hope of germination. The oaks that clothe 
 our mountains sprang from acorns that were never buried ; all 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 85 
 
 selt'-sown seeds are cast upon the surface, and those which are 
 covered deeply in plowing seldom trouble the cultivator until 
 again brought near to it. 
 
 The following are general rules : 
 
 1st. Except in special cases, shallow sowing is to be prefer- 
 red to deep. 
 
 2d. In dry, hot summer weather, seeds should invariably be 
 sown in soil freshly dug or plowed, and should then be sown 
 rather deeper than in the more moist and cool seasons of spring 
 and fall. 
 
 3d. The depth at which seeds should be sown may generally 
 be infen'ed from their size. If seed be very small, it should 
 be sown on the surface, previously well pulverized, and be 
 lightly and carefully raked in ; or when in small plots, simply 
 stirring the earth with the hand or with a small stick will 
 cover the seed sufficiently ; but seeds thus sown upon the sur- 
 face, unless the weather be moist, should have a gentle water- 
 ing for two or three evenings with the ordinary rose watering- 
 pot, and be shaded from the strong sun. Seeds not very small, 
 as radish, &c., may be sown in drills half an inch or an inch 
 deep, or upon a surface left somewhat rough, and must then be 
 pretty thoroughly raked in. 
 
 The larger seeds, as beets, beans, &c., may be covered from 
 one to two inches deep, the latter depth being sufficient for the 
 largest seeds in the hottest weather, if the second general rule 
 be regarded. 
 
 COMBINATION OF CROPS. 
 This is a system of arrangement by which various crops are 
 raised in the same season, and partly at the same time, upon 
 the same ground. The planting of pumpkins with corn is a 
 familiar instance among farm crops, and an increase of about 
 one fourth has been supposed to result from alternating the 
 rows of com with potatoes. In the neighborhood of cities, 
 where land becomes very valuable, it is common to sow in the 
 fall upon the same gi'ound alternate rows of lettuce and spin- 
 Qch or corn salad. The spinach or corn salad being cut very 
 early in the spring, the lettuce may be cultivated for early 
 head salad. 
 
86 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 In the spring radishes are often sown broadcast upon land, 
 and afterward beets or parsneps are sown in rows, or early 
 cabbage-plants are set out at the proper distances for those 
 crops. In due time the radishes ai-e pulled, and the land left 
 to the remaining crop, Avhich then receives the ordinary cul- 
 ture. See also Early Potatoes and Pole Beans, page 171. 
 
 Other combinations occur, as fancy or the variety of crops to 
 be raised may dictate. In raising root-crops on a large scale, 
 combination may sometimes be wise and profitable, as where 
 either carrots, or beets, or parsneps are raised together with 
 onions. The onions being sown at the very opening of spring 
 in drills three feet apart, after they have been weeded and 
 thinned — say early in June — the spaces are plowed, and two 
 rows of either of the other articles named are sown at eight- 
 een inches apart in the intervals ; and the onions being gath- 
 ered in August, the roots last sown are cultivated in the usual 
 manner, and may yield from two to four hundred bushels per 
 acre. 
 
 In any combination of crops, it must not be forgotten that 
 the labor is generally increased, and, unless in land of extraor- 
 dinary richness, and with special care in the cultivation, each 
 crop will afford much less than a medium yield. 
 
 TRANSPLANTING. 
 
 Transplanting of fibrous-rooted vegetables is one of the most 
 important operations of the garden. 
 
 It is sometimes assumed by writers on the subject of culture 
 that it is highly expedient, if it be practicable, to sow all seeds 
 where the plants are intended to matm^e, and that to transplant 
 is not only additional labor, but a disadvantage to the crop. 
 This may be true of tap-rooted plants, as beets, carrots, &c., 
 because they can not well be removed entire and replanted in 
 their natural position ; but in reference to those which are 
 fibrous-rooted, the very opposite of these conclusions will be 
 fomid correct in practice. The labor of keeping in order an 
 acre of cabbages sown in the hills for the first month after sow- 
 ing will be found much greater than its thorough preparation 
 for the crop while the plants are left for that period in the 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 87 
 
 seed-bed, being then, immediately after a final and thorough 
 plowing of the land, transplanted to their appropriate places. 
 
 Transplanting, too, is an essential process in the superior 
 cultivation of almost every variety of vegetable crop. Check- 
 ing in some measure the natural tendency to wildness in the 
 growth, it in the same degree tends to secure and hasten the 
 perfecting of the product. A transplanted vegetable, whether 
 plant or tree, other things being equal, will mature sooner than 
 one left standing Avhere the seed was sown. 
 
 It is indeed probable that repeated transplanting, accompa- 
 nied by the stimulus of high nutrition, either experimental or 
 accidental, were the chief processes by which our heading and 
 fleshy-rooting vegetables have been obtained from their wild 
 and worthless originals. 
 
 The reader will infer from what has been said that in all 
 heading vegetables, if he would have superior products, he must 
 cultivate highly, and transplant once or oftener while his plants 
 are in the young growing state. 
 
 PREPARATORY STEPS. 
 
 By transplanting we generally, though not always, mean the 
 final setting out of plants where they are intended to mature, 
 and for this process there are preparatory steps of more or less 
 importance according to circumstances. 
 
 1st. Plants, while very small, are often transplanted from 
 the seed-bed, and set from one to three inches apart, or at such 
 distances as will prevent their being " dra-wn up" and weaken- 
 ed by crowding one another, as well as to afford them room to 
 form good roots. This is technically called " bedding," and, 
 though not essential, will always prove an important aid to the 
 cultivator, afibrding him strong, well-rooted plants, and ena- 
 bling him to carry a little earth with each root in the final set- 
 ting out of his crop, thus not merely securing the life of all, 
 but, which in late planting is often equally important, their 
 uninterrupted growth. 
 
 2d. This end is still more effectually attained in the case of 
 the egg-plant, tomato, &c., by a second removal, technically term- 
 ed "potting" in which such a number of plants, usually three, 
 
88 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 as ai'e calculated for each hill, are put into a small pot of rich 
 earth, and placed in a slight hot bed two or three weeks before 
 the final setting out^ in which case, at pi anting- time, after a 
 plentiful watering, they are carefully removed from the pot by 
 turning it upside down upon the hand, with the plants hanging 
 between the fingers, and starting the whole out unbroken by 
 striking the edge of the pot gently upon any thing solid ; the 
 whole ball of earth is then placed, with the plants it may con- 
 tain, in the hill prepared for it. See Hilling, 
 
 3d. Grouting. — Immediately before young seedling plants 
 of vegetables are piilled for any pm^pose, the bed, or at least that 
 part of it from wliich the plants are to be drawn, should be 
 thoroughly soaked with water, and, if needful, a small stick 
 may be used to pry up the roots, so that they may retain some 
 of the earth with them in transplanting. If from any cause 
 they fail to hold the earth, it will be found of special import- 
 ance that they be submitted to the process of grouting. 
 
 This is performed by mixing rich earth, to which cow-dung 
 may be added, with water, to the consistence of soft mud, and 
 dabbling the roots of the plants in it, not by thrusting them 
 into it, but rather by drawing them through it, or, as it were, 
 striking them upon it until each root is loaded. A dozen 
 plants may be grouted at once ; and as they are held in the 
 hand preparatory to this process, an inch or two of the root- 
 ends may be cut oflf. 
 
 In the final transplanting, it is the general rule to set the 
 plants of cabbages, peppers, and other plants that form a stem 
 one or two inches deeper than they have previously stood ; but 
 plants that do not form a stem, as celery, lettuce, &c., at the 
 same depth as before. If the stems of yomig plants of the for- 
 mer class are very long, or, technically speaking, if the plants 
 be " long-legged," they may be planted a little deeper than 
 above directed ; but, whether the leg be long or short, the plant 
 should never be put in so deeply that the earth reaches the 
 leaves ; let these always remain above ground, and free to the 
 wind. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 89 
 
 MODE OF FINAL TRANSPLANTING. 
 
 The process of transplanting is a simple one, although re- 
 quiring care and skill to perform it well and rapidly. Let us 
 describe the operation. Having plants, stem-plants, of suita- 
 ble size — that is, from four to ten inches' growth — either drop 
 them at the proper distances, with their heads to the left hand, 
 or place them in a small box or basket on your left hand, or 
 sling them in an apron or pouch before you ; take your dibber 
 (see Fig. 59, p. 58) in your right hand, and half a dozen or so 
 of plants in your left ; separate one of them, as if slipping it 
 out of the hand, but still holding it with the thumb and fore- 
 finger ; make a perpendicular hole with your dibber of such 
 depth as you judge the root of the particular plant you hold to 
 require ; rack your dibber quickly from side to side before you 
 withdraw it from the earth, to enlarge somewhat the hole and 
 prevent the surfax^e sides filling it in ; then put the root of 
 your plant into the hole just made, an inch or two deeper than 
 it stood in the seed-bed, holding it steadily with your left 
 hand. The moment it is in position, force yom- dibber down 
 about two inches to the right of it, not quite perpendicularly, 
 but pointing inward, as if to pass under the root of the plant. 
 As soon as the proper depth is attained, which should be about 
 the same as that of the hole first made, bring your dibber up- 
 right to the side of the plant by a sudden motion of your right 
 hand toward the left, thus pressing the earth against it from 
 the bottom upward ; having set it firmly in its place by this 
 movement, withdraw the dibber, and a single stroke with its 
 point across the side-hole will fill it in and complete the opera- 
 tion. In this manner a rapid planter will set from five to ten 
 plants per minute. 
 
 If the distances for yom' plants are not marked, measure 
 them with the eye as you plant, and proceed in the same man- 
 ner to the end. 
 
 All transplanted crops should be lightly and carefully hoed 
 within two or three days of the time they were set out, to start 
 them at once and healthfully on their growth, and for the first 
 two weeks at least should be daily watched, to catch the cut- 
 worm, which may otherwise destroy them. See Insects. 
 
•:)() AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 CROP RIDGING. 
 Ridging for crop is performed in the preparation of the land 
 for sowing or planting by first opening a furrow with the plow 
 or spade, in which the manure intended for the crop is spi^ead 
 thickly, whereupon the two furrow^s, as in ordinary ridging, 
 are thrown over it ; the ridges being then partially flattened 
 l)y running a rake or hook along each, or passing over them 
 the back of a wide, light harrow, or a mere bar, or a roller, if 
 the nature of the manure seem to require it, the seed is sown 
 or planted along the centre, and covered in one of the ordinary 
 modes. In ridging potatoes the seed is usually laid immedi- 
 ately upon the manure, and then covered and finished as above 
 directed. Ridging for crop is often found economical and ad- 
 vantageous in mild, moist climates or on wet soils, but under 
 all ordinary circumstances " flat culture" is preferable. 
 
 HILLING. 
 
 In agriculture, hilling is, like ridging, opposed to flat cul- 
 ture, but difiers from ridging in that the hill is formed by 
 throwing furrows together both ways by cross plowing. 
 
 When the crop is to be manured in the hill, deep fun-ows 
 are nm each way at suitable distances, and the manure, being 
 carted on, is dropped into the fiu-row at the point of intersec- 
 tion. The planting of the crop is then completed either by 
 dropping the seed directly upon the manure, as for potatoes, 
 or by first hoeing over the manure a slight coat of earth, upon 
 which the seed, as in corn or pole beans, is dropj)ed, and the 
 covering of both seed and manm-e completed with the hoe ; or 
 the manure, if coarse, is first covered by throwing together two 
 furrows over it, as in ridging, and then planting the crop upon 
 it with the hoe or other implement, the hills proper being 
 formed in the after cultivation of the crop. 
 
 In gardening, and to some extent in farming also, the term 
 " hilling" has become so far modified in its meaning as not 
 necessarily to imply that the earth is materially gathered 
 around the plants, but simply that the plants themselves are 
 set, or the seeds planted in small clumps of three, or four, or 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 91 
 
 five, with spaces between the so-called hills greater than would 
 be left if the plants stood in single line. " Hilling," there- 
 fore, in gardening, is opposed to " rowing," and may or may 
 not involve the idea of a raised mound of earth. 
 
 The advantages of hilling are various. 
 
 1st, Crops set or so^vn in hills, even when the earth is not 
 materially raised around the plants, are more easily tended 
 than in rows. 
 
 2d. They are still more easily tended if the earth be so 
 raised ; the hilling-up from time to time enabling us to cover 
 and thus stifle the young weeds which must otherwise be re- 
 moved by hand. 
 
 3d. In crops requiring poles, hilling has the great advan- 
 tage of one pole serving for several plants ; and in corn-crops, 
 the raised surface meets the strong stay-roots which are thrown 
 out from the lower joint of the stalk and braces it against the 
 wind, which in fiat cultui'e AYOuld be likely to prostrate the 
 crop. 
 
 4th. All crops are probably benefited by some additions of 
 fresh earth around the plants during growth, supplying new 
 food to the young roots, which push rapidly into it, especially 
 after the growing crop begins to shade the sui'face. 
 
 Hills, however, should always be made broad and somewhat 
 flat rather than high arid conical. The latter form throws oflF 
 the water from the plant, the former retains it, thus co-oper- 
 ating with and seconding the natural arrangement by which 
 each leaf of corn is made a groove or channel to convey moist- 
 ure to the stem and plant ; and each large leaf of the giant 
 pie-plant, being slightly incurved, is set to catch the falling 
 dew and rain, its stem forming the gutter by which it is car- 
 ried to the root ; and so of many other plants, with varied 
 adaptation to the same end. 
 
 CROP PLOWING. 
 In large or farm-garden operations, where the rows are wide, 
 much of the labor of cultivating crops in the progress of their 
 growth is performed with the small single or the half mould- 
 board plow, which are used in the ordinary manner of careful 
 
92 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 corn and potato plowing, and generally should be followed by a 
 light corn-harrow. 
 
 In certain crops, however, it is important to loosen the soil 
 more deeply than can be safely done by either of these, and the 
 skeleton plow is used, which, with a single narrow-stepping 
 horse or mule, can be put beam deep, sometimes at the first 
 stroke, and almost always at the second ; and though it throws 
 scarcely any furrow, yet it is well to follow it with a single 
 stroke of the corn-haiTow. The use of some one or more of 
 these small plows, aided by a light corn-harrow, is of great 
 value to growing crops. If frequently and faithfully used, 
 scarcely any crop that is seasonably sown will be found to suf- 
 fer from any ordinary continuance of drought. 
 
 HOEING. 
 
 The directions so often repeated in this work, to " hoe fre- 
 quently and deeply," may seem to the inexperienced superflu- 
 ous ; it may be thought that hoeing is useful only for the pur- 
 pose of killing weeds. The cultivator of a garden could scarce- 
 ly make a greater mistake. It is admitted as a demonstrated 
 fact in vegetable physiology that plants receive their food 
 principally, if not entirely, by the spongioles, or extreme ves- 
 sels of their root-fibres. !Now in the deep hoeing of crops, the 
 extending roots of the plant are cut, and every tender growing 
 root thus cut will in a few hours throw out several new ones, 
 pushing in various directions, and some of these being cut by 
 subsequent hoeings, the ramifications of the roots ai'e greatly 
 increased, and in an equal, or perhaps even in a greater ratio, 
 their spongioles or mouths are multiplied. 
 
 Again : modern science has shown that ammonia is the great 
 quickener and an essential supporter of vegetable life, and that 
 the atmosphere is the reservoir or chief som-ce for supplying 
 it. By deep hoeing the soil is most thoroughly pulverized ; 
 it is so loosened that the young roots can seek their food with 
 facility ; it is opened to the air and dews of night, which bring 
 with them at once the ammonia which furnishes the material 
 of their food, and the moisture, combination with which is prob- 
 ably essential to its reception by the plant. (See Manures, p. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 93 
 
 60.) This, however, like all other garden operations, may be 
 performed wisely or unwisely. No set of rules will allow the 
 cultivator to lay aside his judgment and common sense, and go 
 on blindly to success ; but the following suggestions will be 
 found useful in practice. 
 
 1st. In the early stages of their growth, all garden crops 
 should be frequently and deeply hoed ; that is, in fruit or seed- 
 bearing plants, as cucumbers, beans, &c., until the blossoms are 
 about to appear ; in heading vegetables, until the heads are 
 about to form ; and in root crops, until they are about to swell, 
 or until they attain from half to three quarters of an inch di- 
 ameter. Most crops, too, will be greatly benefited by being 
 plowed or dug thi'ough between the rows, wherever this is prac- 
 ticable, at least once during their growth. 
 
 2d. Crops, when nearing maturity, if hoed at all, should be 
 hoed shallow, unless it be at such a distance as will leave the 
 larger roots entirely undisturbed. For this purpose, the thrust 
 hoe may be used to advantage. 
 
 WATERING. 
 As a common practice or system, watering crops is not de- 
 sirable ; but occasionally it may become necessary for a brief 
 period, either upon newly-sown seeds in very dry weather, or 
 young plants but recently set out. It should be done in the 
 evening if at all, but generally it will be found better to de- 
 pend on timing your crops well, sowing or setting them in 
 ground freshly prepared, and cultivating them deeply, than on 
 the laborious and often futile practice of watering, unless, in- 
 deed, as in rainless Egypt, the peculiarities of your climate 
 necessitate systematic irrigation. 
 
94 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Insects; general Characteristics of ; Changes of ; Prevalence of. — Means of 
 Defense and Offense against them. 
 
 INSECTS. 
 
 Insects, in general, complete the round of their life, or rath- 
 er lives, in one year. There are some exceptions, however, as 
 the well-known seventeen-year locust, and also some three and 
 four year insects, as the saperda, the May-bug, and the spring 
 beetle or snapper, parents of the apple-tree borer, the corn- 
 grub, and the wire- worm. But, whether the period in which 
 their changes occur be short or long, they are all definitely ef- 
 fected. The young are hatched, or the insect wakes from its 
 torpor at the time of the opening of the leaves or flowers upon 
 which they have to feed ; and if, from any cause, they hatch 
 before their food is ready, they die, although this rarely, if ever, 
 happens. 
 
 They are air-breathers, with varied apparatus for this pur- 
 pose suited to their condition, and changing with it. In the 
 larva, or worm state, they are commonly fm'nished with spir- 
 acles or breathing-holes along their sides. 
 
 Their digestive apparatus consists, as in the snipe or wood- 
 cock, of a single uniform tube. In its passage through this 
 simple opening, their food is elaborated, and the colorless blood 
 formed. This, in their system of circulation, is carried with 
 regularity from tail to head, and back again, passing in its re- 
 tm-n through the respiratory tubes. While in the larva or worm 
 state, they are voracious and generally injurious. They eat, 
 and digest, and spin through their allotted time, all the indi- 
 viduals of the same kind having equal life, however varied the 
 limit of life in this condition may be in the different species. 
 At the close of this definite period they take the chrysalis form, 
 changing their appearance, structure, and mode of existence. 
 
 Having completed their organization and growth in the 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 95 
 
 chrysales, they become, by a curious metamorphosis, moths or 
 butterflies ; they are entirely harmless to vegetation, not chew- 
 ing, but sucking their food ; and after living a few days to per- 
 fect and deposit their eggs, they perish. Of those species 
 which assume the form of beetles, having cutting or biting ap- 
 paratus, some are injurious both in the state of larvae and when 
 winged. These do not spin cocoons, but the naked worm or 
 grub passes through a state of torpor and change in the earth. 
 
 Most kinds of insects have periods, recm-ring at longer or 
 shorter intervals, in which they are unusually abmidant and 
 destructive, becoming in a single season a scourge to neighbor- 
 hoods or nations, and again declining to their ordinary num- 
 bers. They also vary greatly with climate, locality, and crop, 
 each of these having its peculiar general classes or species. 
 The soft, slimy insects, as the slug and snail, which are the 
 pests of the garden in moist and foggy island climates, are 
 scarcely known under our bright summer sun, except in pecul- 
 iarly wet seasons ; and many of the insects of hot southerly 
 latitudes disappear as we go north or rise high above the level 
 of the ocean, or are found, like summer visitors, only in the 
 heart of the season. In swampy lands, or by rivers, we find 
 insects that do not frequent the dry uplands ; in sandy locali- 
 ties, those from which clay soils are exempt. 
 
 The pea-bug is not found in corn, nor the wheat-fly in Lima 
 beans, nor the parsley-worm upon the cabbage, but each ad- 
 heres to its appropriate plant or class of plants. Some, how- 
 ever, take a wider range in their depredations. The rose-bug 
 attacks indiscriminately the blossoms of the rose, the peony, 
 or the grape-vine, the leaves of the oak, the elm, or the linden, 
 and the fruit of the cheiTy, &c. 
 
 Insects that infest or injure garden vegetables, however, do 
 not materially differ south and north, but are fomid in all lati- 
 tudes in their specific seasons. In general, they belong to the 
 crop and the season rather than to the particular latitude, a 
 single wet, cool season producing multitudes of the softer slimy 
 insects, which a bright hot summer prevents or destroys. Most 
 species of winged insects, on the contrary, are born and rejoice 
 in the sunlight, and many larvae, as the nest-Avorm and others 
 
96 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 of the caterpillar tribes, ai-e stimulated to their most lively vo- 
 racity by the bright heat. 
 
 The remedies prescribed in this work will be found, in'gen- 
 eral, to apply to classes of insects rather than merely to single 
 species, and may therefore be made available in any locality. 
 
 The first care of the cultivator should be to make himself 
 accurately acquainted with the formation, character, and habits 
 of those varieties of insects which his climate or locality may 
 produce, or which his crops invite, particularly their times of 
 first appearance and subsequent changes. Upon such knowl- 
 edge, well applied, he may often find the profits of his labor 
 depending. It is as necessary to him as the diagnosis of dis- 
 ease to the physician. 
 
 The known and reliable means of defense from the ravages 
 of insects are very limited. The field of patient and intelli- 
 gent observation and experiment in this department remains 
 comparatively unexplored, and may be entered with abundant 
 prospect of reward by any one of my readers. 
 
 There are, however, a few points which it may be useful to 
 mention. 
 
 1st. Insects have natm-al enemies in the parasites, or ich- 
 neumons, that deposit their eggs in the body of the insect or 
 its larva, or in the chrysalis. In these living nests the young 
 interloper is hatched, and lives upon the substance and de- 
 stroys the life of his victim. These hidden foes, of which it is 
 probable each variety of insect has at least one, are always 
 present, always active, and can not be eluded. Others war open- 
 ly, as the short yellow worm, the larva of the syi'phus, that 
 lives upon the cabbage aphis, blind, but always following his 
 prey ; also the numerous aphis-eaters, as the larv^ae of the spot- 
 ted or " lace-winged" and " golden-eyed" flies, and the lady- 
 bug, both in the larv^a and perfect state. These natural ene- 
 mies Ave can transfei; from plant to plant when necessary, thus 
 putting them upon the track of their prey. 
 
 Among larger insects, their foes are the di'agon-fly or darn- 
 ing-needle, and especially a smaller blackish fly, looking like a 
 cross between a dragon-fly and wasp, which hunts for his food 
 with the activity and intelligence of a terrier. The birds, also, 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 97 
 
 and the bat live largely upon insects, which they consume both 
 in the larva and the winged state, and the toad, though not a 
 spry hunter, can often and expertly catch, a fly. 
 
 Moles, also, and some ground-beetles destroy the various 
 grubs that are hatched or harbored in the earth. 
 
 Some insects have protectors. Ants are said to guard the 
 aphides, and, by a peculiar process, milk them, or, perhaps more 
 truly, by a startling threat, to rob them of the sweet juices they 
 suck from plants. 
 
 2d. We have also opportunities for escaping their depreda- 
 tions by changing a little the period of sowing or planting, 
 though this also may sometimes expose us to other inconven- 
 iences. 
 
 Late-sown wheat has been found to escape, at least in part, 
 the depredations of the fly or the weevil. Late-sown peas are 
 not so liable to be punctured by the pea-bug, but they are pe- 
 culiarly exposed to check and mildew from the heat, which by 
 early sowing they would have escaped. But late-planted win- 
 ter cabbages not only escape the cut-worm, but, if driven into 
 rapid growth by careful after-cultivation, are improved in qual- 
 ity by the delay. 
 
 3d. Insects have tastes and distastes, of which we may per- 
 haps avail ourselves in self-defense. As they carefully avoid 
 certain plants, we may mix these with those which they attack, 
 and try thus to shield them. Onion, hemp, tobacco, and tomato 
 have been suggested and recommended for the protection of 
 cucumbers, melons, &c., on this principle. There is, however, 
 a difficulty in the application of it. A single plant of either 
 of the three last named in each hill, left to grow unchecked, 
 will monopolize possession and destroy the crop ; whether if 
 kept closely trimmed they would efiect the end, or whether, if 
 they would, the labor could not be better applied, are questions 
 to be answered. The onion, as well as several small herbs with 
 strong odors, may be well worthy of trial. We have also some 
 other means of offending them, which will be mentioned in con- 
 nection with the several insects. 
 
 4th. We possess various means of injming or destroying 
 them» There are certain points in the history of insect life 
 
 E 
 
98 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Avhen we may successfully assail it, viz, : a. In the eggs, which, 
 in nests of from ten to a hundred, we may gather by hand, or 
 scrape from the trees on which they are deposited, b. In the 
 chrysales or cocoons, which are often more easily found and 
 gathered than the eggs. c. Li the perfect or winged state, by 
 means of fires in their season, d. For those kinds which make 
 nests, the period of weakness immediately succeeding the hatch- 
 ing of the young colony, when they may be crushed at once. We 
 possess also various other means of injuring or destroying them. 
 Upon some we may sow lime or plaster with effect ; others are 
 destroyed by drenching with fatty or soapy matter, which kills 
 them by stopping their breathing-tubes, or with water, which 
 simply drowns them, as the palmer-worm has been found to be 
 destroyed by violent rain. We may gather them by hand, or 
 entrap them with sweets, and in various other ways. But to 
 all this labor there is a limit of wisdom, which it is not Avortli 
 Avhile to pass. The general principle may be confidently 
 adopted, that only those insects which attack healthy crops and 
 cause disease will repay the trouble of cure or catching. The 
 sole remedy, or rather preventive, for those induced or invited 
 by disease, as the root-worm, the cabbage aphis, the cucumber 
 striped bug, &c., is the preservation of vigor in the crop by 
 timely and suitable culture. In more than thirty years' expe- 
 rience and observation, I have never known a healthy crop of 
 cucumbers materially injured by the striped bug, nor a diseased 
 or checked crop that escaped the bug, or that was restored by 
 the destruction of its supposed destroyer. 
 
 In the following list of insects, all that are injurious to gar- 
 den vegetables in every locality may not be included, but the 
 number inadvertently omitted must be small, and such descrip- 
 tions, and directions, and hints are given in regard to those 
 enumerated as will perhaps furnish aid in reference to others 
 that may have been left out. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 99 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Insects injurious to Garden Vegetables, &c. — Aphides. — Larvffi, orWonna. 
 
 — Moles. 
 
 WINGED INSECTS, 
 Aphides, or " Green Flies," &c. 
 
 Fig. 62. 
 
 n, natural size ; 6, b, magnified. 
 
 Cabbage Aphis, Aphis Brasicse, 
 Com " " Maidis, . ^. 
 
 Hop " " Humuli, >^ig-'3^- 
 
 Lettuce " " Lactucae^J 
 
 The cabbage, corn, hop, and lettuce aphides, though distin- 
 guished by entomologists, need not be distinguished here. 
 Their names indicate the particular plants they infest, the rem- 
 edies are the same for all, and each, we may be sure, is pursued 
 by its destroyers. 
 
 The first is found on all unhealthy and ill-cultivated cab- 
 bages, and the only remedy, or rather preventive, is good cul- 
 ture, successful in producing unchecked growth. 
 
 The second appears only occasionally, and usually or always 
 upon the green ear- set of the corn, at the extremity of the 
 husk. 
 
 The third is sometimes troublesome upon the hop, where it 
 is cultivated as a farm crop. Showering with pretty strong 
 tobacco- water, or sowing dry ashes, or lime, or plaster upon 
 them in the dew, are worthy of trial with a view to their pre- 
 vention or destruction. 
 
100 AMEBIC AN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 The fourth is found only on the seed- stalk branches of the 
 lettuce, and the applications above named for the hop may be 
 used for this, if found needful. 
 
 CUCUMBER BUG. (Striped.) 
 GALERUCA VITTATA. 
 
 The striped cucumber bug is an active black and yellow 
 Fig. 63. ^ striped beetle, about one fourth of an inch long, 
 which attacks the cucumber, melon, and other 
 kindred plants, especially when from any cause 
 those plants become diseased or checked in 
 growth. It eats the leaf tissue until the veins 
 only are left as a net-work, and fastens upon 
 't, magnified. ' tho stcm just at the surface of the gromid, and 
 eats into its substance. Fortunately, well-cultivated and 
 healthly plants escape it almost entirely, or easily outgrow its 
 injuries ; but plants in poor or cold soil, or where the seed is 
 sown or planted while spring is yet only coming, or too direct- 
 ly upon heating manure put into the hills, or in a continuous 
 drouth in hot sand or gravel, will either perish quickly under 
 its attacks, or linger along and fail at last in spite of eflfort to 
 restore them. 
 
 Various preventives, some of which may be worthy of far- 
 ther trial, have been suggested, such as planting an onion, or 
 a tomato, etc., in each hill. Numerous remedies have also 
 been proposed, as soot, lime, ashes, plaster, snuff, etc., to which 
 may be added, as equally efficient, sand. They are all mere 
 temporary disturbers of the insect, which, from its timidity, 
 retreats instantly upon the slightest annoyance, either hiding 
 quickly under leaves, or in the earth, or at once flying away. 
 They may apparently be almost driven in a flock by a liberal 
 broadcast of any powder, but for the rest, even if it be Scotch 
 snuff, it may be presumed they only sneeze. 
 
 Let your ground, then, for these crops be thoroughly pre- 
 pared, wait for warm weather to plant in, and when the young 
 plants appear, let them have prompt and continued care, and, 
 if need be, stimulus, as liquid manure, until they are beyond 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. ' 101 
 
 the reach of the bug. (See also Squash Bug.) Besides these, 
 cucumbers are sometimes troubled with a small jumping bee- 
 tle, like the turnip bug, the Haltica cucumeris, for which the 
 proposed remedies for the striped bug may be found really use- 
 ful, particularly soot, ashes, or snuff. 
 
 PEA BUG OR WEEVIL. 
 BRUCHUS PISI. 
 This is the small brown bug sometimes so abundant in 
 dried peas, and is produced from an j,. g^ 
 
 egg which generally is deposited in 
 each of the young peas by punctming 
 them through the pod while it is yet "^^ 
 tender. Occasionally, however, in very 
 large peas, two or even three punctures 
 will be found on the same side, the «' '^'^^^ai size ; 6, magnified. 
 
 operator having mismeasm-ed distance ; and sometimes they 
 are punctured on both sides, probably by different individuals, 
 the last one unaware that the dwelling was already tenanted. 
 
 Nearly on the opposite side from the round hole by which 
 the bug finds its outlet from the ripe seed a small brown spot 
 will usually, if not always, be found upon the pea, which is the 
 healed punctm'e where the egg was deposited. 
 
 The insect makes these punctures along the side of the pod, 
 and the general course taken by the young worm being more 
 or less directly to the opposite side, it becomes apparent that 
 the eye of the pea, which is at the point of attachment to the 
 pod at its inner or fi'ont edge, will seldom be injured; but, 
 notwithstanding this, peas which the bug has eaten should not 
 be used for seed, especially in a cold spring, when, not vegetat- 
 ing quickly, they are apt to water-soak and rot. 
 
 The pea bug belongs to warm weather and localities. It is 
 unknown in high northern latitudes, and any where north of 
 40° it is avoided by selecting an elevated region, or by put- 
 ting off sowing until the latter end of May. 
 
 The crow blackbird and the Baltimore oriole are said to 
 seek the young worms, but are of no practical importance as 
 destroyers. 
 
102 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 In small quantities seed-peas may be scalded, while stirred, 
 before sowing, which is said to destroy the bug ; more confi- 
 dence may perhaps be placed in soaking until the peas begin 
 to vegetate, and this may be safely done if they are then roil- 
 ed in plaster (gypsum), quickly sown upon fresh-plowed land, 
 and covered without being suffered to lie exposed to the sun. 
 Or we may sow only two-year-old seed-peas, keeping them in 
 tight barrels, and sifting out and destroying the weevils in the 
 spring or summer of the first season. It is presumed that the 
 insect deposits eggs only in the pea, and if so, it would seem 
 to be dependent upon our care of the ofispring for perpetuation. 
 
 SQUASH BUG. 
 COREUS TRISTIS. 
 
 The squash bug, sometimes erroneously called turtle bug, is 
 Fig- 65. generally a dark brown or blackish bug, 
 
 rather quick in its movements, ridged 
 across above the shoulders, the whole 
 having an angular or lined appearance, 
 somewhat resembling a shield with its 
 quarterings. It is a foul, fetid bug, the 
 companion of the striped cucumber bug 
 in its ravages among vegetable vines. 
 It is less numerous and less lively, but 
 larger and more destructive in propor- 
 tion to its numbers, eating the leaf more 
 voraciously, and more completely de- 
 stroying the stem. Its eggs are laid in June and July. It is 
 timid and quick to hide, but may be caught by hand in the cool 
 of the morning from any crop which it infests, and crushed. 
 It often enters the house in the fall of the year. 
 
 TURNIP BUG OR FLY. 
 HALTICA NEMORUM. 
 
 A little black bug or beetle, about' one tenth of an inch in 
 length, which springs when disturbed, and on this account is 
 by some called Jumping Jack. In certain seasons the various 
 species of this insect become very numerous upon the young 
 
 Magnified nearly twice tlie 
 natural size. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 103 
 
 plants of turnips and cabbages, sometimes eating them entirely 
 Fig. 66. off before the third leaf is formed. When 
 prevailing, they destroy with equal prompt- 
 itude the plants in a small seed bed or a 
 breadth of acres. 
 
 Soaking and stirring the seed in sulphur 
 water, and rolling the surface after sowing, 
 have been recommended as preventives, as 
 a, natural size ; 6, magni- wcll as the sowiug of ashcs and piaster upon 
 the young plants ; and where the turnip crop 
 is esteemed, they are sometimes caught in the throat of a light 
 bag, made with a pronged frame in the fashion of a shrimp- 
 net, which is carried steadily over the surface of the land in 
 precisely the same manner as the shrimp-net is carried over 
 the flats. But as it is a short-lived pest, it is generally better 
 to dig or plow the gromid a second time, and resow the crop, 
 taking care to give it a vigorous start. 
 
 For this purpose, few things will be found more efficient than 
 coating the seed thoroughly with common whale oil, and dry- 
 ing it off with plaster immediately before sowing, taking care 
 to cover it completely but lightly, and gently roll the ground, 
 or beat it moderately with the back of the rake. 
 
 GRASSHOPPER. 
 
 ACRYDIUM PLAVOVITTATUM. 
 
 Fig. 6T. 
 
 Natural size. 
 
 Once in a series of years, particularly in certain localities, 
 grasshoppers become a resistless scourge, consuming every young 
 green crop ; but in ordinary seasons the garden may be defend- 
 
104 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 ed against them by incessantly driving them with sand thrown 
 broadcast over crops as often as they are attacked, aided by 
 fowls, particularly broods of young turkeys, which thrive finely 
 upon them. 
 
 LARV^ OR WORMS. 
 
 CABBAGE WORMS. 
 
 Fig. CS. 
 
 LABOEB CABBAGE WOEM, WITH ITS PARENT BITTTEEFLY. 
 
 «, Larva ; b, Colias Philodice. 
 Fig. C9. 
 
 SMALLER OABBAOG WORM, WITH ITS SUPrOSEB PARENT HCTn!RFLT. 
 
 a, Larva ; 6, Pontea Oleracea. 
 
 These are pale green or yellow worms, from an inch to an 
 inch and a half long, with some dark spots, which are found 
 more or less every season upon cabbages and some other plants. 
 Individually they are fast feeders, but their number is limited, 
 and of comse so is the injm-y they do. Birds also destroy 
 them. They should be hand-picked and crushed. These 
 worms are the progeny of the common large and small white 
 and spotted butterflies. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 105 
 
 There is another pretty spotted wonn that coils itself up on 
 the cabbage ; it is the painted caterpillar, larva of the Mamestra 
 picta. It is rather rare, and its appetite not very voracious. 
 
 The larva of the Cerostoma brasicella is a yellowish green 
 •worm, described by Fitch as alx)ut one third (0.35) of an inch 
 long, and of the thickness of a coarse knitting-needle, tapering 
 somewhat to both ends, with sixteen legs, and very active, hav- 
 ing sometimes a dark head. The moth which produces it is 
 about the same length, and of an ash-gray color. 
 
 The worm, in certain localities, appears upon the cabbage in 
 October, particularly in dry seasons, and feeds chiefly upon the 
 loose outer leaves, thoroughly riddling them. At length it 
 spins a thin gauze-like cocoon, which it attaches to the eaten 
 leaf. 
 
 It is not extensively injurious, but simply disagreeable upon 
 a vegetable intended for food. It has its parasitic foe, the 
 smaller brown cocoons of which will be found near by. 
 
 CORN GRUB. 
 Fig. 70. 
 
 LARV^, WITH THBIK PARENT BUGS. 
 
 a, a, Larvse. 
 
 b, Melolontha vulgaris, or May-beetle. c, Melolontlia copris, or Tumble-bug. 
 
 The corn grub is a whitish, fat, disgusting grub, from one 
 to two inches long, which is often found greatly to injure com 
 
 E 2 
 
106 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 as well as grass by eating the roots, sometimes destroying them 
 so completely in sod-land that the grass may be rolled from the 
 sm-face like a sheared fleece. It especially prevails among 
 com or potatoes planted in newly-plowed sod-land. Plowing 
 in the fall has been thought to expose the grub to destruction 
 by the frost, the birds, &c. On spring-plowed sod lime sown 
 at the rate of forty bushels per acre, or salt at the rate of five 
 or six bushels, before the last harrowing, will be found of ad- 
 vantage. The fall plowing is probably to be preferred, and, if 
 convenient, the lime also may be applied after the spring plow- 
 ing. Crows, jays, and some other birds seek the grubs eager- 
 ly, and destroy large numbers of them every season. 
 
 Their changes are completed in the ground, and in due time 
 the May-bug makes its appearance. This is the rather large, 
 short, light brown beetle, with rough, or ridged and slightly- 
 punctured wings, and feet that feel like claws, which abounds 
 in cherry-trees in the spring evenings, flying with a humming 
 sound, and often striking with some force against an object in 
 its track, when in general it quietly settles and folds its large 
 gauze inner wings entirely under the hard cases which cover 
 and shield them. In the day it lies quietly among the leaves, 
 or returns to its hiding-place in the sod. Its eggs are de- 
 posited in the earth, and in two weeks the small grubs are 
 hatched. 
 
 The European variety of May-bug, which om'S closely resem- 
 bles, becomes a scourge at times, stripping whole forests of their 
 foliage ; and it is generally said that ours eats the leaves of 
 cherry and other trees. Fitch reports a single instance of its 
 serious depredations, but I have never kno'wn it to do noticea- 
 ble injui'y to any thing, and mention it among injurious insects 
 only on account of its connection with my subject as parent of 
 the corn-grub. As the May-bugs are, in general, much more 
 easily caught than the grub, it is desirable to destroy them as 
 far as possible. They may be caught in numbers at midday, 
 and more freely toward evening, by being shaken from the trees 
 into a sheet, and destroyed by crushing, or scalding, or fire. 
 
 The grub of the tumble-bug or dung beetle, Melolontha co- 
 pris, is supposed to have similar bad habits with the former, 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 107 
 
 but it is comparatively scarce and of little consequence, and the 
 same natural enemies repress its increase. 
 
 CUCUMBER BORER. 
 LARVA OF JEGERIA CUCURBITS. 
 
 The winged insect is orange-colored, with some black spots 
 on the body, and black and orange -colored hairs fringing its 
 legs. The eggs are deposited near the roots of the plants in 
 July and August. 
 
 The larva is a small worm that sometimes destroys cucum- 
 ber and squash vines after they are well grown, or even in 
 fruit, by eating off the skin of the main root, and boring it, 
 when, of course, the whole vine wilts and dies. It is not very 
 common, but in some seasons makes naked spots in the squash 
 or cucumber patch. All vines found wilting from this cause 
 should be immediately carried away, and the stems and roots be 
 burned, or boiled, or macerated for some hours in water poured 
 hot upon them, thus preventing the perpetuation and increase 
 of the insect. 
 
 CUT WORM. 
 
 Fig. 71. 
 
 LAEVA, WITH PARENT MOTH. 
 
 o, Larva. 
 
 6, Agrotis devastator. 
 
 This moth, says Fitch, is of a grayish brown, and, when 
 spread, measures from an inch and a quarter to an inch and a 
 half across. Extending from the base of the wing along the 
 inside of the inner stripe is a broad black or dark-brown streak, 
 crossed by two slender pale bars, not parallel, whence it is 
 named the dart moth ; this is its distinctive mark. 
 
108 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 The moths that become the parent of the cut worm are not 
 certainly known, but are supposed by Dr. Fitch to be the dart 
 moth above referred to, and other evening or owlet moths of 
 similar character. 
 
 The eggs are dropped upon the ground in the latter part of 
 summer ; they soon hatch, and the young worm crawls into 
 the ground and feeds upon the roots and young shoots of her- 
 baceous plants. When cold weather comes it descends a few 
 inches below the surface, and remains torpid till spring. Late 
 in the summer it becomes a chrysalis, which resembles a long, 
 thin egg, of a chestnut-brown color, having several impressed 
 rings or joints toward its pointed or tail end. From this, in 
 three or four weeks, the miller or moth comes forth, the parent 
 of another generation. 
 
 The cut worm is of various shades, from light drab to black, 
 and of different varieties, which are not clearly distinguished 
 by writers on insects. Most of them have the habit, whence 
 their name is derived, of cutting off the young leaves or ten- 
 der stems of plants just above the ground, and drawing them 
 into the mouth of their hole, fm'nishing, like some other thieves, 
 a clew to discovery by the effort to hide. 
 
 The red-headed cut worms, or tiger worms, found south of 
 New York, cut under ground. Their depredations are contin- 
 ued throughout the summer upon the yomig corn, beans, pep- 
 pers, etc., but they are most numerous in June and July, at 
 which time they are so destructive to the young, freshly-set 
 cabbage-plants that it is common for market-gardeners to de- 
 fer planting until they disappear, which they generally do near 
 New York before the first of August, going deeper into the 
 ground, and assuming the chrysalis form. 
 
 The crow, with some other birds, and a species of dragon-fly, 
 are inveterate enemies of the cut worm, and Fitch recom- 
 mends the making of deep tioles with a stick about their places 
 of resort, into which they fall, and, it is supposed, can not get 
 out. This, however, would appeal' not only doubtful, but also 
 as involving, perhaps, more labor than the ordinary and direct 
 course, which is simply to glance along the rows of your crop 
 early in the day, and, wherever the presence of the marauder is 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 109 
 
 detected, either by a cut leaf or a wilted plant, search for him 
 just below the surface and crush him. 
 
 HEART WORM. 
 Called also Top Worm. Spindle Worm. 
 
 LARVA OF THE GORTYNIA ZEA. 
 
 The moth is of a rust-red color, somewhat mottled with gray, 
 and having a few black dots. 
 
 The larva is a rather slender and active yellowish-green 
 worm, with dark head, and sjwts and rings. It is from half 
 an inch to an inch long. Hatched in, or entering the side of 
 the corn-plant, it eats into it when from three to nine inches 
 high, consuming the heart or spindle of the young spear, and 
 where it abounds the crop of corn is greatly lessened or de- 
 stroyed. It infests also ■ the dahlia and some other plants. 
 Remedy : catch and crush him, or stop his hole, and pour into 
 the plant a little weak ley. Perhaps, if attended to early, he 
 might be crushed, without injuring the growth, by carefully 
 compressing the young spear between the thumb and finger, 
 or a fine wire passed into his hole might pierce him. 
 
 The "corn-borer" or bill-bug of the South is of similar 
 habit, though operating upon the crop at a later period of its 
 growth. The same remedies may be used for both as far as 
 practicable. For the latter the annual fall burning of the 
 corn-stumps, in which the chrysales are formed and pass the 
 winter, has been found an efiectual check. 
 
 HOP WORM. 
 LARVA OP THE HYPENA HUMULI. 
 
 The hop worm is about an inch long when full grown, of a 
 greenish- white color, watery-looking or semi-transparent, and 
 slightly striped and dotted, having fom'teen legs. The mouth 
 is yellowish, and the tips of the jaws black. 
 
 The moth is about an inch long, and varies in color from 
 quite dark to a dull white. The worms appear early in June, 
 and continue until late in August, feeding upon and nearly 
 consuming the tissue of the leaves. 
 
110 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 The common remedy of syringing or showering the vines 
 with strong soap-suds, or with a solution of whale-oil soap, is 
 prescribed for this and some other insects which commonly or 
 occasionally infest hop-vines. 
 
 PARSLEY WORM. 
 
 Fig. 72. 
 
 LAEVA, WITH PABENT BUTTERFLY. 
 
 a, Larva ; 6, Papilio Troilus. 
 
 This is a yellowish-green worm, with black streaks and spots, 
 and a pair of hidden yellowish fleshy horns, united at the base, 
 which it throws up when disturbed, and from which an offensive 
 and sickening odor is emitted. It is from an inch to two inch- 
 es long, not very numerous, but rather voracious. It feeds upon 
 the parsley, parsnep, and some other plants. The only known 
 remedy is to catch and crush him. 
 
 ROOT WORMS. 
 Turnip Root Worm. 
 
 Larva of Antuomtia Canicctlakis. 
 
 ■ Radish Root Worm. 
 
 Larva of Anthomyia Raphani, or Eadicum op Etoopk. 
 
 Onion Root Worm. 
 
 Labva op Anthomyia Cepaeum. 
 
 The anthomyia3, which, according to Harris, are the parents 
 of these various root worms, are the small " flower flies," which 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 111 
 
 appear and swarm like certain kinds of gnats, or like the small 
 flies that frequent foul spots and ordure. 
 
 The worms are white, and usually from a quarter to half an 
 inch long. They are found only in diseased vegetables, as 
 stunted radishes, cabbages, or turnips. The true remedy is to 
 pull and burn or boil the crop as soon as it is discovered to be 
 infested, and endeavor to avoid such necessity in future by 
 timely sowing and good culture. 
 
 WIRE WORM, OR RED WORM. 
 Fig. T3. j^ reddish-brown worm, produced by the 
 
 LARVA, WITH PARENT , , 
 
 J5PG- click-bug, about an inch long, with a very 
 
 "' ' tough, smooth skin, slightly hinged or joint- 
 ed. It enters the root or under-ground por- 
 tion of the stem of plants, and eats its way 
 up through the heart, causing death, 
 
 «, Larva; 6, Elater se- /-^ n i • i 
 
 getis, or Click-bug. lienerally these insects are rather scarce 
 and shy, but at certain periods, and in different and limited sec- 
 tions, a sudden and large increase takes place, and they become 
 very destructive to corn and other crops. Among garden veg- 
 etables they sometimes attack lettuce, and the pink tribe among 
 flowers. They can scarcely be crushed in the earth ; to catch 
 them by hand, and either cut or pull them in two, or crush them 
 upon a stone, seems the only promising mode of open warfare ; 
 but they are sometimes baited with slices of turnip or potato 
 laid upon or just under the ground, which they enter, and are 
 gathered daily and destroyed. 
 
 BEE WORM. 
 
 Fig. T4. 
 
 LAEVA, WITU PARENT MOTHS. 
 
 a, Larva ; b, Galleria ceit in i i ii il > 
 
 The bee worm is a yellowish- white worm, with brownish 
 
112 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 j-jg 74 dots, having sixteen legs. When 
 
 first hatched, it is not much thicker 
 than a thread, but attains its full 
 size in about three "weeks. The 
 moth is about three fourths of an 
 inch long, of a dusty gray color, 
 
 c, Galleria cereana (female). iii • ,^ tii ,i 
 
 dashed with purplish bro"\\Ti, the 
 female being somewhat darker and larger than the male. The 
 wings, which slope back flatly, are notched, and turned up a lit- 
 tle at the end. The moth lays her eggs in the dirt or crevices 
 near the mouth of the hive, or enters at night and deposits 
 them in the chinks inside. In about two weeks the small 
 thread-like worm is hatched, which soon becomes covered with 
 a silky tube, spun from the wax on which it feeds. Keeping 
 itself always incased in this, where the bees' stings can not 
 penetrate, or masked by a thick coating of wax, which prevents 
 their approach, it labors incessantly to destroy the cells which 
 the bees have so industriously and skillfully built. Two broods 
 are hatched in a season, and if neglected through the summer, 
 the strong silken cocoons or webs become, by the beginning of 
 fall, very numerous in the infested hives, and almost the whole 
 of the comb broken and defiled, so that at length the bees ai'o 
 wearied and driven out. In hot and dry seasons they are 
 most troublesome, especially to weak swarms. 
 
 The presence of the bee worm in a hive may be known by 
 the wax-dust and black castings of the worm lying upon the 
 floor. If the quantity of these is small, a careful examination 
 of the upper parts of the hive, destroying the Avorms as you go, 
 may suffice ; but if large, showing that the enemy is in consid- 
 erable force, you had better drive the bees, that is, provide a 
 hive of the same size, put in plenty of rests or cross-sticks, 
 and wash the inside with hop tea sweetened to a sirup ; early 
 in the evening, before the bees get very sleepy, having closed 
 the mouths of both hives, turn the old one bottom upwai^d, and 
 quickly fit the new one over it ; drum upon the outside of the 
 former, and the bees will leave it. Before morning, place the 
 new hive upon a new, clean stand, with food upon it sufficient 
 for a week ; shut in the bees for that time, and for the second 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 113 
 
 week keep them fed, and let them out only in the edge of the 
 evening, aflfording them no time to wander. If found neces- 
 sary to strengthen them in their new home, feed the contents 
 of the old hive to them, or supply them freely otherwise. 
 
 The following arrangement might perhaps prevent the depre- 
 dations of the enemy. Place the stand for your hive upon a 
 single centre pillar, and take care that it is no larger than the 
 hive, except a small projection in front of the entrance ; put an 
 apron of tin entirely around it, extending an inch or two be- 
 low the edge ; let it spread upon and cover the small " door- 
 step" of the hive. Close even the minutest crevices all around 
 with grafting composition No. 3, and whenever there is pecul- 
 iar risk of injury from the insects, fit to the door of the hive a 
 slide of woven wire, to be closed every evening during the moth 
 season. 
 
 MOLES. 
 
 Much injury sometimes results from the running of moles in 
 a garden, particularly in light soils, but they also do good in 
 the destruction of various insects inhabiting the soil, often more 
 than counterbalancing their injuries. If they become too nu- 
 merous, they may be caught with a hoe or hook, if watched for 
 at their ordinary meal-times, morning, noon, and evening. 
 Sometimes they are caught in a small twitch-up trap. There 
 are also various patent traps for the purpose, which are more or 
 less efficient, A clergyman in New Jersey has recently in- 
 vented a spiked dead-fall trap, which is said to be imusually 
 effisctive. 
 
 It is stated that pieces of salt codfish put into their runs, or 
 castor-beans planted here and there in the garden, will drive 
 them away. Any of these expedients may be tried, if thought 
 worth while. 
 
114 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 VEGETABLES FOR THE GARDEN. 
 
 Vegetables for the Garden, etc., with Descriptions and Directions for their 
 Culture. — Assortment of Seeds for a Family Garden. 
 
 ARTICHOKE. 
 French, AriichatU. — German, Artischohe. — Spanish, Cinauco. Aleachofa. 
 
 PURPLE, GREEN, ETC. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow thinly, or drop single seeds at a distance of tliree or 
 four inches in drills one inch deep and twelve inches apart. 
 Keep them perfectly clear of weeds, and hoe them often through- 
 out the season. 
 
 The following spring transplant them into very rich soil, in 
 hills four feet apai"t each way, setting one, two, or three plants 
 in a hill. Keep them clean and cultivated as before. 
 
 Cover them well with earth or litter for winter. 
 
 Time : sow or transplant in early spring, say April at New 
 York. 
 
 The purple (flowered) or green-globe artichoke resembles a 
 huge thistle-head, formed with broad, thick scales. The heads 
 are cut when of full size, just before blossoming, and being well- 
 boiled, are served up with drawn butter. 
 
 The eatable part consists of a thin layer of soft marrowy sub- 
 stance upon the inside of each scale, and the thick, tender, 
 tabulai' base or bottom upon which the scales and dowm of the 
 blossom are set. It may be cultivated as a tit-bit for an epi- 
 cure, but would not form a very substantial contribution to a 
 farmer's table. 
 
 It may be raised from seed sown at the opening of spring or 
 from young suckers ; it requires deep rich soil, and the plants 
 or hills should stand at least four feet apart each way. A 
 good winter protection of earth or litter is advisable, to be re- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 115 
 
 moved at the opening of spring, when the earth should also he 
 lightly dug about them, and the hills dressed. 
 
 The time to cut the heads for use is immediately before the 
 appearance of the blossom, just when the centre of the head be- 
 gins to open. 
 
 JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE, HELIANTHUS TUBEROSUS. 
 
 French, Poire de Terre. — German, Erde Apfel. — Spanish, Girasol. 
 
 This is a tuberous-rooted species of sunflower, which aifords 
 tolerable food for hogs when planted in a low rich spot, of which 
 it can have full possession until the swine are turned in to 
 root it up ; it needs only to be once planted in the manner of 
 potatoes to insure a large crop every year, if the hogs are kept 
 out until fall, when they will leave enough seed in the ground 
 for the next year's crop. 
 
 This root is sometimes used for pickling, or eaten cut up in 
 vinegar as cucumbers, and still more rarely boiled for use by 
 those who happen to fancy a sweetish, watery potato, which, 
 when cooked, it nearly resembles. It has been used to some 
 extent for sheep, and even the tops cured for winter fodder, but 
 it is probably compai-atively valueless for these purposes. 
 
 ASPARAGUS. 
 
 French, Asperge. — German, ^Spar^'e/.— Spanish, Esparrago. 
 
 GIANT, WHITE, GREEN, ETC. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow thinly in shallow drills twelve inches apart. Hoe 
 often, and keep perfectly clear of weeds. At one year old the 
 plants may be transplanted into permanent beds, at one foot 
 apart each way. Time : sow in the fall or as early in spring 
 as practicable. Transplant in spring. 
 
 Asparagus is a well-known and delicious vegetable ; it is 
 raised from seed, which may be sown in fall or early spring. 
 The plants at one or two years old are transplanted into beds 
 at one foot apart each way, or, if cultivated upon a large scale, 
 into rows at three feet distance, so as to admit the plow, the 
 
lit) AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 plants being set one foot apart in the rows. It is absolutely 
 necessary to give asparagus a warm, rich soil, and, if it is in- 
 tended to make a permanent bed for a private garden, it would 
 be well to dig out the whole space, and underlay the bed with 
 six inches or more of well-rotted manure, or trench the ground 
 at least eighteen inches deep, mixing it thoroughly and plenti- 
 fully with such manure in the process, adding sand or road- 
 wash if the soil be heavy. 
 
 Let the bed be so prepared in the fall, and in spring, having 
 dug it over, raked it smoothly, and with your marker laid it 
 out in one-foot squares, put in your plants exactly at the points 
 where the lines intersect, covering the crowns about three 
 inches deep. Keep it perfectly clear of weeds, and, if a drought 
 comes on, give attention to watering it. 
 
 One year from the time of planting you may expect a light 
 cutting for the table ; but you had much better not cut any 
 the first year after planting than risk the injmy to your suc- 
 ceeding crops by cutting too much. 
 
 Top-dress your bed with well-rotted manure every fall, dig 
 the surface lightly over in the spring, and water it with the 
 old brine from your pork-barrel, or strew salt over the bed. 
 
 By this process you will have asparagus sufficiently gigan- 
 tic ; and, if you desire it white, cover your bed six or eight 
 inches deep with road- wash or beach sand, and cut the aspar- 
 agus at that depth with a long knife whenever it shows itself 
 an inch or less above this covering. 
 
 In cultivating asparagus upon a large scale, let your land be 
 most thoroughly manm*ed ; set the plants four inches deep, in 
 rows three feet apart, and one foot between the plants in the 
 row ; keep it clean with the plow and corn-harrow, or cultivator, 
 manuring it every fall if possible ; and, if you choose to plow 
 in the manure lightly across the rows, as if the ground were 
 uncropped, it will bear the operation carefully performed with- 
 out injury to the next year's product, and -with gi'eat advan- 
 tage in keeping it clean with little labor. 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 117 
 
 BEANS (English). 
 
 French, Feve de Marais. — German, Grosse Bohne. — Spanish, Haba. 
 
 BROAD WINDSOR, LONG POD, &C. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Drop the seed at about three inches distance, in drills two 
 inches deep and two feet apart. 
 
 Hoe often, drawing the earth to them a little from time to 
 time mitil they are in full bloom : then nip the end of each 
 stem an inch or two, and wait for the crop. 
 
 Time : the earliest possible in spring both South and North, 
 or through the winter months in the former. 
 
 These beans, if raised at all, should be planted in strong 
 moist soil at the times and in the manner above directed. 
 
 They are used as shelled beans, being gathered when the 
 pods attain their full size, but while still green and tender. 
 
 Though a favorite vegetable with some, they are rather a 
 coarse delicacy, and are not likely to be generally esteemed. 
 Commonly, too, they do not bear well with us, and if but a 
 slight drought come upon them in their growth, the black 
 aphis will eat them up. 
 
 The horse bean is a small variety of this species, which in 
 Europe is raised extensively as a farm crop. It is commonly 
 mixed with oats in feeding horses, being considered very strong 
 food, and from its heating quality requiring to be used in mod- 
 erate quantities. 
 
 BUSH BEANS. 
 French, Haricots nains. — German, Stambohnen. — Spanish, Frijoles. 
 
 BUSH BEANS. DWARF BEANS. KIDNEY BEANS. CRANBERRY 
 BEANS. SNAPS. 
 
 Early IMohawk. Early China. Union. Rob Roy. Valentine. 
 Large White Kidney. Marrowfat. Refugee, etc., etc. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow thinly in rows from eighteen inches to two feet wide, 
 and about an inch deep ; hoe often, drawing the earth a little 
 
118 AMEBIC AN HOME GAEDEN. 
 
 to them, and sow plaster upon them at least once before they 
 blossom. 
 
 Time : corn-planting time for spring. July to October, ac- 
 cording to latitude, for fall use or salting for winter. 
 
 At New York, May to August. 
 
 Bush beans are sometimes called kidney beans from the form 
 of many of the varieties, and cranberry for the same reason ; 
 snaps from their being used while the pods are sufficiently ten- 
 der to snap without showing fibres, and dwarfs or bush beans 
 from their habit of growth, not requiring poles, but being self- 
 supporters. 
 
 These beans may be planted from the very earliest corn- 
 planting time to the last month of summer at the North, and 
 at the South on into September. In favorable weather six 
 weeks for the earlier kinds, and eight weeks for the later, will 
 be found long enough to allow for the production of the green 
 crop. They should be thinly sown in rows about eighteen 
 inches or two feet apart, and covered about an inch. Hoe 
 them AYell as soon as they come up, eai'th them up a little as 
 they grow, sowing plaster lightly over them from time to time, 
 and there is scarcely a fear of failure. 
 
 For early kinds, the Mohawk, the China, and the Valentine 
 may be sown. To succeed these, the Union, the Rob Roy, the 
 maiTOwfat, the large white kidney, and the refugee. 
 
 The China, the white kidney, the marrowfat, the Valentine, 
 the Union, are all superior to the common white or dumpling 
 bean for winter use in the dry state, and on this account are 
 preferable to the darker colored beans, which, when dry, are 
 unfit for cooking, dark-colored beans being both strong and un- 
 sightly. The refugee is perhaps the best bean to plant late for 
 pickles, or for salting gi'cen for winter use as a table vegetable. 
 
 For this latter purpose the beans are prepared as for cooking, 
 many persons splitting the pods in the process, especially if 
 they are pretty large or old. They are then slightly scalded, 
 and when cool are packed closely into a keg or barrel, each lay- 
 er being carefully but moderately salted, and a few sprigs of 
 summer savory or other aromatic herb added. When required 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 119 
 
 for cooking, they are soaked a while to remove the excess of salt, 
 and then boiled in the ordinary manner. With proper care 
 they will keep good until spring. 
 
 In raising beans in large quantities the land should be fur- 
 rowed with a horse-marker or light plow, about two feet apart, 
 and the beans sown by hand, and covered with the potato- 
 hook ; or any good corn-planter may be used, which will com- 
 plete the operation at once. 
 
 The after-culture should be performed with the skeleton 
 plow and light harrow, or the cultivator, to keep them clean, 
 and either a single or a double mould-plow to slightly earth 
 them up, after which but little finishing off by the hand-hoe 
 will be required. 
 
 For analysis of bush beans and their value, see page 500. 
 
 POLE BEANS. 
 French, Haricots a rames. — German, Stanghohnen. — Spanish, Judias. 
 LARGE LIMA. SMALL LIMA OR CAROLINA. HORTICULTURAL. 
 DUTCH CASE - KNIFE. ASPARAGUS. SCARLET RUNNERS, 
 &C., &C. 
 
 Time : throughout corn-planting time both North and South. 
 At New York in all May. 
 
 Pole beans require to be planted in hills from two to four 
 feet apart, in which poles should be first set securely by the 
 aid of a crow-bar. 
 
 Plant four or five beans an inch and a half deep around each 
 pole, and from four to six inches from it. When well up, hoe 
 and thin them, leaving three or four of the strongest and most 
 healthful plants ; keep the earth well hoed and loosened about 
 them ; and when they begin to run, guide them to the pole if 
 they do not find it readily, being carefid to wind them in the 
 natural direction.* Continue to keep the earth loose and clean 
 
 * Vegetables and woody plants that wind in their growth do not all 
 wind in one direction, but each kind winds uniformly in its natural course, 
 and no other. The honeysuckle and the hop wind "with the sun" — 
 that is, the point of the vine in its progress passes from the south by the 
 west, and north and east to the south again ; but the bitter sweet, the 
 wistaria, the morning-glory, the cypress vine, and the bean, wind against 
 the sun — that is, the point grows from the south to the east, and by the 
 north and west again to the south. 
 
120 AMEEICAK HOME GARDEN. 
 
 about them, hilling them up a little from time to time, and 
 sowing plaster lightly upon them until the blossoming. You 
 may then wait confidently for your crop. Those which are un- 
 ripe at the approach of severe frost should be shelled and dried 
 in the sun or oven for after use, and light-colored ones are to 
 be preferred for the reasons given in the former article in refer- 
 ence to bush beans. 
 
 The Dutch case-knife, the cranberry, the asparagus, and some 
 others, may be used as snaps while very young ; the Carolina, 
 the white Dutch rmmer, the horticultm-al, and, above all, the 
 large Lima for shelling. The scarlet runners are pretty flow- 
 ering beans, but are not worth raising for the table. 
 
 The large Lima and the Cai'olina, unless in very warm soil, 
 should not be planted earlier than between the first and second 
 corn-hoeing, and in the richest and warmest spot ; but the oth- 
 er kinds may be planted as early as it is safe to plant corn, 
 which of course will vary with latitude, soil, and elevation. 
 
 BEET. 
 
 French, Betierave. — German, Rothe Rube. — Spanish, Remolacha. 
 EARLY BLOOD TURNIP. LONG BLOOD. WHITE SUGAR OR 
 EARLY WHITE SCARCITY. MANGEL WURTZEL OR EARLY 
 RED SCARCITY. YELLOW SUGAR, &C., &C. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow in deep rich soil, in drills twelve or fifteen inches apart, 
 and about an inch deep. Thin the plants to from eight to 
 tAvelve inches apart, and hoe often till the tops cover the 
 ground. 
 
 Time for spring or summer use : at the South, through 
 the Avinter months or at the earliest moment of spring; at the 
 North, either in very late fall or very early spring. 
 
 For winter use, from the middle of June to the middle of 
 July at the North, and at the South from the last of July to 
 the middle or last of August. 
 
 Beets, in general, prefer a light, rich, and deep soil, although 
 the tm-nip, sugar, and mangel wm'tzel beets, growing mostly 
 above ground, may be well raised upon any soil that is rich. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 121 
 
 FORMS OF BEETS. 
 Fig. 75. 
 
 a. Inferior Turnip Beet. 
 
 b. Fair ' " 
 
 c. Better " 
 (7. Best 
 
 e, "Wortlilesa long Beet. 
 /. Inferior " 
 
 g. Fair " 
 
 h. Best " 
 
122 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 For eai'ly use, the seed of blood turnip beet may be sown in 
 fall or winter, or at the very first opening of spring, on extra 
 rich ground, in rows twelve inches apart, between which early 
 salad or radishes may be sown if saving of space be an object, 
 these coming off before the beets require the whole gi'ound, and 
 the beets can be thinned by pulling the young plants for greens. 
 
 For winter, both the blood turnip and the long blood are 
 now extensively used, the former being valued not only for its 
 intrinsic excellence when raised properly, but also for its keep- 
 ing qualities. It may be preserved in good order until June. 
 
 Long blood beets for winter use should not be sown at the 
 North until from the middle to the end of June, and blood tur- 
 nip from the first to the middle of July, and still later to the 
 South, so timing them as to allow between three and four 
 months for them to attain their full size. As soon as they 
 are well up they should be thinned, the former to a foot apart 
 each way, or fifteen inches by nine, and the latter to one foot 
 by six inches. Keep them well hoed and the earth loose until 
 they cover the ground with their leaves ; sow a little ash com- 
 post over them once or twice dming their growth, if possible 
 just before rain ; and whenever the frost even but lightly 
 touches the tops, gather your crop immediately, or you will lose 
 a considerable portion of its sweetness. The tops having been 
 carefully and closely trimmed oflF, the roots, slightly dried, may 
 be kept through the winter by being buried or lioled, as here- 
 after directed ; or in an ordinary cellar, if laid up diy, not 
 wilted, and covered with sand or earth. 
 
 To this article a few general remarks may perhaps be profit- 
 ably added. 
 
 1st. If long beets are raised for a series of years in gi'ound 
 that is not deeply plowed and well pulverized, and the seed 
 saved from them is annually resown, they will become short- 
 ened in growth, or form a habit of growing much above 
 ground, and, in consequence of the latter peculiarity, deterio- 
 rate in quality for the table. 
 
 2d. The kinds named above are the only kinds really worth 
 raising, and, if good stock is obtained, supply all that can be 
 desired. The color of the first two should be dark blood, but 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 123 
 
 not black, for extremely dark beets will rarely grow freely 
 enough to possess the sweetness desirable. A dark-rooted 
 beet with a rather light top is generally the best ; when cooked, 
 it will be of a bright blood-color. 
 
 The mangel Avurtzel, or red scarcity, is a red-skinned beet, 
 but white inside, growing much out of the ground, and, although 
 chiefly used for feeding cattle, makes a tolerable early beet. 
 The white sugai*, or scarcity, rather shorter, but of somewhat 
 similar habit, having sometimes a very slight tinge of pink 
 upon the skin, also makes a good early beet. These varieties 
 are unfit for winter use. Of the two, the white sugar is the 
 more desirable, being of rather better quality, and having a fine 
 appearance when served up mixed with the blood-colored vari- 
 eties. 
 
 As to yellow beets and the thousand mingled varieties that 
 may be met with, their dull, dirty appearance when cooked is a 
 sufficient objection to them, not one of them possessing any pe- 
 culiar excellence to counterbalance this defect. No sweeter or 
 more tender beets can be raised than of the kinds above men- 
 tioned, but no beet can be raised of fine quality unless rapidly 
 grown. For this end, rich soil, sufficient room, and frequent 
 hoeing are indispensable. If from any cause it grow slowly, 
 or receive a check, as not unfrequently happens in drought and 
 from early frosts, the taste of potash, and not sugar, will be 
 found when it is eaten. 
 
 I have not named those beets which are raised expressly for 
 the tops, because it appears absurd to cultivate them. One 
 beet-top is almost as good as another, when grown luxuriantly, 
 and if tops are wanted, they can be plucked from the rooted 
 varieties. As a farm crop, or on a large scale for marketing, 
 beets should be sown in rows at least two feet apart, and thinned 
 to from six to fifteen inches in the rows, according to the kinds 
 and the object proposed in raising them. If raised for feed, 
 being planted early and kept well plowed and harrowed, two 
 feet by fifteen inches will probably yield as much per acre 
 as if left closer, and it is manifest that, other things being 
 equal, the fewer in number the roots may be the less will be 
 the labor of gathering them. For analysis of beets, and their 
 value as a crop for feed, see p. 500. 
 
124 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Beets may be well kept through the winter by piling them 
 carefully on a level or slightly raised surface, and covering them 
 about a foot thick with earth, packed and sloped so as to shed 
 rain, adding other covering in winter, if found necessary. This 
 is called " holing." Or they may be kept in bins in the cellar ; 
 but when in small quantity, they may be packed in ordinary 
 barrels, and either headed or covered thinly with earth, in any 
 place where the frost does not reach. 
 
 BENE PLANT. 
 
 This is the Sesamum Orientale of botanists, and has, so far 
 as I know, no other designation than bene in the French, Ger- 
 man, and Spanish languages. Sow in a drill an inch deep ; 
 thin the plants to six or eight inches apart, and keep clean. 
 
 Time : corn-planting time. May at New York. 
 
 The bene plant is rather a medicinal herb than a garden 
 vegetable, but its value as a palliative or remedy in summer 
 complaint among children has given it a claim to a place in 
 the home garden. 
 
 It is prepared by infusing the leaves or seeds for a short 
 time in water. It thus yields a tasteless mucilaginous drink, 
 which is said to be very useful in the complaint referred to. 
 
 BROCOLI. 
 
 French, Brocoli. — German, Kohl Italianische. — Spanish, Broculi. 
 
 EARLY PURPLE CAPE. EARLY WHITE CAPE. LATE WHITE, 
 
 &C., &C. 
 
 BRIEF DIKECTIONS, 
 
 Set the plants twenty inches apart, in rows two feet wide, in 
 rich soil, and hoe often. 
 
 Time at the South : sow from August to January, and set 
 out as soon as the plants are large enough. 
 
 New York and the North generally : sow in September, and 
 set out in April or early in May for summer use. For fall 
 crop, sow in the first half of May ; set out in July. 
 
 There are more than forty varieties of brocoli, but the best, 
 and perhaps the only desirable kind for us, is the " early pur- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 12.") 
 
 pie cape." The eai'ly white may be worth trying, and some- 
 times the cauliflower is sold by this name ; but the labor be- 
 stowed ujwn the late white is generally wasted. It is a large- 
 growing but profitless variety. 
 
 The earlj' purple cape is a somewhat surer crop than cauli- 
 flower, and seed of good stock is more readily obtainjed, but it 
 is so far inferior that, where cauliflower can be successfully 
 raised, it is sheer folly to plant the brocoli. 
 
 The full directions given for raising cauliflower are equally 
 suitable for brocoli ; or, for the fall planting, the latter may be 
 treated precisely as directed for winter cabbages. 
 
 BRUSSELS SPROUTS. 
 
 French, Chou de Bruxelks. — German, Sprossen Kohl. — Spanish, Col de tallo 
 
 de Bruselas. 
 
 If raised at all, sow and treat in all respects as directed for 
 Savoy cabbage (which see), observing that in heeling in Brus- 
 sels sprouts for winter the eaith must not cover that part of the 
 stems from which the sprouts grow. 
 
 Brussels sprouts is a species of cabbage about as hardy as 
 the cm-led Savoy, which in growth it somewhat resembles. It 
 does not form a main head, but gi'ows up with a considerable 
 stem, bearing at the top a pretty large bunch of leaves, of which 
 the outer ones are quite long, declining, and coai'se ; the inner 
 or cro^-n leaves, which are much stronger flavored than the Sa- 
 voy, become fit for use as greens only after the most thorough 
 freezing. 
 
 The only valuable product of this plant consists in the 
 mass of " sprouts," or small button-like heads, with which, in 
 plants of good stock, the stem is thickly set, and which, being 
 covered by the overhanging leaves, become white, and form a 
 tender and pleasant dish when cut from under their slight cov- 
 ering in mid- winter, and cai'efully ]x)iled in a net. 
 
 The objection on account of lack of quantity in the product, 
 mentioned in the case of Savoy, holds still more strongly against 
 the Brussels sprouts ; neither has it any peculiar excellence to 
 balance this and its other defects. 
 
120 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 CABBAGE (Early, or Summer). 
 French, Chou pomme. — German, Kopfskohl. — Spanish, Col. 
 
 EARLY YORK. WAKEFIELD. KNIGHT'S EARLY. LARGE YORK. 
 OX-HEART. EMPEROR, ETC., ETC. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Set the plants twelve or fifteen inches apart, in rows eight- 
 een inches to two feet wide, in rich soil, and hoe often and 
 deeply. 
 
 Time : at the North sow in September, or in hot bed last of 
 February or first of March ; set out in the last half of April. 
 
 In New York, in ordinary seasons, set out a little earlier, 
 particularly fall-sown plants. At the South sow and set out 
 from November to March. 
 
 It would not be worth while to enumerate the varieties of 
 cabbage : their names are very indefinite ; new varieties or sub- 
 varieties being so readily obtained that there seems no limit to 
 the possible number ; and, as new names sometimes sell old 
 books, so old varieties of vegetables are sometimes found under 
 new designations for the same end, or novelty is attained by a 
 very slight variation. But, by whatever names they may be 
 called, four or five kinds will fill up the season's course, and 
 complete the necessary supply of this vegetable for a family. 
 
 1, Early York, or any early cabbage, Wakefield, Knight's, 
 etc., should be sown in September or October, and when about 
 two inches high transplanted into a pit or cold bed about two 
 inches apart for wintering ; or they may be sown in a hot bed 
 in the latter half of February or former part of March, and, 
 after being hardened by gradual exposure in the beginning of 
 April, may be set out at any time after the middle of that 
 month in rows eighteen inches to two feet wide, at a distance 
 of twelve or fifteen inches in the rows. Plants that have been 
 wintered may be set out rather earlier than hot-bed plants, and 
 will usually come ofi" in time to sow turnips for winter use 
 upon the ground they occupied. 
 
 2. The large York, or ox-heart, or any second cabbage, may 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 127 
 
 be sown and set out at the same time or a few days later than 
 the former, giving them also a little more room — say sixteen 
 inches apart by twenty-four. These will succeed the early 
 kinds, and continue your supply until the flat Dutch, Bergen, 
 etc., mature, whether at the North or South. 
 
 South of latitude 40° north, cabbages of the earlier or later 
 kinds, for spring and summer use, may be set out in the fall as 
 soon as the plants attain sufficient size, and where this is done, 
 if it seem necessary, they should be set on one side of a small 
 ridge or furrow, running the rows in such a direction that the 
 ridge of earth will afford some protection to the plants from 
 prevailing winter winds ; strew over them a very thin covering 
 of litter or evergreen brush, and give prompt attention to the 
 culture of the crop at the first opening of spring. 
 
 In certain localities this process may be found desirable, but 
 in general it is best to set out plants at such time as that they 
 will start immediately and grow right on to their maturity. 
 
 CABBAGE (Late, or Winter). 
 BERGEN. FLAT DUTCH. DRUM-HEAD. RED (OR PURPLE). SA- 
 VOY, ETC., ETC. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Set the plants twenty inches apart, in rows two feet or more 
 wide, in strong rich soil. Hoe or dig among them till the 
 leaves touch. 
 
 Time : sow in May. Set out in July in New York and the 
 North generally, and later as you proceed south. See also di- 
 rections given above under early cabbages. The Bergen, flat 
 Dutch, drum-head, or any late cabbage, if sown and set out 
 late, and grown rapidly by the aid of rich soil and thorough 
 culture, will prove equal in quality to the earlier kinds. 
 
 If the red or purple cabbage is desired, it should be sown and 
 set out a little earlier than the Bergen, etc., but at the same 
 distances. It is valued, chiefly on account of its color and 
 thick fleshy texture, for pickling and cole-slaw. Unless very 
 good stock is obtained it is liable to yield only small and com- 
 paratively worthless heads, or to fail to head at all. 
 
128 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 The Savoy is a curled cabbage, liable, as the former, to fail 
 in heading if the stock be not good, and generally yielding a 
 much less weight of crop than the other winter varieties, but, 
 on account of its hardiness and marrowy excellence after being 
 well frozen, it is worthy of more attention than it receives. It 
 should be treated precisely as the red in respect to times of 
 sowing, transplanting, and distances. Its form may be either 
 globular or heart-shaped. 
 
 North of latitude 40°, late cabbages may be sown in all 
 May, and set out in July and the first half of August. In 
 more southern latitudes they should be sown and set out at 
 later periods, but so as to afford them from twelve to eighteen 
 weeks from the time of setting out to perfect their heads, 
 which, with good cultm'e, will be found suflficient, unless the 
 stock be inferior. 
 
 The ground for cabbages should l^e rich, and, if naturally a 
 rather moist and strong loam, the addition of sufficient manure 
 will render it perfectly suitable for them. They will grow, 
 however, in any deep rich soil. 
 
 Within three or fom' days" after the plants are set out they 
 should be carefully hoed, and every morning, until they attain 
 strength, the cut worm should be sought and destroyed. Its 
 hiding places may be known by the fresh-cut leaves or plants 
 sticking out from its retreat ; stir the earth a little just below 
 the surface, near the plant, and you will find the marauder. 
 Crush him. See also page 108. 
 
 Throughout the period of their growth keep the ground 
 clean and loose, either with the spade and hoe or the plow and 
 corn-harrow, and if, after each hoeing, a little poudrette or ash- 
 compost is applied, it will materially aid the growth and im- 
 prove the quality of the crop. 
 
 As a farm crop or for feed, the larger late varieties of cab- 
 bage may be planted at a distance of thirty inches each way, 
 the ground being previously well prepared with the plow and 
 harrow, and lightly cross-furrowed with the skeleton plow, the 
 plant being set at the crossing. See Analysis and Value, p. 500. 
 
 Cabbages are liable to a disease called anbury or club-root, 
 in Avhich large swellings form upon the roots. These are sup- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 129 
 
 posed to proceed from the wound of certain weevils depositing 
 their eggs, as the gall is formed upon the oak, but I suppose 
 the insect seehs only unhealthy or checked plants, diseased, 
 morbid juices being probably agreeable to it. I have found it 
 in the portion of a patch reached by the roots of neighboring 
 trees ; and in a seed-row sown down a slope, the plants on the 
 lower or wet part were almost all clubbed, and the others free. 
 For insects infesting the cabbage, see pages 99 and 104. 
 
 It is often found difficult in northern latitudes to preserve 
 cabbages through the winter without loss by rotting, or, if this 
 be avoided by hanging them up singly, they are apt to become 
 tough and almost tasteless from drying or self-exhaustion. 
 
 The best known mode of wintering them is to pull them up 
 by the roots immediately on the appearance of hard frosts, and, 
 having made a deep clean furrow upon a gentle slope, begin at 
 the upper end of it, and place the cabbages, with the heads 
 downward, not quite perpendicularly, but sloping, so as effect- 
 ually to discharge or shed water from the heads. Having 
 thus arranged yom' heads, with the roots uppermost, through- 
 out the length of your fuiTow, proceed either with the plow or 
 spade to cover them with earth, forming a ridge over them a 
 few inches thick ; still farther to secure them against water, 
 make the crown of the ridge as solid as possible by beating or 
 treading along it, and finish it up sharply. Whatever may be 
 needed for winter use can be broken out, beginning at the low- 
 er end, while those which remain will come out in the spring, 
 even as late as May, as fresh and almost as sound as when 
 put in. 
 
 The red cabbage and the Savoy, being hardier, do not require 
 this covering, but may be " heeled in" at the approach of win- 
 ter by setting the roots in an opened furrow or trench, and 
 placing the heads close together, but above the ground, and 
 carefully settling the ^earth around the necks ; cover them 
 lightly Avith straw or evergreen brush, and cut them out as re- 
 quired for use. 
 
 Merely for winter cooking, the other varieties may be kept 
 in the same manner ; but if you desire them for spring use the 
 former mode is preferable. The " sauer-kraut," of which Ger- 
 
 F2 
 
130 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 mans are so fond, is made by halving fine solid cabbage-lieuds 
 lengthwise, cutting out the stem, and shredding them as for 
 " cole-slaw," but perhaps still finer. This is usually done by 
 means of a gang of from three to six knives arranged obliquely 
 across a wooden frame, the best and freest cutters being grooved 
 lengthwise like scythe-blades. Within this frame a small 
 open box for the half cabbage-head runs, the operator pressing 
 the cabbage upon the knives as he drives the box. The shred- 
 ded cabbage is then packed as closely as possible, by the aid of 
 a wooden " pounder," into a keg or barrel, with a moderate salt- 
 ing, and spicing with caraway or other aromatic seeds, &c. 
 When finished, a cloth is laid over it, and the head or other 
 cover laid upon it, wdth a weight, imtil it has fermented and 
 all impurities are cleared ofi". It is then ready for use, and 
 may be headed up for winter, keeping it carefully covered with 
 its brine, as in preserving pickles or butter, &c. 
 
 CARDOON. 
 
 , French, Carfi^on.— German, Kardoner. — Spanish, Cardon. 
 
 If raised at all, sow in a single row where they may stand to 
 mature, having plenty of room, at least two feet on each side, 
 and when well up, thin the plants to fifteen inches apart. 
 
 Time : March or April. 
 
 The cardoon resembles the artichoke (see p. 114), but the 
 heads are not used, the scales being fleshless and bitter. When 
 the plants are full grown, before the flower-stem starts, the 
 leaves, being gathered upright and bound together, are earthed 
 up, like celery, to blanch, and when this is efiected, the leaf- 
 stems are used by those who fancy them in stews, &c. 
 
 CARROT. 
 
 French, Carrotte. — German, il/67t?-e.—rSpanish, Zanahoria. 
 
 EARLY HORN. LONG ORANGE. ALTRINGHAM. LONG PUR- 
 PLE, OR BLOOD. LONG WHITE, &C. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow in shallow drills fifteen inches apart ; cover lightly, and 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 131 
 
 if dry give water. Thin the plants to three or four inches 
 distance, and keep clear of weeds. 
 
 Time : for winter use in families, the first half of June is 
 the best time to sow carrots in New York and the North gen- 
 erally, and still later in the South. 
 
 a. Inferior early Carrot. 
 
 6. Good early Carrot. 
 
 e. Inferior long Carrot. 
 
 d. Better long Carrot. 
 
 e. Best long Carrot. 
 
 /. White long field Carrot, of poor quality, 
 but easily gathered. 
 
 The two first named above are the only kinds desirable for 
 garden culture. The early horn is a short root, calculated for 
 
132 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 the very earliest summer use. It should be sown at the first 
 opening of the spring, in rows half an inch deep, about one 
 foot apart, and, if the weather prove diy, water lightly until the 
 plants come up. Hoe and keep clean, thinning to two or three 
 inches, and drawing out for use as fast as they swell. 
 
 The long orange, when of a very dark orange color (see Col- 
 or, p. 71), is the best of all carrots, and though not perhaps 
 always yielding so heavy crops as some of the coarser varieties, 
 it may fairly be doubted if its superior quality does not render 
 it, upon the whole, more desirable than those varieties, even for 
 farm cultm-e. 
 
 It may be so-wn about the last of May or in the first half of 
 June, in the same manner as the former, the young plants be- 
 ing thinned to fom* inches apart. 
 
 Among market-gardeners around New York and south of it, 
 carrots are also sown later and wintered out, being lightly cov- 
 ered with straw, or salt hay, or evergreens. In this state they 
 remain miinjured through the winter, and, starting to grow 
 early, afford carrots that can be bunched in May, and really fm*- 
 nish fresher-flavored roots than those which have been stored. 
 
 A light, warm, and not very rich soil is suitable for carrots, 
 but good crops may be raised upon any soil deepened by good 
 cultm-e and moderately manured. 
 
 In the vicinity of large cities land is sometimes made too 
 rich for this crop, and it fails entirely. 
 
 If raised as a fiirm crop, carrots should be sown in rows two 
 feet wide, being tliinned to four inches apart in the row, and 
 kept free from weeds. Plow often and deeply until they are 
 about half grown, then run the skeleton ploAV once beam-deep 
 betAveen the rows ; follow it with the light corn-harrow, and 
 the culture of your crop is completed. 
 
 Carrot-seed imported from Em'ope is generally very trouble- 
 some to sow, unless thoroughly rubbed with earth, or ashes, or 
 plaster. It is very woolly, and can scarcely be separated. 
 American seed, if properly managed, is clean and free as other 
 ordinary seeds. See Analysis and Value of Carrots, p. 500. 
 
 In addition to the common uses of carrots, they make excel- 
 lent " pumpkin pies." For this purpose they should be passed 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 133 
 
 through a fine grater, either in their raw state or stewed, and 
 then be used precisely as veritable pumpkin. 
 
 CAULIFLOWER. 
 
 French, Chou-fleur. — German, JBlumenkohl. — Spanish, CoUflor. 
 
 EARLY, LATE, ETC. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Set the plants twenty inches apart, in rows two feet wide, 
 in very rich soil, and hoe often. 
 
 Time : for spring and summer heading, sow in September ; 
 pot and protect the plants carefully through winter, and set 
 out in April or May at the North ; but at the South sow a 
 month or more later, and either pot and protect them thus, or 
 set out the plants, when four or six inches high, where they 
 are to stand through winter, and protect them if necessary. 
 
 For the fall crop at New York and the North generally, sow 
 in the first half of May, and set out last of June or fii'st week 
 of July. Proceeding southward, sow and transplant still later, 
 allowing the crop full sixteen weeks from the setting out, with 
 good culture, to mature for use before winter. 
 
 The cauliflower, like the brocoli, is of the cabbage tribe, 
 having long, narrowish leaves, which grow upon the stem 
 rather in the fashion of a tuft, somewhat as the palm-tree 
 bears its leaves ; and, instead of having a head like the cab- 
 bage, formed of the young leaves compacted by the closing of 
 those above and the growth of those within, it is composed of 
 the incipient blossom-head, which, appearing at first as a mere 
 button in the centre of the crown of leaves, gradually enlarges 
 to a diameter of from six to twelve inches or more. When in 
 perfection it has the appearance of a compact curd-white 
 mass of an irregular convex form, and is the most choice and 
 delicate of garden vegetables. 
 
 The early cauliflower is on many accounts preferable to the 
 other varieties, and perhaps is the only one that will prove to 
 be really worth raising. Between the early and late varieties 
 of cabbages, peas, etc., their time of maturing afibrds a pretty 
 
13-1 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 clear distinction ; but it is scarcely so with cauliflower, which 
 is rather finer and coarser, good and inferior, and by the in- 
 itiated the terms early and late are used in reference to the 
 period of the expected crop, as summer or fall, rather than to 
 designate different varieties. Disappointments would be still 
 more frequent to the cultivator if the seed for both were not 
 often fm-nished from the same stock by the seedsman. 
 
 If desired for summer use at the North, the seed should be 
 so^yn about the middle of September, and the plants, when 
 about three inches high, transplanted into quart garden-pots, 
 three plants in a pot, and placed in a pit for wintering. They 
 should be kept well covered in the severest weather, but when 
 a moderate temperature prevails light and air should be given. 
 
 In the latter half of April the plants may be set out in very 
 rich, strong soil, at the distance of twenty inches by two feet, 
 or two feet each Avay. Let them be often and deeply hoed, 
 and dig or plow deeply between them at least once before they 
 attain their growth ; use ash compost or liquid manm*e about 
 them from time to time, and if the season is favorable you may 
 cut fine heads for summer use ; if, however, the season prove 
 hot and dry, the heads will probably be small and of only me- 
 dium quality, or you may be entirely disappointed of a crop. 
 
 In milder latitudes they will bear the winter with little or 
 no covering, and may be set out in late fall. 
 
 The fall crop is far more certain, and more easily raised. 
 
 For this, sow the seed in the spring, at the times above di- 
 rected ; transplant when two inches high into a second bed, 
 two or three inches apart. In about six or seven weeks from 
 the sowing, set them out at the distance named for the summer 
 crop, treat them as directed for the same, and, unless the seed 
 sown was of inferior stock, you may ordinarily calculate on a 
 full and valuable crop. 
 
 If, on the approach of winter, any part of them have not per- 
 fected their heads, let them be taken up carefully, with plenty 
 of earth to them, and heeled in closely, either under the bench 
 of a green-house or in a warm dirt cellar, and they will con- 
 tinue to head almost as well as in the open ground. 
 
 The proper time for cutting cauliflower is when the head has 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 135 
 
 attained its largest diameter, but before it gives any indica- 
 tions of becoming loose or open. 
 
 For the benefit of the cook and the consumer, I remark that 
 it should never be boiled with other vegetables or with meat, 
 but in fair water, or milk and water, with a little salt, being 
 careful not to overcook it' — say boiling it twenty minutes or 
 less. A bag-net, which is useful in boiling all green vegeta- 
 bles, will be found especially so in cooking cauliflower. It 
 may be eaten with drawn butter or gravy, as fancy dictates. 
 
 The imperfect heads of both cauliflower and brocoli, or the 
 full heads divided for the purpose, make handsome and pleas- 
 ant pickles. See page 167. 
 
 It is often difficult to obtain cauliflower seed of good stock, 
 and upon this almost every thing depends ; but where good 
 stock can be obtained, and the soil is favorable, there are few 
 garden crops more profitable. 
 
 CELERY. 
 French, Celeri. — German, Sellerie. — Spanish, Apio. 
 
 WHITE SOLID. RED GIANT. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow upon the surface of very light, rich soil, and rake light- 
 ly in. Keep watered and shaded from the strong sunshine. 
 When the plants are three or foui- inches high, prepare trenches 
 two to four feet apart, a foot wide, and a foot deep ; dig into 
 the bottom plenty of rotten manure, and set the plants six to 
 eight inches apart, a single row in each trench. Continue to 
 shade them until started, and gradually earth them up as 
 they grow. 
 
 Time : soav from March to May, Set out from May to July 
 in New York and the North generally. 
 
 At the South, sow in June and July. Set out in August 
 and September. 
 
 There are various kinds of fancy celery, and diversities of 
 opinion as to their merits, but the continued general cultiva- 
 tion of the white solid would seem to prove that, on tlie whole. 
 
136 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 it is the best. The term solid as applied to celery refers to 
 the leaf-stem or eatable part, which, in inferior varieties, is 
 more or less hollow, or " piped." Celery should be sown upon 
 the surface of fine, light soil. The seed, being raked in very 
 lightly, should be shaded for a few days, and watered moder- 
 ately each evening until it comes up, if the weather be dry. 
 When about two inches high, the plants should be transplanted 
 into a second bed at one or two inches apart. In May and 
 later, prepare for their final planting by digging trenches about 
 a foot wide and ten or twelve inches deep at a distance of three 
 or fom* feet apart. Strew along the bottom a thick layer of 
 thoroughly rotted manure, and dig it in, mixing it well with 
 the soil in the process. After it has lain a week or two, dig 
 it again, and mix and pulverize it. If your plants are ready, 
 or you desire something a little earlier than your main crop, 
 you may begin to plant ; if not, then dig again when yom' 
 plants are ready, and, having grouted the roots (see p. 88), 
 set them out at six or eight inches apart, in a single row along 
 the trench, and shade them until they take root. Keep them 
 perfectly clean, and the earth loose around them, applying 
 liquid manm-e after each hoeing until they are large enough 
 to earth up for blanching.* 
 
 This process should be performed about every ten days after 
 the plants in the trenches have attained a height of ten or 
 twelve inches. 
 
 To do this properly, choose a fine day for the operation, gath- 
 er the leaves carefully up, place a board on each side of the 
 row, and di'aw the earth against them ; then raise the boards 
 gi-adually, and carefully settle the earth to the plants. 
 
 At the approach of winter take up your celery, which should 
 now be from eighteen inches to three feet high, remove any 
 waste leaves, and especially such as may be decaying or touch- 
 ed by frost, and pack it away in earth or sand in a cool cellar 
 
 * Blanching is effected by the exclusion of light, which seems, in gen- 
 eral, essential to the development of color. The law, however, is not ab- 
 solute, for seed-leaves are often found in the common field-pumpkin and 
 in ripe cucumbers which have grown nearly to their natural size and of a 
 fine deep green color. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 137 
 
 or out-house where frost will not reach it, or set it upright in 
 a narn'ow bed out of doors, packing it closely, yet so as to ad- 
 mit the eai'th through it, and, having ridged it over somewhat 
 carefully, to prevent water settling into it, cover the whole 
 with straw or mulch of any kind sufficient to prevent the frost 
 from closing it against you dm'ing winter. Like all green veg- 
 etables for winter use, celery will keep better in the open air 
 than housed, if proper precautions are used for its protection 
 against frost. 
 
 It is not uncommon to plant celery in veiy moist ground for 
 the sake of a luxuriant growth, but in this there is danger of 
 partial decay in wet seasons, and always loss of quality. Cel- 
 ery of the finest flavor, though not of the largest size, is raised 
 in light, dry soil. 
 
 Celeriac is a turnip-rooted variety of celery used in soups, 
 and but of little value. It is raised as turnip-beets. See 
 page 120. 
 
 CHERVIL. 
 
 French, Cerfeuil. — German, G artenkerhel. — Spanish, Perifolio. 
 
 Sown and treated as parsley, which see, page 160. It is an 
 aromatic herb, sometimes used in soups and salads. 
 
 CITRON. 
 
 French, Ciironne. — German, CUron Wasser Melone. — Spanish, Melon de 
 aqua de Cidi'a. 
 
 See Watermelon, page 152. 
 
 GIVES OR CHIVES. 
 
 French, Civette or Cihoulette. — German, Binsenlauch. Schnidtlauch. — Span- 
 ish, Cehollinos. 
 
 Gives should be set out in August or September at the North, 
 or November or December at the South, at about six inches 
 apai-t, and tAvo or three inches deep, either in a single row, or 
 small bed, if beds are preferred, where they can remain perma- 
 nently ; or they may be set as edging to paths. 
 
 They are a very small species of onion, increasing from the 
 root, with leaves not thicker than straws, starting up very ear- 
 ly in the spring, when the young tops are cut and eaten. 
 
138 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 CORN. 
 French, Mais. — German, Korn. — Spanish, Maiz. 
 
 1. CANADA. 2. SUGAR, 3. TUSCARORA. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Plant in rich, warm soil, in hills three feet apart, five grains 
 in a hill, an inch deep. When well up, thin to the three or 
 four best plants. Hoe often, and dress with ashes and plaster. 
 
 Time : from March to July, according to latitude, and the 
 earlier or later period at which the crop is desired for use. 
 
 All the varieties of corn may be raised in the garden for 
 roasting ears or green corn. I have placed the kinds named 
 above in the usual order of their ripening, though this varies 
 with stock, but remark that the Canada, as is common with 
 extra early vegetables, is small. The sugar, with high manur- 
 ing, may be raised of fair size, and is of superior sweetness. 
 It may also be kept for Avinter cooking, either by being hung 
 up in bunches by the tips of the husks, or husked and shelled 
 while soft, and gradually dried in an oven at a moderate heat. 
 
 The Tuscarora has no flint, being what is called a flour corn. 
 It yields a fine large ear with a red cob, which slightly discol- 
 ors it in boiling. Perhaps the first two may be esteemed the 
 very best for family use, or we may add the common eight- 
 rowed white. 
 
 Corn should be planted in very rich soil at various times 
 along through the season, in hills three feet apai't each way, 
 carefully thinning it at the first hoeing to the three or four 
 strongest plants. Use ash compost from time to time upon 
 them, and gradually but moderately hill up. 
 
 In its farm culture corn should te planted at about the dis- 
 tances named, and in the course of its early growth should be 
 plowed at least three times each way, giving it two careful 
 hoeings, each followed with a top-dressing of plaster or ash 
 compost, and a final " hilling" after the third plowing. 
 
 For analysis and value, see page 500. 
 
AMERICAN HOME (JARDEX. 11^9 
 
 CORN SALAD OR FETTICUS. 
 French, Mache. — German, Ackersalat. — Spanish, Mdche. 
 Sown and treated precisely as spinach, except that thinning 
 the plants is not essential {see Spinach, page 179). 
 
 It is a soft, mild salad plant, of no great account, but used 
 with or instead of other salads in the early spring, when al- 
 most any thing green finds a welcome. " Lamb's lettuce" is 
 its most appropriate synonym. 
 
 CUCUMBER. 
 
 French, Concombre. — German, Gwke. — Spanish, Pepino. Cohamhro. 
 1. EARLY CLUSTER. 2. SHORT GREEN. 3. LONG GREEN 
 
 {white Spilled). 4. early frame. 5. extra long. 
 
 6. WHITE TURKEY. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Plant in very rich, warm soil, in hills four to six feet apart, 
 six or eight seeds in a hill, an inch deep. When well up, thin 
 to the three test plants. Hoe often till the vines touch. 
 
 Time : from February to August, according to latitude and 
 the object for which the crop is raised. The main crop every 
 where may be planted at the time of principal corn-planting, or 
 a little later. The pickle crop in June and July at the North ; 
 at the South, in August or September. 
 
 The varieties of cucumber, like those of cabbage, are so nu- 
 merous, and often so similar, that none but a professional gar- 
 dener or a cm"ious amateur would be able to distinguish them 
 from one another, or even think it worth while to keep the rec- 
 ord of their names. 
 
 The first three given above may be considered as including 
 the useful varieties, and the three last as chiefly fanciful. 
 
 The early cluster is a small, short, dumpy variety, with 
 which most persons are familiar, from its abundance in our 
 markets in the fall. It is of pleasant flavor, but seedy, and is 
 valuable chiefly on account of its earliness, and, to those who 
 raise pickles for sale, from its great capacity for bearing. 
 
 The short gi-een is a common table cucumber, also sometimes 
 
140 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 raised for pickles, rather longer than the cluster, and of about 
 the same quality, but not so profuse a bearer. 
 
 The white- spined long green supplies a desideratum among 
 cultivators, being of very handsome form and deep green col- 
 or, free from bitterness, and an abundant bearer. It is some- 
 times called simply the "white-spined cucumber, but its varie- 
 ties are increasing, and are easily distinguishable. Its quality 
 can not be fairly judged of by those purchased in om- markets, 
 as it may be cut too late or kept for a week without materially 
 changing its color. 
 
 The early frame is of no particular variety, but the name 
 covers a number of slightly differing sub- varieties, which are 
 used for planting in frames in winter for the production of cu- 
 cumbers at unseasonable times. 
 
 The extra long is, on vai-ious accounts, not worth cultivation. 
 Very long cucumbers are more solid in textm'e than is desira- 
 ble, and the stem end is generally bitter for two or three inches. 
 If the peeling be performed from that end, the bitterness is 
 more or less communicated to the whole, and hence probably 
 the old rule, always to peel a cucumber from the blossom end. 
 They are also, in general, poor bearers ; but their fine appear- 
 ance, either for pickles or the table, has given them considera- 
 ble favor in certain quarters. 
 
 The " white Turkey" is a curious but valueless variety. 
 
 Small cucumbers of any kind, when pickled, are properly 
 -called " gherkins," but this name has been also given to a very 
 small, seedy, worthless, bmT-like West Indian cucumber, of 
 which poor pickles are sometimes made. 
 
 Cucumbers should be planted in the richest soil, in hills from 
 four to six feet apart, six or eight seeds in a hill, at about an 
 inch in depth, and at the first or second hoeing only the three 
 strongest and healthiest plants should be left. Frequent and 
 deep hoeings, continued until prevented by the interlocking 
 vines, and gradual hilling up of the plants to the seed-leaves, 
 with the application of ash compost to the hills from time to 
 time after hoeing, will sufiice in ordinary seasons to secm'e a 
 satisfactory crop. If planted in large patches, the gromid, hav- 
 ing been prepared by thorough manuring and repeated plow- 
 
AMEBIC AN HOME GARDEN. Itll 
 
 ings, should be furrowed both ways at four feet distance, the 
 seeds being dropped at the crossing and carefully covered. 
 They should be well plowed both ways at least twice dui'ing 
 their growth, and treated in other respects as above directed 
 for their gai'den culture. 
 
 DOCK, COMMON YELLOW. 
 
 French, Rumex. — German, Amp/erh-aut. — Spanish, Bardmia. 
 
 A row or two of the common lance-leaved or yellow dock, 
 sown on very rich soil, at the same time as parsley or par- 
 snep, will yield early greens in abundance for those who esteem 
 them. 
 
 When rapidly gro-^m, they are as tender and pleasant as any 
 others, and probably still more decidedly healthful for spring 
 use. When the season for their use as greens is past, the root 
 may be dried for the purposes of domestic medicine, or for sale 
 to the manufacturers of " extract of sarsaparilla," into which it 
 is said to enter largely. 
 
 The English Patience dock, a native of Italy, known among 
 the French as Rhubarbe des Moines, is in no respect materially 
 better than the above. 
 
 EGG-PLANT. 
 
 French, Melongene. — German, Tollapfel. — Spanish, Berenjena. 
 
 1. LARGE PURPLE. 2. WHITE. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Set out in a very rich, warm soil, in hills three feet by two 
 apart, two or three plants in a hill. Hoe often,. and hill up 
 gradually until they blossom. 
 
 Time : sow in hot. bed six or eight weeks before corn-plant- 
 ing time. In about four weeks thin them carefully, or trans- 
 plant the whole into a second bed or into pots (see p. 87). 
 Set them out just before the time for first corn- hoeing. 
 
 K practicable, let the whole of your plants be transplanted 
 into a second bed at two inches apart, or into small pots, three 
 plants in a pot. At the proper time turn them cai'efully out 
 
142 AMERICAN HOMK GARDEN. 
 
 of the pots, without breaking the ball of earth, or, if not potted, 
 transplant into hills three feet by two, in very rich, warm soil, 
 lloe them often, and apply liquid manure from time to time. 
 
 When the fruit seems to have attained about three fourths 
 of its size, and before it begins to lose its deep purple color, it 
 is ready for use. 
 
 The purple egg-plant is a rich and valuable esculent, often 
 growing to the size of an ordinaiy muskmelon, and when thinly 
 sliced and well cooked by frying in good butter, or lard, in 
 which it cooks more readily, deserves even a better name than 
 that of " beefsteak plant," It is also called by some " Guinea 
 squash." The white is merely ornamental, or, rather, simply 
 curious. 
 
 ENDIVE. 
 
 French, Chlcoree. — German, Endivie. — Spanish, Cfdcoria. 
 
 GREEN CURLED, &C. 
 
 BRIEF niRECTIONS. 
 
 Time : sow from February to April for summer use, and from 
 June to August for fall and winter, and set out and cultivate 
 as lettuce. See p. 148. 
 
 At the South it may be sown and set out still later. 
 
 The endive is a handsomely curled plant, resembling the Si- 
 lesian lettuce in its habit, but of a strong and bitter flavor. It 
 is chiefly used as a fall and winter salad, but also for garnish- 
 ing, and sometimes in stews. 
 
 It is rendered milder by blanching, which is effected by gath- 
 ering the whole of the leaves upright, and tying them closely 
 together near the point, two or three Aveeks before it is cut for 
 use, or by placing over the heads earthen pans or saucers, which 
 are made by the potters for this purpose, like dish-covers, with 
 a small knob upon them. The broad-leaved or Batavian en- 
 dive is a plainer-leaved and coarser variety than the curled. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 143 
 
 GARLIC. 
 French, All. — German, Knoblauch. — Spanish, Ajo. 
 
 Garlic sets should be planted in the fall or spring, at tho 
 same time and in the same manner as onion sets, at a depth of 
 two or three inches. Keep them clean until the changing 
 color of the tops shows the roots are ripening, then take them 
 up and dry them for use. The sets are obtained by dividing 
 the clustered roots which are sold in our stores and markets. 
 
 Garlic is a bulb of the onion tribe, very strong, and to many 
 persons very offensive, but often used medicinally and in French 
 cookery. 
 
 Rocambole, or Spanish garlic, is a milder variety, cultivated 
 in the same manner and for the same uses. 
 
 GREENS. 
 
 Greens are either young plants raised in the fall, and win- 
 tered expressly for early cutting, as spinach, German kale, &c., 
 or they are similar young plants raised in the spring for the 
 same purpose, as spinach, cabbage, mustard, &c., or they are the 
 first young spring gi'owth of roots or stems wintered for tho 
 purpose of producing them, as kale, cabbage, dock, &c. Though 
 very unsubstantial, they are eagerly sought in the early spring. 
 What they lack as food they perhaps make up as physic, many 
 of them being, in medical parlance, " laxative and detergent." 
 A little saleratus added to the water in boiling them renders 
 them in general safer and better for use. It should not be 
 omitted, especially in cooking poke- weed and others of doubt- 
 ful reputation. 
 
 Most of them will be found in their alphabetical order, but, 
 for convenient reference, a list is given below from which selec- 
 tions may be made. 
 
 1. Beets. The part used is the young plant entire, pulled 
 and washed ; or the leaves may be pulled from older plants. 
 
 2. Brussels Sprouts. The young fall and spring growth. 
 
 3. Cabbages. Young or non-heading plants of the early 
 kinds called " coleworts" or " collards." 
 
 4. Dock. The young spring growth. 
 
14i AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 5. Horseradish. The yoiing leaves, 
 
 6. Kale, or Borecole. The fall and spring growth. 
 
 7. Kale, German. The young fall-sown plants cut in 
 spring. 
 
 8. Mustard. The young plants raised and cut in spring. 
 
 9. Poke-weed. The young shoots in spring, before any 
 redness appears on them ; though some use them until the 
 leaves become large. 
 
 10. Purslane. The young plants cut in spring and sum- 
 mer. 
 
 11. Radishes. The young plants, or tops, cut in spring. 
 
 12. Rape, or Colewort. The young plants cut in spring. 
 
 13. Sals APT. The young growth in spring, cut Avhen fom- 
 or five inches high, 
 
 14. Spinach. The young plants of fall or spring growth, cut. 
 
 15. Turnip-tops. The young spring growth from last 
 year's roots. 
 
 HERBS. 
 The following list of herbs comprises some that are not very 
 valuable, but is given in order that selections may be readily 
 made. Some are omitted because universally known, or found 
 wild, or worthless. Those marked with a * are inserted, wdth 
 directions for their cultm-e, in their alphabetical order in this 
 work. 
 
 1. Burnet. French, Petite Pimpernelle / German, Pim- 
 pernelle ; Spanish, Pimpernelan. 
 
 An aromatic herb, of pretty foliage, occasionally used in sal- 
 ads. Formerly it was infused in drinks which some good- 
 wives mingled for their husbands. It may be sown and treat- 
 ed as parsley. Page 160. 
 
 2. Caraway. French, Carvi; German, Kwnmel ; Span- 
 ish, Alcaravea. 
 
 3. Coriander. French, Coriandre ; Germsin, Koriander ; 
 Spanish, Celantro. 
 
 These are herbs bearing aromatic seeds, wliich are used in 
 sweet-cake, etc. The plant of coriander has an offensive smell. 
 They may be sown and treated as summer savory. Page 181. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 145 
 
 4. Dill. French, L^Aneth ; Gennan, Bill; Spanish, 
 Eneldo. 
 
 5. Fennel. French, L'Aneth doux; German, Dill Kraut; 
 Spanish, Hinojo. 
 
 Dill and fennel are aromatic herbs which are sometimes 
 used in fish sauces, etc., and their seeds substituted for anise- 
 seed in domestic medicine. 
 
 6. Lavender. 'Frexich, Lavande ; Gerawci^ Spiklavandel ; 
 Spanish, Espliego. 
 
 A small woody plant, bearing short spike flowers of fine fra- 
 grance, raised from seeds or cuttings. See page 469. 
 
 7. Lemon Balm. French, Melisse ; German, Melisse ; 
 Spanish, Melissa. 
 
 Used for making tea, which is given in colds, etc., as a su- 
 dorific. It is raised as summer savory. Page 181. 
 
 8. Marigold (Pot, or Soup). French, Souci de Jardin. 
 Marigold ; Gennan, Ringelhlume ; Spanish, Clumeno. 
 
 The flower-leaves of pot marigold, like those of safli'on, are 
 gathered and dried for use in soups, and in domestic medicine, 
 particularly for tea in measles. Both may be raised as sage 
 or summer savory. Page 181. 
 
 9.* Parsley. Page 160. 
 
 10.* RoQUETTE. See Pepper-grass. Page 166. 
 
 11. Rosemary. French, Romany?./ German, i?osmanw / 
 Spanish, Romaro. 
 
 A fragrant Avoody plant raised from seed, as sage, or from 
 slip or common cuttings. Page 438. It is used as a domes- 
 tic perfume, and also distilled for its essential oil. 
 
 12. Saffron. French, Sa/ran ; German, Safran ; Span- 
 ish, Azafran. 
 
 For its uses and culture, see Marigold, above. 
 
 13.* Sage. Page 176. 
 
 14.* Sorel. Page 178. 
 
 15.* Summer Savory. Page 181. 
 
 16.* Sweet Basil. Page 182. 
 
 17.* Sweet Marjoram. Page 182. 
 
 18.* Thyme. Page 183, 
 
 G 
 
146 AMEKICAN HOME GAKDEN. 
 
 HOP. 
 
 French, Houhlon. — German, Hop/en. — Spanish, Hombrecillo. 
 
 The hop is a wild perennial plant, whose usefulness has in- 
 troduced it into every garden. It forms a pleasant summer 
 shade when a few strings or rods are laid for it to run upon ; 
 or it may be planted by a tall single pole, up which it will 
 run rapidly, always throwing to the surface its clustered stro- 
 bil-formed inflorescence, which is known to us as hops. 
 
 They should be carefully gathered and dried before frost 
 touches them. 
 
 In household economy they are used for making yeast, 
 "turnpike," etc., etc. Scalded and applied in flannel as a 
 poultice or fomentation, they constitute an excellent anodyne, 
 and in the form of hop-tea are one of the best of tonics. 
 
 In making new plantings, choose the young ivliite runners 
 in preference to the brown old growth, and small rather than 
 large roots, and only from fertile plants. See page 74. 
 
 The green leaves of the peach-tree are sometimes substi- 
 tuted for the hop in making yeast, though, from their poison- 
 ous character, it would seem scarcely safe to use them for such 
 a pm'pose. The scaly ament, or " hop" of the Ptelea Trifolia- 
 ta, a wild tree, or, rather, large shrab, sometimes called the 
 " hop-tree," is also used for this purpose in the ordinaiy man- 
 ner of hops, and by some is thought to be of superior strength. 
 
 HORSERADISH. 
 
 French, Le Grand Raifort. — German, Merrettig. — Spanish, Rahano. 
 
 Horseradish is commonly raised either from the crowns of 
 plants or from pieces of the root an inch or two long. These 
 should be planted in rich and rather moist soil as early as pos- 
 sible in the spring, from twelve to fifteen inches deep, in rows 
 two feet wide, and from six to ten inches apart in the row. 
 Keep them clean and well hoed, or plow and hoe until they 
 are well started, and they will soon obtain such possession of 
 the spot that it Avill be diflScult to eradicate them. When- 
 ever the root is large enough it is fit for use. It may also be 
 raised from seed, but the mode above directed is preferable. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 147 
 
 KALE OR BORECOLE. 
 
 French, Chou Vert. — German, Grune Kohl. — Spanish, Breton sin Cabeza. 
 GREEN CURLED. PURPLE CURLED. 
 
 Kale, or borecole, if raised at all, should be sown and treat- 
 ed precisely as winter cabbage. 
 
 It is a species of cabbage that does not head, but grows up 
 with a considerable mass of leaves, which are very much curl- 
 ed. It is very hardy, enduring the rigors of the severest win- 
 ter with a slight covering, and in the spring its young sprouts 
 ai-e used for gi-eens. See Greens, page 14.3. 
 
 It is much used by some northern nations as an ingredient 
 in a kind of soup, particularly the green variety. 
 
 It is a rank, coarse vegetable, that is utterly unfit to use un- 
 til thorough freezing has destroyed a portion of its acrid 
 strength, and is only fit for regions where no other cabbage 
 can be successfully raised or wintered. 
 
 There is a dwarf and less curled variety, largely used as 
 greens among the German residents of our cities, and known 
 as German Kale. It is sown thickly, in September, in drills a 
 foot apart, and, being kept clean through the fall, with a very 
 slight covering of litter or evergreen brush, and sometimes 
 without any covering, stands through the winter, and in the 
 spring, after it has grown a few inches, the whole plant is cut 
 up for use. 
 
 KOHL RABI, OR TURNIP CABBAGE. 
 
 French, Chou Navet.- — German, Kohl Rahi. Tiber Erde Kohl Rahi. — Span- 
 ish, Col de Rabi. 
 
 This, like the former, if raised at all, should be sown and 
 treated in its cultivation as winter cabbage, which see, page 
 128. 
 
 It is properly a turnip mounted upon a stem, or, rather, 
 formed by the enlargement of the stem near its croAvn, the 
 leaves which form the crown of the plant being thrown out im- 
 mediately above and partially upon the swelling which forms 
 the edible product. 
 
148 AMEKICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 It is somewhat curious, from the combination in appearance 
 and flavor of the cabbage and turnip, but is really not worth 
 raising, though becoming common in our markets from the 
 demand for it among our German people, to whom it seems as 
 a memorial of " fatherland." 
 
 LEEK. 
 French, Porre.au. — German, Porro. — Spanish, Puerro. 
 
 SCOTCH, LONDON, &c. (name not material). 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow thinly in shallow drills fifteen inches apart, in rich soil ; 
 cover lightly, and if dry, give water. When from four to eight 
 inches high, thin them carefully to six inches apart in the row. 
 Keep them clean with frequent hoeings, and gradually earth 
 up to blanch and sweeten them. 
 
 Time : sow at the earliest opening of spring, and thin or 
 transplant as above directed. At the South a second sowing 
 may be made in early fall, treating the plants in the same 
 manner. 
 
 The plants obtained by thinning may be set out in well- 
 prepared drills or furrows three or four inches deep, and if 
 carefully hoed and earthed up as above directed, will grow 
 large and fine for their appropriate uses in soups, &c., in win- 
 ter and spring. 
 
 The leek is a perfectly hardy species of onion, with a rather 
 broad flag leaf, and swelling but slightly, the neck formed by 
 the leaf-sheaths being its chief product for use. 
 
 LETTUCE. 
 
 French, Laittte. — German, Gartensalat. — Spanish, Lechuga. 
 
 1. IMPERIAL ICE-HEAD. 2. SILESIAN. 3. WHITE CABBAGE. 
 4. CURLED INDIA. 5. TENNIS BALL. 6. GREEN HEAD. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow thinly in very shallow drills, a foot apart, in your rich- 
 est soil. Cover lightly, and if dry, give water. For head salad 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 149 
 
 thin or transplant them to nine inches or a foot apart, and hoe 
 often. 
 
 Time : at the very earliest moment in spring, whether North 
 or South, in the open ground or hot bed. They may be again 
 sown in early fall for use before winter ; and again, alone or 
 with spinach, later in the season to winter out, or for winter 
 lettuce under glass in a cold bed, which may be banked with 
 stable manure if necessary to forward them. 
 
 Though there is a wide field for selection among the innu- 
 merable varieties of lettuce, yet the first three numbered above 
 will be found adequate to the supply of all reasonable demands, 
 and are decidedly superior to most others. 
 
 There are unexplained peculiarities about the seed and plant 
 of the lettuce which afford valuable means of judging of its 
 character. Varieties that are so milky and bitter as to be al- 
 most valueless as salads, except to persons of a bitter fancy, are 
 almost invariably of a reddish or dark-brown color, and usual- 
 ly, if not always, have black seed. If the seed, therefore, be 
 black, you may infer that the lettuce is more or less bitter, 
 whatever its color may be ; and if the color be reddish or dark 
 brown, the same inference may be drawn, whatever the appear- 
 ance of the seed. This defect may, however, be overcome by 
 blanching the heads of such varieties, which is effected either 
 by gathering the leaves into an upright position, and tying 
 them up, or by covering them with pans as directed for endive, 
 page 142. 
 
 There are two very distinct classes of lettuce : the soft or 
 tender-leaved, and the crisp or brittle. 
 
 What are sometimes called coss lettuces, of which No. 1 is 
 the best known variety, belong to the latter class, and the Si- 
 lesian and wliite cabbage to the former. 
 
 The imperial ice-head, when of good stock, sometimes grows 
 larger than an ordinary summer cabbage, is of excellent flavor, 
 and of glass -like brittleness. 
 
 The Silesian or yellow curled, and the curled India, with 
 high cultivation, will grow nearly as large, are of good quality, 
 handsomely curled, and very tender. 
 
15U AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 These may be sown in hot bed before spring opens, and 
 transplanted as soon as practicable, or they may be sown in 
 shallow drills in the open ground as early as it is possible to 
 prepare it. 
 
 They should be sown or planted in rich soil, and be thinned 
 as they grow by cutting for use or hoeing out, until the plants 
 left to form the main crop stand from nine inches to a foot 
 apart each way. Let the hoeing be frequent and thorough, 
 and while the plants are small, sow ash compost upon them, or 
 water them with liquid manm'e, and early in the summer they 
 will yield you fine and excellent head lettuce. 
 
 The Avhite cabbage lettuce is chiefly valuable for its hardi- 
 ness. It may be sown in the fall in alternate rows with spin- 
 ach, and the same slight covering will protect them both through 
 the winter ; and in the spring, after the spinach is cut, it will 
 afford a lettuce crop of fair quality. Or the plants may be set 
 in a cold bed in the fall, and by the aid of glass and a lining 
 of stable manm^e in March they may be brought to perfection 
 still earlier. The tennis ball is not a large lettuce, but heads 
 firmly, and with some is a favorite. 
 
 The green head, genuine, is a good though not first-class 
 lettuce, somewhat hai'dy, and heading freely if of good stock ; 
 but the name, being indefinite, is often applied to different kinds 
 of green lettuces. 
 
 MELONS. 
 
 MUSKMELON. 
 Frencli, Melon. — German, Melone. — Spanish, Melon. 
 
 1. GREEN CITRON. PERSIAN. SKILLMAN'S. 2. NUTMEG. 3. 
 CANTALUPE. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Plant in very rich warm soil, in hills four to six feet apart, 
 six or eight seeds in a hill, an inch deep. When well up, thin 
 to the three best plants. Hoe often till the vines touch. 
 
 Time : throughout the time of planting the main crop of 
 corn both South and North. In regions so cool as to render it 
 a doubtful crop, the seeds should be planted in pots in a hot 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 151 
 
 bed about a month ahead, and the plants set out in the hills at 
 the time of first corn-hoeing, and, if necessary, covered with 
 hand-glasses. See page 35. 
 
 Muskmelons, like all other vegetable productions that can 
 easily be varied by culture or neglect, have multiplied names ; 
 but the green citron, under some one of its many synonyms 
 or sub-varieties, is the only kind that it seems desirable to 
 raise. It is a netted, green-fleshed variety, regularly fluted, 
 or, as it is called, quartered, usually sub-globular in shape, but 
 sometimes vaiying almost to the cheese form. It is well known 
 in our markets, and its form and appearance, once seen, will al- 
 ways be remembered. Its quality, when of good stock and well 
 raised, can not be sm-passed. 
 
 No. 2 derived its name from the almost perfect similarity of 
 its form to that of a nutmeg, and, when first introduced, was a 
 melon of excellent quality ; but, by the carelessness or igno- 
 rance of cultivators, it has been spoiled by intermixture with 
 cucumber or pumpkin, and was superseded years ago by No. 1. 
 I notice it only because the green citron or Persian is some- 
 times erroneously called " nutmeg," from old association. 
 
 No. 3, originally good, but not first-rate, includes all those 
 large mongrel varieties that are generally longish, smooth, and 
 yellow inside and out. They used to be eaten with the addi- 
 tion of sugar, or pepper and salt, according to taste or lack of 
 taste ; and, as Dr. Johnson said of the haggis, may be " pretty 
 good for hogs." It is mentioned only because the thing and 
 the name still lingers in certain districts among the relics of 
 the past. 
 
 Muskmelons of the best quality are raised in rich and rath- 
 er light loam ; they should be planted in hills four or five feet 
 apart each way, and treated in their culture precisely as cu- 
 cumbers, lohicJi see. 
 
 Melons are often gathered unseasonably, and are then nec- 
 essarily inferior. Vf hen fit for gathering, a glance at the stem 
 where it is set on to the fruit will show either a small quantity 
 of molasses-like juice exuding, or a slight cracking of the con- 
 nection between the stem and the fruit, and, on taking the fruit 
 
152 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 in the hand, it will be found to separate readily from the stem. 
 No melon to which the stem adheres, or from which it has 
 been separated by force or by the knife, is worth eating. 
 
 The melon-patch should be looked over every day about 
 noon, and the fruit then gathered be kept to cool and mature 
 for next day's use. If, from previous neglect, the fruit is be- 
 coming yellow, it should be cooled and eaten the same day. 
 It is a cooling and slightly restringent fruit, and, if ripe and 
 fresh, can not be eaten to excess. 
 
 WATERMELON. 
 French, Melon d'eau. — German, Wasser-melone. — Spanish, Melon de agua. 
 
 CAROLINA. SPANISH. LONG ISLAND. EARLY APPLE-SEED. 
 ORANGE. CITRON, &C. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Plant in hills six feet apart, enriched with compost, or in 
 very rich warm soil, five or six seeds in a hill, an inch deep. 
 When well up, thin to the three best plants. Hoe often, gradu- 
 ally hilling up until the vines touch, and after the young fruit 
 appears cut oflf the extreme ends of the most luxuriant shoots. 
 
 Time : about ten days after corn-planting. 
 
 There is not much variety in the character of ordinary wa- 
 termelons, except as they may be adapted to or affected by the 
 climate in which they are raised. Fruits essentially Southern 
 can not be expected to attain perfection in a northern latitude. 
 
 Of the above named kinds, it is better, therefore, at the 
 North to choose the Long Island or the early apple-seeded va- 
 rieties than to risk disappointment by planting those which in 
 suitable locations would grow larger and richer. 
 
 The orange watermelon is a recent variety, of excellent qual- 
 ity and peculiar habit, the inside of the fmit separating read- 
 ily from the rind like an orange, whence its name. 
 
 The " citron" is almost solid and tasteless, and is used only 
 for making preserves — a mere vehicle for the exhibition of 
 sugar and various flavorings. 
 
 Their culture is the same as for muskmelon, ivhich see. 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 153 
 
 MUSHROOMS. 
 
 French, Champignon comestible. — German, Esshare Blatterschamme. — Span- 
 ish, Seta. 
 
 The mushroom is a plant of the fungus family, which is 
 abundantly produced in our old pastures when a dry summer 
 is followed by a rather moist and warm fall. They may also 
 be raised from what is known as "mushroom spawn." This 
 is composed of loam, cut straw, and the fresh droppings of dry- 
 fed and highly-kept horses, in which the spores or invisible 
 seeds of the mushroom have been caused to germinate by gen- 
 tle fermentation in a dry place, producing a minute, white, 
 tubercular or thread-like growth throughout the mass. The 
 ordinary process is first to work the whole into the condition 
 of thick mortar or potters' clay, which the cut straw is used to 
 bind together, after which it is formed into small bricks, into 
 each of which a piece of old " spawn" is inserted as leaven. 
 The bricks, being then carefully piled upon a layer of stable 
 manure, are covered with enough of the same to induce a mod- 
 erate warmth in the mass. When the bricks, on being broken, 
 show that the spawn introduced or developed has spread through 
 them, they are thoroughly dried, and in this state will keep 
 good for several years. This is the " mushroom spawn" sold 
 in the seed-stores. When broken into small pieces, it may be 
 planted two or three inches deep in a spent hot bed in the 
 spring, or in a bed made by alternate layers of good sandy 
 loam and the horse-droppings named above. There may be 
 two or three layers of each, the strata of horse- droppings being 
 made four or six inches thick, and of the loam two inches, 
 forming altogether a thickness of sixteen or eighteen inches. 
 The bed may be large or small, as is found convenient, and 
 will succeed in a cellar not quite dark, or under a shed, or in 
 the open air, if formed so as to shed rain. It should be pretty 
 thickly covered with loose straw, which must be replaced after 
 each cutting of mushrooms. 
 
 Instead of planting the bed with spawn, if in the season of 
 mushrooms, each layer, as it is made, may be moderately wa- 
 tered with lukewarm water in which ripe mushrooms have 
 
 G2 
 
154 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 been soaked and stirred. When finished, the hist layer being 
 loam, it must be covered with stable manure sufficient, with 
 that already in the bed, to bring on a gentle fermentation. 
 In a few weeks the " spawn" ought to be found spreading 
 generally in the mass, and whenever this occurs the covering 
 of manure is to be taken off, and the straw substituted, as 
 above directed. After this, if it becomes very dry, it may 
 have occasional gentle waterings with lukewarm water. 
 
 In this process, however, success or failm^e will greatly de- 
 pend on the skill with which the fermentation is tempered ; 
 so that, in general, planting the spawn may be deemed more 
 reliable. A mushroom bed properly treated will continue to 
 yield its products for three or four months if a temperature 
 equal to moderate spring or fall warmth be maintained, say 
 about 60°. 
 
 Mushrooms are very greatly esteemed by many on account 
 of their rich, peculiar, and high flavor, whether stewed, or 
 fried in sweet fat, or made into catsup in the ordinary mode, 
 with suitable spices. 
 
 In gathering wild mushrooms there is sometimes danger of 
 getting by mistake other kinds of fungi which may be poison- 
 ous. The true mushroom has a short stout stem, reddish gills, 
 and an agreeable odor, considerably resembling the smell of 
 the fruit of the egg-plant. 
 
 Another variety of eatable mushroom (Agaricus Edulis), 
 known as the " steeple-top," is sometimes found, though much 
 more rarely than the former. 
 
 In the lots it comes earlier than the common, with a longer 
 stem and conical top, but having, like it, a pleasant smell. It 
 has not, I think, been raised artificially. 
 
 MUSTARD. 
 
 French, Moutarde. — German, Senf. — Spanish, Mostaza. 
 
 WHITE (really yellow). BROWN. 
 
 BRIEF DIKECTIONS. 
 
 Sow the white mustard thickly in shallow drills a foot apart 
 from time to time through the season, each time one week 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 155 
 
 later than the corresponding sowing of pepper-grass (see page 
 166) ; treat in the same manner, and they will be ready to cut 
 together. 
 
 White mustard is chiefly used, either alone or with pepper- 
 grass, lettuce, etc., in salads, for which purpose it is cut before 
 the third leaf is formed upon the plant, or pulled, and the 
 mere roots cut off. When of larger growth it is sometimes 
 used for greens. See page 144. The seed is used medicinal- 
 ly, and also for seasoning pickles. Brown mustard is raised 
 for the seed, from which the condiment known upon our tables 
 as mustard, when pure, is chiefly made, 
 
 NASTURTIUM. 
 
 French, Capucin. — German, Kapersinerblum. — Spanish, Nasturcio. 
 
 TALL, DWARF. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow in good soil, in drills an inch deep and three feet apart, 
 and brush them like peas ; or by a fence or trellis upon which 
 they can climb ; or they may be planted in hills four feet 
 apart each way, either with or without brushing. Keep them 
 clean until they begin to run, and afterward they will take 
 care of themselves. 
 
 Time : the opening of spring. In New York, first of May,' 
 
 The young plants of nasturtiums are highly esteemed in 
 salads. The flower-buds and the green seeds, with their ten- 
 dril-like stem, make pickles, which are often preferred to ca- 
 pers. See page 167. The flowers are quite ornamental, vary- 
 ing from light yellow to maroon. 
 
 OKRA. 
 
 French, Gombo. — German, (?). — Spanish, Quimbombo. 
 
 LONG, OR SOUTHERN, SHORT, OR NORTHERN. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow in extra rich soil, in drills one inch deep and three or 
 four feet apart, and thin to a foot distance in the row ; or 
 
156 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 plant in hills three feet apart each way, five or six seeds in a 
 hill, and when well up, thin to the three best plants. 
 
 Hoe often, keeping them perfectly clear of weeds, slightly 
 and gradually hilling up. 
 
 Time : during corn-planting time, or immediately after. 
 
 Okra is a southern plant of the mallow tribe. It is of strong, 
 coarse growth, from two to four feet high, bearing abundance 
 of beautiful flowers, which are succeeded by long ribbed or 
 smooth seed-pods. When these attain their full size, but 
 while still tender, they are gathered for use. Their value is 
 in the large amount of pleasant and healthful mucilage which 
 they yield in boiling. On this account they are much used in 
 thickening soups, for which pui'pose they may be kept for win- 
 ter use by being cut up in cross slices or " rings," and dried 
 upon strings like apples. 
 
 They are also boiled and eaten with drawn butter, as aspar- 
 agus ; or the tender pods are used for pickles. See page 167. 
 
 The ripe seeds, roasted and used for coffee, are, perhaps, not 
 at all inferior to it. 
 
 The whole plant is also said to make excellent material for 
 paper, the only difficulty being in obtaining quantity, an ordi- 
 nary cart-load of the okra being required for each ream of pa- 
 per. It is certainly worth while to ascertain carefully the val- 
 ue of the seeds as " coffee," that, if available as a substitute, 
 the cultivation of the plant may be extended. 
 
 ONION. 
 
 French, Oignon. — German, Zioiehel. — Spanish, Cebolla. 
 
 1. RED. 2. WHITE. 3. YELLOW. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow in very rich, light soil, in drills twelve inches apart ; 
 cover lightly. Keep clean ; and if large onions are wanted, 
 thin to three or four inches ; hoe often, and water with liquid 
 guano, either from Peru or the hen-roost. 
 
 Time : sow at the very earliest opening of spring, whether 
 at the South or North. They may also be sown in the fall 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 157 
 
 with safety, being perfectly hardy after they once sprout. In 
 New York, sow during March and April. 
 
 FORMS OP ONIONS. 
 Fig. 77. 
 
 a. Inferior Globe Onion, running to thick neck. 
 
 b. Flat Rareripe, or early Onion. 
 
 c. Common flat Onion. 
 
 d. Best form of Onion. 
 
 The varieties of onion are numerous, and the names still 
 more numerous than the varieties. The names designating 
 color are abundantly sufficient to distinguish the desirable 
 kinds, form being entirely secondary, and readily changeable 
 by the care or carelessness of the cultivator. 
 
 In general it may be remarked that a good form for a com- 
 mon turnip is a good form for an onion. See Fig. 80, p. 186. 
 
 Common red, number one, is an onion of- the best quality, 
 being milder and sweeter than the others, but the white and 
 yellow are preferred where the discoloration produced in cook- 
 ing by the former is regarded as a serious objection to its use. 
 The yellow may generally be kept for use later in the spring 
 than either the red or white. 
 
 The ground upon which onions are to be raised should be 
 light and rich, having been used for some clean crop, or for 
 onions, the previous season ; and if^ after the gromid is prepared, 
 straw or rubbish is spread evenly upon it and burned, it will 
 destroy to some extent those weed-seeds which would be most 
 troublesome, and afford a good top-dressing for the young crop. 
 After the burning, the seed should be sown in drills one foot 
 apart and half an inch deep, and carefully raked in. If the 
 soil be very light, a gentle pressure upon the surface, either by 
 the back of the rake or other means, will be found to set the 
 earth about the seed and promote its prompt vegetation. After 
 
158 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 the plants are up they should be kept perfectly clean by fre- 
 quent hoeing and hand-weeding, and thinned to one or two 
 inches apart, or to four inches if large onions are desired, and 
 in their cultivation avoid any earthing up of the bulbs. 
 
 Onions while growing are greatly benefited by liquid ma- 
 nure (see p. 64), which may be applied oi>ce or twice a week 
 until they begin to ripen. Onions which, from late sowing or 
 other causes, do not swell and ripen, if earthed up a little and 
 left out through the winter, will yield excellent yomig onions 
 very early in the spring. Choice ones intended for seeding 
 should also be set out in the fall, foiu- or five inches deep. 
 
 ONION SETS. 
 
 Onions are often raised from what are called " sets," that is, 
 very small onions of any color, which are either culled from the 
 general crop, or obtained for this purpose by being sown late 
 and very thickly, so that they are stunted in their growth, and 
 form only small roots, which ripen prematurely. These are 
 set out in the spring by being merely pressed with the thumb 
 and finger into the soft, freshly-dug earth, at three or four 
 inches apart, in rows a foot wide, and cultivated as above di- 
 rected for onions from the seed. The young seed-stems which 
 they usually throw up must be carefully broken out when six 
 to twelve inches high, to aid or force the formation of bulbs. 
 Sets thus treated yield a part of the green onions sold in spring, 
 and the very early stringed and barreled dry onions known in 
 our markets as rareripes. 
 
 ESCALLIONS. 
 
 Onions that are too large for sets, and the refuse onions that 
 remain over from the winter's consumption, when planted in 
 the spring, in rich soil, yield mild and pleasant green onions, 
 known as escallions, which are ready for use almost as eai*ly as 
 shallots, but are greatly preferable to them. 
 
 _ ■ TOP ONIONS. 
 
 RED. WHITE. YELLOW. 
 
 Top onions produce their sets, as the common kinds yield 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 159 
 
 their seed, in a ball on the top of the stalk. The common wild 
 onion, so abundant in some dry lands, and so offensive in milk, 
 and butter, and flour, is a small and strong variety of this 
 species. 
 
 To obtain top onion sets, plant the large onions, the growth 
 of the previous year, either in the fall or spring, at about six 
 inches apart, in rows a foot wide, and keep clean until the rip- 
 ening of the top sets, or seed, as it is more commonly termed, 
 which will be shown by the changing color of the stalks. 
 These sets, being carefully kept in a dry and cool, but not 
 freezing place, until early spring, are set out and cultivated in 
 the same manner as the common onion sets above described, p. 
 158, and yield their produce about the same time, or a little 
 earlier. 
 
 For early use, the top onion, whether green or dry, is valua- 
 ble on account of its general mildness ; but it is also a little 
 soft or spongy in texture, and therefore not esteemed after the 
 coming in of the general crop of common onions. 
 
 Of late years, quantities of them, of large size, are annually 
 brought early to Northern markets from Bermuda and the 
 South. 
 
 POTATO ONIONS. 
 
 Potato onions are so called from their habit of producing 
 their bulbs just below the sm-face of the ground. The large 
 roots of these onions are planted, in the same manner as above 
 directed for top onions, to furnish the sets, and these, in turn, 
 produce onions for use. Unless raised with special care, they 
 are apt to be strong and unpleasant. To have them good, it is 
 necessary to divide the sets in the spring until each has but a 
 single heart ; then set them out in very rich, light soil, at the 
 ordinary distance for onion sets, four inches apart in rows a foot 
 wide, and cultivate them faithfully by frequent hoeings and 
 top dressing, or the use of liquid manure (see p. 35), and they 
 will yield you fine large onions, of a very mild and agreeable 
 flavor. 
 
160 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 WELSH ONION. 
 
 Ordinarily, vegetables reproduce themselves freely only in 
 one direction, which may be either by sets from the root or by 
 seed (sec p. 66) ; but to this general rule the Welsh onion is 
 an exception, multiplying itself rapidly by the offsets, which it 
 produces almost as freely as shallots, and by the seed, which it 
 yields in the same manner, though not quite so abundantly as 
 the common onion. Sets for planting may therefore be raised 
 from seed or obtained in the fall from the roots. These, if only 
 intended for family use, should stand permanently in a single 
 row, or as edging to a path, so that they may spread freely, the 
 outer offsets being slipped from the roots for use in the spring ; 
 or, if intended for sale, they may be planted in August or Sep- 
 tember, in rich soil, three or four inches deep, in rows fifteen to 
 eighteen inches wide, and a foot apart in the row, a new plant- 
 ing being made every fall, and the whole crop taken up for 
 market every second or third year. 
 
 They do not swell into large bulbs, like common onions, but 
 resemble a large shallot or an escallion (see p. 158), and are 
 used in the same manner, and only Avhile green. 
 
 PARSLEY. 
 
 French, Persil. — German, Petersilie. — Spanish, Perejil. 
 
 CURLED. PLAIN. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow in shallow drills twelve inches apart, in very rich, light 
 soil. Cover lightly, and if dry, give water. Thin the plants 
 to three inches, and keep clean by repeated hoeings. 
 
 Time : throughout spring and summer at the North, or spring 
 and fall at the South. 
 
 The earlier-sown crop of parsley at the North should be 
 used during summer and fall, or be taken up and stored, with 
 the roots in the earth, in a light cellar for winter. The later- 
 sown crop, if not so late as to be feeble at the coming of win- 
 ter, will beai" the severe cold better, though sometimes either 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 161 
 
 will stand out safely, and at other times both will fail. A 
 slight covering of litter or evergreen brush, however, will usu- 
 ally afford security. 
 
 Generally, the more curled and beautiful the plant, the less 
 vigorous is its growth, and by some persons the plain kind is 
 thought to be of better flavor ; but in this respect either is good 
 enough, and the superior beauty of the former variety will al- 
 ways insure it the preference where quantity is not a control- 
 ling consideration. 
 
 It is largely used for garnishing. The whole plant is also 
 used in soups, and, in default of the plant, the seeds, tied in a 
 small bag, may be substituted. 
 
 PARSNEP. 
 
 French, Panais. — German, Pastinake. — Spanish, Chirivia. 
 
 FORMS OF PARSNEPS. 
 
 a. Long, deep Parsnep, inferior. 
 h. Cup Parsnep, superior. 
 
162 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 1. CUP, OR GUERNSEY. 2. LONG WHITE. 3. ROUND. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow in good deep soil, in drills eighteen inches apart, and 
 about an inch deep. Cover carefully and firmly, and if dry, 
 give water. Thin the plants to six or eight inches, and hoe 
 often and deeply till the tops touch. 
 
 Time : late spring or the beginning of summer at the North. 
 At the close of summer in the South. New York, throughout 
 May or in the beginning of June. 
 
 The cup parsnep. No. 1, so called from the shape of its crown, 
 is on all accounts the best. Its form is good as well as its 
 quality, and its medium length secures as easy harvesting as 
 seems practicable for a deep-root crop. 
 
 The long white, No. 2, is apt to be comparatively thin and 
 stringy, and sometimes runs so deep that it becomes a task to 
 harvest it. The " round" (or rather " short"). No. 3, is a new 
 variety, possessing nothing to induce its preference to No. 1. 
 It is sometimes called early, but earliness in a winter root is 
 not of special importance. 
 
 Parsneps may be sown at any time from April to July at the 
 North, and as late as August or September at the South ; the 
 later the better if they can be driven rapidly in their growth 
 by careful, constant cultivation. See remarks under Beet, p. 
 120. 
 
 If the crop is to be plowed, let the rows be two feet apart, 
 and wliile the plants are quite small, thin them to six or eight 
 inches in the row, and keep the earth about them clean and 
 loose through the season. 
 
 The roots may be harvested in the fall, and stored in an out- 
 house or cellar, either in a bin or in a pile, which should be 
 slightly covered with sand or common earth ; or they may be 
 left in the open ground through the winter, and taken out for 
 use as they are wanted. It should be remembered, however, 
 that after they begin to grow in the spring they are undesira- 
 ble for use, becoming in a measure poisonous. 
 
 The parsnep has some advantages over other root crops ; it 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 163 
 
 is not aflfected injuriously by frost after being stored, and is 
 less watery. See Analysis and Value, page 500. 
 
 PEAS. 
 
 French, Pois. — German, Erhse. — Spanish, Guisantes. 
 
 Early : Cedo Nulli. Canada. Emperor. Washington. 
 Frame. Petersburg. Warwick, &c., &c. 
 
 Late : Knight's Dwarf. Dwarf Blue Imperial. Royal 
 Dwarf. Dwarf White Mari'owfat. Tall Marrowfat, &c., &c. 
 
 BKIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow in drills from two to five feet apart, and about two inch- 
 es deep. When well up, hoe and draw the earth to them light- 
 ly, and set brush from three to six feet high along them. 
 
 Time : from November to February at the South. At the 
 North, from March to the last of ]\Iay. 
 
 All the first named are only sub-varieties of the same spe- 
 cies, and while some of them are to be preferred on account of 
 their superior earliness, it will be found a general rule that 
 the earlier the pea the poorer the crop. 
 
 Of the early kinds named above, the Canada and the cedo 
 nulli are valuable for extra early ; for ordinary crop, the early 
 Washington, frame. Emperor, Petersburg, or Warwick, the last- 
 named, if genuine, being perhaps the finest flavored of early 
 peas when cooked and eaten freshly gathered. Delicacy of 
 flavor is generally a fugitive quality, and peas long gathered 
 or heated lose it. 
 
 The finer varieties of peas are in general less abundant bear- 
 ers than those which are inferior. The combination of fair 
 quantity with good quality will be found in the early varieties 
 already commended ; and among the later kinds, in the dwarf 
 blue imperial, the royal dwarf, sometimes called Missouri mar- 
 rowfat, and the large white dwarf marrowfat. 
 
 Of peas it may be remarked that, commonly, those which are 
 perfectly full and smooth are less sweet than those which are 
 wrinkled or misshapen, the degree of sweetness being usually 
 in proportion to the shrinkage of the seed in drying. Knight's 
 
164 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 marrowfat, and kindred varieties, which are the sweetest of 
 peas, are often found shrunken almost to a cube form. The 
 analogy between this and the similar shrinkage of sugar corn 
 will at once suggest itself to the intelligent reader, and may 
 afford matter for interesting investigation. It should, how- 
 ever, be remembered that mere sweetness is not all that is de- 
 sirable in a good pea. To some persons excessive sweetness 
 would be an objection. 
 
 Numerous fancy kinds of peas are annually imported from 
 Europe by our seedsmen, some of them of great excellence, but 
 requiring too much care and too high culture to become staple 
 varieties. Of such, the " Champion of England" among kinds 
 called early, and the " British Queen" among later ones, may 
 be named as of the highest character. 
 
 In speaking of peas, the terms dwarf and tall are rela- 
 tive, and very indefinite. The Spanish dwarf pea grows six 
 inches high, the dwarf marrowfat nearly six feet, yet the latter 
 is rightly enough named dwarf, for the tall marrowfats grow 
 from ten to twelve feet, needing bean-poles to support them 
 instead of pea-brush. 
 
 The ground for peas should never be freshly maniu*ed on ac- 
 count of the overgrowth of vine which it occasions, but for late 
 peas the soil should be rich and strong ; for early ones, simply 
 good and dry. 
 
 Peas may be sown at intervals of one or two weeks from the 
 very first opening of spring till a month after, or until the 
 close of corn-planting time. The drills for them should be full 
 two inches deep, for the early kinds two feet apart, and for the 
 late kinds from three to five feet, according to the height they 
 are calculated to grow. The brush for peas of the proper 
 height for the kinds sown should be stuck firmly four or five 
 inches apart on each side of the row, with just so much incli- 
 nation inward as to bring the tops together, yet leaving the 
 whole as bushy or spreading as possible, that the growth may 
 have room to wander, and as large a surfiice as possible be ex- 
 posed. No crowded crop ever grows finely or yields superior 
 products. 
 
 Some sow their peas in double rows at six or eight inches 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 165 
 
 apart in order to save a portion of the labor of brushing, but it 
 is very doubtful if a double row will, in general, yield more 
 than a^ single one, for the blossoms are mostly thrown out in 
 proportion to the exposure of the vines to the air and the room 
 which the roots find. Every one has observed that two plants 
 growing close together do not make a larger growth or yield a 
 heavier product than if but one had occupied the place and 
 drawn its nourishment from the same surface. 
 
 The hoe should be used promptly and carefully when the 
 peas are up one or two inches, and in the course of the season 
 frequent hoeing will be necessary to aid their growth and to 
 earth them up. 
 
 In large market-garden pea culture, brushing is entirely 
 dispensed with ; they are sown in wide rows, and the crop is 
 heavily earthed up by plowing. 
 
 A crop of turnips may generally be obtained from the ground 
 upon which early peas have been raised, or it may be prepared 
 for the fall sowing of spinach, lettuce, etc. 
 
 Peas may be profitably raised as a farm crop in Northern or 
 high localities, where the pea bug will not infest them. They 
 are usually sown broadcast, at the rate of about four bushels to 
 the acre, with a fcAV oats intermixed to give the pea-vines a 
 partial support, and are mowed or cradled when ripe. But, 
 wherever a good crop of com can be raised, peas should disap- 
 pear from the list of ordinary farm crops. For Analysis and 
 Value, see page 500. 
 
 PEPPER. 
 
 French, Piment. — German, Spanischer Pfeffer. Pfeffer. — Spanish, Pimento. 
 
 1. SQUASH. 2. BELL. 3. SWEET SPANISH. 4. CAYENNE. 
 5. BIRD. 
 
 BBIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Set the plants twelve or fifteen inches apart, in rows eight- 
 een inches wide, in very rich, warm soil, and hoe often till they 
 are in full blossom. 
 
 Time : in hot bed, sow six weeks before corn-planting time. 
 
 In the open ground, sow or set out plants just before first 
 corn-hoeing. 
 
166 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 In household use, peppers are in demand chiefly for making 
 or flavoring pickles. The squash pepper answers both these 
 purposes, for the former of Avhich its thick, fleshy character 
 especially fits it. 
 
 The bell and sweet Spanish peppers grow larger, but are com- 
 paratively thin, though they are often used and esteemed for 
 the same purposes as the former, particularly in making man- 
 goes. 
 
 The long, or " Cayenne," is chiefly used in the manufacture 
 of the condiment known by that name ; and the bird pepper is 
 used to make the familiar " pepper- sauce." 
 
 Peppers, whether sown in the open ground or transplanted 
 from the hot bed, should stand in rows eighteen inches wide, 
 leaving the plants at least twelve inches apart. They should 
 be often hoed, and the earth gradually but moderately raised 
 around them, so as to afibrd support to them when top-heavy 
 Avith their fruit. 
 
 PEPPERGRASS. 
 French, Cresson Alenois. — German, Kresse. — Spanish, Mastuerzo. 
 
 1. CURLED. 2. PLAIN. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow in shallow drills, twelve inches apart. Cover lightly, 
 and if dry, give water. Keep perfectly clear of weeds. 
 
 Time : every two weeks throughout the season, if it is de- 
 sired. 
 
 Between the above varieties there is but slight difference, 
 though the first named is esteemed of better quality and pret- 
 tier appearance than the last. It may be successfully raised 
 as above directed, and the ground upon which it is sown in 
 spring can be used for some later crop. 
 
 There is a broad-leaved cress, sometimes known as roquette, 
 somewhat resembling the water cress, by some called land 
 cress, and by others garden cress, which is a hardy biennial 
 that yields a strong peppery salad through the fall and very 
 early in the following spring, if sown and cultivated as parsley 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 107 
 
 (which see, p. 160). If sown at all, it should be in a warm, 
 rich spot, and if slightly covered for winter it will start the 
 earlier in spring. 
 
 PICKLES. 
 
 French, Saumure. — German, Pekel. — Spanish, Eschabeches. 
 
 A gi-eat variety of articles are used for pickles, viz., beans, 
 beets, brocoli, cabbage, especially the red or purple, carrots, 
 cauliflower, cucumbers small and large, green and ripe, the 
 seeds being first removed from the latter, garlic, okra, Martynia 
 or proboscis, plant, melons, nasturtiums, small onions, peppers, 
 shallots, tomatoes, Madeira-nuts, black walnuts, butternuts, &c. 
 The processes of their preparation are also somewhat varied. 
 
 Nastm-tiums are simply bottled in cold vinegar, furnishing 
 their own spice. 
 
 Cabbage is shredded as cole-slaw, and scalded with the hot 
 vinegar and spices which have been boiled together, and to 
 which the necessary salt has been added. 
 
 Beets and carrots are first cooked as for ordinary use, then 
 the hot spiced vinegar is poured over them, and when cooled 
 they are fit for use. 
 
 Onions, garlic, and shallots are improved by being first 
 lightly boiled in milk and water. They are then skinned, and 
 the hot spiced vinegar poured over them as the former. 
 
 Beans, cucumbers, okra, Martynia, melons, peppers, and to- 
 matoes, all which should be selected while tender, and as nearly 
 as possible of uniform size, also brocoli and cauliflower, when 
 carefully divided into rather small pieces, may all be salted 
 with dry salt, or strong brine, if they will not make it, for eight 
 or ten days ; then being washed off and soaked in fresh water 
 for twenty-four hom-s, they should be put in cold vinegar, with 
 the necessary spices, and set in a stone pot upon a stove until 
 they are cooked through, or in a kettle over a slow fire until 
 upon the point of boiling, being careful to keep them under the 
 vinegar, and if uneven in size, the larger ones at the bottom. 
 Then take them off", and put them while hot into proper ves- 
 sels ; cover tightly, and when cooled they may be used, 
 
 Madeira-nuts, black walnuts, and butternuts, if taken while 
 
168 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 yet so tender that a needle will readily penetrate the inner 
 shell, and, as a preparatory step, soaked for a week in water 
 or brine to leach off their excessive bitterness, may be salted 
 and made up by the process last described, and are, by some 
 persons, preferred to all other pickles. 
 
 The spicing is varied according to individual taste. Be- 
 sides the ordinary spices, white mustard-seed, peppers, nastur- 
 tiums, horseradish, onions, garlic, etc., are often mixed with 
 the various kinds of pickles to flavor them. 
 
 PIE PLANT. 
 
 French, Rhubarhe. — German, Rhubarher. — Spanish, Ruibarho. 
 
 EARLY. LARGE LATE. GIANT SEEDLESS. 
 
 For the seeding varieties sow from February to May, in good 
 soil, in a drill about an inch deep ; cover carefully, and if 
 dry, give water two or three times. Keep the plants clear of 
 weeds through the summer, and in the following fall or spring 
 set them out where they are to remain permanently, in deep 
 and very rich soil, in rows three to four feet wide, and fifteen 
 to thirty inches apart in the row. 
 
 Let it be well cultivated through the second year of its 
 growth, and well manm'ed in the fall, and in the following 
 spring it may be freely plucked for use. 
 
 The earlier varieties of pie plant produce leaf-stems twelve 
 or fifteen inches in length, and from one to two inches in cir- 
 cumference, and may be set out at the smaller distances named 
 above ; but the large varieties, as the Victoria, the giant seed- 
 less, etc., coming later in the season, and, with high culture, 
 yielding leaf-stems from two to three feet long and proportion- 
 ably thick, require the full spaces mentioned. 
 
 Experienced cultivators usually cut out the seed-stalk when 
 it first starts, in order to encourage the leaf growth. The giant 
 seedless, as its name imports, never produces a seed-stalk un- 
 less from a diseased plant, and with proper care may be made 
 to yield its leaf-stems more largely than any other variety. 
 
 For a private garden about a dozen plants of the early and 
 as many of the late varieties will usually furnish a supply. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 169 
 
 Pie plant may be easily forced by the following simple proc- 
 ess : Ov^er each of the plants you wish to force place an old 
 ban-el, open at both ends, but with a loose head to cover the 
 upper end as occasion may require. Pile fresh stable manure 
 around it, from a foot thick at the bottom to six inches at the 
 top. Put the cover on only in freezing weather, and if yom' 
 root be large and vigorous, as it should always be for forcing, 
 the growth of long, fine, tender leaf-stem will soon fill the bar- 
 rel. The ban-el must be removed as soon as you judge that a 
 fair amount of leaf has been taken from the plant, and the op- 
 eration, which is really a pretty severe taxing process, should 
 not be repeated upon the same plant two years in succession. 
 What are called young plants, in their second and third years, 
 generally produce the finest specimens of growth. To have a 
 constant succession of these, it is only necessary to uncover the 
 croAvn of an old plant early in the spring, and with a knife 
 separate a portion of the young outer shoots that are just start- 
 ing, taking with them a small piece of the parent root. Set 
 them out and cultivate them as above directed, and in the 
 next two years they will probably produce their largest and 
 best leaf-stems. 
 
 In gathering pie plant the leaf should not be cut from the 
 plant, but deftly slipped off by a twisting, sideway pull. 
 
 It is used in making puddings, pies, and tarts, and for stew- 
 ing. Its acid is pretty strong, yet not rough ; and it is re- 
 markable that in stewing, especially when the sweetening is a 
 mixtm-e of sugar and molasses, quite a variety of fruit-flavors, 
 as peach, plum, etc., are incidentally brought out, though, so 
 far as I know, no rule for their production can be given. It 
 may also be remarked that if, after the stem is peeled and cut 
 up into half-inch pieces, boiling water be poured upon it and 
 allowed to stand for half an hour, and then poured off, and the 
 small quantity of water necessary to stew it with be added to 
 it fresh, almost half the ordinary amount of sweetening will be 
 saved, without any great injury to its flavor. Some persons, 
 however, avoid either peeling or scalding it, as calculated to 
 destroy its peculiar goid, especially while young and tender. 
 
 H 
 
170 AMEBIC AN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 POTATO. 
 
 French, Pomme de terre. — German, Kai-toffel. — Spanish, Papa. 
 
 KIDNEY, WESTERN RED. BLUE-NOSE. CARTER. MERCER, &C, 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Plant in rows from two feet to thirty inches apart, in rich, 
 warm soil, and cover three or four inches deep. Dress them 
 with plaster as soon as they are well up, and hoe often, hilling 
 them carefully, but not high, in the process. 
 
 Time : for early crop, plant at the very first opening of 
 spring North or South. For the main crop, a few weeks later, 
 which at New York may be in the beginning of May. 
 
 The culture of the potato is so well known that it need 
 scarcely be mentioned as a garden vegetable, except with a par- 
 ticular object, viz., the raising of very early potatoes. For this 
 purpose the sets should have some special preparation. If se- 
 lected in advance, and placed in a warm room or cellar, so that 
 they start to grow about half an inch or a little more before 
 planting, and then be put in with care, and promptly covered 
 from the sun, they will, if the season prove favorable, go right 
 on to their maturity, and some time will be gained. 
 
 For this crop select a very warm spot, and manure it thor- 
 oughly with fresh warm stable manure dug or plowed in. 
 Plant the sets at about one foot apart, in rows two and a half 
 feet Avide, either in an opened shallow furrow or in holes made 
 for the purpose with the hoe ; in either case, dressing with a 
 half handful of plaster, or lime, or bone-dust, to each set, and 
 covering them about three inches deep. 
 
 Or the manure may be laid thickly in the planting furrows, 
 made deeper for this purpose, and the sets be laid immediately 
 upon it, and dressed and covered as before directed. 
 
 If the weather prove cold after planting, a light covering of 
 litter or coarse manure spread upon the sm'face will be a ben- 
 efit. 
 
 Let the hoeing be performed promptly and deeply when they 
 appear above ground, and repeated again and again, dressing 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 171 
 
 them at least once with half a handful of plaster (gypsum) to 
 each if not used at the time of planting, and hill them grad- 
 ually, and they will soon furnish your table. 
 
 The jNIercer or " Nutmeg" may be planted for the early crop. 
 
 The potato has of late years become subject to a disease 
 known as the " potato-rot," by which the whole crop of a farm 
 or a district perishes within a few days. As yet it remains en- 
 tirely unaccounted for, neither has any remedy for it been dis- 
 covered. 
 
 The ground intended for Lima or other pole beans may be 
 half cropped with early potatoes by planting the latter in rows 
 fom- feet wide, and after^^ard planting the beans in their hills 
 between them. The potatoes, if well planted and tended, will 
 come oiT in time to give the beans the whole space, and the 
 rough manure used for the former will be reduced to a proper 
 state to feed and stimulate the latter. 
 
 Frequent and pretty thorough experiments have been made 
 to ascertain the proper size for seed potatoes, and whether they 
 ought to be planted whole or may advantageously be cut up, 
 but no satisfactory conclusion has been aiTived at. Results 
 have been obtained from plantings of the mere eyes scooped 
 out of the size of a cherry, and even from thick peelings, near- 
 ly or quite equal to those given by plantings of large whole 
 tubers. In this dilemma, the prevailing sense of intelligent 
 cultivators seems to have fallen back upon the general princi- 
 ple that " like produces like," and to have concluded that the 
 sets ought to be at least mature, and of fair (egg) size, and 
 that, if much larger, they may be cut. The principle and the 
 practice under it are sound, especially in all vegetable life, 
 where mere habit fixes with mar\'elous rapidity. The results 
 which embarrassed the decision were doubtless due to the spe- 
 cial care given in the course of the experiments, and would fail 
 in any general system of culture. The rule may be safely 
 adopted to plant only mature tubers. If of egg size, or but a 
 little larger, plant them whole ; or if seed be of great import- 
 ance, divide them lengthwise or diagonally. Only one or two 
 eyes grow to top, however many the set may have. If, there- 
 fore, you have only lai'ge potatoes, cut them into pieces con- 
 
172 AMERICAN HOMK GAUDEN, 
 
 taining two or three eyes each ; let them dry a little before 
 planting ; set them out as directed ; give them good culture, 
 and your crop will l>e aH good as soil and season justify you in 
 expecting. ]Mip})iiig oft" all the blossoms before they open, if 
 you can find time for the operation, will somewhat increase the 
 product. See Analysis awl Valiie, page 500. 
 For Sweet Potato, sec page 182. 
 
 PUMPKIN. 
 
 French, (JilrouHk. Potlron. — German, Kurbis. — Spanish, Calabaza 
 A marilla. 
 
 ]. SEVEN-YEAR. 2. CIIEE-:E. 'j. COMMON FIEM). 4. MAM- 
 MOTH. 
 
 Illtli;i'" DIinOCTIONH. 
 
 TMarit in very rich warm soil, in hills six feet apart, six or 
 eight seeds in a hill. When well up, thin to the three best 
 plants, lloe often till the blossoms open. 
 
 Time : throughout the time of main corn-planting. In all 
 May at New York. 
 
 The keeping, or" seven-year" pumpkin, is an excellent veg- 
 etable, drier and richer in quality, and keeping better than any 
 other, though not actually lasting seven years. The cheese, or 
 West India pumpkin, is also of great excellence, being far 
 handsomer and perhaps more delicate than the former. The 
 (common, or field pumf)kin, is too well known to require descrip- 
 tion, and is sometimes preferred by those who love its genuine 
 pumpkin flavor. 
 
 The niiunmoth pumpkin, in all its varieties, is rather matter 
 of curiosity than profit. It is seldom of fine quality, is too 
 large for profitable domestic use, and docs not generally yield 
 more weight of produce from a given quantity of land than the 
 moderate-sized varieties. 
 
 The brief directions given alx)vc arc ample for the successful 
 cultivation of this vegeta))le, which is also often planted among 
 corn. Pumpkins (and also squashes) may be kept well into 
 winter in any dry, cool phice, out of the reach of frost, either 
 
AMERICAN HOME (iARDEN, 
 
 17:^. 
 
 by hanging them up singly, or by ptujking them away in bins 
 or burrels with chaff or cut straw ; or they may be kept for use 
 in spring, wiien milk and eggs abound, by being stewed and 
 then dried upon a board in the sun or an oven ; or, still tetter, 
 by being stewed and put up in patent fruit-cans in the ordi- 
 nary manner. 
 
 RADISH. 
 French, Radis. Rave. — German, Rnl.ti;j. — Spanish, Rabano. 
 
 FORMS OF RADISHES. 
 
 1 ig. 7'J. 
 
 a. Good long Jtadiuli. 
 6. I/alflong " 
 
 c. roar-Hliapo'l " 
 
 d. L'nwjutli or club-form ; CliincBC 
 
 roHe-colored winter liadUh. 
 
 > Mongrtls. 
 
 Long Scarlet, Long White Naples. 
 Tui-nip. Black Fall, or Spanish. 
 Rose Winter. 
 
 e. Infrrior Turnip KadiBh. 
 /. Good " " 
 
 ff. Inferior black fall " 
 h. Superior " " 
 
 Scarlet Turnip, White 
 White Fall. Chinese 
 
 BKIEF DIBECTIONS, 
 
 Sow in shallow drills or on light, rich soil, left a little 
 rough, and rake the seed thoroughly in. When well up, sow 
 ashes or poudrette pretty liberally n\X)ji them. 
 
 Time : from the earliest spring to late autumn, omitting the 
 hottest months of summer, at the South or North. 
 
 Of the various kinds of radish, the long scarlet and scarlet 
 
171 AMEllICAN llOMK CAUDKX. 
 
 tiiniip are inost liij^lily cHtocmcd. TIk; wliito varieties are 
 BomotiincH Hupposcd to bo milder, and to bear the heat Ixjttcr 
 thaii others, aMd on this account to ho preferal>lo for fiumrnor 
 use, but we are not Hure that exfyerience Biistains tliese no- 
 tioriH. 
 
 JlitdishcH of a, purph; eohtr arc almost always very strong, 
 oven sicrid, but all kinds are liable to become so by neglect or 
 error in their cultivation. 
 
 'PIk! various foi-ins intermediate between the long and turnij) 
 radisli an; genei-ally th(! result of accidental admixture, and 
 any ()n(^ who (thooses may repi(»<hic(^ tlu^m fi'om original sources. 
 'IMury are merely fancifid, having no |)ecnliar merit, ex(;ept that 
 tiu) peai-shaped or half long varic^ties might j)erhaj)S succeed 
 on soils where the longer kinds wouhl iaii. 
 
 The black or white fall or S{)anish radish sliould lu; sown 
 and gathered at, the sairu^ time as common turnips, a,nd may b(^ 
 stored in sand for winter use. It is a, larger coarse-looking 
 radish, but of liiu', solid texture and good quality. 
 
 Th(! (Miinest! ros(;-('olored winter radish is of pretty appear- 
 inice and good (piality, and may be sown at the same time or a 
 little later than the black Spanish. 
 
 Kadishes should be sown in light, rich soil, in drills about 
 eight inches a])art and half an iiu'h deep, and covered careful- 
 ly by raking along the drills, and adding, if it seem necessa- 
 ry to settle! lh(! earth about the seed, a, gentle pressui'C with 
 the back of IIk^ rake, or by mea.ns of a board, which may be 
 laid ov<'r it and |)ressed with the I'oot ; but in e\))erienced 
 Inuids a. slight beating with the back of the rake will bi; the 
 (|uiek(>st mode. Or the seed may bo sown broadcast, being 
 thiidy scattered over the ground and thoroughly raked in. If 
 the w(5ather be dry when you sow, water lightly each evening 
 until th(; se(Hl sprouts, and continue it afterward if it seem 
 needful. 
 
 Sow ash compost or ])oudrette upon them at least twice dur- 
 ing their growth, or water occasionally witli liijuid nianiu'C, 
 and, if sown in drills, hoe carefully between them, lladishes 
 may be sown at intervals of one or two weeks, from the earliest 
 opening of s})ring until late fall, and at the f;u' South through 
 
AMERICAN HOMK (lAKDKN. 175 
 
 "the winter montliH ;" l)ut, unless the season Ix) peculiar, or 
 p^rciit care ])e used, tli<^ sunini(!r crops will not l)e ^ood. 
 
 Froin the brief but Hiiniciciil direciioiis thus ^iv(!n, it would 
 seem easy to raise j^ood nidislics, jet, if" w(! excerpt a part of 
 those brought to city uuirkets, such are exceediiif^ly rare. Any 
 cause that checks the growth of a radish <lestroys its (piality. 
 This cause may be the i)Overty of the soil, its natural uusuit- 
 ablencss, as being heavy or cold, or having some special defect ; 
 or it may Ix) the occurrence of cold weather after the crop has 
 well started to grow, or the prevalence of summer heat. Either 
 of thes(! causes may Huflic(! to account for strong, uni)leasarit 
 roots. Radishes thus checked in their growth are aJinost in- 
 variably infested with worms, which are a, consequence, and 
 not, as somotimes supposed, the cause of their checik. 
 
 If th(! seed sown be of inferior stock, tlu; radishes will be 
 strong and stringy, and the eating of them will be like chew- 
 ing small, tough sticks. But to have good radishes, if seed of 
 good stock be sown, it is only necessary tliat they grow dcadily 
 and rapidly, j)e pull(;d as soon as they attain a fair size, and 
 eaten while fresh from the garden. 
 
 From what has been said, it is plain that a light and rather 
 sandy soil is to be chosen for rjulishes. Where this can bo 
 made artificially (sere Mechanical ]'reparation of Soil, p. IX), 
 radishes of any kind may be sown ; but where experience lias 
 proved that the long radish will not succeed, the turnip radish 
 only should be sown, avoiding any attempt to raise very early 
 crops, and giving the ground careful pre):)aration and thorough 
 majniring. 
 
 Radishes are often combined with other crops calculated to 
 succeed them, as lettuces, or beets, or early cabbages ; but, un- 
 less land is very valuable, or marnire scarce, it is not worth 
 while to adopt this mode. (See Combination of Crops, p. 85.) 
 
 RAPE OR COLEWORT. 
 
 Frcncli, Colza. — German, JiojisholU. — Spani.sli, Naho Silvestre. 
 
 Both the plant and seed of rape resemble the brown mus- 
 tard. It is S(mietimes called coh;, or colewort, from its French 
 name, colza. It is often sown thickly in drills a foot apart, 
 
170 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 and cut for greens when six or eight inches high. See Greens, 
 page 143. Cabbages of various kinds being sometimes sown 
 in the same manner and for the same purpose, all young non- 
 heading early cabbages have come to be called " coleworts," 
 corrupted to " collards." 
 
 In certain sections the colewort is sown largely for its seeds, 
 on account of the oil they yield, and for feeding to birds. 
 
 ROQUETTE. 
 See Pepper-grass, page 166. 
 
 SAGE. 
 
 French, Sauge. — German, Salbey. — Spanish, Salvia. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow in a shallow drill, in rich soil. Cover lightly, and ii 
 dry, give water. When the plants are from two to four inches 
 high, transplant and set them in a bed or in rows a foot apart 
 each way, and keep clean. 
 
 Time : in all spring. 
 
 Sage is used largely in sausages, and for various purposes in 
 cookery. It is also used in medicine, and formerly its virtues 
 were so highly esteemed that it passed into a proverb, " "Why 
 should a man die who has sage in his garden ?" The moderns 
 do not think so highly of it, but it is still used in the form of 
 sage-tea as a drink, and with alum as a gargle. 
 
 Sow the seed and transplant as above directed. Cut and 
 dry the leaf for use when at full size, which will generally be 
 after mid-autumn, taking care not to trim the plant too closely. 
 
 SALSAFY (or Vegetable Oyster). 
 French, Salsafis. — German, Bockshart. — Spanish, Ostra b Ostion vejetal. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow the seed in rich, well-prepared soil, in drills fifteen to 
 eighteen inches apart, and an inch deep ; cover it carefully, and 
 press the earth lightly upon it, and when well up, thin the 
 plants to four or five inches apart, and hoe and weed often, un- 
 til the tops meet across the rows. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 177 
 
 Time : late spring or beginning of summer at the North ; 
 at the South in early fall ; and in the far South it may also 
 be sown with the very earliest spring crops for summer use. 
 
 At New York in all May or beginning of June. 
 
 The salsafy has rather a narrow, flag-like leaf, and its root 
 resembles a small white parsnep. 
 
 In localities Avhere veritable oysters are not readily obtained, 
 it affords an agreeable substitute. For this purpose, the root 
 should be washed and grated, seasoned to taste, mixed with 
 a batter made of milk and flour, and made light either with 
 soda and cream of tartar or eggs, and fried with sweet fat in 
 small cakes. It is also occasionally used in soups, or boiled 
 and mashed as squash. 
 
 SCORZONERA. 
 
 Prench, Scorzonei-e. — German, Scorzionenvurzel. — Spanish, Es^orzonera. 
 
 Sown and treated precisely as salsafy, used for the same 
 general purposes, and scarcely at all differing from it except 
 in being too bitter to use without previous soaking. 
 
 SEA KALE. 
 
 French, Cliou Marin. — German, Meerkohl. — Spanish, Breton de Mar. Col 
 
 Marina. 
 
 Sow in early spring, in rich soil, in a drill an inch deep, 
 and cover carefully and rather fii'mly. 
 
 Keep the young plants clean throughout the season, and in 
 the following spring plant them out where they are to stand, 
 in deep and very rich soil, in rows fom- or five feet wide, set- 
 ting the plants eighteen inches apart in the row. 
 
 Hoe often and deeply through the season, and after the tops 
 die in the fall, ridge up the earth from the intervals over the 
 crowns of the plants to a depth of fifteen or eighteen inches. 
 In the spring they will push up through this ridge a tender, 
 white, fleshy growth, which may be cut near the crown of the 
 plant by opening the side of the ridge, or removing it entirely 
 from the plants you gather. These branched stems are cooked 
 and eaten as asparagus. 
 
 112 
 
178 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 When the spring cutting is completed, having leveled down 
 the ridges, manui'e the intervals, and cultivate as before, to give 
 it vigor for the next year's taxing. 
 
 It is sometimes planted in rows or hills only eighteen inches 
 or two feet apart each way, and, instead of being ridged, the 
 crowns are slightly covered for winter, and in the spring earth- 
 en pots, known as " sea-kale pots," about fifteen inches deep 
 and twelve inches diameter, are placed over it to force and 
 blanch it, which sometimes, also, are surrounded with stable 
 manure to hasten the process. These pots have a hole in what 
 would ordinai'ily be called the bottom, but which, as inverted, 
 is the top, large enough to admit the hand for cutting the 
 crop, to which a knobbed cover, like the cover of a water-jar, 
 is fitted by the potter. 
 
 Like asparagus, sea kale is a maintime plant, and is, by some 
 persons, very highly esteemed as a delicacy ; but a large major- 
 ity would justly conclude that " it costs more than it comes to." 
 
 SHALLOTS. 
 Prench, Echalote. — German, Schalotte. — Spanish, Chalote. 
 
 Plant the sets, from early fall to winter, in very rich soil 
 about three inches deep, in rows fifteen inches wide, and about 
 six inches apart in the row. Hoe often and deeply, and keep 
 perfectly clean. As early in the spring as practicable, hoe 
 deeply, and top-dress once with poudrette, or guauo, or liquid 
 manure, and pull them as soon as sufficiently grown for use. 
 
 The shallot is a well-known kind of onion, which increases 
 largely by offsets from the root, used chiefly at the very open- 
 ing of spring, being the earliest of the onion kind that appears 
 in the green state in market. 
 
 SOREL. 
 
 French, Oseille. — German, Sauerarnpfer. — Spanish, Acedera. 
 
 The French or garden sorel is a perennial plant, with leaves 
 as large as those of the yellow dock, and of a strong, clear, 
 acid taste. It is raised from seed sown in the spring in a 
 shallow drill, and a few plants may be set out where they can 
 stand permanently and be out of the way. 
 
' AMERICAN H03IE GARDEN. 179 
 
 It will be esteemed by those who fancy salads made up in 
 the modes of Paris, or Madrid, or Vienna ; but, after all, it is 
 simply the " sour-grass" of our boyhood. 
 
 SPINACH. 
 
 French, Epinard. — German, Spinal. Spinal Kohl. — Sj^anish, Espinara. 
 
 PRICKLY (seeded). ROUND (SEEDED) OR SAVOY. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow in shallow drills twelve inches apart. Cover lightly, 
 and if dry, give water. Keep clean, and spread straw or ever- 
 green brush thinly over it for the winter. 
 
 Time : earliest fall or first of spring at the North. Through- 
 out the fall or at the opening of spring at the South general- 
 ly. At the extreme South, throughout the " winter months" 
 also. In New York, September and March. 
 
 Spinach is the first green vegetable that spring yields for 
 cooking, affording a pleasant and wholesome dish at a season 
 when nothing remains of our last year's store but roots and 
 winter cabbage. Many persons esteem it very highly for 
 greens, while some think it but little superior to the common 
 dock leaf. It comes, however, earlier than the latter, and has 
 therefore an advantage in point of time, if not in quality. 
 
 There are several varieties, but the round seeded Savoy spin- 
 ach, having a thick, crum.pled leaf, is the best for ordinary use. 
 It should be sown in rows as above directed, and if sown in the 
 fall, hardy cabbage lettuce may be profitably sown in alternate 
 rows between it, which will winter with the same slight cover- 
 ing, and may either be transplanted at the opening of spring 
 for very early heading, or cultivated where it stands after the 
 spinach is cut. 
 
 NEW ZEALAND SPINACH. 
 
 The New Zealand spinach, Tetragona expansa, is a rather 
 coarse summer " green," not particularly desirable where the 
 ordinary green vegetables are attainable, but may be of value 
 in very warm climates. 
 
180 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 It may be planted in all spring, in hills three feet apart, in 
 very rich soil, five or six seeds in a hill, and must be kept clean 
 by frequent hoeings, drawing up the earth from time to time 
 so as to form a pretty large flattish hill, over which the plants 
 will throw their strong luxuriant growth, from which the leaves 
 for cooking may be gathered throughout the summer. 
 
 SQUASHES. 
 SQUASH (summer). 
 
 French, Giraumon. Courge. — German, Melonen Kurhis. — Spanish, Especie 
 de la Calabaza. 
 
 BERGEN BUSH. WHITE SCOLLOP. EARLY GOLDEN. SUMMER 
 CROOKNECK. 
 
 For Squash Bug, &c., see Fig. G5, page 102. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Plant in very rich warm soil, in hills four to six feet apart, 
 six or eight seeds in a hill, an inch deep. When well up, thin 
 to the three best plants. Hoe often, and gradually hill up till 
 the blossoms open. 
 
 Time : throughout the time of corn-planting South or North. 
 
 At New York in all May or early in June. 
 
 The Bergen squash is the best of all bush squashes, and may 
 be advantageously substituted for all summer squashes, wheth- 
 er bush or running, and perhaps also for all winter squashes, 
 except the cocoanut, or Porter's winter. 
 
 It is a heart-shaped gi-een and white squash, of medium size, 
 and in rich soil a good cropper, coming as early as any, and 
 continuing as long in bearing. 
 
 Even while the shell is soft, it is superior to the white or 
 golden scollop, but it is not in perfection until the shell begins 
 to harden considerably, when it becomes dry and rich beyond 
 any other summer variety. 
 
 The white and golden scollop, the summer crooknecks, and 
 the various fancy varieties, have their merits, but none of them 
 combine so many desirable qualities as the Bergen, which, as 
 
AMERICAN HOME GAKDEX. 18 1 
 
 before stated, if planted rather late, may be kept for winter, 
 care being taken to use the soft-shelled ones first. 
 
 SQUASH (winter). 
 
 COCOANUT, OR PORTER'S WINTER. WINTER BELL. CANADA 
 CROOKNECK, &C. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Plant and tend in the manner above directed for summer 
 squash, but at greater distances, say from six to ten feet apart. 
 Time : in the time of main corn-planting South or North. 
 At New York in all May. 
 
 The winter bell and Canada crookneck squashes are very 
 good varieties, the latter especially yielding abundantly. 
 
 The cocoa-nut, or Porter's winter squash, is the best of all 
 known squashes. Its vines, however, run amazingly, and, un- 
 less very highly cultivated, it is rather less productive in 
 northern latitudes than other varieties. It is sometimes called 
 the Valparaiso sc{uash, and oftener Porter's, because originally 
 introduced from that plaee by the late Commodore Porter, Its 
 other and prevailing name is derived from the form of the fruit, 
 which somewhat resembles a cocoanut with the husk on. It 
 has a roughish coat of a gi'ay or stone color. 
 
 The flesh, which is not very thick, is of a deep annatto 
 orange color, and extremely rich and dry. 
 
 Squashes that are to be kept for winter use should be treat- 
 ed as directed for pumpkins, page 172. 
 
 SUMMER SAVORY. 
 
 French, Sariette cfete. — German, Saturei. Jjohne Kreitchen. — Spanish, 
 
 Ajedrea. 
 
 BRIEF niRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow in very shallow drills or upon the fresh surface, in rows 
 twelve inches apart, in rich light soil. Cover lightly, and if 
 dry, give water. Thin the plants to three inches distance, and 
 keep clean. 
 
 Time : throughout spring at the North. At the South, ei- 
 
\^'2 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 ther at the opening of spring or early in the fall. At New 
 York from March to July. 
 
 It should be cut for diying soon after it begins to blossom. 
 
 SWEET BASIL. 
 
 French, Basilic. — German, Jiasiiikuvi. — Spanish, Allahaca. 
 
 SWEET MARJORAM. 
 
 French, Marjolaine. — German, Marjoran. — Spanish, Mejorana. 
 
 These are two aromatic herbs, used in cookery for seasoning, 
 and may be sown and treated in all respects as summer savory. 
 See above. 
 
 SWEET POTATO. 
 
 French, Patate Sucr^. Patate Douce. Patate Malaga. — German, Bataten. 
 Suesze Kartoffel. — Spanish, Battatas. 
 
 Sweet potatoes are raised from sets. These are either small 
 potatoes, raised for this purpose from summer cuttings of the 
 vines in the previous year, or the cullings of the general crop 
 carefully wintered in dry sand, etc., or the young shoots of 
 large or small wintered tubers, started at the opening of spring 
 in a hot bed or box to furnish sets for the season. 
 
 When four or five inches long the shoots are ready for plant- 
 ing, and should be carefully taken off and set out as they suc- 
 cessively attain this size. 
 
 Rich, warm, and, if possible, sandy soil must be chosen, and 
 about the time of corn-planting the hills should be carefully 
 prepared, at four feet apart each way, raising them slightly, 
 and mixing in plenty of rich compost, unless the whole has 
 been well manured. About the time of the first corn-hoeing 
 plant three or four sets in each hill, covering them three inches 
 deep if small or cut tubers are planted, and if the young shoots 
 are used let their points just appear above ground, and press 
 the earth gently about their lower ends ; or set them eighteen 
 inches apart, in rows three feet wide. 
 
 Protect them a while from either cold or sun if it appears 
 necessary, and keep them perfectly clean and frequently hoed, 
 dressing them once or twice with plaster or ash compost, grad- 
 
AMERICAN home: GARDEN. IS'6 
 
 ually enlarging the hill or ridge until the growth of their vines 
 prevents farther work among them. 
 
 When perfectly ripened and carefully dried after digging, 
 they may be stored in dry sand with safety for winter use. 
 
 In the field culture of sweet potatoes the land is prepared 
 and the hills or ridges made and cultivated with the plow. 
 
 THYME. 
 
 French, TItym. — German, Tldmian. — Spanish, Tornillo. 
 
 Sow in rows a foot wide upon the surface' of finely-prepared, 
 rich soil, and water moderately until the plants come up. 
 When two or three inches high, thin or transplant to six 
 inches apart, and keep perfectly clean. 
 
 Time : spring at the North ; spring or fiill at the South. 
 
 This is a pleasant and valuable herb, used for seasoning 
 stews, poultry, etc. It should be cut for drying as soon as it 
 begins to blossom, or before frost if sown too late to blossom. 
 
 TOMATO. 
 
 French, Tomate. — German, Liehes Apfel. — Spanish, Tomato. 
 
 LARGE CRUMPLED. APPLE. PEAR. CHERRY. GRAPE. 
 
 Either Red or Yelloiu. 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Set the plants eighteen inches apart, in rows two feet wide, or 
 in hills three feet apart, in light, warm soil, not very rich, and 
 plow or hoe deeply from time to time till the tops interfere. 
 
 Time : sow in hot bed from six to eight weeks before main 
 corn-planting, when the plants may be set out or the seed 
 sown in the open ground either South or North. 
 
 At New York, March in hot bed ; May in open ground, to 
 sow or set out. 
 
 All the above varieties are named from their general size 
 and appearance, and of each there is a red and a yellow variety. 
 The red are generally preferred for cooking, and the yellow for 
 preserves. All the varieties bear abundantly, though perhaps 
 the large crumpled kind is the most prolific. For all ordinary 
 
184 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 purposes, the apple or large smooth merits a decided preference. 
 The cheiTy and grape varieties are pretty, but not otherwise 
 valuable. 
 
 It is quite desirable to sow tomatoes early in hot bed, or in 
 a box of good earth in the house if a hot bed is not made ; but 
 if not thus provided, they may be sown somewhat later, with- 
 out artificial heat, in a warm, rich spot, the seed being lightly 
 covered, regularly watered with water that is slightly warmed 
 in the sun or in the house, and at night covered with a cloth, 
 or mat, or box, until the weather becomes definitely warm. As 
 soon as the plants are then ready, let them be carefully set out 
 in rows two feet wide, and eighteen inches apart in the row, in 
 light, warm soil, not made too rich, and either furnished with 
 brush to climb upon or left to spread upon the ground, hoeing 
 them often and deeply, gradually hilling them up until the 
 tops spread so as to prevent it. 
 
 If very early tomatoes are desired, the plants should be pot- 
 ted as directed page 87 ; in about a fortnight change them 
 into larger, say quart pots, and by the time it is safe to set 
 them out they will be ready to come into blossom. If skill- 
 fully transferred from the pot to the hill, and, in case of un- 
 expected cold, covered with pots or boxes, they will be scarcely 
 at all checked in their growth by the change, and will quickly 
 mature their fruit. In this, however, they may be aided by 
 nipping the ends of the main shoots, limiting the growth of 
 side shoots, and exposing the fruit to the sun. 
 
 Where tomatoes are raised in large quantities the ground 
 may be prepared and fun-owed as for corn, at three feet apart 
 each wa}^, two or three plants being set in each hill. All their 
 necessary culture may also be performed by repeated and care- 
 ful cross-plowings, following each by a slight hilling up with 
 the hoe, and pulling out by hand any weeds that may be found 
 too close to the plants to cut, and too large to cover in the 
 hoeing. 
 
 All the varieties of tomato may be taken while green and 
 kept in brine, or salted, for making up into pickles in the ordi- 
 nary modes, as they are wanted through the year. 
 
 Tomato catsup is made by ]x)iling the ripe fruit to a pulp. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GAKUEN, 185 
 
 which is then strained through a sieve that will keep out the 
 skins and seeds ; and after being again thoroughly boiled, re- 
 ducing it somewhat, adding salt and spice according to taste, 
 it is cooled and bottled for use. 
 
 Either the apple or pear tomatoes make a pleasant preserve 
 for immediate use, or for keeping if put in preserving cans. 
 For this purpose, the fruit may be taken while green, or when 
 about three fourths ripe. If the latter, boiling water is poured 
 over them, and the skins are carefully taken oif ; if the former, 
 the skins are left on. Having the fruit prepared, add to each 
 three pounds of it two quarts of water, one and a half pounds 
 of sugar, one good-sized lemon, sliced, or a quarter ounce of 
 green ginger, or both, and boil slowly till the sirup thickens. 
 
 To make what are known as " tomato figs," take the pear- 
 shaped variety when nearly, but not quite ripe, and boil them 
 as above directed for preserves, with the water, and sugar, and 
 lemon or green ginger in the same proportions. When suffi- 
 ciently boiled, take the tomatoes out of the sirup, and lay 
 them singly upon flat dishes, and place them in the sun ; when 
 partially dried, sprinkle finely-crushed sugar thinly over them, 
 turning and sugaring them daily until they are sufficiently 
 dried ; or, if difficulty arises from biul weather, the drying 
 may be completed in an oven at a low heat. They may then 
 be packed, and pressed closely into boxes lined with white 
 paper, and, if thought needful, more sugar may be added. 
 
 For winter use, the ripe tomatoes may be stewed, and simply 
 salted or fully seasoned, and kept in patent fruit-cans in the 
 usual mode until wanted, when they are to be stewed afresh, 
 and seasoned anew if desired. 
 
 TURNIP. 
 
 French, Navdt. — German, Rube. Steckr'dbe. — Spanish, Nabo. 
 
 EARLY RED-TOP. EARLY DUTCH. EARLY STONE. LONG, OR 
 TANKARD. YELLOW ABERDEEN. YELLOW GLOBE. RUS- 
 SIA, OR RUTA BAGA. , 
 
 BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 
 
 Sow in shallow drills, twelve inches apart. Cover lightly, 
 
18(3 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 and if diy, give water. In garden culture hoe them at least 
 once, thinning the plants to four or six inches. 
 
 Time : at the very earliest moment of spring if intended for 
 summer use. If for winter, as late in the fall as possible, so 
 that about eight weeks of cool moist weather may be allowed 
 for their growth, or for ruta baga twelve weeks. If they are 
 not hoed during their growth, they will require a little longer 
 time to mature. 
 
 At New York, common turnips may be sown in March for 
 summer, and August for winter use ; ruta baga in June or 
 first half of July, 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 187 
 
 a. Uncouth form, Dale's hybrid Turnip. /. Globe-formed Turnip. 
 
 b. Egg-formed Ruta Baga. g. Cheese-formed Turnip, or a "flattened 
 
 c. Worthless Ruta Baga, long-necked and spheroid." 
 
 branch-rooted. h. Flat-formed Turnip. 
 
 d. Inferior heart-shaped Turnip. i. Double concave form, as yelloiv Malta. 
 
 e. Superior heart-shaped Turnip. 
 
 Of the kinds named above, the early red-top, sometimes call- 
 ed pui-ple-top, the Aberdeen, and the Russia, or ruta baga, 
 will meet all the ordinary demands of a family. The early 
 Dutch and stone are good varieties, and with some persons the 
 long, or tankard, recently sometimes called French, is a favor- 
 ite ; but the red-top is of the freest growth and of the best 
 quality of white turnips, and will supply the table for summer 
 use, and from early fall until New Year, The yellow globe, or 
 Aberdeen, may succeed it until late in March, after which the 
 Russia alone may be used until new vegetables come in. 
 
 Common tm'nips may be sown in drills from twelve to eight- 
 een inches apart, or broadcast upon fine, light, well-prepared 
 soil. In either case let the seed be but lightly raked in, and 
 if the weather is very dry, give water, using an ordinary rose 
 watering-pot. When sown very early or very late, water them 
 occasionally in the course of their growth with liquid manure, 
 or top-dress them with ash compost or some other stimulating 
 application ; hoe repeatedly, and thin them carefully to three 
 or four inches apart. 
 
 With this treatment, the early kinds sometimes furnish good 
 roots before the summer heat spoils them, or succeed well for 
 winter use, though sown even as late as the beginning of Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 In moist and misty climates turnips may be sown to advant- 
 age in early spring, but in our climate it is seldom that spring- 
 sown turnips are fit to eat. In general, they serve only for 
 flavoring summer soup. 
 
 Russia tm-nip, or ruta baga, when sown in the garden and 
 intended for family use, should not be sown eai-lier than from 
 the first to the middle of July at New York and the North 
 generally — say from two to four weeks earlier than the fall 
 sowing of the common kinds, and should always be sown in 
 drills, and carefully hastened in its growth by hoeing and top- 
 dressing. See also Turnip Bug, page 102. 
 
.188 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 WATER CRESS. 
 
 French, Cresson de Fontaine. — German, Wasser Kresse, Brunen Kresse.— 
 
 Spanish, Berro. 
 
 The water cress may be raised from seed, cuttings, or plants, 
 sown or planted in the edge of a living spring or stream, where 
 its roots may be ever so slightly protected by the water from 
 the intense cold ; or it may be sown or set in the narrow in- 
 tervals of a floor or bed made with rough paving stones, over 
 which a gentle shallow stream is made to flow. North of New 
 York it may be thinly covered in winter, if found necessary, 
 with straw, or salt hay, or evergreen brush. 
 
 It starts at the first opening of spring, and being gathered 
 as soon as sufiiciently grown, is the earliest warm aromatic 
 salad seen in our markets. 
 
 It is highly esteemed, being not only agreeable to the taste 
 of most persons, but also regarded as a valuable antiscorbutic, 
 peculiarly suitable for spring use. 
 
 The brooklime (Veronica Beccabunga), a worthless plant, 
 distinguishable by its ovate and flat leaf from the water cress, 
 is sometimes mistaken for it. 
 
 ASSORTMENT OF SEEDS, ABOUT SUFFICIENT FOR A GARDEN OF 
 MODERATE SIZE, SAY A QUARTER OF AN ACRE. 
 
 As garden seeds are extensively sold in " papers," I have 
 given the ordinary equivalents of the respective weights and 
 measures. It may be found occasionally useful to beginners. 
 
 4 papers. 
 
 Bush Beans of various 
 
 kinds 3 pints= 6 papers. 
 
 Pole Beans of various 
 
 kinds 2 " = 6 " 
 
 Early Peas of various 
 
 kinds 5 " =10 " 
 
 Late Peas, various kinds 3 " = 6 " 
 
 Cucumbers " ... 1 oz. ^2 " 
 
 Muskraelon i " =^1 " 
 
 Watermelon ^ " ^ 1 " 
 
 Summer bush Squash . . 1 " = 2 " 
 
 Winter " ... i " =; 1 " 
 
 Pumpkin | " =1 " 
 
 Early Cabbage i " := 1 " 
 
 Winter " i" ^2 " 
 
 Cauliflower, or Brocoli. . j " := 1 " 
 
 Beets of various kinds.. 2 " ^ 4 " 
 
 Carrots " " . . 1 " = 3 " 
 
 Parsnip " " . . 1 " := 2 " 
 
 Turnips " " .. 1 " = 2 " 
 
 Kadish ia varieties 3 " =z 6 " 
 
 Onion in varieties 2 oz. : 
 
 Onion sets 1 pint. 
 
 Lettuce in varieties i oz. : 
 
 Spinach 2 " 
 
 Dock I " 
 
 Celery J " 
 
 Pepper i " : 
 
 Egg-plant i " ; 
 
 Tomato i " : 
 
 Salsafy | " : 
 
 Okra \ " : 
 
 Mustard 1 " : 
 
 Peppergrass 1 " : 
 
 Nasturtium \ " ; 
 
 Leek f " : 
 
 Parsley \ " : 
 
 ^age 
 
 f^umraer Savory 
 
 Sweet Hasil 
 
 Sweet Marjoram 
 
 Thyme 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 189 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 Fruits. — Effect of Soil, Climate. — Shape of, Color, Flavor, Specific Gravity. 
 — Fruit-trees ; selecting Varieties, bearing Qualities, new Kinds. 
 
 FRUITS. 
 " Good for food, and pleasant to the eyes." 
 
 Fruits always commend themselves to the natural taste, and 
 then" free use in the ripe state, whether raw or cooked, is pleas- 
 ant, economical, and highly conducive to health. In some 
 fruits a simple statement of the grade of their quality is suffi- 
 cient ; but in several of the more important classes, as apples 
 and pears, there are general divisions which it is important to 
 notice, as summer and winter fruits, sweet, subacid, vinous, sour, 
 melting, buttery, firm, mealy, gritty, &c. ; and in plums and 
 peaches, clings or freestones. Various persons prefer fruit with 
 one or other of these peculiarities, according to diversity of taste, 
 or for special seasons or uses : melting, buttery, subacid or sweet, 
 and freestone fruits for eating out of hand ; clingstone, sour, and 
 finu fruits for preserving — the sweet fruits preserved or stewed 
 being usually flat, though occasionally a subacid fruit is found 
 which, with little sugar, is yet lively, the acid developing with 
 the process of cooking ; as also sour fruit, when cooked, is more 
 acid than when raw. 
 
 Most of these peculiarities in fruits are modified by various 
 causes, as soil, climate, &c., in some cases deteriorating good 
 kinds till they become almost worthless. 
 
 EFFECT OF SOIL. 
 
 A wet and cold soil, whether it be poor or rich, tends to in- 
 crease the rough acidity of fruits ; a warm, dry soil, on the 
 other hand, naturally heightens the flavor, and limits and re- 
 fines the acidity. 
 . Fniits raised in very rich soil, other things being equal, are 
 
190 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 larger, but less rich, both in flavor and saccharum, than the 
 same fruits raised with less luxuriance of growth on poorer 
 soil. Our Western apples are beautiful in appearance, but do 
 not command the price of those raised upon the hills that bor- 
 der the Hudson, either in domestic or foreign markets. The 
 vineyards of the hills, and not of the level and fertile valleys 
 of France, make the richest qualities of wines. 
 
 EFFECT OF CLIMATE. 
 
 Speaking generally, fruits gradually increase in richness and 
 variety as we proceed from the north southward to the tropics. 
 But the natural boundaries of the various families of fruits are 
 limited, having probably as their centre a line of perfection, of 
 greater or less width, for each particular tribe, which, as we di- 
 verge from that line, deteriorates under our hand. As an illus- 
 tration merely, we may assume the latitude of 42° to be the 
 line of perfection for- the apple, 38° or 40° for the pear and 
 cherry, and 30° or 35° for the vine. But certain kinds of any 
 given class of fruits are also better suited than others to the 
 particular varieties of climate found within these natural bound- 
 aries, and we say therefore of one apple it is a Northern, and 
 of another it is a Southern fruit, and we make lists of them as 
 they are supposed to be suited to the colder or warmer regions 
 of the zone to which the family belongs. 
 
 We may also conclude ordinarily that the varieties of fruits 
 best suited to a given region will be those which have origi- 
 nated in it or in some other region of like location. The New- 
 town pippin, which is the chief of apples where it can be prop- 
 erly matiured, attains its perfection only near the line of lati- 
 tude in which it originated, and when exempted from the in- 
 fluence of a too cold or humid soil. The Rhode Island green- 
 ing, lively and piquant in its proper latitude, becomes flat and 
 worthless in a Southern climate. 
 
 As we bring varieties toward the central line of perfection 
 from the North, the influence of the change of climate is similar 
 to that of a single particularly long and warm summer in their 
 native region, or of transfer to a warmer soil, or to a locality 
 where the temperature is modified by a river or body of water, or 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 191 
 
 of a system of very open trimming, or of planting the individual 
 tree in an especially warm exposure, all of which are merely 
 temporary or local modifications of climate. But this change 
 for the better in the character of the finiit is usually accompa- 
 nied by another of a different kind. The fruit not only ripens 
 higher, but it ripens earlier, and as ripeness is ahvays the pre- 
 cursor of rottenness, it will not keep so well. The Rhode Isl- 
 and gi'eening and the Baldwin, raised in Massachusetts, are less 
 perishable than the same varieties raised in New Jersey. It 
 is important to take this into account when we are transferring 
 varieties to new localities, otherwise we may fail to secure in 
 the fruit the very qualities for which we have esteemed it. 
 
 SHAPE OF FRUITS. 
 
 The form of fruits is seldom of much importance, but in ap- 
 ples it affords a general indication of quality. The flattened 
 and globular, and the obtuse conical forms are mostly pretty 
 close at the core, and all the very best varieties of apples be- 
 long to these forms. The long-shaped apples have generally 
 large, open, " rattle-box" cores ; and while many of them are 
 distinguished by pleasant peculiarities of flavor, as the gilli- 
 flower, there are very few, if any, first-class fruits among them. 
 Fruits of an oblique or one-sided form, as the Chandler (see p. 
 309), are apt to run defective on the shrunken side in seasons 
 that may be even but slightly unfavorable, and, in general, all 
 fmits with an irregular or disproportioned development of form 
 are liable to similar imperfections. 
 
 COLOR, 
 Fruits with a large proportion of bright red, or with at least 
 a full, deep blush cheek, or of a deep golden yelloAV color, al- 
 ways strike the eye as more beautiful, and find a readier mar- 
 ket than others of only equal quality and less color. 
 
 FLAVOR. 
 
 Of the various flavors found in fruits of the same family, 
 some seem to be produced simply by a happy combination of 
 clear, pleasant acid, with a due proportion of sugar, and arc 
 
192 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 abiding, and suit all palates ; others are in the nature of an 
 aroma or spiciness, which is well developed only in very favor- 
 able circumstances, and in most cases is so fugitive that it 
 must be enjoyed at the very moment of perfect ripening, or it 
 is lost, and in reference to which tastes vary greatly. Such 
 may be chosen for special culture, but not for the general pur- 
 poses of life or profits of business. For the effect of soil and 
 climate upon flavor, sec those heads. 
 
 SPECIFIC GRAVITY. 
 
 Other things being equal, the comparative value of any fruit 
 may be instantly determined, like the value of gold, by its su- 
 perior specific gravity, or " heft," as we say familiarly. This 
 indicates with precision its richness in saccharum, and may 
 guide the manufacturer of vinegar in his choice of fruits for 
 this purpose, though for cooking or eating we need to inquire 
 farther as to flavor, &c. 
 
 FRUIT-TREES. 
 
 SELECTING VARIETIES. / 
 
 In making a selection of fruits, choose mainly from such va- 
 rieties as are known to succeed in your own locality, either as 
 having ori^nated there or become wonted. If you seek to in- 
 troduce improved varieties, never depend on their reputation in 
 other localities, but study their intrinsic character. If you 
 transfer the Boston russet or the Baldwin to New Jersey or 
 Delaware merely with a view to home consumption, you may 
 succeed ; but if with the idea of raising apples for shipping, 
 you will be disappointed. If, however, you find in Canada or 
 New England an apple of good color, shape, and heft, but in- 
 dicating by its excess of acid that the season in those latitudes 
 is not long enough to perfect it, you may move it southward 
 with a probability amounting almost to certainty that you will 
 obtain a valuable fruit. 
 
 Perhaps the general rule may be expressed thus : Fruits 
 that ripen very late, or do not ripen at all in a given latitude, 
 will improve by moving South ; and fruits that in a more 
 southerly location ripen early, may be moved northward with- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 193 
 
 out being injui-ed. For the mode of producing and treating 
 seedling fruits, see those heads, pages 194 and 204. 
 
 There is a difference in the period of blossoming of different 
 varieties in the same orchard, which is sometimes due to in- 
 herent natural diversity, but often, also, is the effect of climate, 
 the habit of the tree, formed in a warmer or colder latitude, 
 adhering to it. Sometimes the season's crop is lost by the 
 spring frost killing the too early blossoms of a southern tree, 
 and at others injury is avoided and a crop gained by the tardy 
 blossoming of a northern one. 
 
 It is sometimes worth w^hile to choose kinds that may be 
 reatlily identified by the peculiar appearance of the young 
 branches, as the snow peach by its white shoots, the Napoleon 
 pear by its slate color, and the Dix by its slender willowy yel- 
 low ones, and the Bergamotte Suisse by its striped bark, with 
 which the stripes upon the fniit have a general correspond- 
 ence. It is, however, much more important to attend to the 
 mode of growth which distinguishes each particular variety 
 you propose to plant, as whether its habit be erect or drooping ; 
 whether, like the peach, it throAV out its branches at acute an- 
 gles, with a weak joint, and is therefore liable to be split by 
 winds or broken down by its crop of fruit, or at obtuse angles, 
 or horizontally, as the Rhode Island greening and Graven- 
 stein among apples, and the hickory among forest trees, and is 
 therefore sti'ong to bear both wind and fniit. Also, whether 
 it has a habit of forming a snug, well-shaped head, as the 
 Seckel or Lodge pears, from which the fruit may be gathered 
 easily, or long, straggling, or upright branches, which can not 
 be climbed, and can scarcely be reached by a ladder, and for 
 which the fruit-gatherer becomes necessary. 
 
 BEARING QUALITIES. 
 Certain kinds are better bearers than others under equally 
 favorable circumstances, as among apples the Rhode Island 
 greening is superior in this respect to the Pound sweet or the 
 Vanderveer. Certain other varieties always bear heavily, but 
 only in alternate years, as the Jersey sweeting and the com- 
 mon or Poughkeepsie russeting. In some trees the fruit spurs, 
 
 I 
 
194 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 or bunches of blossom buds are thrown out from the older 
 growth, while in other varieties the blossoms are produced 
 chiefly from the terminal buds of young shoots, upon which, at 
 matm'ity, the fruit dangles. 
 
 Generally, the trees of heavy-bearing varieties are not long 
 lived, being either constitutionally feeble or exhausted by ex- 
 cessive crops, or both. 
 
 It will be found best, on the whole, to choose varieties that 
 bear moderately, and of which the fruit is neither so small as 
 to be tedious in the gathering, nor so large as to expose it to 
 be swept off by winds, though, in reference to the russet and 
 Jersey sweeting named above, special peculiarities will always 
 secure them a place in the orchard, in spite of their compara- 
 tively early decay. It may also be added that the habit of 
 heavy alternate bearing may be changed in the youth of the 
 tree by perseveringly stripping it of blossoms in the bearing 
 year until it is forced into blossoming moderately every season, 
 or only half the tree may be so disciplined, or one side may be 
 grafted with another variety of diverse habit. 
 
 PRODUCTION OF NEW FRUITS, &C. 
 
 From the knowledge we possess, it seems probable that the 
 kinds of fruit, as well as individual trees, have but a limited 
 period of healthful growth and productiveness, and hence new 
 kinds become desirable. 
 
 In reference to fruits, the theory has been proposed that, in 
 attempting to raise improved varieties of fruits from seed, we 
 should select for intermixture, not individuals of the very 
 best known varieties, but those of a somewhat inferior grade 
 which are in process of amelioration, thus running them, as 
 it Avere, on an independent line upward from the original base 
 stock. 
 
 This theory may be good, but it does not look so. We may 
 assume that in each family of fruits there is a point of excel- 
 lence beyond which human skill in its culture will not be able 
 to carry it. K our best-known varieties have already attained 
 to this perfection in their various kinds, the most direct course 
 would seem to be to reproduce them anew from seed as nearly 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 195' 
 
 like themselves as possible. If they have not attained that 
 point they may be still progressing ; but if they have simply 
 an-ived at the acme of their individual character, and not con- 
 stituting standards for their class, then it becomes difficult to 
 explain why the incessant efforts of the last half century have 
 not produced an apple superior to the Newtown pippin, a pear 
 as finely flavored as the Seckel, or a plum equal to the old 
 green gage, whose seedlings, raised haphazard through the 
 country, though inferior to their parent, yet occupy almost 
 alone the wide space lying between it and all other varieties 
 of plum. My readers may pursue either track at their pleas- 
 ure. See Fertilization, page 74. 
 
 CHAPTER Xm. 
 
 Propagation of Fruit-trees by Seeds, Cuttings, Layers, &c. — Various 
 Stocks for Fruit-trees. 
 
 PROPAGATION OF FRUIT-TREES. 
 
 BY SEEDS. 
 
 See " Seedling Stocks," page 204. 
 
 BY CUTTIXGS. 
 
 Currants, gooseberries, grape-vines, and quinces are often 
 raised from cuttings, and it is quite possible to raise apples, 
 pears, and other fruits in the same way. 
 
 Certain fruit-trees, as some varieties of the apple, indicate 
 a disposition to root by pushing out bunches or ganglions of 
 half-formed or inchoate buds from the plain body of the stem, 
 and from these, in due time, young shoots proceed. Cuttings 
 from such varieties strike readily. In certain circumstances 
 a similar result seems forced, as when the young green growth 
 feathers the whole length of the rough bark of the body of a 
 felled pitch-pine, or an equally unpromising locust post in a 
 lumber-yard. 
 
 It is not, however, desirable to raise fruit-trees in this man- 
 ner. The heavier trees, when raised from cuttings, never make 
 
196 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 enough strong roots to hold them securely ; they are generally 
 also much longer in attaining size than those raised from seed, 
 or grafted on seedling stocks. 
 
 Cuttings of currants, gooseberries, etc., are made from one 
 or more buds of the last year's growth, and should not be taken 
 from very near the point of the young shoots, but so far down 
 as to secure some firmness in the wood, and little pith. In 
 general, also, it is better to take them from the horizontal 
 branches which issue from near the root than from the central 
 upright growth. 
 
 BUD CUTTINGS. 
 Fig. 81. 
 
 a. Bud Cutting with sealed ends. 
 
 b. Bud Cutting divided lengthwise. 
 
 A bud cutting consists of a single bud, with an inch or so of 
 the stem left on each side of it, which may be sealed at the 
 ends with pitch or grafting composition, as Fig. 81a, though this 
 is not essential ; or it may be divided lengthwise, as shown 
 above, Fig. 816. Three or four of these may be set, with the bud 
 in position to start upward, about an inch deep, around the in- 
 side edge of a quart garden-pot in rich eai'th, or each bud may 
 be put singly into a half-pint pot, which is preferable. Early 
 in the season place them in a gentle hot bed to start them. 
 After they begin to grow and the weather becomes warm, the 
 glass may be removed, and, if they are carefully watered and 
 shaded, it will be safe to set them out in the open ground in 
 June, or they can be transferred to larger pots, as may be de- 
 sired. Single bud cuttings were largely used some years ago 
 for producing morus multicaulis, but ai'e now resorted to al- 
 most exclusively for increasing rapidly choice varieties of the 
 grape. 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 197 
 
 BRANCH CUTTINGS. 
 
 Fig. 
 c 
 
 a. An ordinary woody cutting. 
 
 b. A -woody cutting with half an inch of last year's wood at the hutt. 
 
 c. A cutting slipped off from the main stem, having the butt smoothly trimmed, com- 
 monly called a "slip." 
 
 d. A currant cutting with the underground buds cut off at the shoulder. 
 
 e. Cutting with its " callous" formed at the butt preparatory to rooting. 
 /. Cutting with roots and leaves put forth, ready for setting out. 
 
 Branch cuttings should have five or more buds, or three if 
 very long jointed, and must be smoothly cut with a sharp 
 knife just below and close by the lower bud (Fig. 82 a). If a 
 small piece of the old wood can be left at the butt of the cut- 
 ting it will more certainly succeed (Fig. 82 h). This object is 
 equally secured by slipping off the cutting from its main stem 
 and trimming it smoothly, and shortening it as in Fig. 82 c. 
 
 To prevent a habit of throwing up stem suckers, to which 
 currants and gooseberries especially are liable, the buds may 
 be cut off or broken clean out with the heart from that portion 
 of the cutting which is covered in planting, leaving the bud- 
 shoulder and bark of the branch uninjured, Fig. 82 d. Fig. 82 e 
 and/ show the inci pient and progressive growth of cuttings. In 
 general, cuttings should be planted so as to leave at discretion 
 from one to three buds above ground. (See also p. 438.) When 
 
198 
 
 AifERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 made in the fall, they should be very carefully planted, and 
 mulched between the rows late in the season, which will both 
 promote safe wintering, and supply a needful shade in spring. 
 
 Cuttings of all kinds, that may have become dried even to 
 shriveling, may be restored by carefully soaking them before 
 planting, and shading and watering afterward. 
 
 a. Layer sprouts, the heavier one too strong for layering, unless toward its extremity. 
 
 b. Ordinary layering, with the tongues cut too sharp. 
 
 c. Ordinary layering, with the tongues cut nearly upon the upper side of the sprout, and 
 
 nibbed close to the bud. 
 
 d. Common layering on a heavy sprout, rendered manageable by a cut on Jh:" upptr curve. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. HU) 
 
 Layers are properly branch cuttings, planted without being 
 entirely severed from the parent plant, and, like ordinary branch 
 cuttings, they ai-e usually made from sprouts of last year's 
 growth. To prepare a woody bush or plant for layering, let all 
 very weak, or forked, and also overgrown sprouts be cut away, 
 leaving only such as have pretty fully developed buds down to 
 within six or eight inches of the ground. K the growth has 
 been so strong that the buds upon a foot or more of the lower 
 end of the sprout are small and obscure, it is seldom worth 
 while to layer it, unless it be toward the middle or the upper 
 extremity. (See Fig. 83 a.) The sprouts you propose to layer 
 must then be trimmed clear of all side shoots and leaves as far 
 up as it will be requisite to bury them. Ha^dng the bush or 
 plant thus trimmed, dig the earth carefully around it, breaking 
 It fine, and mixing rich mould with it, and sand if the soil l^e 
 heavy, leaving the whole, when finished, veiy slightly raised 
 above the natural level. Next, with a shingle five or six 
 inches long, or with the spade, make an open slit in the earth 
 to receive the layer. At such distance from the butt of the 
 sprout as will permit of its being bent down into the ground, 
 which is generally eight or ten inches, a cut is made about 
 half thi'ough the branch, immediately below and close to a bud, 
 and the knife being then carefully turned upwai'd, a slit is 
 made of about an inch in length, which is teimed tongueing it, 
 and the tongue, when cut, should have its end not thin and 
 sloping in, as shown in Fig. 83 b, but rather square or clubbed, 
 as Fig. 83 c, for which purpose, if needful, it must be nibl^ed. 
 
 It is then carefully bent down, with a slightly twisting mo- 
 tion in the process, to prevent snapping it ofi" and to open it, 
 and being finiily pinned down with a hooked stick. Fig. 83 6, cl, 
 it may be covered with from two to four inches of earth, cau- 
 tiously pressing it downward and around the layer, which 
 should then, like ordinary branch cuttings, be shortened to one 
 or two buds above the sm-face. It will be found in practice 
 that there is much less danger of layers snapping ofi"wlien the 
 tongue is cut nearly upon the upper or inner side of the sprout, 
 in which case, by slightly twisting it, the bark side of the 
 sprout is brought underneath, while the lower end of the tongue 
 
200 ' AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 slides off the cut into a position almost perpendicular. (See 
 Fig. 83 c.) If the sprout to be layered prove stubborn, a slight 
 cut on the upper side, near the butt and toward the parent tree, 
 will weaken its resistance, and enable you to bend and pin it to 
 its proper place, and will also probably promote the rooting of 
 the layer, unless it be made more than half thi'ough the sprout, 
 which should be avoided. (See Fig. 83 d.) 
 
 All tongued layers require much care in removing them from 
 the parent plant, to avoid splitting them up from the tongue. 
 Generally, all the roots will be found to have grown from the 
 tongue-bud, and a little rashness may leave you a rootless 
 plant. (See Fig. 88, p. 203.) 
 
 Besides tongueing, other modes of attaining the same end 
 are sometimes used, as notching the sprout about half thi'ough 
 immediately below a bud. Sometimes tongueing is combined 
 with this, and in inexperienced hands the notching will render 
 it easier to form the tongue properly. Banding tightly with 
 wire, piercing with an awl or knife, girdling a naiTOW space, or 
 merely twisting the shoot just beyond the bud from which the 
 roots are expected to push, are all resorted to, while some 
 plants, as the grape-vine, root freely if the branches are simply 
 fastened down and covered lightly with earth. 
 
 HILL LAYERING. 
 
 Fig. 84. This is a process often re- 
 
 sorted to for propagating free- 
 rooting woody plants, as the 
 quince, certain varieties of 
 the apple, and some forest 
 trees. The young shoots are 
 prepared by trimming, as di- 
 rected above for common lay- 
 ering, but may be tongued or not, according to the character of 
 the tree, a flattened or dished hill of earth, six or eight inches 
 high, being made about them, as shown in the figure. All lay- 
 ers are benefited by being mulched, but hill layers especially 
 should be thus protected and regularly watered, dressing them 
 occasionally with weak liquid manure. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 201 
 
 For hill layering by simple banking up, see " Offshoots," ^ 
 p. 203. 
 
 STOCKS. 
 
 For the propagation of fruits by grafting or budding, stocks 
 are required, and it is of great importance that they be stocks 
 on which the fruit we graft or bud will not only grow, but last 
 and grow healthfully to matmity. Grafts or buds may some- 
 times grow for a year or two upon very incongruous stocks, as 
 the peach upon the wild cherry, &c., and the curious may try 
 to ascertain how far these incongruities, and devices to coun- 
 terfeit them, which are so famous in Chinese and Italian gar- 
 dening, may be pushed. The ancients as well as the modems 
 amused themselves with such experiments, and have left us 
 the record of their very useless labors. A different course 
 must be pm'sued if we seek fruits for use or profit. 
 
 Stocks should be of kindred species with the graft or bud 
 that is united to them, or at least of the same natural order, 
 as pear and quince, or thorn ; plum and peach, &c. 
 
 Unless for the purpose of dwarfing, the stock should always, 
 if possible, be of as free growth as the kind which is grafted 
 or budded upon it ; and if this can not be attained, then the 
 grafting or budding should be performed close to the ground, 
 so that when the tree is transplanted the head of the stock 
 may be set entirely under gromid, othenvise the grafted kind 
 will largely overgrow the stock at the point of junction, and 
 probably induce disease and premature decay. 
 
 In many parts of our country there is difficulty in this mat- 
 ter in respect to stocks for plums, but few of our common kinds, 
 except the Mussel or Horse plum, being free growers, while 
 this is so liable to the black knot as to render it nearly value- 
 less, in addition to which it is almost always raised from lay- 
 ers, which do not root like seedlings. 
 
 ROOT STOCKS. 
 
 Pieces of the roots of mature trees are sometimes used for 
 grafting, being cut into lengths for this purpose (Fig. 85 a), 
 and set out after the grafting is performed, an expedient which 
 
 I -2 
 
202 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 rig. 85. 
 
 a. A pair of root stocks, pieces of root from mature trees. 
 
 b. A pair of root stocks, pieces of the tap-root of one or two-year-old seedlings. 
 
 should never be resorted to ; sucli stocks generally make only 
 a one-sided growth of root, and, as in the case of sucker stocks, 
 leave the tree to the mercy of the wind. It requires symmet- 
 rical roots to sustain a tree in erect and healthful growth (see 
 Fig. 89 h, page 204). Neither offshoot, nor sucker, nor root 
 stock will furnish these, unless, possibly, the tap-root of a 
 seedling cut into lengths, which, perhaps, may he expected to 
 retain throughout its growth the natural habit of its seedling 
 form (Fig. 85 6). 
 
 ROOT SUCKERS. 
 
 Fig. 86. 
 
 Eunner roots and their suckers, with feeble hair-like rootlets. 
 
 Root suckers are often used for stocks. These differ from 
 offshoots or stem suckers in that they are thrown up from pe- 
 culiar runner-roots, which do not supply food to the tree, but 
 rather abstract it to support the young brood they put forth. 
 This habit of throwing up suckers is transmitted to the suck- 
 er, and when it is used as a stock the tree becomes a nuisance, 
 not only generally failing to form sufficient root to support it- 
 self, but, instead of this, spreading around it a young forest of 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 203 
 
 Avorthless growth (Fig. 86). I have now in my eye such a 
 tree, obtained from one of the best nurseries in the state, which, 
 though not thicker than a man's arm, requires bracing against 
 the wind, while its root suckers are spread over a circle of sixty 
 feet diameter. 
 
 Fig. ST. 
 
 Offshoots from the stem collar 
 putting forth rootlets. 
 
 OFFSHOOTS, OR STEM SUCKER STOCKS. 
 
 Many kinds of trees have a habit of throwing out young 
 shoots from the stem at the butt, or just 
 above it, especially when the upper 
 growth is checked or cut off. In cer- 
 tain kinds, these young shoots, if touch- 
 ing the earth, root freely, and of this 
 habit advantage is sometimes taken to 
 procure such for stocks by banking the 
 earth around the tree. They are known 
 as oifshoots, or stem suckers (Fig. 87). 
 
 They are really untongued hill layers, and have, in general, the 
 
 disadvantages of layer stocks. 
 
 LAYER STOCKS. 
 
 Stocks, particularly of cherry and plum, and the dwarf ap- 
 !• is- 85. pies, are extensively raised 
 
 by layers. For this pur- 
 pose the tree is cut off 
 close to the ground, so as 
 to induce sprouting from 
 the collar. In a few years 
 it loses entirely the char- 
 acter of a stemmed tree, 
 and becomes a mere bunch 
 of sprouts, which, as they 
 are renewed from year to year, are trimmed out and layered 
 (Fig. 88). They are of certain well-kno'wn varieties, as the 
 Mazzard cherry, the Mussel or Horse plum, and the Paradise 
 apple, &c., and make tolerable stocks, but are in measure de- 
 fective in root power, being inclined to one.-sidedness (see Fig. 
 88), and often also somewhat disposed to produce root suckers. 
 
204 
 
 AMERICAN HUME GARDEN. 
 
 SEEDLING STOCKS. 
 Fig. 89. 
 
 a. Seedling stock of one year's growth, shortened and ready for transplanting. 
 
 b. A well-rooted seedling stock, suitable for cleft-grafting, with its third year's growth, 
 
 having been once transplanted. 
 
 All stocks for grafting or budding should be raised from 
 seed. 
 
 The various fruit-seeds desired for producing stocks should 
 be collected from healthy trees in their season, and, instead of 
 being stored diy, as garden-seeds, should be mixed with earth, 
 and kept either in a cellar or out of doors, the latter being 
 preferable where it can be done with safety. The housewife's 
 practice of placing peach-pits under a flat stone in the fall is 
 perfect so far as relates to the fulfillment of the conditions nec- 
 essary or desirable to the healthful preservation of all fruit- 
 seeds through the winter. All tree-seeds may be advantage- 
 ously sown in the fall if they can be secured from vermin, 
 unless for special reasons it is preferred to keep them until 
 spring. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 205 
 
 In the case of apples and pears it is better to obtain seed for 
 raising stocks from the more hardy inferior varieties than from 
 choice kinds. Pear seedlings, being liable to injury from the 
 first winter's cold, should either be covered with earth in the 
 fall, or taken up and kept in a cellar, and set out again in spring, 
 in which case they may be multiplied by setting out separately 
 the pieces of roots obtained in shortening. Fig. 89 a, allowing 
 their upper ends just to appear above the surface, and settling 
 the earth to them firmly, and very thinly mulching them. 
 
 Cherries also may be raised from the common black or Maz- 
 zard, or the honey cherry. 
 
 Plums which are to be used as stocks may be of any kinds 
 that have a moderately free growth. The plum is often used 
 in unfavorable soils and climates as a stock for the peach as 
 well as for the apricot and plum, and in our more favorable lo- 
 calities the plum and apricot may be safely and advantageous- 
 ly worked upon the peach, at least if it be budded low, so that 
 the whole of the stock may be covered when it is transplanted. 
 At a short distance from the plum-tree referred to above, as 
 upon a sucker stock, stand two others which were planted at 
 the same time, some twelve years ago, one of them being bud- 
 ded on a seedling plum stock, and the other upon peach. Both 
 appear thoroughly and equally vigorous. The peach as a 
 stock for the plum would therefore seem worthy of careful and 
 repeated trial. 
 
 Peach stocks, whether for plum or peach propagation, should 
 not be raised from pits of unhealthy fruit, but from trees that 
 are not in any way diseased, obtained either by careful selec- 
 tion in your own locality, or from regions not yet invaded by 
 the prevailing maladies of the peach-tree. As these are usual- 
 ly budded in the seed-row, it might be well to start the pits in 
 the spring before planting them, ^nd nip the young tap-root 
 an inch or two. See page 365. The bitter almond, raised in 
 the same manner, is sometimes used as a stock for the peach, 
 particularly by the French, being supposed to render it more 
 fruitful, probably by slightly dwarfing it. All other seedling 
 stocks should be transplanted at one, or, at the most, two years 
 old, the roots being shortened to four or six inches, and the 
 
i200 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 tops cut bax3k in proportion (Fig. 89 a). If their multiplica- 
 tion is desired, they may be treated as above directed for seed- 
 ling pears, and, being assorted into their several sizes, they 
 may be set in the home nursery, or at once where they are in- 
 tended to stand permanently, to be grafted or budded after 
 they have made one or two seasons' additional growth ; but in 
 general, for home use, it is better to plant only the main stock, 
 properly shortened and trimmed, allowing this to attain a di- 
 ameter of from a half to three quarters of an inch, or a little 
 more, before grafting it (see Fig. 89 h). From such stocks, with 
 proper after-treatment, you may expect a growth of five, six, or 
 eight feet the first season from the graft or bud. 
 
 STOCKS FOR WEAK OR IRREGULAR GROWERS. 
 
 There arc varieties of almost every kind of fruit, which, 
 though valuable, do not grow vigorously, and such it is always 
 desirable to graft upon strong growing stocks at the height at 
 which it is intended to form the head. 
 
 There are also certain kinds, particularly of plums and pears, 
 that have an irregular habit of growth, not making good stems 
 for themselves, yet requiring strong stocks. These, when seed- 
 lings of sufficient strength can not be procured, are provided 
 for by grafting a strong, upright-growing, cultivated variety 
 upon a common stock near the ground, as above directed, upon 
 which, when it has attained the desired height, the irregular 
 grower is grafted. This process is known as .double, or, more 
 properly, "intermediary" grafting, and is also sometimes 
 adopted in raising dwarfed pears by first grafting a familiar 
 variety upon the quince, and regrafting this with a kind that 
 would not grow if grafted directly upon that stock. 
 
 DWARFING STOCKS. 
 For special purposes, particularly to enable amatem's to en- 
 large their collection of varieties of fruit upon a limited space, 
 and to hasten the period of fruiting, strong growing varieties 
 of fruit-trees, or those kinds which, though vigorous, are nat- 
 urally slow in attaining fruitful maturity, are grafted or bud- 
 ded upon certain .stocks of comparatively diminutive growth. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 2U7 
 
 by which they are dwarfed, and a tendency to earlier, and, in 
 some cases, to superior fruiting is induced ; or rather, perhaps, 
 we should say that, in climates unsuited to certain varieties, 
 when grown upon strong seedling stocks, dwarfing affords us 
 aid by hastening the maturity of the fruit. 
 
 The illustration of this with which we are most familiar is 
 that of the pear worked upon the Angers and other free-grow- 
 ing varieties of quince stock. It is also sometimes grafted 
 upon the mountain ash or the hawthorn, but the quince stock 
 is the best and most generally reliable. 
 
 For dwai-fing the apple, small growing varieties, known as 
 the Doucain and Paradise stocks, are used. 
 
 Plums are sometimes, but rarely, grafted for this purpose 
 upon the smaller varieties of plum, the damson, the winter 
 damson or bullace, and the sloe, etc. 
 
 With the same view, peaches are sometimes budded on the 
 small, double-flowering almond, to be fruited in pots. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Implements for Pruning, Budding, and Grafting. 
 IMPLEMENTS FOR PRUNING, BUDDING, GRAFTING, &c. 
 
 Fig. 90. 
 
 <-. Hatchet. 
 
 (I. Pruning Chisel. 
 
208 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 The hammer, Fig. 90 a, is of the common form, with steel 
 face and chiws. 
 
 The half axe, Fig. 90 h, and hatchet. Fig 90 c, for use among 
 trees and shrubs, are of the forms in common use, and may be 
 heavier or lighter, to suit the arm that is to work with them. 
 
 The pruning chisel may be either a common socket chisel 
 of the desired width, or it may be made with a hooked knife 
 attached for cutting small sprouts from the limbs, as shown 
 above, Fig. 90 d. The handle should be of light but stiff wood, 
 and may be eight or ten feet long, or may be formed of joints, 
 so as to vary the length. It will cut ojBT a pretty smart branch 
 by the mere force of the hand, and still larger ones by the use 
 of a mallet to drive it. 
 
 Fig. 91. 
 
 a. Pruning Saw. h. Drawing-knife. 
 
 The pruning saw, called also " grafting saw" (Fig. 91 a), 
 should be eighteen or twenty inches long in the blade, and a 
 little narrower and stiffer than an ordinary carpenter's saw, 
 with a pretty wide set, to give it clear way through the green 
 wood. 
 
 The drawing-knife. Fig. 91 &, which should always be used 
 after the saw, unless the pruning-knife is made to serve the 
 purpose, may be a common small straight di-awing-knife, but 
 will be found more convenient for its purposes if made with a 
 curved edge, as shown in the figm'e. 
 
 Pi„ 9;^ The tree scraper, Fig. 91 c, is used for 
 
 dressing off the dead bark, moss, &c., from 
 the bodies and large limbs of trees. It is 
 the common ship scraper, furnished with a 
 long handle, and applied to use in the or- 
 111"'''" chard. A worn-out goose-necked garden 
 
 "^ hoe may be used instead, the blade being 
 
 c. Tree Pcraper. ^ . , i • i i i 
 
 set out to a right angle with the neck, so 
 that it will scrape, and not cut. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 209 
 
 SHEARS, &C. 
 
 Fig. 93. 
 
 a. dressing Shears. 
 
 b. Large Pruning Shears. 
 
 c. Medium Pruning Shears. 
 
 d. Small Pruning Shears. 
 
 e. Grape Scissors. 
 
 /. Flower or Seed Scissors, 
 
 The dressing shears, Fig. 92 a, are large and strongly-made 
 shears, of various sizes and fashions, with equal blades and di- 
 verging wooden handles, used chiefly for dressing box edging, 
 and occasionally shrubbery. They are also sometimes used for 
 dressing live fences, and on this account are also called hedge 
 shears. 
 
 The pruning shears. Fig. 92 b, are strongly-made scissors, 
 with one very short blade, and a beak or finger, with handles 
 
2H) AMERKIAN HOME (JARDEN. 
 
 long enough to give 8o much power tliat a branch oi- tree of an 
 ineli in diajneter Triny Ix; <!asi]y cut ofi" with them. 
 
 'J'he mcdiurii h\'/.v, F\^. t)2 r;, are intended for ordinary prun- 
 ing. They are of the beHt and siirifdest construction, the han- 
 dles opening by a Htout Hpring, and being held together, when 
 not in UHc, by a Hmall Hniooth wire loop. 
 
 ^i'hc HTriidl(!r size (I^'ig. **2 (I) niiiy b(! \m'A with or without a 
 H[)ring, and are intende<l lor light shrub and flower pruning. 
 
 Those of the larger sizes arc usually made with a sliding 
 joint or niovMbh; VA'Aitrv,, to give snioothn(!SS to the cut, and are 
 Honi('tini(!S fix(;d u|K)n a pole, with a, ro[)e attached to the lever 
 ha,ndl(!, for pruning high trees or cutting scions. 
 
 ^riic ))ea,k or finger of pruning shears is comrnordy made of 
 <!(jUii,l thickness throughout, with its upper edge almost square, 
 and being always h(;ld outside of the cut, it prevents the yield- 
 ing of the branch, and thus ibrms a strong brace against the 
 ;ietion of the blade. If regularly beveled from back to edge, 
 leiiviiig tli(; liitter from oik; sixtecuith to one eighth of an inch 
 in thickness, thei'e would be no loss of strength, with a great 
 Having of power, and conse(pient relief to the hand in working. 
 
 They are all efficient instruments in pruning, ])eing especial- 
 ly convenient and us(!ful for shortening and thirniing thorny 
 shi'iibs, and in all loiigli trimming. An expert with the prun- 
 ing knife will seldom be inclined to use the shears; their cut 
 is not HO clean as that of a good knife, and when they Jirc at all 
 dull theni is a degree of bruising in the opcTation ; but they 
 are Siiter in inex[H!ri(!nee(l hands, since, in all ordinaiy work, it 
 is only necessary to have strong fingers, and to understand that 
 th(( blad(v and not the beak, must bo held next to the tree in 
 <;utling off its branch, and tin; gnn-iu^st hand can use the shears. 
 
 The grape s(;isHors, Fig. 1)2 c, arc connnon small sha,rp-])oint- 
 ed and rather long-bhuled scissors, used for thinning the 
 gra})es when crowding upon their bunches, and for vaiious 
 other deliciit(! ojxTations of the fan(\y cultivator. 
 
 The seed or flower scissors, Fig. 1)2/, combine the operations 
 of cutting and holding. They are small round-pointed scis- 
 sors, with one ])ro)H'r ])huh (a), along the outer edge of which 
 runs a small bar or jtliitc {!>), against which the straight, keen- 
 
AMERICAN' HOMP} (JAKDEN. 211 
 
 angled l)Otik or finger (c) catehes, and presses the stem of tlie 
 head or hud when cut off', Tliey are convenient in gathering 
 flowers that liave to be reached after, or the seeds of Phlox 
 Drurnrnondii, and other plants where there is danger that any 
 jar in plucking one head may scatter the see<ls of others. 
 
 THE J'RL'IT-GATHEIiEn. 
 
 Fig. 93. Tj^g fruit-gatherer is an instrument for securing the 
 few extra-fine fruit which arc often found upon the ex- 
 tremities of limbs, out of the reach of ordinary hand- 
 picking. There are several kinds, but the accompany- 
 ing figure shows one of simple form, which any tin- 
 worker can make, and which, when rigged upon a sin- 
 gle or jointed fx^le, with a little cotton batt or other 
 soft nuitcrial in it, will gather the scattered fruit (^jiick- 
 ly and safely. 
 
 BUDDING KNIFE, 
 
 ^■■^_- X^ 
 
 The budding knife lias a flat bone handle, which is usually 
 made with a rounded end, and the blade is often straight-edged 
 and sharp point(;d. 'i'he rounded, recurved blade and the 
 Sf|uare-ended handle, with the outer conier not tfx) sluirp, and 
 a small, smfjoth, dull notch in the inner one, to aid, if needful, 
 in pressing the bud downward beneath the bark, will be found 
 V(;ry sufjcrior in actusd of>erations, especially where rapid Avork 
 is desired (Fig. 04 a). The smaller and still more obtuse- 
 formed blade. Fig. \)\ h, is also Avell adapted ; this generally 
 has a common round handle, with a flat lx>ne end inserte<l, 
 
 riiUNING KXIFi:, 
 The primer is a strongly- rf- rr,. 
 
 made knife, clasp or other- 
 wise, the blijulc of which is ^- 
 usually made alx^ut an inch 
 
212 
 
 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 broad, and from two and a half to three inches long. The edge 
 should have a fair sweeping inward curve from heel to point, 
 as shown in the figure (95). The handle, if small or twisted, 
 is apt to cramp or strain the hand by continuous use ; it should 
 therefore be large, and bent and set so as to lie fair in the 
 hand, and balance. As these knives are commonly made, the 
 point is too much hooked, so that they almost invariably snap, 
 and have to be ground up again, Avhich generally spoils the 
 knife for some of its special and most delicate uses, though it 
 converts it into an excellent splitter or stock knife. 
 
 STOCK KNIFE. 
 Fig. 06. 
 
 This is a short, strong knife, intended for splitting stocks 
 of ordinary size and opening the cleft while inserting the 
 graft, thus saving the edge of the grafter. It may also be 
 used instead of the pruner for heading down stocks. 
 
 GRAFTING KNIFE. 
 
 Fig. 97. 
 
 The grafter, or, more properly, the graft-cutter, should have 
 a rather long, light blade, its point being set a little forward, 
 but with a perfectly straight edge. 
 
 If it is used both for cutting the grafts and splitting the 
 stocks it will require to be rather stronger, and must be care- 
 fully handled, using it near the point for cutting and the heel 
 for splitting. 
 
 It is used for cutting the various graft wedges in all the 
 modes of grafting, and its edge should be kept clear and keen 
 as a razor. 
 
AMERICAN HOME CARDEN. 213 
 
 Grafting may be well performed with any good straight- 
 edged knife, but it is better to have tAvo, the one for cutting 
 the graft, which may be light, and must be kept as thor- 
 oughly sharpened as a razor or surgical instrument ; the other, 
 for splitting the stock, should be stout, and its edge kept smooth 
 and in good order. When large stocks are split it is done 
 with the grafting tool (Fig. 99), the edge of which should also 
 be kept in first-rate order. 
 
 When cleft-grafting is to be performed on a lai^ge number 
 of moderate-sized stocks before planting, a simple machine 
 knife may be used for splitting them, the stock being held 
 with the left hand in a groove immediately below the knife, 
 the lever handle of which is raised by a spring, and brought 
 down by pressure of the hand or foot, and the stock split pre- 
 cisely to the extent desired, the knife, which is curved back- 
 ward, entering the side of the stock gradually from heel to 
 point, so that the split is almost always smooth. 
 
 See also Stock Splitter, Fig, 100, p. 215. 
 
 There is also a machine for cutting the "graft-wedge ready 
 for insertion, which does its work with rapidity and neatness. 
 It is doubtful, however, whether its uniformity of cut may not 
 seriously interfere Avith that judicious adaptation of the wedge 
 to the split which enables us to match the bark of graft and 
 stock throughout almost or quite the whole length of the cut, 
 in which, in connection with the keeping a perfectly smooth, 
 keen edge upon your knife, and the neat, " slick," expert use 
 of it in making the various cuts, lies the whole secret of suc- 
 cess in grafting. 
 
 GRAFTING STILETTO. 
 
 Fig. 
 
 The stiletto. Fig. 98, is a small instrument a few inches 
 long and about a quarter of an inch in diameter, the lower end 
 of which is fashioned as a rather long, tapering, half-round 
 wedge, corresponding in form, and, as near as may be, in size 
 
214 
 
 AMERICAN HOME (JAIIDE.V. 
 
 ■\vitli lli(! ;:!;r;ift-w(!(l(^c to be iiiscrte<l in the opening which it 
 prejKires. It is intended exclusively for crown <i;r;ii'tin<^, which 
 ,sec, and may l)e of steel, or bone, or hard wood ; or may be 
 made on the spur of the occasion from a green scion. It may 
 have a pocket-case, or sini[)ly a loop ))y which it may be hung 
 upon a twig or button. A goldsmith's burnisher of suitable 
 size, costing twenty-five to fifty cents, may be used as a sub- 
 stitute if desired. 
 
 (;ilAETING TOOL 
 
 I'iL'. '.)'.». 
 
 The grafting tool, as shown in Fig. 1)9, is formed of a small 
 bar of steel from twelve to fifteen inches long, half an inch 
 witle, and lather over a quarter of an inch thick, one end being 
 drawn so as to make it a little lighter than the other. A 
 short wedge is foi'uied upon each end for use in opening the 
 cleft while inserting the graft ; that at the heavier end is ab- 
 ru})tly bent backward at a right angle to the knife, the lighter 
 end being curved in the opposite direction sufficiently to allow 
 of the tool being hung over a branch by it. The knife, which 
 is ibrmed simply by forging out the bar near its heavy end to 
 about two inches width, may bo made hunger or smaller, but 
 foui- inches may be regarded as a good size, the edge having a 
 curve eipuil to the sweep of an eight-inch circle. It should 
 be i()rged thicker at the middle than the ends, making both its 
 sides slightly and equally convex. The back of it should be 
 beveled to about half of its full thickness, so that its battered 
 edges, after much use, may not tear the crown of the stock 
 when driven into it. 
 
 This is a perfectly satisfactory instrument for use among 
 large stocks and limbs, if they arc split at all, but for such 
 the simpler ])rocess of crown grafting Avith the use of the sti- 
 letto is greatly preferable. See l)age 2311 
 
AMERICAN IIOMK UARDKN. 215 
 
 STOCK SPLITTER. 
 Fig. 100. 
 
 The stock splitter, Firr. 100, is formed of ii stout woo<lcn 
 handle and grooved head-piece (a), the latter either a simple 
 extension of the former or set at a more or less ohtuse angle to 
 it, comhined upon an iron pivot with an iron handle of the 
 same length, terminated by a knife of pretty thin steel (b), 
 Avhieh works directly toward, but does not touch the inner face 
 of the groove. 
 
 The edge of the knife should be gradually curved backward, 
 and perhaps the addition of a small slide in the joint would 
 farther im|)rove it. In working this implement the wooden 
 groove is placed against the back of the stock so far down as 
 the operator may desire to extend the cut, and the cleft is 
 made in an instant by pressure upon the outer end of the iron 
 handle. It is sometimes used at tin; same time for heading 
 down the stocks, but this is of doubtful expediency, in view of 
 the importance of keeping its edge in fine order. 
 
 LABELS. 
 BAND LAIJEI.S. 
 Labels may be made with smsdl pieces of pine, about one 
 third of an inch thick, or like the thick end oi' n good shingle. 
 A small block of straight-grained pine, four inches sfjuare and 
 an inch thick, will make a dozen of them ; and if a small hole 
 be first bored through it, about half an inch from the end, each 
 label, as it is split oft', will be ready for wiring (101 a) ; or, if 
 preferred, the boring may be omitted, and each may ))e notch- 
 ed and the wire twisted round it (101 b). These should be 
 smoothed at least on one side, and painted with white lead. 
 Upon this the name or number should be written legibly with 
 
216 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 101. 
 
 a rather soft pencil, and the label be then fostened to the tree 
 with copper wire, about No. 18, or lead wire of a little larger 
 size, being careful not to set the wire tightly upon the tree, 
 but making allowance for growth. 
 
 Metallic labels may be made of zinc, or lead, or tin, which 
 may be punched and wired to the tree, as 101 c. If zinc is 
 used, it may be written on with the following mixtm*e : Take 
 two drachms of sal ammoniac, two drachms of verdigris, one 
 drachm of lampblack, and two and a half ounces of water ; mix 
 carefully in a mortar with a small portion of the water, then 
 add the rest and bottle it. Keep it well corked and sealed 
 when not wanted, and shake it well before using it. Whatever 
 metal is used, however, it is much better to stamp the name 
 or number upon it with a punch. A set of letters and num- 
 bers, of steel, may be bought for three or four dollars, which 
 will last a lifetime ; or cast brass, or pot metal, or iron letters 
 and numbers, which will punch the labels almost as well, may 
 be obtained at a cheaper rate. If lead, or even tin, is used, 
 common cast-off type from the printers will punch it satisfac- 
 torily, though for the latter brass or steel types are better. 
 
 A single line drawn upon the metal will enable any one to 
 keep the letters in a proper position, and Avhen finished, the 
 strip can be flattened again with a wooden mallet or block. 
 Perhaps the best labels for growing or large trees may be made 
 with strips of tin or lead, the latter being best on the whole, 
 from half an inch to two inches wide, and of any necessary 
 length, upon one end of which the name is to be punched as 
 above directed, and the other, being passed around the tree as 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 217 
 
 a band, and folded once over, will form a slack loop, in which 
 the band will slip easily with the enlarging growth of the tree 
 (101 d) ; or it may be made as a simple band or bracelet (as 
 101 e), with the ends overlapping or not, at discretion. Its 
 own strength will keep it in place, and it can be read even 
 when placed at a considerable height. All danger from cut- 
 ting in will thus be avoided, and a permanent and legible label 
 be secured. 
 
 For small plants or shnibs, 101/ may be used, being punch- 
 ed with smaller letters, or, if made of zinc, wi'itten upon, and 
 coiled as 101 d e / or it may be used as a stake label, instead 
 of 102 a, for pot plants or flower-plots in the garden, &c. 
 
 All labels should be examined annually, and, if necessary, 
 renewed or freshly painted. For trees and shrubs, however, 
 labels alone ought not to be depended on, but eveiy cultivator 
 of these should prepare in a book diagrams of his several plots 
 or orchai'ds, upon which the position and name of each tree 
 must be designated cleai'ly and with precision. 
 
 STAKE LABELS. 
 
 Stake labels may be made of metal, as 101/, or of strips of 
 rig. 102. ^ shingle for small ai-ticles, pots, 
 
 &;c. (102 «), and of locust, or 
 
 chestnut, or cedar, or cypress, 
 
 ~7| W ^81 ' %■ ^^' P^tch pine, for lai'ger ones 
 -^^ \- rm \ 'iaf (102 h). These should be 
 
 about an inch and a half 
 square, and full two feet long, 
 smoothed, and painted, and 
 wTitten on, as above directed, 
 or marked by bui'ning in with 
 a branding-iron, or numbered 
 with the Roman numerals, cut 
 in with a knife or sawn across 
 the face of the tallv, making 
 a notch on one corner, or any other mark you may devise, to 
 stand for ten, and others for fifty and one hundi'ed, if necessa- 
 ry. Stake labels are sometimes made of brick or potters' clay ; 
 
 K 
 
218 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 they are simply tapering bricks of divers fashions and sizes, of 
 which one end is formed as a tablet, upon which the name or 
 number is imprinted while soft, or painted on, and afterward 
 properly glazed and burned hard, Fig. 102 c, d. 
 
 TIES. 
 Strips of the ordinary Russian bass mat, common in om* fur- 
 niture stores, though generally called " garden" mats, or sim- 
 ilar strips of the inner bark of our own bass-wood-tree, or of 
 the willow, or the leather-wood, Dirca, or the paper mulberry, 
 or of well-kept corn- husk, or coarse yarn, or cheap cotton twine, 
 or candle-wick, or strips of rag, may all be used in various 
 ways as ties, and some of them should be kept at hand for the 
 purpose. But for securing trees when staked, straw bands are 
 used. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Nature of Budding. — Bud Scions. — Stocks for, and Modes and Times of 
 Budding. — After-treatment, &c. 
 
 BUDDING. 
 
 Budding is a process suited, with few exceptions, to all 
 kinds of trees and shrubs, and should be generally preferred to 
 grafting for its simplicity and ease. 
 
 The knives for this purpose, figured page 211, are the only 
 forms really suitable for expert and rapid work, but the opera- 
 tion may be performed with a common pen or pocket knife. 
 
 Budding and grafting, though appearing somewhat difficult 
 in description, Avhich is necessarily prolix, are really very sim- 
 ple operations, which any whittling boy or smart girl may per- 
 form, and succeed on the very first trial ; and, with the facili- 
 ties for the cheap and rapid transmission of scions or grafts 
 afforded by our present mail rates, the author has pleasm'e in 
 anticipating that many young persons will avail themselves of 
 the instructions here given, and plant and bud or graft choice 
 fruits for coming years. 
 
 As a matter of curiosity, either grafting or budding may be 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 219 
 
 successfully, though with some difficulty, perfonned with the 
 buds inverted, the wood cells consisting of even cylindrical 
 tubes, through which the circulation will pass in either direc- 
 tion. 
 
 Budding is often called inoculating, but this name seems to 
 have originated in a misconception. Inoculation is, in medical 
 practice, the introduction of a virus into the circulation, which 
 spreads through it. But budding and grafting are the simple 
 planting of a bud or branch cutting in circumstances favora- 
 ble to its rapid growth and development as a tree. Nothing 
 from it, so far as we know, permeates the system and affects 
 the character of the stock ; nor does it receive any appreciable 
 modification in its own essential characteristics from the stock ; 
 but uniting with it, or living as a parasite upon it, and deriv- 
 ing its noui'ishment through it, its own inherent force is put 
 forth in the formation of its system of stem, branches, and 
 fruit, the stock also retaining for itself the same distinct indi- 
 viduality, each preserving in undiminished force its peculiar 
 local powers of appropriate secretion and organization, all 
 growth from below the junction being constantly throughout 
 the life of the tree " natural," or of the stock, and all above 
 the junction partaking with equal constancy of the nature of 
 the graft. There is, therefore, no analogy between inoculation 
 and budding, and we retain the latter term. Contrary to the 
 above views, it has been supposed by some that late fruits are 
 materially affected in their period of maturing by being bud- 
 ded or grafted on stocks of early kinds ; but if this were so, of 
 which I have failed to find proof, the converse ought also to be 
 true, and our early fruits become belated by grafting upon 
 stocks of later varieties ; but almost all apple stocks are raised 
 from kinds comparatively late. Upon these our earliest apple 
 — the little white Early May — has been continuously worked 
 for centuries, and upon this theory it is inconceivable that it 
 should have retained its distinctive character. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be regarded as certain that, in general, the 
 stock affects the graft only in two ways : first, by its own hard- 
 iness and durability, seeming, under proper conditions, contin- 
 uance to the graft inserted in it ; and, second, by the character 
 
220 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 of its growth. If this equal or exceed the graft in freedom, 
 healthful vigor of growth in the tree is secured ; if it fall much 
 short of the freedom of the graft growth, diseased or morbid 
 action is superinduced, and hence the dwarfing, premature 
 fruiting, and limitation of life. 
 
 k 
 
 BUD SCION AND BUDS. 
 
 Fig. 103. a. Bud scion trimmed for use, and inverted 
 
 as it must be lield in cutting out the 
 I' ^^ /a\ 6 Ac buds. 
 
 6. The bud as cut from the inverted scion, 
 
 with the wood in. 
 c. The bud turned to its natural direction, 
 witli the wood taken out. 
 
 The young shoot from which buds 
 , , , . and grafts are cut is called a scion, and 
 ^ ' sometimes the graft itself is improper- 
 ly so called. The bud scion is prepared by trimming off 
 its leaves so far as the buds are full and ripe for use, cut- 
 ting each leaf stem a quarter or half an inch from the 
 bud, cutting off the butt end of the scion upon Avliich the 
 buds may not be plump, and rejecting at discretion four 
 or six inches of its point, on which the buds, though 
 plump, may not be ripened. 
 The necessary bandages, which may be prepared from any 
 of the materials named for ties, page 218, should be cut into 
 lengths of from twelve to eighteen inches, and strung to a gir- 
 dle or through a button-hole, so as to be conveniently out of 
 the Avay until wanted. 
 
 Taking the prepared scion in your left hand, loith its jMint 
 toivard you (Fig. 103 a), hold it firmly between your thumb and 
 the second joint of the middle finger, while the point of your 
 extended fore-finger supports and steadies it precisely under- 
 neath the bud which you intend to remove. 
 
 With your budding-knife, perfectly keen, in your right hand, 
 held firmly by the fingers as when sharpening a lead-pencil, 
 with the right thumb laid, not under, but upon the scion, im- 
 mediately against the point of the left thumb, stretch the hand 
 until the knife rests flatly upon the scion, half an inch or a lit- 
 tle more back of the bud ; then entering the edge, carefully and 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 221 
 
 gradually, with a drawing and perfectly level cut, let it pass 
 under the bud at a depth just sufficient to cut out the bud 
 with its swelling, scarcely scaling the wood, and coming out 
 gradually as it entered, half an inch or more above the point 
 of the bud (Fig. 103 6). 
 
 Sometimes the thin scale of wood is taken out from the bud, 
 and the bark only inserted (Fig. 103 c), but this is entirely un- 
 necessary, involving also some difficulty, and risk of spoiling the 
 bud. If done at all, it should be performed by turning the bud 
 into its natural direction, and holding it carefully between the 
 points of the thumb and fore-finger of the left hand, and, loos- 
 ening the wood from the bark at the upper end with the point 
 of your knife, pass the blade under it, and holding the thin 
 piece of wood firmly by pressing your thumb upon it on the 
 knife, lift it carefully from its place with a slightly turning 
 or rolling motion from one side, and you will probably effect 
 its removal without drawing out the germ of the future tree, 
 which is the danger to be apprehended, and 
 which will almost certainly occur if you begin 
 the removal of the wood at the wrong end. 
 
 STOCKS SUITABLE FOR BUDDING. 
 Stocks for budding should not, at the larg- 
 est, be more than three fourths of an inch di- 
 ameter, nor smaller than, at the least, twice 
 the thickness of the scion from which the bud 
 is taken. A stock is prepared for budding by 
 trimming off all leaves and branches from near 
 the point at which the bud is to be inserted, 
 and generally all below this point, though this 
 last is not essential miless the lower growth bo 
 strong. Fig. 104. 
 
 Fig. 104 
 
 STOCKS PREPARED AND BUDDED, 
 
 Having cut out the bud as above directed, hold it for a mo- 
 ment edgewise between your lips, and with your knife, held 
 lightly by your thumb and finger points, make a cross cut just 
 in the clear spot chosen for inserting the bud, through the 
 
222 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 Fig. 105. 
 
 a. The stock prepared for recoiving the bud. 
 
 6. The stock, with tlio hud inserted and sliortened. 
 
 c. The stock, witli tlic bud inserted and bound. 
 
 bark, about half an inch or less long ; then, turning your knife 
 point downward, with your I'ight fore-finger pressing upon the 
 back of the blade, the handle being held firmly between the 
 thumb and middle finger, make a straight, clean slit from an 
 inch below upward to the cross cut, forming a T. When at the 
 cross cut, and before withdrawing the knife, rack it once from 
 side to side, so as with the edge to loosen and slightly open 
 the bark at that point (Fig. 105 o) ; quickly turning the knife 
 handle down, and holding it as a pen is held in writing, pass 
 the square corner of the bone handle carefully under each edge 
 of the slit, opening it just enough to admit the bud, and no 
 more ; then, having inserted this, slip it down toward the bot- 
 tom of the slit so far as to make it sit firmly in its place, using 
 for this purpose either the finger laid upon the piece of leaf- 
 stem and the bud, or the dull notch intended for that purpose at 
 the opposite comer of the handle (see p. 211). If the upper 
 end of the bark of the bud extend at all above the cross cut, 
 take it off by passing the knife once more along the cross line, 
 so that it will set in nicely (Fig. 105 b). Then tie it carefully 
 and tightly, beginning ut the bottom, and taking special care 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 22:j 
 
 that in starting to wrap it you do not also press the bud upward 
 out of place, and as you proceed in the binding, use a gentle 
 pressure upon it to make it fit its place, leaving only the short 
 leaf-stem and point of the bud uncovered by the bandage (Fig. 
 105 e). Or two bands may be used, beginning with one im- 
 mediately above the bud, and wrapping upward, and the other 
 just below and on the swell of the bud, and winding downward, 
 the latter only being loosened or removed at the first after- 
 dressing of the bud. This, however, like too early budding, is 
 apt to start the young bud in the fall, which, when occurring 
 from any cause, is injurious, increasing the labor of tending, 
 generally resulting in the production of a feebler growth than 
 if the bud had lain dormant until spring, and almost uniformly 
 rendering the tree more or less unsightly at the point of junc- 
 tion of the bud and stock. 
 
 ANNULAR BUDDING. 
 
 Fig. 106. Annular Budding is performed by cut- 
 
 ting, or rather peeling, a ring of bark about 
 half an inch wide from the stock (Fig. 106 
 a), and a corresponding ring, containing a 
 bud, from a scion of equal size, or a little 
 larger (Fig. lOG h), and fitting the latter 
 neatly in the place of the former, shorten- 
 ing it if its girth be greater than necessa- 
 
 fl. The stock prepared for ^ ^ • t • , pii ^ f i 
 
 annular budding. ^y, and binding It caretully and firmly. 
 h. The bud-ring prepared This modo of budding is peculiarly suited 
 
 to fit tllC StOClc. ■, . 1-1 ••11 1 -I • 
 
 to trees having thick, rigid bark, and is 
 rarely used. 
 
 TIME OP budding. 
 
 All budding may be performed in the fall. Fruit-trees and 
 some fancy forest trees are usually budded in July and Au- 
 gust, beginning with pear and cherry, then plum, orange, rose, 
 apple, and peach, the latter being sometimes postponed to 
 September. The time, however, will vary with locality, it be- 
 ing always advisable to bud as late as may be possible consist- 
 ent with the easy and successful setting of the bud, so that 
 
li-ll 
 
 \Mi;i!li'AN IIOMK <;.MII>KN. 
 
 IK) growth iriny inkv. pliu-o boion; Hprin^. ( )ran^o-trc('S n-iid 
 oilier ;^r('(Ui-li<)iiH(f plantM, 1)('iii<^ cnlculiiUid to ;:;n)W ri;^lit on un- 
 der proteetioii, iinr excej)Liuus, and imiy bu budded in Hpring, or 
 HUininer, or wiiiicr. 
 
 AI'TKIt-TItKATiMKNT, 
 I'iK. 1(17. 
 
 /■n f 
 
 a. 'I'lid liiiil imiti'il til till" Mtdck, mill llic l)iiiiilii);(i Icio^k'HciI niul n'liinvi'cl in diii' liiiic. 
 
 //. A iir(<li'rl(Ml liiiil, tlio iHiiidiij^c^ lmvlnK<'iil di'iply liilii llic Hliick, caUHliig imniitiiral oil- 
 
 lai'Hrmi'iil iiliinc niid IicIhh, wllli ii (.jriMVlli nl' Hli'iii-HiirkiTn. 
 c. Thn liiid ill npiliiK, llii' Htoi'k ciil dinvii iilimil. I'lHir liirliiw iibovu U, and nil the imtiiral 
 
 or Htock IiuiIh I't'iiiovcd. 
 (I. 'I'liii liud KiMwliiK, and Hod up to Uii> uliaiik id' Hi.' Hlock. 
 c. 'I'lio liml in Hpriiif^, llio ntoc^k ludiin cut at mioo ilnwii tci (ho pohit of tlio Imd. 
 ./'. 'I'ho Imd t.;i'o\vliiK iiadii'ally upright, but Hiakod (o Hocurti It ai^iliiHt daiit^cr of injury in 
 
 Itrt oiirlv Hlnf;-,'.-<. 
 
 Ill about Iwo weeks after tlie biiddiu<i; you may loosen the 
 Imndago, imd before winter, or wbenever it seems to be cutting 
 
AMERTf!AN IIOMK fJAItDKN. 'I2i) 
 
 into i\u) stock, remove it (;ntirely, when llic hud will l)c roiiiid 
 firmly united to tlu; Htoek, Imt showing; no wi/^ns ol' inini('(li;i,t<^ 
 ;^n)wtli, Ki<^. 107 (i. If, liowev(;r, tlu; hiindii^e he left witliout 
 relief, it will cut into the stock, sometimes destroying the bud, 
 iind f'orcinf^ a fall ;^owth of stem-suckers, and the muIti[)lioii- 
 tion of Huck(!r-biidH nt the collar of tlu; stock, Fi^. 107 />. 
 
 Early in the sprin<^ remove all natural or Hto('l<-j)uds, and 
 cni oft' the head of the st(K;k iil)Out four inches above the bud, 
 ¥ifr. 107 c. When the latter has started to grow four or six 
 inches, draw it gently u[)right, nearly touching this sliank,ari(l 
 tie it carefully, Kig. 107 d. 
 
 Keep the stock free from all young natural slioots through- 
 out the summer, and if the bud grows at all thriftily, cut oft' 
 the shank with a, sharp knife about tlu; end of dune, finishing 
 it Avilh a, downward slof)e from the back of the bud. 
 
 As there is some diftlculty in cutting away the shank at this 
 time without injury to the young growth of the })ud, it maybe 
 avoided by cutting tlx; head of the stock at once down fo tb(! 
 bud hefon; it starts to grow, as in T'ig. 107 c, arid th(! yning 
 shoot from the bud will naturally grow upright. Fig. 107,/'. 
 As a, mcsasure of def(!ns(! against f)OSsihl(! injury, tlu; to[) of th(! 
 stock which is cut oft' may be stuck lirnily dovvri ]ty tin; side 
 of the bud, which, while young, may be tied up to it as a stake, 
 Fig. 107/. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Grafting. — Grafting large Trcos, &c. — ViiriouH ModcH and TimcH of Graft- 
 ing. — Aft(;r-I,n'.iitm(;nt,. 
 
 (> RAFTING. 
 
 For figures and descriptions of grafting and budding knives, 
 see pages 211--2i:'> ; and for ties, [)age 218. 
 
 Around every countr*y home, how(!ver humble, tluTc; should 
 always be found some natural stocks of various kinds, such as 
 have been described pages 204 and 205, ready for budding or 
 grafting whenever scions of valuable fruit may be obtairuid. If 
 they are not used for the propagation of new varieties, tlu-y 
 
 K 2 
 
226 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 will serve for valuable common kinds, care being taken to graft 
 tliem before they become very large, although even then they 
 may be grafted as shown below. 
 
 LARGE TREES. 
 Fig. 108. 
 
 A / ' 
 
 A. Large tree to be grafted by installments, viz : 
 o, a, a, a. To be grafted the first year. 
 
 6, b. To be grafted the second year. 
 
 c, c, c. To be grafted the third year ; and any that have failed to grow may also be re- 
 graftcd. 
 
 B. A large tree, the limbs of which have been cut off to induce a growth of sprouts for 
 budding or grafting. 
 
 Whenever it is discovered that fruit-trees are not such kinds 
 as we would desire, or are of such kinds as do not suit om- par- 
 ticular locality, they should be immediately regrafted, substi- 
 tuting a variety of known character and success. Little or no 
 time will be lost in the maturing of the tree for full bearing if 
 this be done with promptitude. If, however, the tree has at- 
 tained considerable size, let it be grafted by installments, be- 
 ginning near the top, and grafting about one third of it per 
 year. See Fig. 108 A. 
 
 Sometimes such a tree has all its limbs cut off at once within 
 a foot or two of the trunk, for the purpose of inducing a young 
 growth of sprouts that may be more easily grafted or budded ; 
 and if the tree be comparatively young and vigorous, it may 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 227 
 
 bear this treatment and make a full head of young sprouts, as 
 Fig, 108 B. But there is much risk of killing the tree if it 
 be old or feeble ; the ends of the limbs seldom heal so well as 
 if they had been crown grafted (see page 233), and even after 
 buds or grafts have taken in such a tree, if at all neglected, 
 they are apt to be overgrown and destroyed by the sprouts. 
 
 But in all large tree grafting it is highly important to give 
 careful after-treatment, as directed page 240. 
 
 PREPARATION OF GRAFTS. 
 Fig. 109. 
 
 a. Graft Scion. 
 
 h. Grafts cut to proper length. 
 
 Scions for making grafts are taken from the young shoots of 
 the previous year's growth, rejecting the older wood, as well 
 as any blossom-buds that may have formed upon the younger ; 
 these are known by their round fullness, and are sometimes 
 chosen to gratify a fancy for producing a fruit from the graft 
 of bud the first year ; but the growth is always injured, and the 
 tree' sometimes lost by the operation, which thus becomes too 
 expensive. They should be taken from the tree before the ap- 
 proach of spring, and either buried in sand or earth, or placed 
 butts downward in a small pit or grave on the north side of a 
 fence or building, and having sufficient straw packed over 
 them and alongside them to keep them from diying out or be- 
 coming dirty, except the butts, which, resting upon the bot- 
 tom, will obtain sufficient moisture to keep them fresh. When 
 taken out for use, let them be washed clean and cut up into 
 
228 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 grafts of four or six buds each in length. These are usually 
 can'ied in a pouch, or bag, or apron tucked up by the comers, 
 worn for this purpose while grafting, which, when two knives 
 are used, serves also to carry the one while the other is in the 
 hand. 
 
 Scions, or grafts in their proper lengths, as above, may be 
 cut at any time from late fall through winter, and kept for 
 weeks, or even months, simply wrapped in paper ; or if sealed 
 at the ends with shellac or collodion, and the wrapper also 
 made air-tight, so much the better, particularly if it is intend- 
 ed to transport them through warm latitudes. 
 
 They may also be sent by mail with the greatest ease, and 
 if used as single-bud grafts (see next figure), each graft will 
 furnish at least enough for four stocks. 
 
 MODES OP GRAFTING, 
 
 As budding is the planting of a bud cutting, so, in general, 
 grafting is the planting of a branch cutting, the most marked 
 distinction between them being that the bud scion is the 
 growth of the current season, the graft 
 scion of the season previous, and sin- 
 gle-bud grafting links the two processes. 
 
 SINGLE-BUD GRAFTING. 
 
 Single-bud grafting may be prac- 
 ticed Avith entire success by inserting 
 buds from carefully-preserved graft sci- 
 ons, in the manner directed for bud- 
 ding, page 222, as early in the spring 
 as the bark of the stock is found to run, 
 in which case, however, the stock is cut 
 down at once in one or other of the 
 modes directed for budded stocks, page 
 224, figures 107 c, e, and all natural 
 a. The stock headed down, growth kept off, SO as to forcc an imme- 
 
 with the graft bud inserted. ^. to tit o t 
 
 6. The stock headed down diatc growth trom the bud-gratt. It 
 
 pat^chroTtOTgucd*'''''"'^ ^^ '^ ^^y ^^^^ ^® performed before the bark 
 c. The bud-graft. ruus by heading down the stock as for 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 229 
 
 .cleft grafting, and cutting a small slice from the side an inch 
 or so below the top (Fig. 110 h), and setting the bud on as a 
 patch, fitting it Avitli exactness, and binding it with care ; or, 
 the bud being cut out thick for the purpose, a small tongue 
 may be made in each, so that they may be more conveniently 
 bound together. In either mode, the after-treatment is pre- 
 cisely that directed for growing buds, page 225. 
 
 SIDE GRAFTING. 
 
 In SIDE GRAFTING a slit is made Fig. iii. 
 
 as for budding, and the graft, being 
 cut from one side only into the form 
 of a tapering, half-round wedge, is 
 inserted and bound ; or it is bound 
 on to a spot in the stock from which 
 a slice of bark of corresponding size 
 has been cut, merely fitting it on, 
 as in single-bud patch grafting, or 
 tongueing it, as in tongue grafting, 
 but shorter, deferring the heading 
 down or shortening of the stock un- 
 til the graft knits, as in inarching. 
 
 Side grafting is used chiefly for 
 
 ornamental forest trees, upon which m budding, to receive the graft. 
 
 it is supposed to succeed better than "■ '''"' ^'"''^ ^ ^''P''""^' '^'^'^■ 
 other modes ; but it may be applied 
 to all kinds of trees, and will some- 
 times be found especially useful for balancing or giving sym- 
 metry to a one-sided tree, replacing a lost branch, etc. 
 
 a. The stock prepared, with a T, as 
 
 round wedge, ready for insertion. 
 
 c. The graft inserted, and ready to 
 be bound and covered. 
 
 SADDLE GRAFTING. 
 
 In SADDLE GRAFTING the stock is cut wedge form (Fig. 
 112 a), and the graft, being first split up the necessary dis- 
 tance, is pared on the inside so as to form a cleft, of which 
 each prong or lip is a tapered half-round (Fig. 112 h) ; these 
 are neatly set across the stock at one side (Fig. 112 c), so that 
 the inner barks of graft and stock fit together to the very end 
 of the lips, and the whole is then carefully bound, as directed 
 
230 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 ^"■g- 112. for buds, page 223. K con- 
 
 venient, it is much better to 
 have the gi'aft and stock of 
 precisely equal diameter ; but, 
 except for a fancy, it is hardly 
 worth while to use this mode 
 of gi'afting at all. 
 
 There are innumerable other 
 fancy modes, for which the 
 French and Chinese are fa- 
 mous, but which will readily 
 suggest themselves to any one 
 for pleasant amusement. 
 
 The common and useful 
 modes of grafting are three. 
 Cleft grafting, which is per- 
 formed upon stocks as small 
 as three fourths of an inch in 
 for binding. diameter, or limbs as large as 
 
 a man's arm ; crown grafting, used only for large trees ; and 
 tongue grafting, which is chiefly adapted to very small stocks. 
 
 a. The stock prepared. 
 
 b. The graft prepared. 
 
 c. The graft fitted upon the stock and ready 
 
 CLEFT GRAFTING. 
 Fig. 113. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 231 
 
 a. The stock cleft, and ready for the graft. 
 h. The graft wedge prepared for insertion. 
 
 c. The graft set, and ready for binding and covering. 
 
 d. The graft set, and covered with rag and composition. 
 
 e. The graft set, and covered with grafting mortar. 
 
 In cleft grafting on stocks of small or medium size, the 
 depth of the split will miavoidably vary, as they may prove 
 of different strength and flexibility, some opening almost as 
 freely as leather, and others stiffly and with difiiculty, the split 
 extending far doAvn the stock ; in large trees or limbs this last 
 is still more troublesome. 
 
 To effect grafting by this mode rightly, let your stock be 
 cut down to the desired point, in general as near the ground 
 as convenient, with a slight slope backward from the side on 
 which you intend to set the graft, where a jwrtion about the 
 width of the gi-aft is cut level (Fig. 113 a,h). Split the stock 
 by placing yovu' knife across the centre of this level spot, not 
 perfectly square, but with the point bearing downward, so that 
 as you press it the bark will be first cut a little ahead of the 
 splitting, making also the split upon the outer side a little 
 deeper than on the inner. 
 
 Take youi' graft, a piece not more than five inches long, and 
 hokhng it in your left hand as you would hold a pencil to 
 sharpen it, with your knife firmly grasped, place the butt be- 
 tween the blade and your right thumb, and with a steady draw- 
 ing motion cut the one side of a wedge from an inch to two 
 inches long ; then, tm'ning the graft, cut the other side in the 
 same manner, being careful that the cut is perfectly free from 
 raggedness or twist, that the inner edge is a little thinner than 
 the outer, and that the length of yom- wedge is proportioned 
 to the depth, to which, when inserted, it will open the cleft, so 
 that they will as nearly as possible fit throughout (Fig. 113 h). 
 Having your stock and graft ready, put the point of your split- 
 ting knife into the crown of the cleft just at the pith, and 
 strain it gently open while you adjust the outer edge of the 
 graft -wedge to the bark of the stock, allowing the cleft to close 
 upon it when in position. It is then ready for wrapping, 
 Fig. 113 c. 
 
232 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 CLEFT GRAFTING LARGE LIMBS OR TREES, 
 rig. 114. 
 
 ^^: 
 
 .^ryJf-'' 
 
 a. Large stock cleft and wedged for the reception of the gi-afts. 
 
 6. Large stock cleft grafted. 
 
 c. Large stock cleft grafted, showing the excessive opening of the split, and the difficulty 
 of fitting the graft wedge to the stock. 
 
 ch Shouldered graft, with thin, tongue-like wedge, to obviate the difBculty of fitting the 
 graft wedge to the stock. 
 ' e. Thin-wedged, shouldered graft inserted, with bud resting on both sides of the cleft. 
 
 In cleft grafting large trees or branches, the body or limb is 
 carefully sawed off and smoothed. It is then split with the 
 curved knife of the grafting tool, which should be driven with 
 repeated gentle blows with a light mallet rather than with a 
 sudden stroke ; the Avedge end of the tool is then inserted at 
 the centre to keep the cleft open, or a wooden wedge is used 
 (Fig. 114 a), while a graft' is set on each side, the graft wedge 
 being cut as above directed, except that it may be of even 
 thickness on both edges, the cleft in this case being equally 
 open on both sides (Fig. 114 h). 
 
 Owing to the difficulty experienced in cleft gi-afting large 
 trees on account of the depth to which the cleft in a strong 
 body or limb will open (Fig. 114 c), the grafts for this pur- 
 pose are sometimes shouldered — that is, cut square in on both 
 sides at the upper end of the wedge, and, instead of a true 
 wedge, a thin, wedge-like tongue is formed for insertion in the 
 cleft (Fig. 114 ^?), Avhile the shouldering is carefully made just 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 233 
 
 below a bud, so that its swell may rest upon the bark of the 
 stock on both sides of the cleft, as shown Fig. 11-i e. 
 
 CROWN GRAFTING, 
 rig. 115. 
 
 Jj.^^i 
 
 a. Shouldered graft for crown grafting. 
 
 b. A simple tapering half-round graft for crown grafting. 
 
 c. A larga tree crown grafted and ready for covering. 
 
 d. A large tree or limb crown grafted and covered with rag and composition. 
 
 Crown grafting is altogether the simplest, easiest, and 
 most desirable mode for grafting very large limbs or trees. In 
 this process the head or limb is sawed off and smoothed as for 
 cleft grafting, but, instead of splitting the stock, the grafting 
 stiletto (Fig. 98, page 213) is carefully passed to the depth of 
 one or two inches between the bark and wood, loosening the 
 former, and slightly cracking it open, when the graft, which is 
 cut only on one side as a tapering half-round wedge, of any 
 desired length, and with or without a shoulder (Fig. 115 a, h), 
 is firmly set in. 
 
 Two, three, or even four such grafts may be set in a large 
 limb (Fig. 115 c, d), their number, if they all live, hastening 
 the covering of the stump of the limb, and when this is effected 
 they can be cut away. If it happen that they grow so much 
 the first season as to be in danger from winds, let them be 
 slightly shortened in August, or braced ; but this will not often 
 be necessaiy. 
 
234 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 TONGUE GRAFTING. 
 Fig. 116. 
 
 a. The stock prepared for tongue grafting. 
 
 b. Tlie graft prepared for tongue grafting. 
 
 c. The graft set, or graft and stock interlocked. 
 
 d. The graft set and bound, ready for covering with grafting mortar or composition. 
 
 e. A length of a one-year-old seedling root tongue grafted and wrapped with tow, 
 
 and ready for planting. 
 
 Tongue grafting is not so simple as cleft or crown graft- 
 ing, neither is it any more successful, but it is much better 
 suited to very young stocks, from a quarter to three quarters of 
 an inch diameter, and is sometimes preferred on account of the 
 greater delicacy of handling which it requires, and the prompt- 
 itude and neatness with which it usually heals over. 
 
 It is performed in the following manner: the stock being 
 cut off to a clear spot with a sloping cut, a slice or tongue 
 of wood is cut from one side, one or two inches long, to the 
 depth of from one to two thirds the diameter of the stock to be 
 grafted, leaving it, except in the greater length of the cut, 
 much like the mouth-piece of a hunter's whistle. The knife 
 is then tm-ned edge downward, and being gi-adually entered 
 upon the face of this cut, about one third down, a thin tongue 
 or apron, of less than an inch in length, is carefully formed, Fig. 
 116 «. The graft is then cut of a length to match with the 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 235 
 
 cut upon the stock, in the manner directed for crown grafting, 
 leaving it a clean, regularly tapering half-round wedge, with- 
 out a shoulder. Being then turned in the hand, and held pre- 
 cisely as directed for the bud-scion, page 222, and with just 
 such a careftil movement as in cutting out the bud, it is 
 tongued thinly, to correspond with the stock, Fig, 116 6, The 
 two tongues or aprons are then interlocked, care being taken to 
 fit the bark of the graft and stock accurately together. Fig. 
 116 c. It must then be bound with more than usual care, with 
 bass strips, or yarn, or rag. Fig, 116 d, and covered with graft- 
 ing composition or mortar, as Fig, H3 d, e, p, 230. 
 
 Tongue grafting is considerably practiced by nursery-men, 
 who make three or four stocks of one seedling plant, cutting its 
 tap-root into lengths, washing and grafting them during win- 
 ter, and binding them with tow, Fig. IK) e. They are then 
 placed in boxes Avith sand until spring, when they are set out 
 with a dibber, in the manner prescribed for setting out cab- 
 bage-plants, leaving one bud only above ground. 
 
 INARCHING. 
 Fig. IIT. 
 
 a, h. Companion trees tongued. 
 
 c. Stock iu pot upon a stand inarched with a branch, with 
 
 Btay-bar. 
 
 d. Companion trees inarched and bound, with strain-bar j^^^ 
 
 Grafting by approach, or inarching, is a peculiar mode, in 
 which we take a whole branch or small head instead of a sin- 
 
236 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 gle bud or a small portion of a slioot, and unite it to tlie stock, 
 ■with or without heading down the stock, and before separating 
 the branch-graft from the parent tree. 
 
 This mode of grafting is used chiefly for woody flowering or 
 fruit-bearing green-house plants, as cameliaSj^oranges, &c., 
 which, being in pots or boxes, can be readily adjusted for the 
 , process, but may be used for all kinds of trees. 
 
 It is performed by bringing together the stems of companion 
 trees, using a strain bar, if necessary, to control their position, 
 or arrangino; in contact the stem of the stock and the selected 
 branch-graft just at the j)oint chosen, and uniting them by 
 tongue grafting, forming by their union an arch (en-arching 
 them), of Avhich the graft tongues form the centre or key. See 
 Fig. 117, c and d. The process is not very difficult. Choose 
 your stock, and the branch or head you propose to transfer to 
 it of equal or nearly equal size, which may be from a quarter 
 to rather more than half an inch diameter. Trim them, or ei- 
 ther of them, as you may find needful, to permit their easy ap- 
 proach ; then cut from each, precisely at their point of contact, 
 a section or slice of equal length and size — say about two inch- 
 es long — reaching in depth to about one third their diameter, 
 the knife entering and coming out gradually in the very same 
 manner as in cutting a bud from the scion. See p. 220. If 
 either is larger than the other, the depth of cut must be pro- 
 portionably shallower, so that the barks on both their sides 
 may match with exactness. A rather stout tongue is then 
 cut upon each, passing the knife upward from about a quarter 
 or half an inch helow the centre of the cut upon the graft- 
 branch, and downward from about a quarter or half an inch 
 above the centre of that upon the stock, making the tongue 
 upon each equal, and of sufiicient length to permit the whole 
 to match. See Fig. 117 a. These must then be carefully and 
 rather firmly interlocked, care being taken to match the barks 
 together with precision througliout, lengthening the cut a lit- 
 tle upon either by entering the knife cautiously between them 
 if they do not correspond at the ends. Bind them very strong- 
 ly with bass strips or other ordinary bandages, and cover thick- 
 ly with grafting mortar or composition. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 287 
 
 When inarching is to be performed upon plants in pots or 
 boxes, arrange a fii*m stand for the plant that may be short, so 
 as readily to bring together the parts to be operated on, mak- 
 ing, however, a little allowance for raising or lowering the one 
 or the other when you come to interlock them. If there is any 
 danger of disturbance, a stay, consisting of a piece of pine board 
 four to six inches wide, may be lashed to the stock and parent 
 tree, extending from near the root of the shorter (see Fig. 
 117 &) ; and if the graft-branch does not easily come into posi- 
 tion to form a handsome head, it may be strained or drawn a 
 little inta order by being bound to a stake set for the purpose, 
 or by a fastened cord stretched to some fii'm hold. 
 
 If well done, they will unite by what sm-geons call " first in- 
 tention," and in a few weeks, or sometimes months, more or 
 less, the branch-gi-aft may be severed from the parent tree, and 
 the head of the stock be cut oflF, each close to the point of 
 union, leaving upon the new tree the appearance of a simple 
 and not veiy neat splice, which, however, the subsequent 
 growth of the plant will rectify. 
 
 The possibility of making this mode of grafting available in 
 fancy and ornamental arrangements will at once occur to the 
 intelligent reader. It is not absolutely necessary to tongue 
 the parts if they are well matched and bound, nor to separate 
 the graft and stock, or to cut off either of them ;' but in ordi- 
 nary cases this is done after they have knitted perfectly, the 
 severance being effected gradually, cutting each about one third 
 through at a time, at intervals of ten or twelve days or more, 
 
 TIME OP GRAFTING. 
 
 Grafting may be performed at any time during the winter 
 upon young stocks cellared for the pui'pose, and kept in sand 
 or common earth until the opening of spring permits their set- 
 ting out. 
 
 The proper time of grafting on ordinary stocks in the open 
 ground is just as soon as the circulation begins in the spring, 
 and before the growth actually commences. This differs in 
 different trees and latitudes. The following will be found a 
 good general order of grafting, viz. : Cherries, plums, pears, 
 
238 AMEKICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 apples ; but if scions are cut early and well preserved, grafting 
 may be successfully performed by a skillful hand until the 
 trees become full-leaved, though earlier grafting is to be pre- 
 ferred. Crown grafting upon large limbs should be deferred 
 until the trees are just ready to push their buds, so that the 
 stiletto will readily open the bark for the reception of the graft- 
 wedge. 
 
 Inarching may be performed, like other grafting, just before 
 growth commences. In plants that are housed, as camellias, 
 &c., this may be after New Year, and again in June, but in 
 out-door kinds at ordinary spring-time. 
 
 BINDING UP AND COVERING. 
 
 When grafting is performed upon stocks before planting 
 them, they are sometimes not bound up at all ; at other times, 
 and especially when they are small seedling stocks, they are 
 wrapped with refuse tow, or flax, or rag, or other bandage (see 
 Fig. 116 e, p. 234), and in both cases, being planted sufficiently 
 deep, in rows, the earth is ridged slightly along, so as to shed 
 the rain and substitute for other protection. When grafted 
 above ground by either of the modes described, except cleft and 
 crown grafting, careful bandaging is never omitted ; but, either 
 with bass strips, or rags, or tow, they are bound firmly to their 
 true position, and covered either with grafting mortar or com- 
 position, as directed hereafter. In cleft and crown grafting, 
 the graft is generally held with sufficient firmness to its posi- 
 tion by the stock, and requires only covering from the air and 
 moisture, which is effected either by coating it with composi- 
 tion (No. 1), or binding it with rags coated with or soaked in 
 the composition ; or binding or Avrapping it first with rag or 
 other material, and applying with a brush one or other of the 
 compositions described on another page ; or by forming around 
 it a ball of grafting mortar as large as a goose egg. This must 
 be so applied as not to press the graft out of place, and, being 
 moulded to an oval or egg form fovir or five inches long, with 
 the upper and smaller end carefully closed, and the larger end 
 well set around the stock just below the wrapping, it is nicely 
 finished by dipping the hands in a little dry dust or ashes, and 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 239 
 
 giving it the proper shape (Fig. 113 e, p. 230). Care is re- 
 quired in the binding to avoid drawing the bandage into a 
 string around the neck of the graft ; otherwise, when it swells, 
 the bandage will cut in, and soon the wind will snap it off. 
 At this point let the wrapping be free as possible, and in put- 
 ting on either the composition or mortar, be sure that no small 
 hole or fissure is left for water to settle into the cleft or other 
 opening in which the graft is inserted. 
 
 GRAFTING COMPOSITION. 
 No. 1. 
 Equal parts of rosin, beeswax, and tallow, melted together 
 and worked into toughness by kneading and pulling, as molas- 
 ses, when boiled down, is made into taffy. It may be kept in 
 water, and used without bandages. Being warmed in the hand 
 for use, it is made into small, thin sheets as wanted, and pressed 
 closely over the wounds and around the grafts, so as to exclude 
 air and water, a little grease being used to prevent its stick- 
 ing to the fingers. 
 
 No. 2. 
 Two parts rosin, one or one and a half part beeswax, and 
 half or three fourths of a part tallow, melted together as No. 1 , 
 and spread with a brush while warm on rag or cheap muslin, 
 which may be cut or torn into strips or patches as wanted for 
 use ; or the strips or patches may be soaked in the composi- 
 tion. Or the graft may be bound with dry rag, the loose end 
 being sealed down with a touch of the composition, and the 
 whole covered with a coat laid on warm with a brush, the com- 
 position being kept melted over a furnace or pot of embers. 
 
 No. 3. 
 Two parts pitch, two parts rosin, one part beeswax, one part 
 tallow, and one part turpentine, melted together and boiled for 
 half an hour. This is, on the whole, superior to the former, 
 and may be used as that, either spread on the rag before wrap- 
 ping, or laid on with a brush after the graft has been bound, 
 being kept melted for this purpose. 
 
240 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 GRAFTING MORTAR. 
 
 What is called grafting mortar is made either by mixing 
 strong loam or clay with an indefinite proportion of horse-dung 
 or cut straw, or both, working it up to the consistence of mor- 
 tar thoroughly and repeatedly to toughen it. When required 
 for use, it should be a little stifier than potter's clay. 
 
 Instead of the above, equal parts of strong loam and cow-dung 
 may be used, to be prepared and applied in the same manner. 
 
 AFTER-TREATMENT. 
 
 Newly-set grafts should be watched throughout the season, 
 to stop and restop any holes or cracks which the heat of sum- 
 mer or the swelling growth may occasion in the coating which 
 defends them, and to slacken the bandages by cutting them 
 through at the back of the stock whenever there is danger of 
 their cutting into the stock or graft. The growth of the graft 
 should also be observed, and a proper form and direction given 
 to it by nipping or tying up, as may be found necessary. 
 
 In addition to these precautions, young stocks budded or 
 grafted should be kept carefully clear of natural or stock shoots, 
 all of which must be removed as soon as they appear. The 
 hand, defended by a stout glove, may be rubbed harshly around 
 or down the stock while they are yet quite tender, and it is done. 
 
 But larger and older trees require different treatment. Only 
 a part of the limbs of a large tree should be grafted at one 
 time, so that there may be a sufiicient supply of leaves pro- 
 duced to effect a healthful circulation in the tree ; and, for 
 the same reason, much of the young growth may be suffered to 
 remain upon the limbs that are grafted, to keep those parts 
 in vigor. If these precautions are neglected, the full graft- 
 ing of a large tree will generally kill it, or portions of it. 
 But, on the other hand, the moment it is seen that the grafts 
 have taken, care must be given that no strong, gluttonous 
 shoots are put forth near them, but all such as seem likely 
 to become stronger than the graft growth should be nipped 
 from time to time, to check them and strengthen it. 
 
 In succeeding years, the remaining limbs may be grafted, 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 241 
 
 and the needless branches and sprouts cut away in the course 
 of winter pruning, having regard always to the necessities of 
 the system of circulation in the individual tree. 
 
 HEIGHT OP STEM. 
 
 Fig. 118. 
 
 a. Orcliard tree, with stem seven to nine feet high. 
 
 b. Orchard tree, with stem four to five feet high. 
 
 c. A dwarf tree, trimmed into conical form. 
 
 (t. A dwarf tree, conical, but formed with drooping habit. 
 
 In rearing the young tree from the bud or graft, we usually 
 determine the height of its stem when ready for bearing. It 
 
242 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 is therefore plain that we may take our choice of low or high 
 trees, tall or short steins. The general practice has been to 
 set out trees with tall stems, or trim them up tall afterward. 
 Fig. 118 a. This perhaps may have arisen from the too preva- 
 lent habit of suffering cattle to run in our young orchards, 
 which is as outrageous as it would be to stable them in our 
 parlor's. It is difficult to change habits, even after the reason 
 for their formation has passed away ; but it is clear that or- 
 chard trees with short stems, say four or five feet high, are, on 
 many accounts, more desirable than tall ones. (See Fig. 118 
 b.) They are much more readily pruned, the fruit is more ea- 
 sily gathered, and thus much labor saved. A certain farmer, 
 scarcely yet in middle life, has an orchard of sixty russeting 
 apples, grafted and planted by himself when a boy, which 
 yielded in 1856 some six hundred barrels of fruit, half of 
 which could be gathered without bench or ladder by a man of 
 ordinary height standing upon the ground. 
 
 Fruit is not so readily blown off from low trees as high ones, - 
 and when it falls is less injured for use or market. The main 
 stem of a short tree is also less exposed to injury from the sun 
 and from late spring frost, the latter sometimes bursting the 
 vessels in which the heat of the former has caused the circula- 
 tion to start. 
 
 Insects do not so readily select a tree partially shaded as a 
 place of deposit for their eggs, instinct telling them that they 
 need the sun to hatch them. 
 
 Shorter stems for orchard trees, and higher fences for or- 
 chards, will be found decided improvements. 
 
 Very low-stemmed trees, or " dwarfs," are sometimes pruned 
 into a pyramidal, or, rather, conical shape, by suffering all the 
 young side shoots to grow, and nipping their extremities, short- 
 ening also the main shoot or leader. Fig. 118 c ; or, with the 
 same general form, a drooping habit is given to the young tree 
 by tying downward the points of the young branches, Fig. 118 
 d ; and these and other fancies may be pm'sued to any extent. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 243 
 
 CHAPTER XVn. 
 
 Setting out Trees, preparing Holes, &c. — Tables of Arrangement of Dis- 
 tances, Area, &c. — After-culture. — Combination of Fruits. 
 
 SETTING OUT. 
 
 For all kinds of trees that are perfectly hardy, early fall 
 planting is to be preferred. If the earth is suflficiently moist 
 to allow of their being well taken up, they should be removed 
 as soon as the circulation is checked, or say when the first 
 frost causes a fall of the leaves. Trees that are liable to in- 
 jury from the winter, as peach, and, in some places, cherry, 
 should, in such localities, be set out only in the spring. 
 
 In choosing trees for setting out, those of moderate or even 
 small size are generally to be preferred. Large trees suffer 
 more by removal, and require more prompt and abundant sup- 
 plies to start them again vigorously. They are also more dif- 
 ficult and expensive to transport ; yet, if not removed far, and 
 the directions for planting, given page 245, are observed, they 
 may be very successfully transplanted, and, if well cared for by 
 being staked and mulched, and, if need be, manured after set- 
 ting out, will come quickly into bearing. 
 
 Li general, however, fruit-trees should be set out where they 
 are expected to remain in the second or third year from the 
 graft or bud, except peach-trees, which, being commonly bud- 
 ded in the fall of their first year's growth from the seed, may 
 be advantageously set out in the spring of their second year, 
 before the bud sprouts, and, being properly headed down, the 
 bud will make a strong growth before fall, and be benefited by 
 remaining undisturbed from the start. K preferred, however, 
 the common mode may be followed, which is to allow the bud 
 to make a year's growth before the setting out. 
 
 The resetting of trees in their previous relative positions as 
 to their north and south sides was formerly deemed of impor- 
 tance, but is of no practical consequence. 
 
 In general, the depth at which they are set should be about 
 
244 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 that at which they have previously stood, or a little deeper, 
 particularly if set out in the fall. 
 
 For special objects, or upon small lots, dwarfed fruit-trees 
 may be found desirable, but they are not to be relied on as per- 
 manent, nor even of long continuance, without special care and 
 high culture, and are not, therefore, recommended, except for 
 intermediate planting, or for fancy, or in soils or climates un- 
 favorable to the production of fruit upon more vigorous stocks. 
 
 If dwarfed trees are worked low, near the collar of the stock, 
 and in the final transplanting are set pretty deep, so that the 
 joint is covered five or six inches, roots will in due time be 
 thrown out from the graft, and these, being stronger and more 
 natural than the roots of the dwarfing stock, which may even 
 perish after the new roots are formed, the tree will thence ac- 
 quire additional strength, approximating in effect to a tree 
 raised from a cutting, and having a character intermediate be- 
 tween an ordinary dwarfed tree and one grafted upon a seed- 
 ling stock. It will be longer lived than the former, but not 
 equal to the latter in the vigor of its roots, yet by careful sum- 
 mer pruning, as directed page 254, it may, for certain kinds or 
 in particular localities, be preferred, and become a substitute 
 for both, but, like the ordinary dwarfed tree, will always de- 
 mand extra care. 
 
 SHORTENING THE ROOTS AND TOP. 
 Fig. 119. 
 
 a. Young tree pruned ready 
 for getting out. 
 
 b. Young tree pruned, and 
 set out upon a wet-soil surface, 
 the roots being covered by hill- 
 ing up, staked, and mulched. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 245 
 
 If trees could ordinarily be removed with their roots from 
 stem to extremity uninjured, the top also might be safely left 
 entire, and the operation would be equivalent to no removal, so 
 far as the growth of the tree is concerned. But the roots of 
 trees usually extend as far, and often farther, than their tops, 
 so that in practice this is entirely out of the question ; it is 
 only in the removal of trees in winter, with heavy balls of 
 earth, that we even partially attain this object. In all ordi- 
 nary cases of removal, excepting those trees which may have 
 uncommonly short, fibrous roots, the larger portion of the spon- 
 gioles, which form the utmost extremities of all the roots, are 
 separated from the tree, and still others of them are often 
 bruised or dried before the replanting of the tree. In this 
 state of the case, since we can not preserve, we seek a process 
 that will quickly reproduce them ; that process is judicious 
 shortening of both roots and top (Fig. 119 a). In this, as in 
 ordinary pruning, there is doubtless somewhere a precise line 
 of right, an exact limit ; but as we have no immediate and 
 palpable means of discovering this, we endeavor to approach it 
 by proportioning, according to our best judgment, the one to 
 the other. K, in ordinary cases, one third of the root is sacri- 
 ficed in the taking up and shortening, we shorten or lessen the 
 weight of the top to about the same extent. 
 
 In general, all the roots and all the branches should be op- 
 erated upon, and in shortening the former, the cut should be 
 made with a keen knife on the mider side, and sloping outward, 
 so that, when planted, the face of the cut will rest upon the 
 earth, affording a natural position for throwing out its young 
 rootlets. The pruning of the top, also, should be done in a 
 manner to balance the tree and secure an outward growth of 
 the shoots, which will, in the main, be effected by cutting from 
 within outward, just above a bud situated on the under or out- 
 side of the young shoot. 
 
 PREPARING HOLES AND PLANTING. 
 
 In preparing for setting out trees, the holes should be made 
 much larger and deeper than is common. In digging them, let 
 the surface soil be kept by itself; when the subsoil is thrown 
 
246 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 out to a sufficient depth, the bottom of the hole should be loosen- 
 ed, and a portion of the surface soil or rich earth mixed with 
 it, filling up the hole so far as may be necessary to suit the 
 root. Having the root properly trimmed, set it carefully in 
 position, with the fibres spread naturally, and fill in gradually 
 with good earth finely pulverized, shaking the root gently 
 once or twice to secure the filling up of any open spaces. 
 When the roots are well covered with the earth, take the body 
 of the tree in your hands, and, holding it true, press the earth 
 with the foot upon the roots with moderate firmness ; then fill 
 up the hole about level with the surface, hilling a little if the 
 planting is done in the fall, and dishing slightly if done in 
 the spring. 
 
 If your soil be very wet, dig the holes as above directed, and 
 refill them again to the surface, or very nearly, and, spreading 
 the roots upon this loose surface, hill the earth over them, and 
 carefully stake your tree. In wet soils of a deep boggy or 
 mucky nature, and that can not be drained, holes need not be 
 dug, but the tree may be set immediately upon the sod, and 
 covered by hilling largely, staking it strongly, and mulching 
 it. See Fig. 119 &, p. 244. 
 
 Whenever it is found necessary at the setting out to stake 
 trees, it would be well to have the stakes set firmly into the 
 holes and ranged with precision before removing the trees, in 
 which case they may be easily and accurately arranged in po- 
 sition by being afterward set uniformly upon the same side of 
 the stake ; but, whether set before or after, let them be firmly 
 bound to the stake with a straw or other coarse band, passing 
 and crossed between the tree and the stake, so that, in case of 
 frequent winds, it will prevent rubbing ; and having spread 
 around them, if it is spring, coarse litter, or straw, or loose 
 rubbish of any kind, as mulching, weight it with a few stones 
 to keep it in place, and your work is done (Fig. 119 h, p. 244). 
 
 If drought occur, you may, if you deem it necessary, apply 
 water through the covering of mulch or litter ; but avoid the 
 not uncommon practice of pouring pails of water into the holes 
 when planting, by which the earth, which should be loose and 
 friable, is made into mud or mortar, which a succeeding heat 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 24T 
 
 may bake to brick. Plant seasonably and carefully, and you 
 will plant successfully. 
 
 ARRANGEMENT AND DISTANCES. 
 
 If found desirable, as it often will be, one or more of the 
 plots of the garden may be appropriated to fruits, in which 
 case, as in planting orchards, whether the various kinds of 
 fruit are combined or not, the trees should not be arranged in 
 exact squares, but in the alternated or diamond form — that is, 
 so that each row will line either way, not with the row adjoin- 
 ing it, but with that which is next but one. The distance at 
 which they ai-e to be set should be carefully decided in view 
 of the character and condition of the particular varieties you 
 intend to plant, their modes of growth, and times of ripening 
 their fruit, as well as the nature of the soil in which they are 
 to stand, and the after-treatment they are to receive. 
 
 The following table will afford at a glance the data necessa- 
 ry to the arrangement of their relative distances, and show the 
 area of surface allowed to each by such arrangement. 
 
 Table showing the Distance every way between Trees planted in 
 the alternated or diamond form, at various widths, with the 
 Area or Number of Square Feet of Surface to each Tree, and 
 THE Number of Trees upon an Acre. 
 
 Widths apart. 
 
 Equidistant from 
 
 Area or Number of Square Feet 
 
 Number of Trees 
 
 each other. 
 
 of Surface to each Tree. 
 
 per Acre. 
 
 40 feet by 34 
 
 40 feet. 
 
 1360 feet. 
 
 32 
 
 35 " 29 
 
 35 " 
 
 1015 " 
 
 43 
 
 30 " 25 
 
 30 " 
 
 750 " 
 
 58 
 
 25 " 21 
 
 25 " 
 
 525 " 
 
 83 
 
 20 " 17 
 
 20 " 
 
 340 " 
 
 128 
 
 15 " 9 
 
 15 " 
 
 135 " 
 
 322 
 
 10 " 8 
 
 10 " 
 
 80 " 
 
 544 
 
 8 " 7 
 
 8 " 
 
 56 " 
 
 778 
 
 6 " 5 
 
 6 " 
 
 30 " 
 
 1452 
 
 5 " 4 
 
 5 " 
 
 20 " 
 
 2178 
 
 If for any cause it is deemed preferable to plant in squares, 
 the following table will be found useful, and its smaller figures 
 may aid calculations of vegetable field-crops. 
 
248 
 
 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Table showing the Number of Trees or Plants that may be set 
 UPON AN Acre at the given Distances apart, omitting Fractions. 
 
 Distance apart. 
 
 Number of Trees or 
 Plants per Acre. 
 
 Distance 
 
 apart. 
 
 Numljer of J'rees or 
 Plants per Acre. 
 
 40 feet by 40 
 
 27 
 
 10 feet 
 
 by 7 
 
 622 
 
 35 " 35 
 
 35 
 
 10 ' 
 
 ' 6 
 
 726 
 
 30 " 30 
 
 48 
 
 10 ' 
 
 ' 5 
 
 871 
 
 25 " 25 
 
 69 
 
 5 
 
 ' 5 
 
 1,742 
 
 20 " 20 
 
 108 
 
 5 
 
 ' 4 
 
 2,178 
 
 20 " 15 
 
 145 
 
 5 ' 
 
 ' 3 
 
 2,904 
 
 20 " 10 
 
 217 
 
 5 ' 
 
 ' 2 
 
 4,356 
 
 20 " 5 
 
 435 
 
 5 
 
 ' 1 
 
 8,712 
 
 15 " 15 
 
 193 
 
 4 ' 
 
 ' 4 
 
 2,722 
 
 15 " 10 
 
 290 
 
 3 ' 
 
 ' 3 
 
 4,840 
 
 15 " 5 
 
 580 
 
 3 ' 
 
 ' 2 
 
 7,260 
 
 10 " 10 
 
 435 
 
 2 
 
 ' 2 
 
 10,890 
 
 10 " 9 
 
 484 
 
 2 ' 
 
 ' 1 
 
 21,780 
 
 10 " 8 
 
 544 
 
 1 
 
 ' 1 
 
 4,3,560 
 
 AFTER-CULTURE. 
 
 Whenever young fruit-trees are set out, the land around them 
 should be well cultivated, at least for several years. In ar- 
 ranging for this, hilled crops are to be preferred ; and, what- 
 ever may be done with the intermediate spaces, let the lines 
 of crop run so that each tree will occupy the position of a hill, 
 receiving the same manuring and care through the season. If, 
 from any necessity, the land is laid down to grass, or young 
 trees are planted in sod, let a space be annually dug around 
 each equal to the spread of the top, and a liberal supply of 
 liquid or other manure be regularly given in the fall. 
 
 MANURING FRUIT-TREES. 
 
 In general, after they attain age and come into bearing, fruit- 
 trees should be only moderately manured. A little salt may 
 be spread widely around them in the spring, or air-slaked or 
 old lime at the rate of ten to twenty bushels to the acre. Pot- 
 ash, in the form of spent ashes, which usually contain also 
 sufficient lime, charcoal dust, coal ashes, chip manure, or the 
 scrapings up of the wood-pile, crushed bones or bone-dust, de- 
 caying wood, or SAvamp-muck without composting. Liquid ma- 
 nm-e of any kind may also be cautiously applied. Animal 
 matter, as horn shavings, wool waste, &c., &c., is valuable, but 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 249 
 
 care should be taken to apply it rather in deficiency than in 
 excess, watching the effect upon the trees in your own partic- 
 ular locality and soil, and repeating or discontinuing its use 
 accordingly, always aiming to induce moderate and regular 
 growth, and steady rather than excessive bearing. 
 
 In orchard culture, where the plow can be freely used, it will 
 be found a good practice to plow carefully once every third or 
 foui'th year, turning under, if convenient, a very light coat of 
 barn-yard manure with the sod, and harrowing in thoroughly 
 from fifteen to thirty bushels of lime per acre ; seed immedi- 
 ately with clover, or clover and orchard grass ; and top-dress 
 annually with eighty or a hundred pounds of plaster to the 
 acre, or alternate this with one hundred and fifty pounds of 
 guano, or twenty bushels of ashes, and your orchard will thrive 
 and your land improve, 
 
 COMBINATION OP FRUITS, 
 
 In the cultivation of various fruits, it is often agreeable, and 
 may sometimes economize land and labor to combine them in 
 the same orchard or plot. Thus, if apple-trees on common 
 stocks are planted in alternated rows forty feet by thirty-four, 
 they may be filled in with dwarf trees of any desired kinds by 
 planting them in the line of the orchard trees at ten feet apart, 
 with two full rows at the same distance between, in the thirty- 
 four feet spaces, which will allow the rows to be made eleven 
 and one third feet apart. The trees in a plot thus filled up 
 will stand at right angles, eleven and one third by ten feet dis- 
 tance, each having one hundred and thirteen and a third square 
 feet of space. See Plan No. 1, A, A, B, B, B. 
 
 The smaller trees are to be removed gradually as the ad- 
 vancing growth of the main orchard may require. 
 
 In planting pear-trees, twenty-five feet by twenty-one, or 
 twenty by seventeen, a single row of dwarfed pears may be 
 planted each way in like manner, standing twelve and a half 
 feet by ten, or ten by eight and a half Cherry, pear, or high- 
 stemmed quince-trees may be set to advantage in the rows of 
 raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, or currants, also along 
 the centre of strawberry-beds, and it will be found a good mode 
 
 L2 
 
250 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 of combination in either quince or pear plot to place the rows 
 say twenty-two by twenty feet apart, or twenty-two by ten feet 
 if preferred, each row standing in the centre of a strip four 
 feet wide, for strawberries (Plan No. 2, A, C), while at seven 
 feet distance from each row of trees a row of either of the 
 smaller fruits above named is planted at from four to eight 
 feet apart in the row, at discretion, leaving eight feet space in 
 the centre, and affording ample room for their cultivation with 
 the plow, or for planting small vegetable crops between them, 
 if desired. See Plan No. 2, B, B, p. 251. 
 
 In this, or any other mode devised, fruits may be profitably 
 combined, provided the necessary surface space be afforded to 
 each, and suitable care and high culture be given to them, 
 
 PLAN OF COMBINATION OF FRUITS. 
 
 No, 1. 
 APPLE ORCHARD FILLED IN "WITH DWARF TREES, 
 
 Fig. 120. 
 
 ® X 
 
 X X 
 
 o >^ 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 Ox 
 
 X 
 
 
 o 
 
 BX X 
 
 K X 
 
 X X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 BX X 
 
 X X 
 
 X X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 ;< 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 o ^ 
 
 X X 
 
 o 
 
 X 
 
 X X 
 
 o 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 ® 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 A. (Circles.) Apple-trees forty by thirty-four feet: area for each tree one thousand 
 three hundred and sixty feet. 
 
 B. (Stars.) Dwarf apples, pears, or quinces, ten by eleven and one third feet : area for 
 each tree one hundred and thirteen and a third feet. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 251 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 PEARS, WITH STRAWBERRIES, AND CURRANTS OR GOOSEBER- 
 RIES, &C. 
 
 Fig. 120. 
 
 ®- 
 
 Ez=»E£C:^E 
 
 -=CF= 
 
 -3^£5E£EE^ 
 
 D-^ 
 
 e;ch3S^eee 
 
 -o 
 
 Bx X 
 
 XXX 
 
 X X 
 
 XXX 
 
 X X 
 
 X X 
 
 X X 
 
 Bx X 
 
 XXX 
 
 X X 
 
 _rN 
 
 XXX 
 
 X X 
 
 X X 
 
 X X 
 
 — r-\ 
 
 ~^|gBE~C:: 
 
 r:Li:::r 
 
 -:zn^t~:i: 
 
 -Li-:: 
 
 C _;>$.-:: 
 
 :::::U 
 
 A, A. (Circles.) Pears twenty feet by twenty-two, or ten feet by twenty-two, standing 
 along the centre of strawberry beds. 
 
 B, B. (Stars.) Gooseberries, or currants, or raspberries, four to eight feet apart. 
 
 C, C. Strawberries ; bed four feet wide. 
 
 LABELING AND DIAGRAM. 
 
 All fruit-trees should be labeled when planted, and, in ad- 
 dition to this, a correct diagram of each plot should be pre- 
 pared, so that at a glance the name of every variety you pos- 
 sess may be known. See page 215. 
 
 CHAPTER XVm. 
 
 Pruning; various Objects, Periods, and Modes of. — Cleaning and Scrap- 
 ing Fruit-trees. — Fruiting ; healthful Tendency to. — The Law of prema- 
 ture or forced Fruiting, and various Modes of its Application,*' 
 
 PRUNING. 
 
 We prune to weaken and to strengthen, and often simply to 
 balance — that is, to check or invigorate relative portions of the 
 same tree or plant, to give it symmetry, or promote its blos- 
 soming and fruitfulness. 
 
 It becomes important clearly to distinguish the varieties of 
 a process from which such varied results are obtained. The 
 
252 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 one we will call winter pruning, though, for convenience, it is 
 often done in the fall or spring ; the other summer pruning, 
 though performed from the first putting forth of the leaves in 
 spring until the middle of the fall. In addition to which, 
 there is the rarely performed operation of root pruning, which, 
 though more immediately effective if done in August, may be 
 performed at any season. 
 
 Fig. 121. 
 
 a. A tree of one year's growth from the bud, cut back. 
 6. A tree of two years' growth from the bud, cut back. 
 
 c. A nursery tree pruned ready for setting out, showing the shoulders where the young 
 branches have been cut oflf. 
 
 d. An orchard tree ready to come into bearing, with the head opened by winter pruning. 
 
 WINTER PRUNING. 
 
 Winter pruning is the common shortening of seedling stocks 
 when we transplant them into nursery rows, the cutting back 
 and fashioning which we commonly perform in the course of 
 their nursery culture and at their final transplanting, and the 
 annual trimming throughout their mature growth, for forming 
 and strengthening the tree. 
 
 In young trees it is generally called " cutting back," be- 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN, 253 
 
 cause the shoots of the previous year are shortened in the op- 
 eration (Fig. 121 a, b). 
 
 The vigor of the subsequent growth is commonly in direct 
 proportion to the extent to which this pruning is carried, heavy 
 pruning being followed by strong growth, and vice versa. It 
 is the natural tendency of the growth to push from the extrem- 
 ities, but the leading shoot of a stock three fourths of an inch 
 in diameter at the butt, and four or five feet high, if left un- 
 pruned, may grow two feet or so upward in a season ; if cut 
 back to within two or thi'ee buds of the previous year's growth, 
 it will usually more than double this growth, either in a sin- 
 gle shoot or more ; while, if cut down near the root for grafting 
 or otherwise, or having been budded the previous fall, it will, 
 with ordinary care, push upward a strong fine growth from 
 five to nine feet, the roots also being strengthened by the op- 
 eration. All winter pruning of young or old trees should be 
 performed with as little injury as possible to the bark ; every 
 young shoot cut away should be taken off just outside the 
 shoulder or swell at its base, leaving this upon the stem to 
 heal over and strengthen the tree (Fig. 121 c). If severe 
 wounds are made, coat them with paint, or pitch, or grafting 
 composition, No. 3, or shellac dissolved in alcohol. 
 
 Winter pruning applied to trees after they are planted out 
 to bear is chiefly intended to open the head for light and air, 
 to allow of moving freely in the tree for gathering the fruit, 
 and to keep its form symmetrical (Fig. 121 d). 
 
 EXCESSIVE WINTER PRUNING. 
 
 Sometimes, in neglected orchards, so much cutting seems 
 necessai-y to open the head of the tree, and permit the easy 
 gathering of the fruit, that an inexperienced cultivator is 
 tempted clumsily to overdo the work ; and this excessive and 
 coarse pruning induces a strong upright growth of baiTcn, 
 gluttonous shoots, which, if left to groAV, disfigure and injure 
 the trees (Fig. 122, page 254). Let all your trees be careful- 
 ly pruned while young, never permitting an ill-placed or a 
 superfluous shoot to grow more than a single season at the 
 most ; and if pruning an orchard that has suffered from pre- 
 
254 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 ^'s- 122. vious neglect, watch it, and prevent 
 
 gluttonous growth by nipping and 
 summer pruning. Winter pruning 
 may generally be performed at any 
 time between the first black frost in 
 fall and the opening of spring ; but 
 the fall, except, perhaps, in cli- 
 mates of excessive severity, is great- 
 ly preferable for this purpose, the 
 ^ cuts being made at a little distance 
 1/ outside of the extreme bud left upon 
 the branch. 
 
 SUMMER PRUNING. 
 
 Summer pruning is generally used 
 to prevent an undue or unsightly 
 growth in any one portion of the 
 tree or plant, or to check its luxuri- 
 
 An old neglected tree that has heen aUCC, and thereby iuduCO fruiting. 
 roughly over-pruned, and " glut- _ , - "^ , 
 
 tons" formed. it may DC donc to very great ad- 
 
 vantage by simply nipping with the thumb and finger, or with 
 a pair of small pocket trimming shears, the young shoots that 
 start improperly or with a disproportionate vigor. A child 
 may do it with a toy knife, or a lady with her scissors, and 
 make a marked improvement in the condition of a tree even in 
 a single year, and save very much of the labor of winter prun- 
 ing. 
 
 For this purpose, carefully watch the putting forth of the 
 shoots, and if one threatens to cross another, nip it ; if a num- 
 ber of young shoots are thrown inward into the head of the 
 tree, thickening it up, nip them all out, so as to give to the 
 young forming head the openness which you will find impor- 
 tant when it comes into bearing. See Fig. 121 d, p. 252. If 
 the leading upright shoot threatens to gi'ow so strong as to 
 discourage or prevent the formation of the necessary side shoots 
 for a head, nip it, and thus throw the circulation into the side 
 channels. If any one of the branches threatens to become 
 gluttonous, growing^ with excessive, or, at least, disproportion- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEX. 255 
 
 ate vigor, and thus making a lop-sided tree, nip it from time 
 to time, and compel or restore an equilibrium ; and if it be in 
 bearing, pluck the fruit while small from the weaker portion, 
 and let it ripen upon the stronger. If youi- tree generally 
 grow too luxuriantly, and you would encourage early fruiting, 
 check its growth by nipping an inch or two from the points of 
 all its branches in June, and repeat the process a month later 
 if the tree does not appear to feel it, continuing this from year 
 to year, with very light winter pruning. 
 
 To dwarfed trees that are to be kept in the bush form, this 
 mode of summer pruning should be thoroughly and carefully 
 applied, every young shoot being nipped as soon as it has at- 
 tained such a length as the cultivator judges sufficient for the 
 season upon the individual tree, those of strong growth being 
 allowed a foot at the utmost to each young shoot, but generally 
 half this length will be found preferable. The young, tender 
 second growth from the nipped extremity must be renipped, 
 and the only winter pruning necessaiy should be the cutting 
 oflF these weakened buds from the extremities so far as to fur- 
 nish a full sound bud to start for the next season's limited ad- 
 dition. 
 
 If, however, the trees are to be " trained," running certain 
 leading shoots horizontally, and treating them somewhat after 
 the manner of spur-pruning the grape, the main young shoot 
 of each may be allowed to lengthen more rapidly — say two feet 
 in a season — the side shoots throughout its length being nip- 
 ped as above directed for the bush form. See also page 258. 
 
 ROOT PRUNING. 
 Root pruning is an operation requiring great caution and 
 moderation in its performance. It is effected by cutting off a 
 portion of the roots at a distance from the tree, in order to 
 check its growth and force fruit. It may be done by digging 
 a trench around the tree and cutting the roots with a knife, or 
 by encu'cling the tree partially or entirely with a deep cut, 
 made by driving the blade of a post-spade to the depth of a 
 foot or eighteen inches. In all ordinary cases the latter and 
 less laborious process will suffice, with careful summer pruning. 
 
256 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 to effect the end. The distance at which the roots are cut 
 must be proportioned to the size of the tree, the object being 
 to cut off only so many of its feeders as temporarily to stint its 
 supply of sap. For a tree three inches in diameter, the cut 
 may be made at a distance of three or four feet from the stem, 
 and so on. August is a good time for the operation. 
 
 Root pruning is sometimes also resorted to for the purpose 
 of restoring health to a tree that has become diseased from its 
 deeper roots entering an unfavorable or poisonous subsoil. In 
 this case a large opening is made on one side, and a sharpen- 
 ed spade driven with force under the whole central portion of 
 the tree, whence the deep roots usually proceed. It should 
 always be accompanied by high surface culture. 
 
 CLEANING AND SCRAPING. 
 
 At least once a year all bearing trees should be cleaned by 
 washing or scraping, or both, from all moss and dead bark ; 
 and whether this be done in fall or spring, every portion of the 
 scrapings should l)e gathered and burned, as well as all trim- 
 mings, of whatever kind, from trees infested by insects or dis- 
 eased. 
 
 FRUITING. 
 
 It is common to speak of the "rapid" or "slow circulation 
 of the sap," and of its " accumulation" and " more perfect elab- 
 oration," and the consequent formation of fruit-buds, as result- 
 ing from the retarded rate of its flow. I know of no such se- 
 ries of experiments upon the rate of vegetable circulation, with 
 its variations, as might enable us to approximate to a safe con- 
 clusion upon the subject, nor do I find any thing in nature that 
 might suggest or sustain the theory by analogy. It is also 
 difficult to understand how cutting off the supplies in root prun- 
 ing, or in any way retarding the flow of sap, should cause its 
 accumulation (if the language quoted be accurately used), or 
 how it happens that on mature trees with a habit of biennial 
 bearing the blossom-buds are always formed in the year of 
 their most free growth. They are also formed in the fall, at 
 wliich period, according to Boucherie, as quoted by J. F. W. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 257 
 
 Johnston, colored solutions reax;h the leaves through the circu- 
 lation more rapidly than in the spring. The theory may be 
 sound, but it does not seem so. If a branch be girdled to in- 
 duce fruiting, it does not continue to bleed ; its tubes may 
 therefore be reckoned as closed at the descending end. If the 
 mouth of a full siphon be closed, how can its contents " accu- 
 mulate .^" Oi', if we may suppose the circulating power to be 
 constituted by the combined forces of what we call the vital 
 principle, temperature, and capillary attraction, then the first 
 is strongest in the rapidly-growing but non-bearing tree ; the 
 second we may assume as equal at the period in which the 
 matter of fruiting is decided ; and the third ought to be greater 
 in the tree of slower or less thrifty growth, for in this case the 
 tubes are usually smaller and less open, and the capillary force 
 is in an inverse ratio to the diameter of the tube in which it 
 operates. We infer, therefore, that mere rate of circulation has 
 little to do with, or by no means controls the question of fruit- 
 age, but that probably the fullness and character of the supply, 
 in connection with the peculiar constitutional condition of the 
 tree, governs the production of fruit, and not mere rate of move- 
 ment. Or, if it be argued that the organizing matter accumu- 
 lates, while the water is exhaled or perspired from the leaves, 
 this should involve increased wood growth in the girdled limb, 
 the contrary of which results, except to a trifling extent at the 
 upper lip of the girdling cut, where it occurs in a manner sim- 
 ilar in appearance to the formation of the " callus" at the bur- 
 ied end of a branch cutting. See Fig. 82 e,/, p. 197. 
 
 On page 66 of this work we have observed that the most 
 marked feature of vegetable life is its tendency to reproduction. 
 
 All healthful vegetable growth moves toward this end in its 
 appointed natural course, attaining maturity in a longer or 
 shorter period, according to its peculiar constitution, as modi- 
 fied or afiected by climate and other circumstances. As a co- 
 rollary of, or at least in connection with this tendency to repro- 
 duction, we find what seems to be a law, that whenever, from 
 any cause, there arises a probability of this result being de- 
 feated, or even a possibility that the individual may perish 
 without accomplishing it, the tendency toward it is immediately 
 
258 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 stimulated, and annihilation is avoided by a premature, though 
 it may be feeble exertion of the reproductive powers. 
 
 I suppose a similar law to hold in reference to animal life, 
 and that in the human family it may perhaps be taken to ex- 
 plain the remarkable though often impotent precocity of the 
 deformed and dwarfed. It is true, the force and extent of an 
 injury from which this possibility of annihilation arises may 
 be such as to destroy these powers, so that the enfeebled blos- 
 som falls, and leaves no seed or fruit, or so to weaken them that, 
 though the fruit form, it yet drops from the tree imperfect and 
 worthless, but the law appears still to hold, and this is the law 
 of which we take advantage when we would hasten the period 
 of matm-ity or fruitage in the tree or plant. 
 
 The means and processes by which we call this law into ac- 
 tion for the early or increased production either of flowers or 
 fruit are very numerous and diversified, though they may all 
 be classed as expedients for checking growth. Cramping the 
 roots of plants in pots, with poor soil, or withholding water to 
 an extreme at a certain stage of their growth, as often practiced 
 by successful florists, are of this character. Transplanting 
 also, whether more or less frequent. In young seedling trees 
 of new kinds, the repeated grafting of the tree upon itself, con- 
 tinued from year to year, or grafting it upon the spreading 
 branch of an old bearing tree ; all the processes of dwarfing ; 
 ringing or girdling a limb ; or, which is equally efficient and 
 oftcner practiced, the di sharking a lai^ge portion of a young or- 
 chard tree with the plow ; or the severe action of insects ; or 
 summer pruning, by which we interfere with the circulation ; 
 setting in shallow and poor soil ; or root pruning, by which we 
 cut oflf the supply of sap ; or constricting the vessels of a ram- 
 pant limb by bending it ; while the most ancient device known 
 is to " bore a hole in the tree, and drive in an oaken plug." 
 
 Disease also, from whatever cause it may arise, has similar 
 effects, and the sick tree yields fruit, or the sick plant runs up 
 to seed more quickly than its healthful companions. 
 
 In annual or biennial vegetables there is no object to answer 
 in materially hastening maturity. They all bear their seed or 
 fruit in their season. But of the tree, slow in maturing, and 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 259 
 
 of longer life than ours, we become naturally impatient to en- 
 joy the products, and hence these devices to hasten its season 
 of fruitage. Our course to this resiilt is plain. Any expedi- 
 ent which checks growth without immediately endangering the 
 life of the tree will effect it. 
 
 The ordinary and legitimate means to the end are dwarfing 
 (see that head), summer prmiing in June and July, or root 
 pruning in August, or any other period of the year ; or we 
 may combine these means, if the health of the subject prove 
 obstinate. 
 
 Whatever course may be chosen for the accomplishment of 
 our object should be accompanied by a free supply of manures 
 of such kinds as may not be calculated to stimulate mere wood 
 growth. See Manuring Fruit-trees. 
 
 On the other hand, if we would strengthen a tree, or any par- 
 ticular part of it, we ought not to allow it, or that particular 
 portion of it, to bear fruit ; we should avoid summer priming, 
 and carefully invigorate it by liberal shortening at the winter 
 pruning. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Diseases of Fruit-trees. — Insects injurious to Fruit and Fruit-trees, with 
 Kemedies. — Washes to destroy Insects. 
 
 DISEASES OF FRUIT-TREES AND FRUITS. 
 FRUIT CRACK. 
 
 This is first indicated by the stunted appearance of the 
 fruit, especially on one side, upon which a black crack or 
 " chap" opens. It is accompanied by dark blotches upon the 
 fruit, which are probably formed by the growth of a minute 
 lichen, the fruit becoming ill-looking and Avorthless. 
 
 This disease, or effect of disease, is found in the. pear, par- 
 ticularly the Virgalieu ; in the quince also, and sometimes in 
 the apple. It seems to arise from a deficiency in the supply 
 of appropriate food, and is generally curable by manuring and 
 careful culture. It may always be assumed that fruits subject 
 to it require and will bear high cultivation. 
 
200 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 BLACK KNOT. 
 
 This disease, -svliieh has ahiiost entirely (lesti'03vd the dam- 
 son, the horse phini, and some other kinds, eonies at first as a 
 green swelling, bulging out and spreading open with a granu- 
 hited appearanee, ehanging in color till it becomes a black, 
 wart-like excrescence, being, in fact, covered with minute black 
 fungi, which givw and seed upon it. In general, unless ar- 
 rested by cutting out, it continues to spread, cither by length- 
 ening itself u}x>n the branch or baiy, or by breaking out at 
 some other points. AVhen the branch is cut oft", the stain of 
 the disease is found extending for some distance below the 
 knot, in the substance of the wood or at the heart. 
 
 It is perhaps more prevalent u|X)n dark-col oivd ]^lunis than 
 on the yellow or green varieties, and has become connnon \\\xm 
 the sour red and jNlorelk) cherries. 
 
 There are variant opinions as to its origin and character, 
 some supposing it to bo caused by an insect stinging the bark, 
 A'arious worms being often found in the knots ; others reganl- 
 ing it as a vegetable cancer ; but all agreeing that the only 
 method of treating it is to cut it clean oft' the branches, and 
 perfiH'tly out of the Ixxly and limbs in its early stages, and 
 burn every vestige of the cuttings, washing the wounds with 
 brine or a solution of copperas in the pwportion of one ounce 
 to two gallons of water, or covering them with grafting com- 
 jX)sition or shelhic. Pei'severanee in this course will be fomid 
 successful in arresting at least its worst results. 
 
 BURSTING. 
 
 The trunks of certain fives, particularly the cheny, some- 
 times open and decay upon the south side, a result attributa- 
 ble to the occurrence of severe fn>st after the warmth of the 
 sun's rays has started the ciivulation ujxm that side. The 
 fidl sap vessels, we suppose, bm*st mechanically, as a full wa- 
 ter-pipe is bursted by the same cause. Short stems help to 
 pivvide against this difficulty, and trees placed so as to re- 
 ceive the slightest shade are seldom banned. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 261 
 
 LEAF-BLIGHT. 
 
 What is called leaf-blight in the pear, plum, etc., seems to 
 be merely the result of a check given to the growth by heat 
 or other cause, just as the hawthorn, refusing to acclimate 
 well, annually loses its foliage in the summer or early fall, 
 and becomes unsightly. It may be avoided in some measure, 
 if not entirely, in fruit-trees, by good culture upon deep soils, 
 moderately dry. 
 
 MILDEW. 
 
 Mildew is an appearance of mouldiness upon the young 
 growth. Among fruit-trees it prevails upon some varieties of 
 peach and nectarine, and upon grape-vines of foreign kinds. 
 It generally follows a check in the growth by sudden change 
 of temperature, etc., which is accompanied by numbers of a 
 small aphis that punctures the back of the leaf and sucks the 
 diseased juices ; almost immediately the mildew proper ap- 
 pears, which seems to be a very minute vegetable growth. 
 
 It is removable by syringing or showering with a solution 
 of an ounce of nitre to a gallon of water, with soap-suds, or 
 lime-water, or any alkaline solution, or dusting with sulphur ; 
 but in respect to foreign vines can only be effectually met by re- 
 newing them every three or four years, either by layering from 
 their own young shoots, or by young plants from other sources. 
 
 SOUR-SAP BLIGHT. 
 
 This disease is also called " fire blight," from the appear- 
 ance of the tree destroyed by it ; " frozen-sap blight," from 
 the theory of its being the eflFect of frost upon the chemical 
 condition of the sap in overgorged vessels, and by European 
 cultivators the " canker," and is described by them as result- 
 ing from the sap being "corrupted by putrid water (i. e., in 
 the subsoil) or excess of manure," and as working like a gan- 
 grene on the parts affected. 
 
 It is a disease of surfeit or plethora, often appearing in the 
 pith near the points of very vigorous offshoots. 
 
 The change in the sap, from Avhatever cause it may proceed, 
 
262 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 would seem to be a kind of acetous fermentation, running on 
 to putrefactive poison, which is carried, with the very death it 
 represents and includes, as far as the amount of virus produced 
 enables it to spread. 
 
 It nearly resembles the form of death that occurs so com- 
 monly in young fruit-trees when planted where an old one of 
 the same kind has died. 
 
 Dwarfed trees, and those of moderate growth, as the Seckel 
 and Lodge pears, &c., are seldom subject to it, but strong 
 growers in moist rich soils suffer greatly, or are entirely de- 
 stroyed by it. 
 
 The selection of the less vigorous varieties, and the choice 
 of dry and only moderately rich soils for the stronger growing 
 kinds, may be resorted to where a choice in either respect is 
 practicable. But if this can not be had, then let a careful and 
 persistent system of root-pruning be pm-sued, reaching espe- 
 cially to the roots that strike down into the subsoil. If the 
 effect of this is seen not to be too severe upon the growth of 
 the tree, and not otherwise, follow it with moderate summer 
 pruning. Where it appears only in spots, the diseased portion 
 should be thoroughly cut out and washed with ley, or a solu- 
 tion of copperas (sulphate of iron), and afterward coated with 
 grafting composition No. 3. 
 
 YELLOWS. 
 
 This is a jaundice or consumption in peach-trees, to which 
 they have become liable within the last fifty years, constitut- 
 ing the only real difficulty in raising this fruit. It is vari- 
 ously accounted for, but no available remedy has been found. 
 It has probably arisen from long-continued neglect of culture, 
 combined with overbearing, the latter being incessantly stim- 
 ulated, in addition to other causes, by the very Aveakness it 
 produced. See Fruiting, page 258. A constitutional hered- 
 itary weakness, or disease, has thus been induced, which, when 
 fully developed, becomes perhaps the very " essentia? mortis," 
 communicable by inoculation, as the virus of an animal body 
 in a state of change, perhaps also by contact, or even by infec- 
 tion. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 263 
 
 Its first and sufficient indication is the too early ripening of 
 the fruit upon the tree, which as yet seems to be in health. 
 This is followed, probably the very next season, by the growth 
 of short feeble shoots from the obscure buds of the older branch- 
 es, a change in the general aspect of the foliage, still more 
 prematui-e ripening or dropping of the fruit, which has now 
 become darkly blotched with brown or purplish spots, beneath 
 which the flesh is rotting, the tree becoming more and more 
 sickly in its appearance until it dies. 
 
 The only known palliatives, or rather preventives, are mod- 
 erate manuring, ordinary summer cultivation of the ground, so 
 as to secure for them regular plowing, &c,, which this tree feels 
 almost as quickly as a cabbage ; the choice of an exposed situ- 
 ation, to avoid winter killing, to which, in northern latitudes, 
 it is liable when thus treated in warm exposm'es ; and the an- 
 nual cutting back of all young shoots to one half or one third 
 the length of their last season's growth, with such other win- 
 ter pruning as the condition of the tree may seem to require. 
 
 Severe winter pruning and good culture immediately after 
 the occurrence of the first indication will, to all appearance, 
 perfectly restore the tree ; but if these are discontinued, it re- 
 tui'ns the following season to its former state. 
 
 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO FRUIT-TREES AND FRUIT. 
 
 For general remarks upon insects and their habits, see page 
 94. 
 
 As certain plants are supposed to serve as a protection to 
 vegetable crops, so certain essences, &c., hung in vials in the 
 trees, have been suggested as a defense for fruits. For this 
 purpose, the essences of peppermint, tansy, and pennyroyal are 
 sometimes used ; also, spirits of tui^pentine against the rose 
 bug, and ammonia as ofiensive to the plum weevil. 
 
 Decoys, or wide-mouthed bottles half filled with sweetened 
 water, have been used with good effect for catching wasps and 
 the larger bugs ; and it is said by a recent writer that these 
 are much more efficient if the mouth of the bottle be closed, and 
 an entrance made by breaking a hole in the side. Once in, the 
 insects do not so readily find the way out. 
 
264 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 For the protection of orchards, fires kindled in the evening, 
 during the perfect or winged stage of insect life, are effective 
 means. They may be made of brush or other rubbish, or small 
 lighted tapers set in shallow pans of water may be used. Oth- 
 er processes for the prevention or destruction of insects are 
 given under the proper heads. 
 
 APHIDES. 
 
 Fig. 123. 
 
 a, Flos Aphis ; 6, common Aphis, natural size ; c, d, various common Aphides magnified. 
 
 Flos Aphis, Apliis (Eriosoma) Lanigera. 
 
 Cherry " Aphis Cerasi. 
 
 Apple " ApJds 3Iali and Malifolia. 
 
 Grape " " Vim/era. 
 
 Rose " " Hosce. 
 
 The Flos Aphis, Fig. 123 a, is called in Europe, erroneous- 
 ly, American blight. It is of a peculiar white, cottony ap- 
 pearance, and is met with in large or small bunches, or as sin- 
 gle white spots, on forest and fruit trees, and not unfrequently 
 upon the roots of the latter in the nursery. The floss-like ap- 
 pearance is caused by the white wavy or crinkled filament or 
 tail of the insect, by the aid of which, though wingless, it is 
 sometimes carried on the wind from tree to tree. An English 
 writer prescribes washing with a mixture of sulphm'ic acid in 
 ten times its measure of water. Tobacco smoke or infusion, or 
 ley, or whale-oil soap ; or for the roots, ashes mixed in the soil, 
 are efficient remedies. 
 
 The cherry, apple, grape, and rose aphides, though distin- 
 guished by writers on insects, require no distinction in their 
 practical treatment. Perhaps every infected tree or plant has 
 its own peculiar variety, but all are remediable by the same 
 means. They are invited by disease, and also cause it. The 
 remedies are those named above for the Flos Aphis, applied in 
 any way that may be found convenient. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 265 
 
 SCALE INSECTS, OR BARK LICE. 
 PEAR, OR WRINKLED SCALE INSECT. Lecanium PyH. 
 
 Fig. 124. 
 
 a. Natural size. 
 
 b. Magnified. 
 
 APPLE SCALEy OR SHELL INSECT. Aspidiodotus Concliiformis. 
 
 Fig. 125. 
 
 
 a. Natural size. 
 6. Magnified. 
 
 These insects, which are sometimes called the " scale aphis," 
 infest the apple, pear, mountain ash, and other trees and shrubs, 
 appearing upon the bark like small white spots or scales, grad- 
 ually multiplying until they sometimes cover the tree, some 
 of the larger ones becoming brownish, and having a rough and 
 angular, turtle-back appearance. 
 
 If the stem of a tree infested with them be rubbed harshly 
 with a gloved hand, it will appear as if smeared with blood ; 
 and if the outer bark be shaved with a knife, the inner side of 
 it will be found reddened with disease. 
 
 On raising these scales in the fall or winter, they are gen- 
 erally found to be pretty well filled with small reddish-brown 
 eggs and the seeming remains of the insect, among which will 
 sometimes be found a small worm. The scale which covers 
 them is at this season of the year gray outside and silvery 
 white within. 
 
 M 
 
266 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Like most other foul insects, they are found only upon trees 
 that have first become unhealthy. Young apple or pear trees 
 set in cold, wet soils, or injudiciously manured, or injured in 
 their roots, or cracked by the borer ; oleanders housed in a too 
 cold or fluctuating temperature, and dusty, are especially liable 
 to suffer from tlicni. A variety known as A.spidiodotus Rosce 
 infests roses, &c. As any cause which stunts and diseases the 
 young tree will invite these quiet but destructive pests, so any 
 means that will restore health to the tree will banish them, 
 among which close winter pruning, digging about it, and ap- 
 plying compost or liquid manure from time to time, will be 
 found most efficient ; and, as preliminary to these, let the scales 
 be crushed with a hard brush or rubber of any kind, and the 
 tree or plant thoroughly washed with the ley-wash, or whale- 
 oil soap Avash, or a strong infusion of tobacco. See page 284. 
 Let this be done in early spring, and repeated in summer if 
 necessary. If, however, the subsoil be wet, and especially if 
 it be at the same time level, and have the character of hard- 
 pan, the insect will return, and only draining, or deep plow- 
 ing, or subsoiling, with moderate manuring and annual plant- 
 ing with hoed crops, as potatoes, corn, &c., at the same time 
 leaving the trees abundant clear space, and using the above 
 remedies as they may seem to be required, will be likely to car- 
 ry them successfully past the period of danger. The small- 
 er birds destroy many of these insects, but are not numerous 
 enough to keep them in check. 
 
 WORMS OR LARV^. 
 
 APPLE-TREE BORERS. 
 ft Fig. 126. 
 
 h 
 
 ti. Lai'va. 
 
 b. Sapcrda bivittata, or two-striped 
 beetle. 
 
 Borer and parent bug. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 Fig. 12T. 
 
 267 
 
 o. Larvo. 
 
 6. Chrysobotliri.s (Huprcstia) femorata, or 
 
 thick -legged suapping beetle. 
 Infesting apple, quince, and Home forest 
 
 trees. 
 
 Borer and parent bug. 
 
 The parent beetles of the above are of very dissimilar ap- 
 pearance, though the worms are alike in habit. 
 
 The Saperda is about three fourths of an inch long, of a light 
 butternut-broAvn color, and most easily recognized by its two 
 rather broad white stripes extending the whole length of the 
 insect. It flies chiefly at night. 
 
 The Chrysobothris, or snapper, is described by Fitch as " an 
 oblong, brassy- blackish snapping beetle, nearly half an inch 
 long, its back under the wings brilliant bluish green." It is 
 most active at midday. 
 
 Both deposit their eggs in June or July upon the bark, gen- 
 erally near the ground, and the worms, when hatched, eat their 
 way first to the inner bark, where they may be found in Au- 
 gust or September, of the size of a wheat-kernel. Eating 
 downward, they reach the sap-wood, which, with the inner bark, 
 they destroy extensively. They finally enter the solid wood, 
 and eat their way upward, living in the tree some two years. 
 When the period of their change approaches, they make their 
 way toward the outer surfiice, forming their chrysalides within 
 the bark of the tree, from which the beetles make their escape 
 in early summer by eating through. 
 
 Borer, Fig. 126 a, larva of the Saperda, is a soft, full, fleshy, 
 yellowish-white, cylindrical worm, about an inch long, of the 
 diameter of a stout straw, or a little larger, of even thickness 
 throughout, or scarcely at all tapering. It has a brown head 
 and black jaws, and is marked into thirteen joints or segments. 
 Upon these, both above and beneath, is a row of obscure, wart- 
 like protuberances, which, with the spiracles or breathing-holes 
 
2G8 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 along its sides, give it somewhat the appearance of being 
 striped. It is slightly hairy, footless, and not very active, roll- 
 ing itself in its progress, but is very destructive to the fruit- 
 trees it infests. 
 
 Borer, Fig. 127 a, larva of the Chrysobothris, or snapper, is a 
 pale yellow or very light wood-colored worm, less than an inch 
 long, ringed or jointed as the former, and somewhat more 
 hairy. It is soft, and generally flabby-looking, Avith dark head 
 and jaws, not very prominent, immediately back of which it has 
 a flattened and curiously-marked enlargement or pair of heavy 
 shoulders, from which the body or tail tapers rapidly to a point. 
 It is, I think, even more injurious than the former, but both re- 
 quire prompt and thorough attention. 
 
 In addition to the voluntary labors of the downy woodpecker, 
 who is an active and laborious hunter of the young larvse, va- 
 rious means of destruction are available. 
 
 The beetles of both kinds should, as far as possible, be de- 
 stroyed, the Saperda by means of brush fires in the orchard at 
 evening, and the snapper by catching with the hand. Scrape 
 the bark around the butts of the trees in August, carefully 
 burning the scrapings, and destroy the young worms by a thor- 
 ough washing with ley or coating with soft soap. Watch for 
 the first fresh castings of the Avorm while small, and either cut 
 him out, or pass a wire or pointed flexible gutta-percha probe 
 up the hole to pierce him, or stifle him with camphor plugged 
 into the hole, or with the fumes of burning sulphur, if they 
 will reach him, or with an awl open the upper end of his bur- 
 row and pour in scalding water, as suggested by Dr. Fitch. 
 
 Piling ashes or lime around the trees in spring, or coating 
 the butts for eight or ten inches with pitch or grafting compo- 
 sition, will also be found useful. 
 
 BUD WORM AND PARENT MOTH. 
 
 Supposed to be Larva of Loxotenia Rosaceatm. 
 The moth is generally about half an inch long, and of a 
 light brown color, but variable. When at rest, a quadrangular 
 figure is formed by several narrow brown bands upon the 
 wings. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 269 
 
 The bud worm is a small greenish worm with a ^^- ^^^• 
 dark head, found just after the trees start to grow, 
 rolled in the very tip of the young shoot, which it 
 eats entirely away ; and later in the season, the 
 same worm, or one resembling it, is found rolled 
 into the rose or grape-vine leaf. He is an exceed- 
 ingly active, mischievous-looking fellow, watching '^' Loxotenia 
 keenly for an intruder, and dodging quickly into Rosaceana. 
 his retreat when you approach him. They are not very nu- 
 merous. I have supposed them to proceed from eggs which 
 are found deposited singly or in small numbers in the perfo- 
 rated bark of the young shoot close to the buds, though the 
 Loxotenia is said to deposit her eggs upon the bark. 
 
 Remedy : catch and crush him ; also gather the eggs. 
 
 CANKER WORM AND PARENT MOTHS. 
 
 Fig. 12-). 
 
 a. Larva. 
 
 b. Aniaopteryx Vernata (Male). 
 
 c. " " (Female) 
 
 The male moth is of a pale ash color, with darker spots or 
 shadings. The female is dark ash-colored above and gray be- 
 neath ; the latter can not fly, having mere winglets. 
 
 The CANKER WORM is a dusky-brown or ash-colored worm, 
 ten footed, and about an inch long, very destructive to apple, 
 elm, and other trees. The moths leave the ground in very 
 early spring, and a few may get out in the fill. They seek 
 the trees in March, or at the first opening of spring, the fe- 
 male crawling up and laying her eggs in the crotches and 
 branches. These hatch in the latter end of May, and the 
 worms spread over the tree and ravage it, sweeping an orchard 
 like fire where they are very numerous. 
 
 Remedy : banding the tree carefully with Dennis's patent 
 leaden oil trough, or any substitute for it Avhich you can de- 
 
270 AMERICAN HOME GAEDEN. 
 
 vise ; a projecting strip of leather fastened edgewise to the 
 tree and oiled ; a tarred band around it ; or a thick, broad belt 
 or band, coated with India-rubber melted by heat, which is 
 quite adhesive, but does not harden. 
 
 The birds destroy large numbers of them, and Harris says 
 there is a splendid ground-beetle that watches for and catches 
 them as they come down from the trees ; various parasites also 
 disable the larvae, and destroy the eggs to a considerable ex- 
 tent. See also page 96. 
 
 CORE WORM AND PARENT MOTH. 
 Fig. 130. 
 
 a. Larva. b. Carpocapaa Pomonella, natural size. 
 
 c. " , magnified. d. " " magnified. 
 
 Moth small and grayish, with a large brown spot on the 
 hinder part of the fore wings ; the smaller wings and body 
 yellowish brown ; the texture of the wings appearing like 
 watered silk. 
 
 The core worm is a small, flesh-colored worm or grub, found 
 in the apple-core, sometimes causing the fruit to drop prema- 
 turely from the tree. 
 
 When the apples fall, if not before, the worm leaves the fruit, 
 and hides in the crevices of the bark, to spin and wait for the 
 return of spring. The moth comes out in all June, and im- 
 mediately deposits her eggs singly in the eye of the young 
 fruit. They hatch in a few days, and the young worm pro- 
 ceeds to eat in to the heart. 
 
 Remedy : scrape the bark in the early spring, and burn the 
 scrapings. Let hogs run in the orchard to eat the falling 
 fruit, and every day gather what they do not eat and boil them, 
 or feed them to other swine. Old cloths in the crotches of the 
 trees or lying loose ai^ound will fm-nish hiding-places in which 
 the worms may be caught by looking them over weekly ; also 
 evening fires in the orchard in moth-time will destroy many. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 271 
 
 NEST WORM, WITH PARENT MOTHS AND EGGS. 
 Fig. 131. 
 
 b. Clisiocampa Americana, or Lackey Moth (Male). 
 
 c. " " '• " " (Female). 
 
 d. Egg3 deposited on a young branch for wintering. 
 
 The livery or lackey moth takes its name from the colors 
 which mark its larvae. Its own color is a dull-red or fox color, 
 with two white parallel stripes across the wings, the male 
 moth being rather darker than the female. It is about an 
 inch and a half across when expanded. The worm, when full 
 grown, is nearly two inches long, with a black head, the body 
 being variously lined and spotted with black, blue, yellow, and 
 white. 
 
 This, which is called " tent worm" by Harris, is pre-emi- 
 nently the apple-tree worm of our country from Maine to 
 Texas, though it affects still more the wild cherry, and is some- 
 times found upon other trees to a limited extent. Its eggs are 
 set on end, head outward, being glued together with softish 
 gum-mucilage, and varnished over with the same. They may 
 be found at any time during winter upon the young shoots, 
 forming a band around them nearly an inch broad, and of a 
 slate color, Fig. 131 d. 
 
272 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 These are hatched by the warmth of May, each nest of eggs 
 producing a pretty numerous colony of worms, which at first 
 are not thicker than pins, and half the length of a wheat grain. 
 They soon begin to feed and grow, and make their nest, chang- 
 ing their skins from time to time, and strengthening them- 
 selves and enlarging their dwelling, until in June they ma- 
 ture and wander off to spin their cocoons. 
 
 The moths come out about the first of July, and in a few 
 days after deposit their eggs for the next season. 
 
 Remedies : the first and best is to collect the eggs for burn- 
 ing in the fall after the trees lose their foliage, and if not at- 
 tended to then, let it be done in winter or very early spring. 
 The second best is to watch for the very first sign of the form- 
 ation of the nests, when but little larger than a hen's egg, and, 
 choosing a moist or cloudy day, either cut ofi" and burn them, 
 or, armed with a thick glove, crush them ; though so small, 
 they are all there. 
 
 But, if these opportunities are neglected, there remains the 
 ordinary laborious attempts to do late what might have been 
 done early with ease : to gather and crush or burn them when 
 nearly full grown ; to sponge them with ammonia ; to burn 
 them in the nest ; to twist them out with a pronged stick, or 
 swab them with turpentine, most of which can be but partial 
 remedies. 
 
 It has an enemy in a parasitic insect, the small white co- 
 coons of which are often found attached to those of the worm. 
 For the destruction of the moth, evening fires of brush or tar 
 in the orchard at moth-time, continued for a week or two, are 
 most effectual. 
 
 Dr. Fitch suggests that perhaps the wild cherry might be 
 advantageously used as a natural decoy for the protection of 
 valuable orchards, being planted near, and perfectly cleared of 
 the eggs every fall or winter. It would seem worthy at least 
 of a trial, 
 
 NET WORM AND PARENT MOTH. 
 
 The color of the moth varies from yellow to brown ; the 
 wings are crossed l)y four or five darker bands, and spotted 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN 
 
 with small specks of the same, 
 about the head and throat. 
 
 273 
 
 It is orange colored or yellow 
 
 Fig. 132. 
 
 a. Larva. 
 
 b. Euinetopona ministra, or Handmaid 
 moth. 
 
 The net worm, or yellow-necked apple-tree worm somewhat 
 resembles the nest worm, but comes later in the season, and, 
 instead of spinning a compact nest, Aveaves a net over the limb 
 on which it is feeding, and spreads it as its range enlarges, 
 eating chiefly the tissue of the leaf in preference to its veins. 
 
 The eggs are deposited in clusters upon the back of the leaf, 
 near the end of the shoot, and number usually from seventy to 
 a hundred, which are hatched from the middle of July to the 
 middle of August. 
 
 They are generally by no means so numerous as the nest 
 worm, but more injurious in proportion to their numbers. 
 
 Remedy : watch for their first weaving, and immediately 
 crush them ; or cut off the limb and burn it. 
 
 NOTCH WORM AND PARENT MOTHS. 
 Fig. 133. 
 
 /// ^. b 
 
 a. Larva. 
 
 6. Orgyia Leucostigma (Male). 
 
 c. Orgyia Leucostigma (Female). 
 
 Moth of a dingy brown color, the female being wingless. 
 The notch worm is a pretty, slender, sixteen-footed worm, 
 about an inch long, with pale yellow hairs and tufts, and black 
 
 M2 
 
274 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 hair pencils, the head and two spots on the back being coral 
 red. 
 
 The small round white eggs of this species may be found 
 rolled up in a dead leaf, and hanging upon the ends of the 
 shoots through the winter. They hatch early in May, spin 
 mostly in the latter half of July ; in about two weeks the moth 
 appears, deposits her eggs in a few days, and dies. It is not 
 a numerous kind, but is found upon the rose, the wistaria, &c., 
 eating notches into the edges of the leaves. 
 
 Remedy : gather and destroy the eggs in March or April, 
 and catch and crush the worms. 
 
 PALMER WORM AND PARENT MOTH. 
 Fig. 134. 
 
 a. Larva. b. Choetochilus Pometellus. 
 
 The moth about three fourths of an inch across when spread. 
 It is generally of an ash-gray color, sprinkled more<)r less 
 with black, but varying very much in diflferent seasons. 
 
 The worm is described by Fitch as of a pale yellowish green, 
 with a dusky or black stripe along each side of the back ; and 
 two other lines, the one being whitish, and the other dusky, 
 with a shining yellow head like beeswax. 
 
 They travel and feed scatteringly upon the tree, and drop 
 and hang by their spun threads when it is jarred. 
 
 When in force, the palmer worm is much more destructive 
 than the nest or net worms, and in some sections and seasons 
 becomes a scourge. It feeds in June. The moths come out 
 about the second week in July. 
 
 Remedy : drenching with water, or with whale-oil soap wash ; 
 also evening fires in the orchard in moth-time. 
 
 Many of them are destroyed by a small footless parasitic 
 grub. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 275 
 
 CHERRY WORMS OR SLUGS. 
 
 The parent of this worm or slug is a small glossy black fly, 
 Fig. 135. with transparent but cloudy wings, refleoting the 
 colors of the rainbow. It appears about the first 
 of June upon cherry and pear, and sometimes ap- 
 Larvseofseian- pie trces. Its eggs are deposited in small punc- 
 campa) cerasi. tuTCS, generally on the under side of the leaf, and 
 begin to hatch in fom'teen days. The young are at first white. 
 They grow to be about half an inch long, becoming greenish, 
 and of a watery and sticky appearance, and eat the tissue of 
 the leaves. 
 
 ' . Remedy : dust the foliage thoroughly with lime or dry wood- 
 ashes when the dew is on, or syringe with whale-oil soap wash. 
 These, with their kindred species infesting roses and grape 
 vines, undergo various moultings, and sometimes eat up their 
 cast skins. Their changes are completed in about four weeks, 
 when they are yellow and free from slime, and soon after enter 
 the earth. Mice, moles, birds, and their own natui'al parasite 
 are their enemies. 
 
 CURRANT WORM, OR BORER. 
 
 LARVA OP PSENOCERTJS SUPEENOTATUS. LAEVA OP ^GEEIA TIPTTLIFOFIMIS. 
 
 These worms eat into the pith of the currant stem, and 
 weaken or destroy it. They are not very numerous except in 
 certain localities, and are easily managed if all sickly and dead 
 branches are promptly cut off close to the ground or the main 
 stem, and burned. 
 
 GOOSEBERRY WORM. 
 
 This is a romid-bodied and curiously-marked measuring 
 Fig. 136. worm, about an inch long, having ten 
 
 ^^^^^^^p^^^^^ legs — six in front, and four behind. 
 ^. -?y^-^-^^ : ^^-^^-^-'-^ - j^ gjj^^g away the leaves of the bush. 
 
 Larva of Phalena Grossularia. ^^^ ^j^^ -^ ^^^^^ f^^^ ^^y^^^ -^^ ^j^^j^ 
 
 like the bud worm. He suspends himself by a thread in de- 
 scending from the bush. 
 
 Remedy : gather the worms by hand and destroy them. 
 
276 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 SMALLER GOOSEBERRY WORM. 
 
 LARVA OP CECIDOMTA GROSSULABI^, OE QOOSEBEERT MIDOB. 
 
 The midge is scarcely one tenth of an inch in length, pale 
 yellow, with wings that appear glassy. 
 
 The eggs are deposited in June in the young berries, which 
 color prematurely and drop off, the young worms, which are 
 yellow and of an oval form, occupying the rotten inside. 
 
 Remedy : gather all premature and dropped fruit, and boil 
 or burn it. 
 
 GRAPE WORMS. 
 
 Besides the bud worm, mentioned p. 268 as infesting the 
 grape-vine, there are other worms, more rare, but perhaps not 
 less injurious, which trouble it. They are the larvae of various 
 kinds of Philampelus or Sphinx moth, and either eat the leaves 
 or cut the unripe fruit from the branches. The vines should 
 be watched, and the depredators caught and destroyed. The 
 grape slug, larva of Selandria (Blennocampa) vitis, is similar 
 to the cherry and rose slugs, and may be destroyed by the same 
 means, as may also the minute brown or greenish larva of Hal- 
 tica chalybea, or grape-vine jumper, which sometimes feeds 
 upon the young blossoms, and thus destroys the crop. 
 
 The vine borer, Trochilium polisti/ormis, which is peculiar- 
 ly destructive to grape-vines at the South, is so similar in its 
 appearance, habits, and transformations through all its stages 
 to the peach borer, Trochilium exitiosum, that it may perhaps 
 be doubted if there is a really specific difference between them. 
 All remedies for the one are available against the other. 
 
 PEACH WORM, WITH ITS CHRYSALIS AND PARENT FLIES. 
 
 The peach fly, which in its season may be seen busy about 
 the trees, is a small wasp-like fly, of lively habit, rather more 
 than half an inch long. The wings of the male are transpa- 
 rent, those of the female a bright steel blue ; the bodies of both 
 are of this color, the female having a cross belt of orange. Its 
 eggs are deposited during the latter part of summer in the 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 Fig. 137. 
 
 277 
 
 c. Trochilium exitiosum (Male). 
 
 d. " " (Female). 
 
 bark of the peach-tree, just at the surface of the earth, where it 
 is kept tender by contact with the soil. The worm hatches in 
 a few days ; then eating its way to the inner bark, and doing 
 more or less injury in the fall, according as it may have been 
 hatched earlier or later in the season, it winters there. 
 
 The warmth of spring renews its activity, and if several eggs 
 have been deposited in one tree, the worms will pretty Avell 
 girdle it by the end of May, about which time they begin to 
 form their cocoons, the outside of which is usually covered with 
 the sawdust-like castings of the worm. 
 
 There are various easy remedies : merely banking up the 
 earth, or piling wood or coal ashes or slaked shell lime a few 
 inches high around the trees early in the spring, first examin- 
 ing them and removing any worms that may be found, and 
 again taking away the ashes or earth in the fall. Or if the 
 earth be removed to the depth of three or four inches, and a 
 coat of pitch or grafting composition No. 3, page 239, put on 
 with a brush from this depth below to an equal distance above 
 the surface level, replacing the earth that may be removed so 
 as to leave the pitch collar about equally under and above 
 ground, no fly will be able to deposit the egg, and of course no 
 worm will be found in the root. One such application will 
 last for several years, even in trees growing vigorously. They 
 should, however, be examined every spring, in case the fly may 
 have found an opening made by the swelling of the tree. For 
 this a single glance is suificient, as the presence of the wonn is 
 always, at this season, indicated by the exuding gum. The 
 forks of the principal branches also require attention, the Avorm 
 beina: often found in them when excluded from the root. 
 
278 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 The ravages of this worm may not only be prevented, but 
 they may be defied and counteracted. We may stimulate the 
 growth of a peach-tree so that it will form new bark faster than 
 the worm can eat it, while its foliage may retain the deep green 
 color of vigorous health, and its fruit be magnificent. This, 
 however, is a dangerous though interesting experiment, the 
 fullness of sap induced in the process exposing the tree to the 
 risk of being winter-killed ; but with a hardy variety, and upon 
 a northwest exposure, it has been successfully performed, with 
 the worm working unchecked and severely to the height of 
 eighteen inches above the ground. Any one may repeat it 
 who will plant a peach-tree upon a slope in such an exposure, 
 and set a hog-pen six feet above it. 
 
 PEAE-TREE WORM AND PARENT BEETLE. 
 
 Fig. 138. 
 
 «. Larva, magnified. 
 b. Scolytus Pyri, or pear-blight 
 beetle, magnified. 
 
 A very small beetle, of a deep brown color, with paler legs. 
 Wing covers with obscurely-punctured rows. 
 
 The worm is minute. It eats into the smaller limbs of the 
 pear-tree, and, reaching the pith, works from that centre until 
 a narrow section of the wood is eaten out to the bark, forming 
 a circular cell, and the limb above the point of the injury droops 
 and dies suddenly. 
 
 Kemedy : cut off the limb and burn it the moment you per- 
 ceive the leaves to droop. 
 
 PLUM WORM, WITH PARENT BUG. 
 
 rig. 139. 
 
 a. Larva. 
 
 6. Conotrachelus Nenuphar, 
 c. Conotrachelus Nenuphar at 
 work upon a young plum. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 279 
 
 The plum worm is the larva of a small winged insect known 
 as the cm"culio. It is a small dark brown or blackish beetle or 
 bug, somewhat resembling in size and appearance the pea bug, 
 except that it is rather more lightly built, and has a small 
 dark raised spot or hump upon each wing. It makes its appear- 
 ance late in the time of blossoms, and soon after the young fruit 
 sets it cuts up upon it a small semicircular piece of the skin 
 with its minute but keen forceps, and, leaving this like an apron, 
 deposits a single egg beneath it, and close to its inner line. 
 Protected by its slight covering, the egg is hatched in a few 
 days, and the young worm eats its way imtil it reaches the pit. 
 The fruit sickens and drops from the tree, generally before it is 
 half grown, more or less of it continuing to drop until the time 
 of ripening, when one side of the falling fruit is usually found 
 to have rotted. 
 
 When the fruit falls the worm leaves it and hides itself in 
 the earth, to return in its winged form in time for the next 
 year's crop. Those that enter the ground as early as June and 
 July are supposed to pass through their changes and reappear 
 in the fall, and some think they all come out before winter, 
 and, failing to find their favorite fruit, deposit eggs for the 
 spring brood in the bark of the young shoots of plum, pear, or 
 peach trees. Dr. Fitch seems to favor this view, which, he 
 says, was held by the Rev. F. V. Melscheimer, of Pennsylvania, 
 fifty years ago, and is just now revived, though not fully con- 
 firmed. 
 
 This is one of the most fatally injurious of our insect ene- 
 mies, and there is really no known and certain preventive or 
 remedy. Sowing salt sparingly around the trees, say a quart 
 to a tree, spread over a space twenty feet square, is useful not 
 only as being olSensive to the insects, but also conducive to the 
 health of the tree. Ashes and soap-suds will also be found in 
 this respect valuable. Sulphur, though useless when inserted 
 in the tree as sometimes prescribed, might possibly be of serv- 
 ice sown over it, repeating the dose if it should be washed off 
 by rain. Perhaps, also, plaster may be worthy of a trial. 
 
 Early in the morning they are comparatively helpless, and 
 may be caught by spreading a sheet under the tree, into which 
 
280 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 they will fall if the tree is suddenly jarred by a smart stroke 
 with a mallet upon its body, or by a blow with a hammer upon 
 the end of the stump of a branch cut off for this purpose, which 
 may remain from year to year, being covered in the intervals 
 of its use with grafting composition No. 3. 
 
 When the insects drop they instantly fold themselves up as 
 closely as possible, and appear like the small dead buds or 
 scales that fall with them, so that to secure them the whole 
 gatherings of the sheet should be burned or scalded. 
 
 Careful attention given to the trees in this manner from the 
 time the fruit sets imtil it is one fourth grown will generally 
 secure the crop ; but the most promising known mode is to 
 pave closely imder the trees, with clam or oyster shells of more 
 convenient than other material, or plant them so that their 
 tops lean over water ; the instinct of the insect leading it to 
 avoid depositing its eggs in fruit from which, when they drop, 
 its progeny can find no safe retreat. 
 
 These latter precautions have in numerous instances and in 
 intelligent hands proved successful, and are worthy of careful 
 trial. Whatever else is done, however, the falling fruit should 
 be gathered up daily and boiled or burned ; mere scalding 
 should not be trusted. Hogs, unless starved, will not eat 
 them. Hens with broods of chickens destroy numbers of the 
 young worms where the ground is clear, so that they can 
 scratch freely, but are not to be expected to extirpate them, 
 especially if there are hiding-places near. 
 
 This insect, or some other of similar habit, infests the cherry 
 and the apple ; the cherry, however, does not drop as the 
 plum, and in the apple the young worm does not seek the 
 heart of the fruit, as the core worm, but burrows around irreg- 
 ularly just under the skin, so that when peeled the apple 
 shows a net- work of brown lines. 
 
 WINGED INSECTS. 
 SEVENTEEN-YExiR LOCUST, OR CICADA SEPTEMDECIM. 
 
 Of this remarkable insect there are quite a number of sepa- 
 rate broods or swarms, each having its particular section or 
 district. They do not appear simultaneously. The northern- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 281 
 
 most brood, occupying East- Fig. i40. 
 
 ern New York, a part of 
 Connecticut, with a portion 
 of New Jersey and Pennsyl- 
 vania, appeared last in 1843, 
 and is therefore due in 1860 ; 
 while the brood occupying 
 Western New York, and 
 Pennsylvania, and Eastern 
 Ohio, appearol last in 1849, 
 and is due in 1866. 
 
 They are a little larger 
 than the common summer locust (Cicada canicularis), and 
 their note, though similar, is stronger and more shrill. 
 
 They are black, with red eyes and transparent wings and 
 wing covers, the edges and veins of which are orange red, and 
 having the peculiar dark zigzag line resembling a W, which 
 superstition regarded as an omen of coming war in times when 
 wars were so frequent that it could never be mistaken. 
 
 They appear suddenly in the month of June, coming out of 
 the ground as if in a single night. At this time they are in 
 the pupa state, being incased in a thin transparent membrane 
 or shell, which in a few hours after they reach the surface 
 cracks open along the back, and the perfect insects come forth. 
 They are at first feeble and sluggish, but soon gain strength, 
 and the males, who alone carry the music, make the woods re- 
 sound with their shrill notes. 
 
 The chief apparent injm-y done by them is in depositing 
 their eggs in the young branches, particularly of oak and ap- 
 ple trees. This operation is performed by cutting up the 
 wood of the branch in successive thin slices or splinters, very 
 much as in old times a carpenter commenced the opening of a 
 long, narrow mortice ; under these splinters a double row of 
 eggs is set, to the number of fifteen or twenty ; similar nests 
 are formed until all the eggs are deposited, one individual de- 
 positing four or five hundred. Most of the branches die above 
 the wound, and snap ofi" with the wind either before or after 
 the eggs are hatched, the whole operation becoming a very se- 
 
282 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 vere summer pruning, which in some cases threatens serious 
 injury, though in others the unsightliness produced is the 
 only evil. 
 
 The young larvae, when first hatched, are about one twentieth 
 of an inch long, yellowish white in color, with eyes and claws 
 tinged with red. They immediately drop from the tree, un- 
 less the branches have previously fallen, and enter the ground 
 for their long imprisonment, and are supposed by some to do 
 extensive though unseen injury to the roots of trees during 
 their progress to their mature condition. 
 
 They are peculiarly a woodland insect, not being produced 
 upon the prairies of the West, and disappearing from culti- 
 vated fields. Certain insects, birds, and probably vermin, de- 
 stroy them in their various stages, so that, although the num- 
 ber hatched seems incalculable, they do not, on the whole, ad- 
 vance in numbers, but probably rather recede. 
 
 ROSE BUG, OR MACRODACTYLUS SUBSPINOSA. 
 
 Fig. 141. This is an insect of the beetle tribe, about 
 
 half an inch long, of a yellowish-brown color, 
 having, like the May-bug, a pair of gauze wings 
 protected by hard coverings, and large feet 
 that feel like claws when they touch the skin. 
 , , , They appear suddenly in June, and continue for 
 
 a. Insect perfected. ^ i i u ' 
 
 h. Eggs as deposited a fcw wccks, whcu the fcmalcs crawl into the 
 in the earth. ground, whcrc they deposit about thirty eggs, 
 which are whitish and almost globular. These hatch in about 
 twenty days, and the young grow to their full size before win- 
 ter. At the approach of severe weather they descend into the 
 ground below the reach of frost, and become torpid. Reviving 
 in the spring, and working their way back to the sm'face, un- 
 dergoing in the mean time some changes, they come out to 
 their accustomed work at the usual season, all prepared for 
 mischief. 
 
 They are voracious yet dainty feeders, preferring the blos- 
 soms of the rose and the grape, and the ripening fruit of 
 the cherry, which they utterly destroy ; but when these can 
 not be had, stripping the linden and cheiry trees of their 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 283 
 
 foliage, sometimes hanging in clusters upon the denuded 
 branches. 
 
 Like most other insects, they have enemies. The darning- 
 needle, perhaps some birds, and domestic fowls to a limited ex- 
 tent, destroy them. The latter are said to be sometimes in- 
 jured by them ; it may be from irritation of the throat, &c., 
 caused by their rough claws. 
 
 They are generally so numerous, however, that these ene- 
 mies make no perceptible diminution in their ravages, nor has 
 any efiectual remedy for them been found. Net coverings are, 
 of course, a perfect defense, and grape-vines may be protected 
 by sowing plaster freely over them in the morning when the 
 rose bug first comes, repeating the application if washed off by 
 rain. It seems to annoy and stupefy them, perhaps interfering 
 with their respiration. It does not, however, destroy them ; 
 the only process which really effects this is to gather them by 
 hand into a pan of water every morning, or beat them into 
 sheets spread to catch them, and either crush, or drown, or 
 burn them. 
 
 This process is made easier by being performed at once on 
 their first appearance. They are then found mostly in pairs, 
 and are sluggish and readily caught. 
 
 VARIOUS WASHES TO DESTROY INSECTS. 
 Washes to destroy insect life are mostly either saline, or 
 poisonous, or alkaline, and, unless used with caution and mod- 
 eration, become also dangerous to the health or life of the plant 
 to which they are applied. It is better to use them in the 
 evening or in cloudy weather than in bright sun, and to re- 
 peat the application than to make it only once and too strong. 
 Should this be done by accident, water immediately and freely. 
 
 NO. 1. BRINE WASH. 
 
 This may be made either a saturated solution, as the old 
 brine of meat-barrels, or weakened by adding one third water. 
 In either case, apply it moderately with a swab or brush to the 
 bark of strong trees only. It destroys some insects and much 
 fungous growth. 
 
284 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 NO, 2. SOAP-SUDS. 
 Suds made strong, either with hard or soft soap ; the prod- 
 uct of the wash-tub ; they may be freely and safely applied 
 as above directed, and ashes may be added to strengthen them, 
 if necessary. 
 
 NO. 3. LEY WASH. 
 
 1 pound potash or soda. 
 
 4 gallons of water. 
 Dissolve thoroughly, and apply it moderately with a swab 
 or brush at the approach of rain. It destroys eggs and insects. 
 If used for the scale or shell bark-louse, use a hard brush, or a 
 Manilla glove, or swab, or a rubber of the cocoanut husk, 
 
 NO. 4. SOFT SOAP WASH. 
 
 This is either common soft soap of the stores smeared on to 
 the tree, or laid in its crotches to be washed gradually over it 
 by the rains, or it is this diluted with an equal measure of 
 water, or twice its measure of the tobacco Avater, No. 6. 
 
 NO. 5. WHALE-OIL SOAP WASH. 
 
 ^ 2 pounds whale-oil soap, 
 15 gallons water, or tobacco water. No, 6, 
 
 To be well stirred, and applied with swab, brush, or 
 syringe. 
 
 Whale-oil soap is simply an alkaline residuum formed in the 
 process of bleaching common oils, varying in strength accord- 
 ing as potash or soda may be used for the purpose. The wash 
 made in the proportions here directed is generally milder, and 
 therefore safer, than No, 3, especially if the latter be made 
 with potash. 
 
 NO, 6. TOBACCO WATER. 
 
 1 pound refuse tobacco. 
 10 gallons of water. 
 If the water be poured on when boiling, and it be repeatedly 
 stirred, it may be used when cool. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 285 
 
 If cold water is used, let it stand in a vessel for a week be- 
 fore using, stirring it often. 
 
 It may be applied in the usual manner, or the plants or 
 young shoots infested with the aphis may be dipped into it 
 for a few moments, and, after draining off, should be thorough- 
 ly showered with clear water. 
 
 NO, 7. TOBACCO WASH. 
 
 2 pounds leaf or cut tobacco, or common snuff. 
 
 2 pounds potash or soda. 
 20 gallons of water. 
 
 Boil and stir it till reduced to about fifteen gallons. Stir 
 it immediately before using it, and apply it cool with a brush 
 or swab for the destruction of the scale insect. 
 
 NO. 8. SULPHUR PAINT. 
 
 1 pound flour of sulphur. 
 
 6 quarts of soft soap. 
 Reduce to the consistence of paint with tobacco water No. 6. 
 Apply it with a brush or swab to trees infested with the scale 
 insect or bark louse, and if a hard brush or rubber is used, so 
 much the better. 
 
 NO. 9. SULPHUR WASH FOR GREEN-HOUSE PLANTS, &C. 
 
 1 pound soap. 
 
 ^ pound sulphur. 
 
 i pound Scotch snuff. 
 
 1 ounce powdered nux vomica. 
 
 3 gallons of water. 
 
 Boil and stir it for half an hour ; let it cool. 
 
 Dip the plant into it for a few moments, or apply the wash 
 with a sponge or brush. Place the plant so that the wash will 
 not drain into the pot, and in fifteen minutes syringe or show- 
 er it thoroughly Avith clear water. 
 
 FIELD MICE. 
 
 In light warm soils field mice are often very destructive to 
 young fruit-trees by girdling them at or near the surface of 
 
286 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 the earth, particularly when the snow lies long upon the 
 ground, or the grass is suffered to grow thickly around the 
 trees, or if they are mulched in the fall, so that nesting-places 
 and materials are furnished. 
 
 Digging round the trees in the fall, and keeping them clear, 
 may often prevent the injury. The snow also should be trod- 
 den hard around them. If these precautions are not found 
 sufficient, a coat of pitch, or grafting composition No. 3, may 
 be put on for six or eight inches above the ground, and an inch 
 or two below. In cases of great exposui'e, pieces of lath set on 
 end firmly around the stem, and tied on until spring, will pro- 
 tect them ; or rolled tin or thin sheet iron may be sprung 
 around them, which, if carefully dried in spring and put away, 
 will last for years. A good cat or small terrier dog will hunt 
 them pretty effectually, and black snakes are said to catch 
 them. 
 
 If trees are severely injured, or even entirely girdled, they 
 may yet be saved by making three or four clean, smooth cuts 
 across the girdle, just as you would cut to put on a patch bud- 
 graft, but broader, and fitting nicely to them corresponding 
 pieces cut from the same or some other tree, as you Avould cut 
 the bud from its scion ; and it will aid you in the operation if 
 a little wood is taken with the bark, so that you can ever so 
 slightly interlock them with a short tongue, as in grafting. 
 Having put on two or more of these, according to the size and 
 necessities of the tree, bind them carefully and fii'mly, and 
 cover them completely with grafting composition No. 3, and 
 your tree will live. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Fruits in alphabetical Order, in their Varieties, with Descriptions and Di- 
 rections for their Culture. 
 
 FRUITS. 
 
 In preparing the following selections of the more important 
 fruits, an effort has been made to limit the number of varieties, 
 and yet not exclude any desirable peculiarity belonging to 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 287 
 
 Fig. 142. 
 
 either class. The lists comprise but fifty kinds of apples, forty 
 of pears, twenty-four of peaches, twenty-five of plums, and six- 
 teen of cherries. 
 
 These may appear meagre assortments from the almost in- 
 numerable existing varieties, but the wants they will not meet 
 are not likely to be satisfied by the mere multiplication of 
 kinds. Neither, though carefully chosen, are they given with 
 the idea of selections being rigidly confined to them ; other 
 kinds of similar character may be substituted for any or all of 
 them, at the pleasure of the cultivator. 
 
 ALMOND. 
 Amygdalus Communis. 
 
 The almond is a variety of the peach, or, more properly, the 
 peach is an almond improved by 
 cultivation, the almond consist- 
 ing only of the pit or nut and the 
 skin, which cracks open when 
 ripe. 
 
 They are raised and cultivated 
 in all respects as peach-trees, and 
 will generally succeed in a meas- 
 ure where that fruit will ripen, 
 but are best suited with a warm 
 soil and southern climate. 
 
 The bitter almond and the peach-pit alike afford prussic 
 acid, but the large sweet almond is an excellent nut, though 
 hard to digest, on which account it should be eaten with 
 raisins. 
 
 There are also double-flowering varieties, the dwarf double 
 being a universal favorite, easily increased by offshoots or 
 layers. 
 
 Seedlings of the bitter almond are used to some extent in 
 France as stocks for budding peaches on, being thought hardier 
 and more enduring than seedlings of the peach. 
 
 a. A branch in blossom. 
 6. " in fruit. 
 
288 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 APPLES. 
 
 The varieties of apples are so numerous and diversified that 
 while it would seem as if all tastes, soils, and localities might 
 be suited, there is, on this very account, some difficulty in 
 making a selection. 
 
 In addition, therefore, to the information given in the sub- 
 joined lists of kinds, and the suggestions in reference to the 
 selection of fruit, page 192, little aid can be afforded in mak- 
 ing choice of varieties. 
 
 In general, and particularly to the northward, except for lo- 
 calities within easy reach of a market, it will be found wise to 
 plant the late fall and winter varieties more largely than the 
 earlier kinds, and acid or subacid fruits rather than sweet 
 ones. 
 
 In respect to soil, some varieties will not bear a sandy, and 
 others will not do well upon a clay soil, but almost every va- 
 riety will succeed upon a moderately deep loam, if the climate 
 of the locality is such as to suit them ; and even upon soils 
 comparatively cold and wet, good fruit may be raised if atten- 
 tion is given to carrying off the superabundant water by means 
 of open drains made with the plow. Efficient under-draining 
 will be found still better, and all land having clay or hardpan 
 underneath, upon which the orchard is to be planted, if not 
 under-drained, should first be thoroughly subsoiled or trench- 
 plowed. 
 
 In orchard culture, in good soils, apple trees should not stand 
 less than forty feet apart every way. When dwarfed for gar- 
 den culture or for combination they may be set from ten to 
 twelve feet apart, and should be regularly summer pruned by 
 nipping the ends of the young shoots through the season, and 
 in the winter pruning should be cut back only just enough to 
 preserve the vigor and symmetry of the tree. See Pruning, 
 page 253-4. 
 
 Apples have become of late, more than ever, one of the neces- 
 saries of life, and every person should, if possible, so arrange 
 the varieties selected as to secure to his family the enjoyment 
 of them throughout the year. This may be accomplished by 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 28y 
 
 the choice of a very few first-rate kinds, such as in their times 
 of ripening will just overlap one another, beginning with the 
 earliest, and running through to the latest variety. 
 
 Those intended for keeping, whether of the summer and fall 
 or winter and spring varieties, should be gathered a little be- 
 fore they become ripe, and be carefully stored in a cool, dry 
 room or cellar. By this means the earlier kinds may be kept 
 into the fall, and fall varieties until near New Year. 
 
 In gathering the general crop, the russetings should be 
 picked first, and in succession the other late-keeping varieties, 
 back to those intended for early winter use, unless we may ex- 
 cept from this order any particular variety which, if left upon 
 the tree, might be in special danger from winds. 
 
 From necessity, apples are sometimes buried or binned in 
 mass ; but it is better, if possible, to store them in headed 
 barrels^ in a dry, well-aired cellar, sorting out all that are de- 
 fective at least once during winter. For those of choice vari- 
 eties or of special beauty, each fruit should be wrapped in thin 
 Manilla paper, and placed by hand singly and closely in the 
 barrel, filling in as you go, if convenient, with dry chafi", or 
 buckwheat bran, or powdered charcoal, or plaster, or clean dried 
 sand, or tasteless, inodorous sawdust. All these, however, may 
 be dispensed with, simply heading the barrel well up, and han- 
 dling it carefully. 
 
 The general modes in which apples are used need not be 
 enumerated here ; but the daily use of them in the form of 
 baked, or rather stewed apples, is so generally agreeable, and 
 so conducive to health at those seasons when other fruits can 
 only be had in the less wholesome form of preserves, that it may 
 be recommended for universal adoption. For this purpose, the 
 apples are selected perfectly sound and free from worms, and 
 are either washed or wiped clean, and placed in a covered pot 
 or stewpan, with water and molasses in the proportion of a quart 
 of the former and a gill of the latter, or four table- spoonfuls of 
 sugar to half a peck of fruit, adding orange-peel, or sliced lem- 
 on, or ginger, or other flavoring according to taste. They are 
 then boiled over a slow fire until the remaining sirup is about 
 equal to the quantity of molasses used at first, the fruit being 
 
 N 
 
290 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 watched and changed from top to bottom, to give each apple a 
 chance for perfect and equal cooking, which will ordinarily be 
 accomplished in about an hour. 
 
 SELECTION OF FIFTY KINDS. 
 
 The varieties named below are arranged nearly in the order 
 in which they will be found to ripen under equal circumstances 
 in any given latitude. Their general times of ripening at 
 New York are stated, in order to afford a kind of fixed point 
 from which to calculate for other localities. They are classed 
 as small, as the early strawberry ; medium sized, as the Van- 
 dervere ; or large, as the fall pippin ; in respect to flavor, as 
 acid, subacid, and sweet. Apples and other fruits are liable to 
 vary considerably in form, coloring, and general appearance, as 
 well as quality and flavor, in different soils and climates, but in 
 general the outlines will afford an accurate idea of their figure. 
 
 1. EARLY MAY. 
 Fig. 143. 
 
 Tree of moderate and rather upright growth, forming a pretty 
 compact head, and bearing well. 
 
 Fruit very small, almost round, green, becoming yellowish 
 Avhite when ripe. Flesh white, tender, and not very juicy. 
 Flavor mild subacid. Ripens about the last of June at New 
 York ; its name is Virginian, 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 291 
 
 2, EARLY STRAWBERRY. 
 
 Fig. 144. 
 
 Tree erect, and of medium vigor ; young shoots dark ; a free 
 bearer. 
 
 Fruit small, roundish or semiconical, yellowish green, with 
 some lively red stripes ; ripens about the middle of July. Flesh 
 white, sometimes slightly veined with red. Flavor sprightly, 
 subacid, with some little aroma. 
 
 3. EARLY HARVEST {Fig. 145). 
 
 Tree very thrifty, making numerous long shoots, forming a 
 rather spreading yet bushy head that requires thinning. 
 Needs and deserves high culture. 
 
 Fruit above medium, round, skin very smooth, greenish 
 white, changing to straw color as it ripens. 
 
 Flesh Avhite, tender, crisp, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor fine, sprightly acid. Ripens from the latter part of 
 July to the middle of August. 
 
292 
 
 AMERICAN HOME (iARDEN. 
 Fig. 145. 
 
 4. SWEET BOUGH, 
 Fig. 146. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 293 
 
 Tree of moderate growth, making a rather round head, and 
 bearing fair crops. Young shoots yellowish. 
 
 Fruit above medium ; roundish, to obtuse conical ; yellow- 
 ish-white, with occasionally a blush cheek. 
 
 Flesh white, tender, and tolerably juicy ; skin tough. 
 
 Flavor a fine, rich sweet, especially when permitted to ma- 
 ture perfectly upon the tree. 
 
 Ripening from last of July to middle of August. 
 
 5, RED ASTRACHAN. 
 
 Fig. 147. 
 
 Tree a fine, vigorous grower, rather upright, and round 
 head ; hardy and productive in almost every variety of soil 
 and climate. 
 
 Fruit above medium ; roundish ; flattened ; greenish -yellow 
 in the shade, but mostly bright crimson, overspread with a 
 fine white rich bloom. 
 
 Flesh pm-e white, tender, and crisp, with an abundant juici- 
 ness, which it loses if it be not gathered early. 
 
 Flavor a brisk and rather sharp, but agreeable acid. 
 
 Ripens in July and to the middle of August. 
 
294 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 6. SUMMER ROSE. 
 
 Fig. 148. 
 
 Tree of moderate growth and roundish form, bearing well. 
 
 Fruit small, roundish, somewhat flattened, pale yellow, 
 blotched and striped with red on the sunny side. 
 
 Flesh white, tender, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor fine, pleasant subacid. Ripens early in August, and 
 continues for some time. 
 
 In certain localities, where it may have been tested, the Be- 
 noni, which is an eastern apple of about the same size and 
 season as the Summer Rose, may be substituted for it. It is 
 a deep red fruit, of pleasant subacid flavor, and the tree grows 
 and bears well. 
 
 7. WILLIAMS'S FAVORITE. 
 
 Tree of medium vigor, and good bearer, but greatly benefited 
 by deep soil and high culture. 
 
 Fruit of medium size, sometimes pretty large, oblong-ovate, 
 inclining to conical, almost covered with bright red stripes, 
 deepening to crimson in the sun ; a fruit of fine appearance. 
 
 Flesh yellowish -white, moderately juicy and tender. 
 
 Flavor mild, agreeable subacid. Ripe in August. 
 
\MERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 149. 
 
 295 
 
 8. SUMMER PIPPIN {Fig. 150). 
 
 Tree of strong growth and spreading habit; young shoots 
 light brown ; a fair though not heavy bearer. 
 
 Fruit large, roundish, deep goklen yellow ; liable to crack 
 when over-ripened on the tree. 
 
 Flesh white, tender, juicy. 
 
 Flavor fine clear acid. Ripens irregularly through August 
 and September, or later. 
 
 The Summer Pippin, which, on trees in full bearing, does 
 not usually average the size represented by the figure, is val- 
 uable as a family fruit, where it can be used for cooking, as it 
 matures along through the fall, but its irregularity in ripen- 
 ing renders it less suitable for marketing. It is a rather 
 old and fivorite variety, extensively known as the Holland Pip- 
 pin ; but, except in certain localities, or Avith persons who have 
 a particular fancy for it, other newer and more desirable va- 
 rieties will supersede it. 
 
296 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 Fisr. 15(1. 
 
 9. GLOUCESTER CHEESE. 
 
 Fijr. 151. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 297 
 
 Tree strong-growing, compact, and bearing well. 
 
 Fruit large, roundish, flattened ; bright red, with indistinct 
 stripes of a lighter shade. 
 
 Flesh white, crisp, but mealy when over-ripened. 
 
 Flavor mild subacid, agreeable and rich. Ripening in Au- 
 gust and September. 
 
 10. AMERICAN PEARMAIN. 
 Fig. 152. 
 
 Tree appearing strong and vigorous, yet really of rather 
 slow growth ; somewhat spreading, and a good bearer. It is 
 suited with a sandy soil. 
 
 Fruit rather large, oblong ; greenish yellow, with some thin 
 russet; dull red on the sunny side, obscurely striped and 
 clouded. 
 
 Flesh yellowish, and pretty firm, with slight mealiness when 
 quite ripe. 
 
 Flavor mild, rich subacid. Ripens in August and Septem- 
 ber. 
 
 ^ -2 
 
298 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 11. JERSEY SWEETING. 
 Fig. 153. 
 
 Tree of strong growth while young, making a rather up- 
 right, compact, rounded head, and bearing abundantly. Not 
 a long-lived tree. 
 
 Fruit medium, roundish, conical, greenish -yellow, with 
 blush cheek, or striped. 
 
 Flesh whitish, tender, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor high, rich, and sweet. Ripening through August 
 and September. 
 
 12. maiden's blush. 
 
 Tree of pretty strong spreading growth, and an abundant 
 bearer. 
 
 Fruit somewhat above medium, flattened, or nearly cheese 
 form ; clear light yellow, with a brilliant blush cheek. 
 
 Flesh white, crisp, very tender and juicy. 
 
 Flavor moderately acid. Ripens from August to October. 
 
 The Maiden's Blush so nearly resembles in appearance and 
 character the Hawthornden, a favorite Scotch apple, that it is 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 299 
 
 difficult to avoid the conclusion that the one is a sub-variety 
 of the other ; the latter is a little fuller in the eye than the 
 foiTner, but both are beautiful, productive, and valuable. Their 
 clear, but not strong acid, fits them for making pies of special 
 excellence, and for this purpose they may be gathered from 
 early summer to quite late fall ; they are also, on account of 
 their form and character, superior for peeling and drying. 
 
 Fig. 154. 
 
 13. PORTER {Fig. 155). 
 
 Tree erect, and of fine, rapid growth, requiring care to keep 
 the head sufficiently open ; healthful, and a good bearer. 
 
 Fruit medium, or above ; regular oblong conical ; yellow, 
 with red upon the sunny side. 
 
 Flesh white, tender, juicy. 
 
 Flavor fine mild subacid to acid. 
 
 Ripens in September and October, 
 
 The Porter is a favorite in Boston and vicinity, and succeeds 
 well throughout the North, where it is used both for eating out 
 of hand and cooking ; for the latter use, the Keswick Codlin, 
 which in general form and color somewhat resembles it, may 
 be profitably substituted for it at the West, It is a heavy 
 
300 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 bearer, even upon young trees, and, like the Maiden's Blush 
 and Hawthornden, may be used throughout the season, or dried 
 for winter and spring. 
 
 Fig. 155, 
 
 14. GRAVENSTEIN. 
 
 Tree of vigorous growth, and regular though expanding hab- 
 it. A good bearer. 
 
 Fruit large, roundish, flattened ; yellow, with orange por- 
 tions, splashed and marbled with much red, having also a few 
 green dots. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, crisp, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor fine subacid to vinous. Ripens in September and 
 October. It deserves and finds favor every where as an acqui- 
 sition to the garden and orchard. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 Fig 156. 
 
 301 
 
 15. HAWLEY. 
 
 Fig 157. 
 
;;02 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Tree strong and spreading ; a good and constant bearer. 
 
 Fruit large, round, flattened, occasionally unequal-sided ; 
 yellow, sometimes with a slight blush ; in certain soils and 
 localities subject to bitter rot. 
 
 Flesh yellowish, firm, crisp, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor fine rich subacid. Ripens in October, and keeps to 
 the middle of December. 
 
 16. FALL PIPPIN. 
 Fig. 168. 
 
 Tree strong and spreading ; mostly crooked while young ; a 
 good bearer, but apt to be imperfect unless under good culture 
 and in a genial climate. 
 
 Fruit large, roundish, sometimes slightly ribbed ; clear yel- 
 low, rarely with a faint blush. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, tender, firm, and juicy. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 303 
 
 Flavor high, aromatic, rich subacid. Ripens from October 
 to December. 
 
 17. PAMEUSE. 
 Fig. 15'J. 
 
 Tree of only moderate vigor, with dark shoots ; rather spread- 
 ing ; with good soil and culture it bears well. It is suited to 
 northern latitudes. 
 
 Fruit medium or below, fair, roundish ; greenish - yellow, 
 streaked and blotched with various red. 
 
 Flesh very white and tender. 
 
 Flavor light acid, with some perfume. Ripens from Octo- 
 ber to December. 
 
 18. MOTHER {Fig. 160). 
 
 Tree of moderate growth, bearing well and constantly. 
 
 Fruit medium or above, roundish, oblong, or conical ; rich 
 red upon yellow, with deeper red on portions of the sunny side. 
 
 Flesh yellow, tender, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor of a mild subacid, sugary character, rich and spicy. 
 Ripens from October to January. 
 
304 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 Fig. 160. 
 
 19. VANDERVERB. 
 
 Fig. 161. 
 
 "^ »'^ 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 305 
 
 Tree rather spreading, a moderate grower, and a good bearer 
 in warm soils and localities ; much benefited by high culture. 
 
 Fruit medium or above, roundish-flattened ; yellow or or- 
 ange, with much red in the sun, but variable, being some- 
 times wax-like and of exquisite beauty. 
 
 Flesh yellow, firm, and not very juicy. 
 
 Flavor mild, rich subacid, of the highest quality. Ripens 
 from October to January. 
 
 20. DYER. 
 
 Fig. 162. 
 
 Tree of spreading habit and but moderate growth ; a tolera- 
 ble bearer. 
 
 Fruit pretty large, roundish, slightly flattened ; whitish, 
 with a faint blush. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, crisp, and tender. 
 
 Flavor mild, sprightly subacid : excellent. Ripens from Oc- 
 tober to January. 
 
3U0 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 21. HUBBARDSTON NONSUCH. 
 
 FiL'. 1G3. 
 
 Tree strong, with expanding branches, and rather slender, 
 grayish young shoots ; an abundant bearer. 
 
 Fruit above medium, roundish-ovate ; yellow and orange, 
 almost covered with red stripes, and having in general a little 
 russet near the stem. 
 
 Flesh yellowish, firm, tender, and moderately juicy. 
 
 Flavor fine aromatic subacid. Ripens from November to 
 January. 
 
 22. MINISTER. 
 
 Tree moderately free in growth, with flexuous young shoots ; 
 very productive. 
 
 Fruit above medium, oblong-ovate or conical ; greenish-yel- 
 low, striped and dashed with red. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, so tender as to require special care 
 in handling. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 307 
 
 Flavor pleasant, having a certain resemblance to the light, 
 sprightly acid of a natural or wild fniit. Ripens from No- 
 vember to January. 
 
 I'ig. 104. 
 
 23. HURLBUT {Fi(j. 105). 
 
 Tree of vigorous growth, and a great bearer. 
 
 Fruit medium or below, roundish-conical ; yellow, almost 
 covered with rather deep red, and having some russet around 
 the stem. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, firm, not very juicy. 
 
 Flavor mild subacid, slightly aromatic, and very pleasant. 
 Ripens from November to January. 
 
308 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GAIIDEN. 
 
 vvj. ion. 
 
 24. MALE CARLE. 
 Fig. 1C6 
 
 Tree pretty strong, but varying much in its growth with 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 yoy 
 
 soil and climate ; a pretty good bearer ; suited to warm lati- 
 tudes. 
 
 Fruit medium to large, nearly globular ; light yellow, with 
 crimson cheek. 
 
 Flesh white, fine-grained, and tender. 
 
 Flavor rose perfume, mingled -vvith a fine subacid. Ripeng 
 from November to January. 
 
 25. CHANDLER. 
 Fig. 167. 
 
 Tree of moderate growth, but bearing heavily, requiring 
 high culture and thinning of the crop while young to avoid a 
 large proportion of imperfect fruit. 
 
 Fruit large, round, flattened, oblique ; covered with dull red 
 upon a greenish ground. 
 
 Flesh white, firm, and rather coarse. 
 
 Flavor mild subacid, rather rich, pleasant, and excellent. 
 Ripens from November to February. 
 
 An apple of very fine appearance and character when per- 
 fect. 
 
310 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 26. peck's pleasant. 
 
 Fig. 16S. 
 
 Tree a moderate and rather compact grower, and good beai*- 
 er, but requiring high culture. 
 
 Fruit rather large, roundish, flattened ; yellow when ripe, 
 with a blush cheek and a few gray dots. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, juicy, tender, and crisp. 
 
 Flavor a fine high subacid. Ripens from November to Feb- 
 ruary, or later. 
 
 27. JONATHAN. 
 
 Tree vigorous, of spreading or drooping habit, and, under 
 high culture, very productive. 
 
 Fruit medium or below, roundish - conical ; clear yellow 
 ground, nearly covered with red of various shades. 
 
 Flesh yellowish- white, sometimes pinkish near the surface ; 
 juicy, and very tender. 
 
 Flavor lively subacid. Ripe from November to February. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 Fig. 169. 
 
 311 
 
 28. RAMBO. 
 
 Fig. 170. 
 
 Tree rather upright, of slow growth, but a good bearer. 
 
312 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fruit medium, round, flattened, nearly cheese form ; green- 
 ish-yellow, with some thin russet and a brownish cheek. 
 
 Flesh greenish- white, fii'm, and moderately juicy. 
 
 Flavor fine, clear subacid, of considerable richness. Ripens 
 from November to Febiniary. 
 
 Best south of New York ; it is the popular Seek-no-further 
 of the Philadelphia markets. 
 
 29. WESTFIELD SEEK-NO-PURTHER. 
 
 Fig. 171. 
 
 Tree of fine vigorous growth, and an excellent bearer. 
 
 Fruit medium or above, roundish-conical ; dull red over yel- 
 lowish-green ground, with russet dots or patches ; variable ; 
 occasionally subject to bitter rot. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, fine-grained, tender, and crisp. 
 
 Flavor mild subacid, peculiar and excellent. Ripening from 
 November to February. 
 
 30. BROADWELL SWEET. 
 
 Tree spreading, of strong growth, with yellowish young 
 shoots ; a good bearer. 
 
 Fruit rather large, roundish -conical or flattened; skin 
 smooth, greenish-yellow, bronzed in the sun. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 1T3. 
 
 313 
 
 Flesh white, tender, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor fine, sweet, and often rich. Ripens from November 
 to February, or later. 
 
 This is a new and excellent winter sweet apple, a native of 
 Southern Ohio. , 
 
 31. AMERICAN GOLDEN RUSSET {Fig. 173). 
 
 Tree erect and moderately thrifty ; young shoots drab color ; 
 bears fair and constant crops, and is well suited with high 
 culture. 
 
 Fruit small, conical or roundish-ovate ; dull yellow, covered 
 with thin russet. 
 
 Flesh yellowish, very tender and juicy, almost melting when 
 fully ripe. 
 
 Flavor mild subacid, with a fine rich spiciness. Ripens 
 from November to February. 
 
 The American Golden Russet is small, but of superior qual- 
 ity, and especially worthy of extensive garden culture. In 
 cold soils and localities it sometimes fails to ripen, and is 
 then inferior. 
 
 O 
 
314 
 
 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 Fig. 173. 
 
 32. WAGENER. 
 
 Fig. 1T4. 
 
 Tree of vigorous growth; young shoots green; a regular 
 and fair bearer ; will repay care and high culture. 
 
 Fruit medium or above, roundish, flattened, and often ribbed 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 315 
 
 or irregular ; yellow, covered with stripes and shadings of light 
 and dai-k red, mingled with russet spots or streaks. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, fine-grained, tender, firm, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor subacid, with a vinous sprightliness, and some aro- 
 ma. Ripens from November to last of February, or later. 
 
 33. RHODE ISLAND GREENING. 
 Fig. 175. 
 
 Tree of fine, strong growth, often crooked while young, but 
 forming a fine spreading, symmetrical head ; hardy, and bear- 
 ing heavy crops of perfect fruit. 
 
 Fruit above medium, often large, round, very slightly coni- 
 cal ; skin rough, with spots of semi-russet ; green, becoming 
 dull yellow when perfectly ripe. 
 
 Flesh yellowish, tender, crisp, breaking, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor clear, sprightly, rich acid. Ripens from November 
 to March. 
 
 34. YELLOW BELLE FLEUR. 
 
 Tree thrifty, rather upright, with yellowish young shoots ; 
 a fair bearer, requiring good soil and a rather warm climate. 
 
316 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 Fig. 176. 
 
 Fruit quite large, long, ovate-conical, irregular ; of a lemon- 
 yellow color, with a very slight blush. 
 
 Flesh white, fine-grained, tender, and crisp. 
 
 Flavor mild, pleasant subacid, with a slight aroma. Ripens 
 from November to March. 
 
 35. DANVERS SWEET. 
 
 Tree spreading ; young shoots yellowish ; of rapid growth, 
 and an abundant bearer, especially in rich, strong soils. 
 
 Fruit medium, roundish-oblong or conical, smooth ; rather 
 deep yellow when ripe, with a shade of blush or orange, slight- 
 ly specked with russet. 
 
 Flesh yellow, sweet, and rich. 
 
 In use from November to March. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 17T. 
 
 317 
 
 36. ORTLEY. 
 Fig. 1T8. 
 
318 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Tree of vigorous growth, rather upright, with slender young 
 shoots ; in rich soils a great bearer. 
 
 Fruit medium sized to large, oblong or oblong-ovate ; lively 
 yellow, with a bright blush, somewhat speckled with light 
 spots and patches of gray russet. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, crisp, firm. 
 
 Flavor sprightly perfumed subacid. Ripens from Novem- 
 ber to April. 
 
 37. BALDWIN. 
 
 Fig. 179. 
 
 Tree very vigorous, forming a fine, symmetrical, and heavy 
 head ; bearing abundantly. 
 
 Fruit large, roundish-ovate or conical, narrowing rather rap- 
 idly toward the eye, but sometimes slightly flattened ; dull 
 yellow ground, striped and shaded with red of varied depth, 
 with some gray dots. 
 
 Flesh yellowish, crisp, not very juicy. 
 
 Flavor a high, rich subacid. Ripens from November to 
 April. 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 319 
 
 38. WINE APPLE. 
 Fig. ISO. 
 
 Tree thrifty, spreading, hardy, and an abundant bearer. 
 
 Fruit above medium, round, flattened, irregular or oblique ; 
 bright varied red over yellow, or yellow striped, with some 
 russet near the stem. 
 
 Flesh yellowish- white, juicy, crisp. 
 
 Flavor rich vinous, slightly acid. Ripens from November 
 to May. 
 
 39. SWAAR {Fig. 181). 
 
 Tree of strong growth, and a fair bearer, succeeding best in a 
 dry, deep loam ; it deserves and will well repay special care 
 and high culture. 
 
 Fruit rather large, round, flattened, sometimes irregular ; 
 dead-gold color, with a little russet or darkish spots. 
 
 Flesh yellowish, fine-grained, and tender. 
 
 Flavor very rich and aromatic subacid, with considerable 
 spicy fragrance. Ripens from December to March. 
 
320 
 
 AMERICAN HOME (iARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 181. 
 
 40. RED CANADA. 
 
 Fig. 183 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 321 
 
 Tree spreading, thrifty, but of rather slender growth ; a 
 good bearer. 
 
 Fruit medium or above, roundish-conical, or flattened at the 
 base ; greenish to yellow, covered with various shades of red, 
 with many small gray russet dots. 
 
 Flesh white, fine-grained, firm, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor fine rich subacid. Ripens from December to March. 
 
 41. LADY APPLE, 
 
 Fig. 183. 
 
 Tree erect, vigorous, though 
 not of large growth ; its young 
 shoots black; a free bearer 
 when it attains age. 
 
 Fruit very small, round, 
 flattened to cheese form ; 
 clear light yellow, with bright 
 red cheek, smooth and glossy. 
 
 Flesh yellowish- white, firm, 
 tender. 
 
 Flavor mild subacid. Ripens from December to March. 
 
 42. pryor's red. 
 
 Fig. 184. 
 
322 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Tree of strong, free growth, and an abundant bearer. 
 
 Fruit medium to large, roundish to roundish-conical, irreg- 
 ular, and very variable in form, often becoming angular ; green- 
 ish-yellow, nearly covered with dull red, and somewhat rus- 
 seted. 
 
 Flesh yellowish, tender, and fine-grained, but not very 
 juicy. 
 
 Flavor mild and agreeable subacid. Ripens from December 
 to March, or later. 
 
 43. NORTHERN SPY. 
 
 lig. 185. 
 
 Tree of rapid and rather erect growth, with stout, spotted 
 young shoots, making a finely-formed but close head ; and, 
 with high culture and age, bearing fair fi-uit, and freely. 
 
 Fruit large, roundish -conical, obscurely ribbed; yellow, 
 nearly covered with streaks of various red or crimson. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, tender, juicy. 
 
 Flavor rich, aromatic subacid. Ripens from December to 
 April. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 323 
 
 44. wood's GREENING. 
 
 Fig. 186. 
 
 Tree rather spreading, and of slender growth ; in strong 
 soils or under high cultui'e, a good and uniform bearer. 
 
 Fruit medium to large, roundish-conical, somewhat flatten- 
 ed ; green, turning yellow as it ripens. 
 
 Flesh greenish- white, fine-grained, and tender. 
 
 Flavor pleasant subacid. Ripens from January to March. 
 
 45. YELLOW NEWTOWN PIPPIN {Fig. 187). 
 
 Tree of slow growth, with rough bark even while young, 
 but hardy, long-lived, and, in favorable soil and climate, a 
 good bearer ; needs and deserves high culture. 
 
 Fruit medium to large, irregular, generally round, flattened, 
 and slightly oblique ; in fine specimens inclining to oblong ; 
 often scabbed and imperfect in unfavorable circumstances. 
 
 Flesh yellowish, firm, juicy. 
 
 Flavor high, rich, and fragrant, with moderate acid. The 
 finest apple known. Ripens from January to May, 
 
 The Green Newtown Pippin is distinguishable only by th? 
 
324 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 Fig. 187. 
 
 appearance of the fruit, which is generally of flatter form, and 
 green, and by some is thought to be rather more juicy, and to 
 keep better. 
 
 Both the yellow and the green Newtown Pippin are found 
 of very varied quality in different localities, a result attributa- 
 ble largely, I think, to the existence of seedling sub-varieties. 
 
 46. ladies' sweeting. 
 
 Tree spreading, a little irregular, thrifty, but the young 
 growth rather slender ; bears abundantly. 
 
 Fruit medium or above, roundish-ovate, sometimes longer ; 
 yellowish-green, striped, or having considerable red, covered 
 by a slight bloom ; sometimes scarcely distinguishable from 
 the Flushing Spitzenbergh. 
 
 Flesh greenish-white, firm, crisp, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor rather subacid than sweet, exceedingly pleasant, per- 
 fumed, and rich. Ripens from January to May, retaining its 
 freshness to the last. 
 
 This favorite apple, under various names, has been very 
 widely diffused from its original home upon the Hudson, and 
 well deserves more attention and more special care in its culti- 
 vation as a market fruit than it has yet received. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig 1S^. 
 
 325 
 
 47. RAULE'S JANET. 
 Fig. 189. 
 
326 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Tree of only moderate growth, but an abundant bearer ; blos- 
 soming late, and seldom injured by spring frosts. 
 
 Fruit medium to large ; roundish, flattened at the stem, and 
 often oblique ; skin tough ; light yellow, striped with varying 
 red, according to exposure, with some spots of mould and russet. 
 
 Flesh yellowish- white, fine-grained, crisp, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor mild, rich subacid. Ripens from January to May. 
 
 48. BOSTON RUSSET. 
 FiR. 190. 
 
 Tree strong and spreading, bearing heavy crops of market- 
 able fruit. 
 
 Fruit medium to large, roundish, flattened, sometimes slight- 
 ly angular or ribbed ; dull green russet, becoming brown, occa- 
 sionally reddish bronzed on the sunny side. 
 
 Flesh greenish-white, a little coarse, firm and juicy. 
 
 Flavor rich subacid. Ripens from January to June. 
 
 49. POTIGHKEEPSIE RUSSET. 
 
 Tree erect, vigorous ; young shoots reddish -brown ; a heavy 
 bearer. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 191. 
 
 •621 
 
 Fruit below medium ; ovate or conical ; pale greenish-yel- 
 low, mostly covered with light brown russet. 
 
 Flesh yellowish -white, firm, dry. 
 
 Flavor rich subacid. Seldom fit for eating out of hand, but 
 excellent when stewed or baked : see page 289. Ripens from 
 January to June or July. 
 
 50. TEWKESBURY WINTER BLUSH. 
 
 Fig. 192. 
 
328 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Tree of straight and rapid growth, and a free bearer of fair 
 fruit. 
 
 Fruit small, rather flat, smooth, yellow, with red cheek and 
 small russet dots. 
 
 Flesh yellowish, firm, tender, and somewhat juicy. 
 
 Flavor subacid. Ripens from January to August. 
 
 This apple is remarkable for its peculiarities rather than its 
 value. It is too small for profitable marketing, and the value 
 it might otherwise derive from its keeping quality is neutral- 
 ized by the fact that larger and better fruits may be kept till 
 new apples come in, except, possibly, in southern climates. 
 
 Lists of Varieties suited to different Sections of Country, 
 numbered in each Class nearly in the order of their begin- 
 ning to ripen. 
 
 
 FOR THE EASTERN 
 
 AND NORTHERN STATES 
 
 
 SUMMER APPLES. 
 
 
 
 FALL APPLES. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 3. 
 4. 
 5. 
 
 Early Harvest, or Sour Bough. 
 Sweet Bough. 
 Eed Astrachan. 
 Williams's Favorite. 
 Summer Rose. 
 
 
 1. American Pearmain. 
 
 2. Porter. 
 
 8. Gravenstein. 
 
 4. Famouse. 
 
 5. Mother. 
 
 
 
 WINTER 
 
 APPLES. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 3. 
 4. 
 5. 
 
 Hubbardston Nonsuch. 
 
 Minister. 
 
 Rhode Island Greening. 
 
 Yellow Belle Fleur. 
 
 Baldwin. 
 
 
 
 6. Red Canada. 
 
 7. Swaar. 
 
 8. Northern Spy. 
 
 9. Ladies' Sweeting. 
 10. Boston Russet. 
 
 FOR THE MIDDLE STATES. 
 
 SUMMER APPLES. FALL APPLES. 
 
 1. Early Strawberry. 
 
 2. Early Harvest, or Sour Bough. 
 
 3. Sweet Bough. 
 
 4. Red Astrachan. 
 
 5. Summer Pippin. 
 
 1. Jersey Sweeting. 
 
 2. Maiden's Blush. 
 
 3. Porter. 
 
 4. Gravenstein. 
 
 5. Hawley. 
 
 1. Hurlbut. 
 
 2. Chandler. 
 
 3. Peck's Pleasant. 
 
 4. American Golden Russet. 
 
 5. Wagoner. 
 
 WINTER APPLES. 
 
 6. Rhode Island Greening. 
 
 7. Baldwin. 
 
 8. Yellow Newtown Pippin. 
 
 9. Ladies' Sweeting. 
 10. Boston Russet. 
 
AMERICAN HOMIU 
 
 > RDEN. 
 
 329 
 
 
 FOR THE WES 
 
 TERN STATES. 
 
 
 SUMMER APPLES. 
 
 FALL APPLES. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 3. 
 4. 
 6. 
 
 Early Harvest, or Sour Bough. 
 Early Sweet Bough. 
 Red Astrachan. 
 Summer Rose. 
 Williams's Favorite. 
 
 1. Jersey Sweeting. 
 
 2. Porter. 
 
 3. Gravenstein. 
 
 4. Fall Pippin. 
 
 5. Dyer. 
 
 
 WINTER 
 
 APPLES. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 3. 
 4. 
 5. 
 
 Jonathan. 
 
 Rambo. 
 
 Westfield Seek-no-further. 
 
 Rhode Island Greening. 
 
 Yellow Belle Fleur. 
 
 6. Danvers Sweet. 
 
 7. Ortley. 
 
 8. Northern Spy. 
 
 9. Boston Russet. 
 
 10. Poughkeepsie Russet. 
 
 
 FOR THE SOUTHERN OR 
 
 SOUTHWESTERN STATES. 
 
 
 SUJOIER APPLES. 
 
 FALL APPLES. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 3. 
 4. 
 5. 
 
 Early May. 
 
 Early Strawberr}^ 
 
 Early Harvest, or Sour Bough. 
 
 Early Sweet Bough. 
 
 Summer Rose. 
 
 1. Gloucester Cheese. 
 
 2. Maiden's Blush. 
 
 3. Porter. 
 
 4. Gravenstein. 
 
 5. Vandervere. 
 
 
 WINTER 
 
 APPLES. 
 
 1. 
 2. 
 
 3. 
 4. 
 5. 
 
 Male Carle. 
 Broadwell Sweet. 
 American Golden Russet. 
 Ortley. 
 Wine Apple. 
 
 6. Lady Apple. 
 
 7. Pryor's Red. 
 
 8. Wood's Greening. 
 
 9. Raule's Janet. 
 
 10. Tewkesbury Winter Blush 
 
 Perhaps the Poughkeepsie Russet might be advantageously 
 added to each of the above lists of winter apples in which it is 
 not inserted ; and for Southern culture Elliott mentions the 
 " Carolina Winter Queen" and the " Nickejack" from North 
 Carolina as apples of superior promise. For the Middle, North- 
 ern, and Eastern States, the Donald apple, somewhat known as 
 Watson's Long Keeper, is worthy of careful and extended trial. 
 The tree is erect and vigorous ; fruit of a roundish-oblong or 
 conical form, golden yellow, with a bright blush-" painted" 
 cheek, fine-grained and tender, a very mild subacid, yet of pe- 
 culiar spirit and excellence, whether raw or cooked. In general, 
 the lists given will be found satisfactory, but attention to the re- 
 marks on selection of kinds, page 192, will be always important. 
 
330 
 
 AMEEIGAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 THE APRICOT. 
 The Apricot is one of our earliest and pleasantest fruits for 
 eating out of hand ; and though, from its blossoming so imme- 
 diately upon the opening of spring, it is exposed A^ery often to 
 injury or entire loss by spring frosts, as well as to the attacks 
 of the curculio or plum bug after the fruit sets, yet it merits 
 cultivation, and will repay all the care that in ordinary seasons 
 it requires to carry it safely through the period in which it is 
 liable to be injured. To make this easy, the trees should be 
 kept low and compact by proper pruning ; and if there be dan- 
 ger of frost upon the blossoms, set three or four stakes around 
 each tree, and throw over it a large blanket or cloth of any 
 kind, leaving it on in the morning until some time after sun- 
 rise. 
 
 Fig. 193. 
 
 a. Small Apricot. 
 
 h. Medium Apricot. 
 
 The period of blossoming may also be retarded by keeping 
 the tree shaded so long as frosts are likely to occur ; and if, 
 notwithstanding this, they come upon the blossoms, the pre- 
 cautions above mentioned must be taken. Branches of ever- 
 green may be used with good effect both in shading and pro- 
 tection. If the tree is trained against a building it will be 
 still more easy to cover it, but in both cases be careful to se- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 331 
 
 cure the covering so that the wind, if prevailing, will not dash 
 it against the blossoms. 
 
 Apricots may be planted at the distance of from ten to fif- 
 teen feet, the former being sufficient if the trees are well 
 pruned. A pretty rich warm loam suits them best. They 
 may be budded on seedling apricots, plums, or peaches. Ei- 
 ther of the two former, however, are to be preferred to the lat- 
 ter, and of them those of free growth. Among plums, a vari- 
 ety of stock known as the pear plum is generally preferred for 
 the apricot. 
 
 APRICOTS 
 
 Numbered nearly in the order of their ripening. 
 
 1. Large Early. 
 
 2. Early Golden. 
 
 3. Royal. 
 
 4. Hemskirke. 
 
 5. Breda. 
 G. Peach. 
 
 7. Moorpark. 
 
 8. Turkey. 
 
 These are all worthy of attention, but Nos. 1, 4, 6, and 7 
 are of superior size and quality. 
 
 THE BERBERRY. 
 The Berberry is said to derive its name from the Arabic, 
 Fig. 194 connecting us by a very thorny tie to the Ber- 
 
 bers of Africa. It is found wild, not only in 
 Africa, but in Europe, Asia, and both North 
 and South America. It is a well-known acid 
 and seedy fruit, sometimes used for preserves, 
 jellies, tarts, and pickles, but too sour for any 
 thing except the last or an acid gargle. 
 
 It makes a perfectly impenetrable hedge 
 fence, but its habit of spreading by offshoots 
 renders it objectionable. The bark and wood 
 make a fine yellow dye. The stamens of the 
 common red kind seem to possess a peculiar 
 susceptibility, so that, when touched, they 
 spring over and deposit their pollen upon the 
 stigma of the mature flower. Some new varieties have recent- 
 ly been obtained from India and the Straits of Mairellan. 
 They are raised from seeds, cuttings, layers, or offshoots. , 
 
332 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 THE BLACKBERRY. 
 NEW ROCHELLE. 
 
 The culture of blackberries as a garden fruit is of quite re- 
 cent origin, dating from the discovery made a few years since, 
 in the neighborhood of New Rochelle, Westchester county, of 
 a fine-fruited wild variety, which, on being cultivated, was 
 found to yield heavy crops of large and well-flavored fruit. 
 
 This variety, known as the " New Rochelle blackberry," is 
 the only kind at present in extended cultivation, but probably 
 J,, ^yg will not long remain alone. 
 
 It is a strong, upright 
 grower, and when planted, 
 as it should always be, in 
 very rich soil, it spreads 
 with great rapidity, and 
 its suckers, if not wanted 
 for plants, should be care- 
 fully and persistently de- 
 stroyed as they appear. 
 It requires treatment pre- 
 cisely similar to the com- 
 mon raspberry (which see), 
 the frame Avith the sliding 
 bar being peculiarly de- 
 sirable, on account of its 
 very heavy young growth. 
 Thorough ripening is essential to the perfection of the fruit, and 
 in this respect cultivators are liable to be deceived by the depth 
 of color which the berry attains before it is fit to gather. 
 
 A variety called the "White Blackberry" is occasionally met 
 with in gardens. Its color is really a dirty chocolate, and in 
 respect to flavor and fruiting it is worthless. 
 
 Among our wild fruits which have as yet scarcely begun to 
 be regarded as subjects for cultivation, there are some that will 
 probably soon follow the blackberry into the ranks of cultivated 
 small fruits, as the Bufialo-berry of the southwest, Shepardia 
 argentea, and the black and blue Huckleberries or Whortleber- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 333 
 
 lies, Vacdnium resinosum and tenellum, and the red-flowering 
 t hornless Raspberry, Mubus odorata. 
 
 THE CHERRY. 
 
 Li any suitable climate, cherries are among the most easily 
 cultivated of our large-growing fruit-trees. They prefer a 
 rather warm temperature, and around many of the older home- 
 steads of Virginia have grown to an enormous size. Among 
 the numerous fine varieties introduced within the last thirty or 
 fifty years, there is, in their several classes, but little difference 
 that would strike an ordinary observer, except in the time of 
 ripening, and even this is obliterated by bringing them from 
 the opposite limits of one or two degrees of latitude, Avhich can 
 now easily be done in time to place them on the dinner-table 
 still damp with the morning dew. Hence, in our markets, 
 quite a number of different kinds are known by a common name ; 
 and, on the other hand, from the rapidity of their recent diffu- 
 sion, a multitude of synonyms for certain choice kinds are found 
 among nursery-men and amateurs. 
 
 Most kinds have an upright and regular habit of growth, 
 which permits of their being planted much closer than would 
 otherwise be advantageous. From twenty to thirty feet will 
 be found a sufiicient distance, unless it may be for a few vari- 
 eties of spreading habit, or in localities where the tree attains a 
 very large size ; and, for the same reason, but little pruning is 
 found absolutely necessary. It is quite desirable to form the 
 head of the young tree well at the start — see remarks page 
 254 — and it is often important, in order to facilitate the fruit- 
 gathering, to force a less towering growth by cutting out the 
 strong central leader, even when two or tbiree inches diameter 
 at the point of severance ; but this necessity should be pre- 
 vented by earlier attention in forming the head. Notwith- 
 standing all that may be written, however, a fruit that grows 
 so rapidly, and yields so abundantly, in spite of neglect in its 
 culture, will not te likely to command much care or labor. 
 
 Of the sour varieties, which are chiefly used for tarts and 
 preserving or drying, the old-fashioned or Richmond sour, and 
 some of the older varieties of the Morello, are generally decay- 
 
334 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 ing, and in many localities are as much injured by the black 
 knot as the plum-tree. The plum-stone Morello is a fine late 
 sour variety, and others will be found in the list below. 
 
 The cherry prefers a deep, strong loam, but will thrive in al- 
 most any soil, if the climate be favorable. In cold localities, 
 extreme tlu-iftiness in the trees exposes them to the risk of 
 winter-killing or bursting. See p. 260. There are extensive 
 valleys but little north of New York city, along which for 
 many miles the finer varieties of cherry-trees perish at irregu- 
 lar intervals from the severity of the cold. In such localities, 
 or in all more northern latitudes, high manuring must be avoid- 
 ed, and the trees set in positions exposed to the north or north- 
 west, and defended from the winter's southern sun. They may 
 bear the steady cold of a severe winter, but sudden and great 
 fluctuations will almost certainly destroy them. 
 
 SELECT LIST OF CHERRIES, # 
 
 Numbered in each class nearly in the order in ivhicJi they 
 will be found to ripen in any given soil and latitude. The 
 time of their ripening at New York accompanies the figure 
 and description below. 
 
 
 SWEET 
 
 FRUITS. 
 
 1. 
 
 Purple Guigne (Gween). 
 
 7. Holland Bigarreau 
 
 2. 
 
 Mayduke. 
 
 8. Graffion. 
 
 3. 
 
 Elton. 
 
 9. Black Eagle. 
 
 4. 
 
 Knight's Early Black. 
 
 10. Downton. 
 
 5. 
 
 Black Heart. 
 
 11. Downer's Late. 
 
 6. 
 
 Black Tartarian. 
 
 12. Florence. 
 
 SOUK, OR PIE AND PRESER\TE FRUITS. 
 
 13. Early Richmond. j 15. Plum-stone Morello. 
 
 14. Carnation. 1 16. Eumsey's Morello. 
 
 1. PURPLE GUIGNE (Fig. 196). 
 Purple Griotte. German Mayduhe. 
 
 Tree of moderate growth, and spreading. 
 Fruit rather small, but very early ; dark red, pui'ple when 
 dead ripe. 
 Flesh tender, juicy, and sweet. Ripens last of May. 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 335 
 
 2. MAYDUKE {Fig. 197). 
 Early Duke. 
 Tree of upright growth ; young shoots slender. 
 Fruit medium size ; bright red, becoming dark red at matu- 
 rity. A fine acid fruit for pies while still unripe, but of a rich 
 subacid flavor when fully matured. 
 
 Ripening last of May and first half of June ; often having 
 green fruit upon certain branches when the main crop has ma- 
 tured. 
 
 Fig. 196. Fig. 197. Fig. 198. 
 
 Purple Guigne. 
 
 Mayduke. 
 
 Elton. 
 
 3. ELTON {Fig. 198). 
 
 Tree vigorous, spreading. 
 
 Fruit pretty large, slightly pointed ; pale yellow, with a 
 bright red, mottled cheek. 
 
 Flesh rather firm, but juicy, rich, and excellent. 
 
 Ripens about the middle of June, immediately after the 
 INIayduke. 
 
386 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 4. knight's EARLY BLACK {Ficj. 199). 
 
 Tree of moderate vigor, spreading. 
 Fruit rather large, irregular, dark purple. 
 Flesh purple, tender, juicy, and fine-flavored. 
 Ripens about the middle of June. 
 
 5. BLACK HEART {Ficj. 200). 
 
 Early Black. Black Russian. 
 Tree vigorous, erect. 
 
 Fruit of medium size, uneven in outline ; dark purple. 
 Flesh purple, tender, juicy, and sweet. 
 Ripens from the middle to the last of June. 
 
 Fig. 199. Fig. 200. Fig. 201. 
 
 Kniglit's Early Black. 
 
 Black Heart. 
 
 Black Tartarian. 
 
 6. BLACK TARTARIAN {Fig. 201). 
 
 Dyckmari's. Bishop's Large. BonaM's Black Heart. 
 Tree extremely vigorous, erect. 
 
 Fruit very large, irregular, almost oblong ; nearly black. 
 Flesh purplish, tolerably tender, juicy, rich, and delicious. 
 Ripens from the middle to the last of June. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 337 
 
 7. HOLLAND BIGARREAU {Fig. 202). 
 
 Armstrong's Bigarreau. Spotted Bigarreau. 
 Tree of strong and spreading growth. 
 Fruit large, regular ; pale yellow, shaded and spotted with 
 bright red on the sunny side. 
 Flesh firm, juicy, and excellent. 
 Ripens toward the last of June. 
 
 Fig. 202. Fig. 203. 
 
 Holland Bigarreau. 
 
 Giaffion. 
 
 8. GRAFFION {Fig. 203). 
 Bigarreau. Wliite Bigarreau. Yelloio Spanish. 
 Tree of vigorous but diverging growth, forming a fine spread- 
 ing head. 
 
 Fruit large ; pale yellow or amber, with clear red on the 
 sunny side. 
 
 Flesh light yellow, very firm, but of fine, rich flavor when 
 ripe. 
 
 Ripens about the last of June. 
 
 P 
 
338 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEX, 
 
 9. BLACK EAGLE {Fig. 204). 
 Tree vigorous, spreading ; young shoots quite stout. 
 Fruit medium or above ; deep purple or black. 
 Flesh pm'ple, tender, juicy, and rich. 
 Ripens beginning of July. 
 
 10. DOWNTON {Fig. 205). 
 Tree of moderate growth, making a round head. 
 Fruit large, roundish, regular; creamy, and very clear; 
 stained and dotted with red on the sunny side. 
 Flesh light yellow, tender, fine, and rich. 
 Ripens early in July. 
 
 Fig. 204. 
 
 Fig. 205. 
 
 Fig. 206. 
 
 Black Eagle, 
 
 11. downer's late {Fig. 206). 
 Tree of moderate vigor, somewhat spreading. 
 Fruit medium or below ; light clear red, veined with amber. 
 Flesh tender, sweet, and excellent. Ripens early in July. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 339 
 
 12. FLORENCE {Fig. 207). 
 Knevefs Late Bigarreau. Dyckman's Late. 
 Tree of strong growth and fine spreading habit. 
 Fruit large, roundish, slightly inclining to reniform ; amber- 
 yellow, marbled with red, and the fully-exposed fruit becom- 
 ing flushed with red on the sunny side. 
 »Flesh yellowish, very firm, but juicy, sweet, and superior. 
 Ripens about the middle of July. 
 
 Fig. 207. 
 
 Fig. 208. 
 
 Florence. 
 
 Early Richmond. 
 
 SOUR CHERRIES, PIE AND PRESERVE FRUITS. 
 13. EARLY RICHMOND (Fig. 208). 
 
 Virginian May. Kentish. 
 
 Tree of low habit, with regular spreading head ; young 
 growth slender. 
 
 Fruit medium or below, round ; bright red, becoming rather 
 dark at maturity. 
 
 Flesh tender, melting, juicy, and of a fine acid flavor : first- 
 rate for culinary purposes. 
 
 Ripens in all June. 
 
340 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 14. CARNATION {Fig. 209). 
 
 Wax Cherry. 
 
 Tree of strong growth and spreading habit. 
 Fruit large, round ; clear light red. 
 
 Flesh pretty firm, juicy, and acid, becoming almost subacid 
 at maturity. 
 
 Ripens from the middle to the end of July. . 
 
 15. PLUM-STONE MORELLO {Fig. 210). 
 
 Tree thrifty, spreading ; young shoots slender. 
 Fruit rather large, roundish, heart-shaped ; deep red. 
 Flesh reddish, tender, and juicy ; of a fine acid flavor. 
 Ripens last of July. 
 
 Fig. 209. Fig. 210. Fig. 211. 
 
 Carnation. 
 
 Plum-stone Morello. 
 
 Rumsey's Morello. 
 
 16. rumsey's morello {Fig. 211). 
 
 Tree of slender and slow growth, and spreading habit. 
 Fruit above medium, having a suture on one side ; smooth 
 and regular ; color a clear bright red. 
 
 Flesh tender, juicy, and melting, but quite acid. 
 Ripens in August, and later. 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GAKDEN". 
 
 341 
 
 THE CRANBERRY. 
 Cranberries may be raised on any moist land by covering 
 Fig. 212. the space to be planted with 
 
 a thick coat of swamp muck, 
 and setting the plants in it at 
 afoot or eighteen inches apart, 
 according to their strength. 
 Keep them perfectly clean un- 
 til they obtain possession ; 
 they will then take care of 
 themselves, keeping out all 
 other growth, and yielding 
 their fruit abundantly, which 
 is usually gathered with a pe- 
 culiar box-rake, known as the 
 cranberry-rake. Top-dressing 
 with well -rotted compost after 
 the crop is gathered improves 
 both the quantity and quality of succeeding crops. It is said 
 that they can also be well raised on dry soils, but probably 
 would require increased labor, with smaller return for it, their 
 natural home being moist bog meadows. 
 
 CURRANTS. 
 
 Of varieties there are the Black Naples, the Red and the 
 White Dutch, or common, and certain other inferior varieties 
 or mixtures of these, and still others larger fruiting and later, 
 but more acid and less worthy of cultivation. The recently- 
 introduced cherry currant is produced somewhat after the man- 
 ner of the Black Naples, bearing its large fruit upon short 
 bunches ; the seeds are rather large, and the quality of the 
 fruit only ftvir, but it is a showy, and, on the whole, a desirable 
 variety. 
 
 Though one of the most valuable of our small summer fruits, 
 if not, indeed, more useful than any other, currants are scarce- 
 ly subjects of cultivation ; for this implies more than merely 
 planting in a corner or by a fence, and gathering the product 
 
342 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 when it comes. Yet they will well repay by the abundance, 
 and excellence, and beauty of their fruit, the little labor their 
 cultivation requires. 
 
 Fig. 213. 
 
 a. Black Naples. 
 
 b. Red Dutch. 
 
 They may be set out at four or five 
 feet apart, and either kept to a single 
 stem, or to two or three. Satisfactory 
 results will be obtained if the bushes are 
 kept clear of grass and weeds, the off- 
 shoots from the collar of the root sup- 
 pressed, the head of the bush kept rath- 
 er open than otherwise by thinning out 
 any excess of bearing shoots, and com- 
 pact in form by shortening the young 
 wood, according to its strength, to from 
 one half to one third of its last year's 
 growth in the winter pruning as direct- 
 ed for gooseberries, p. 346. 
 Currants may be planted in almost any soil or situation, and 
 
 c. White Dutch. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN", 343 
 
 ai*e as easily raised as willows, from layers, or cuttings planted 
 in the fall or early spring. There are many sub-varieties, with 
 considerable differences in the quality and pleasantness of their 
 acid, and it is worthy of care that your young plants be raised 
 from such as are most agreeable to your taste. 
 
 The season of this fruit may be prolonged by planting some 
 in warm spots, or light soil, and others in the shade, or on a 
 north slope, or in cold soil, or by covering single bushes with 
 mats closely -vvi'apped and fastened around them before they 
 are quite half ripe, uncovering them to the sun a few days be- 
 fore they are to be gathered for use, to sweeten them, as cur- 
 rants ripened in the shade are somewhat acid, though by no 
 means so sour as when left to become over-ripened upon leafless 
 branches in the sun. 
 
 The Black Naples currant makes a conserve or jelly that is 
 very useful in domestic practice for removing soreness of the 
 throat, for preparing a cooling drink in fever by stirring it into 
 water, or for the easy administration of medicines to children. 
 The red and white, either separately or mixed, stripped and 
 sugared, are an ornament and a delicacy upon the tea-table ; 
 and the perfectly free use of the ripe, fresh-gathered fruit in 
 this form, or directly from the bushes, is, in general, a com- 
 plete preventive of summer complaint and tendency to dysen- 
 tery in children or adults. 
 
 THE FIG. 
 
 Wherever the climate favors their production, figs are among 
 the most easily cultivated of fruits, the natural growth of the 
 tree being such as to render pruning almost entirely mmec- 
 essary, and one or two crops a year being yielded with cer- 
 tainty. In latitudes north of 40° they require protection, but 
 in warm situations, in cities, against a wall, or in a recess by 
 a house or other building, or even in some open situations, a 
 pretty thick coating with straw and matting, or laying down 
 the whole tree and banking earth over it, will be found to 
 ansAver this purpose, and one small crop per year can be ob- 
 tained, i : .-■' 
 
 The ripe, undried fruit, however, is veiy luscious, with a 
 
344 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 ^'«- 214. little faintness of flavor, 
 
 ■which renders it less «le- 
 sirahle than it mi^ht 
 otherwise be, so that its 
 culture, where it can not 
 be profitably dried for 
 market, is a matter of 
 mere fancy, except for 
 persons of peculiar taste. 
 Unlike other fruits, the 
 fig is not produced from 
 any apparent blossom, 
 but is borne, generally 
 singly, upon the young 
 branches, the flower be- 
 ing included in and form- 
 ing part of the fruit. 
 The filaments which constitute the flower, or, more properly, 
 the floral organs, are readily seen in the fresh-gathered fruit, 
 and sometimes also in the thick-skinned, imperfectly-ripened, 
 dried figs of commerce. 
 
 It is said that in certain districts of France the fruit is 
 sometimes anointed in the eye with sweet oil, when near ma- 
 turity, to secure its ripening, and Downing seems to think the 
 operation effective to this end ; but in the absence of any ap- 
 parent connection, we doubt if they are cause and effect. Where 
 practiced, it is probably an old custom, of which the origin has 
 been forgotten and a new account of it invented. 
 
 The fig-tree is easily raised from off"slioots, layers, or cut- 
 tings, and will grow in almost any soil. The clioicer varieties 
 are the Brunswick, or Black Naples ; the Brown Turkey, or 
 Naples ; the Black Ischia, the Black Genoa, the Malta, the 
 White Marseilles, the Nerii,and the White Ischia. 
 
 The Egyptian fig, or sycamore fruit of the Bible, sometimes 
 also called " Pharaoh's Fig," and, from its leaf, " MulbeiTy 
 Fig," is not, in strictness, a fruit, but a seedless excrescence 
 which forms upon the trunk and large limbs of a wild lowland 
 tree of the East. It is either thrown out naturally by the tree, 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 3-io 
 
 or produced by the action of insects, or by wounding the bark 
 for the purpose. It resembles a fig, but is of extreme bitter- 
 ness until opened by the nail or some sharp instrument, so that 
 a portion of its milky juice exudes, when it ripens and becomes 
 of a dull sweet, but luscious and not very wholesome. The 
 tree yields it abundantly and constantly, in Jewish parlance 
 " bearing seven times a year," This excoriation of the bark 
 and opening of the " fruit" seems to have been the employ- 
 ment of the prophet (Amos, vii., 14), who was a gatherer, or, 
 rather, a " dresser" or " scraper" of sycamore fruit. 
 
 THE GOOSEBERRY. 
 
 Fig. 215. 
 
 b. Whitesmith. 
 
 c. lIonRliton't* Sppfllin 
 
 Almost every variety 
 of gooseberry cultivated 
 among us is of European 
 origin, and generally, in 
 our climate, subject to a 
 mould or mildew upon 
 the fruit, that destroys 
 the crop. It is true, this 
 may be measurably, and 
 in some seasons entirely 
 avoided by careful win- 
 ter pruning, moderate 
 shade by planting them 
 
346 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 near grape-vines or peach-trees, &e., and high manuring with 
 compost from year to year, and sowing lime, sulphur, or ashes 
 over them repeatedly when in blossom and young fruit ; but it 
 is scarcely probable that the cultivation of gooseberries can be- 
 come general among us, unless, either from those now in repu- 
 tation or from some of our own wild ones, new seedling varie- 
 ties, exempt from the disease, may be produced. The English 
 have a fancy for raising them of monstrous size for exhibition, 
 leaving on the bush only a few berries, and supporting these 
 so that they do not hang, but rest and fatten. The berry, when 
 ripe, is of a very mild, yet lively and pleasant acid, or rather 
 vinous flavor, the very large kinds never being in this respect 
 equal to the smaller. While green, they are used for tarts, 
 &c., having a very strong, rough acid, a part of which should 
 be leached off by scalding the fruit before it is used, and pour- 
 ing off the water when cooled. But for these purposes the pie- 
 plant affords a better acid, and is much more easily raised and 
 handled. 
 
 Gooseberry bushes should stand in rows from four to six feet 
 apart each way, and be kept on one stem, with but few bearing 
 shoots, and all offshoots suppressed. Every winter, with a light 
 pair of pruning shears, shorten the last season's shoots, cutting 
 the strong ones to about half their length, those of medium 
 growth to about one fom'th, and those that are weak close vto 
 the point from which they started ; and keep the bushes regu- 
 larly and thoroughly manured. The plants are readily raised 
 from layers or cuttings. See pages 197 and 198. 
 
 The kinds named in the nm'sery catalogues are very numer- 
 ous, but among the red hairy varieties, that known as " Crown 
 Bob" bears the highest character, and " Whitesmith" among 
 the smooth-skinned green or yellow kinds. Houghton's Seed- 
 ling is the only American variety of reputation, and is exempt 
 from mildew. 
 
 Rough or hairy gooseberries are more uniformly well flavored 
 than the smooth varieties, and I incline to think the red ones 
 generally better than the green or yellow, yet the finest flavored 
 known variety is a grass-green hairy berry, so small as to be 
 profitless. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 347 
 
 THE GRAPE. 
 
 Of native grapes, the Isabella (Fig. 216 a), Catawba, Diana, 
 Concord, Rebecca, and a few others, succeed well near New 
 York, and some of them far to the north of it. The Bland, 
 Elsinburgh, and Ohio, or Cigar-box, and several others of merit, 
 require a more southern latitude. 
 
 Of foreign grapes, the red Muscat and white Muscat of 
 Alexandria (Fig. 216 b), for heated graperies, and the black 
 Hambm"g and white Muscadine for house culture, either with 
 or without fire-heat, will be found valuable. 
 
 Fig. 216. 
 
 a. Isabella Grape. 
 
 b. White Muscat of Alexandria. 
 
 The grape, like the cherry and currant, often yields its fruit 
 so abundantly, in spite of neglect, that in multiplied instances it 
 is not in any sense cultivated ; it simply grows. When plant- 
 ed merely with a view to shade or ornament, this is well, but 
 the culture of the grape is usually entered upon in expectation 
 of a profitable return, or, at least, of combining this with other 
 gratifications. 
 
 European grapes are almost entirely excluded from our con- 
 sideration by their uniform failure in out-door culture in our 
 climate, and their exposure to mildew and failure, even in house 
 culture, unless incessant care and labor are bestowed upon them. 
 
348 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Our choice of kinds is therefore very limited, and any one may 
 easily obtain and test for himself, at small expense, all the va- 
 rieties that at present pretend to claim attention. Most of om- 
 varieties ai'e of wild natural origin, some of which, nevertheless, 
 compare favorably with many of the cultivated European kinds. 
 Stai'ting in the culture of this finiit with such originals, we may 
 fairly expect that intelligent and persevering cultivation, to 
 the force of which no plant yields itself more readily, will rap- 
 idly supply new and superior vai'ieties suited to our varied cli- 
 mate, and surpassing rivalry. 
 
 The grape will do well in almost any soil. It gi'ows wild 
 alike upon om' dryest lands and in our swamps, from the Pe- 
 nobscot to the Rio Grande. For its most successful cultivation, 
 however, a deep, dry, limestone soil or sandy loam is desirable. 
 
 Wild vines or worthless ones may be successfully cleft graft- 
 ed, after the vines have leaved out, with grafts kept for the 
 piu-pose from the winter pruning ; these should be buried or 
 cellared mitil wanted for use. Cut off the stock and insert 
 the graft a few inches under ground ; if possible, wrap it in the 
 ordinary manner, earth it well up, and set a stake to it. 
 
 The young plants may be raised by cuttings, as directed 
 pages 196, 197, or by laj^ers. If the shoots of the previous 
 year are layered early in the spring, they may be set out ^the 
 next year, but if shoots of the cm'rent season be layered in June 
 or July, they should be severed from the pai'ent vine and cut 
 back in fall or the next spring, but ought not to be removed 
 for setting out until the following yeai', their roots being too 
 tender. 
 
 Two-year-old plants raised from cuttings, or layers raised as 
 above directed, just taken from the parent vine, and cut back 
 to one or two buds, may be set out in the ordinaiy mode of 
 tree-planting — see page 245 — in large holes with loosened bot- 
 tom, dug at least eighteen inches deep, and filled up with good 
 rich mould to twelve or fifteen inches, according to the size of 
 the root. Let rich earth or perfectly rotted compost be mixed 
 with the soil, or used exclusively in filling up. Tread the earth 
 lightly upon and around the roots, and suffer only one or at most 
 two buds to start. In removino; old vines, cut them clean down 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEX. 
 
 Ud 
 
 before replanting ; they will recover vigor much sooner than 
 if you leave the old growth upon them. 
 
 The vine is a greedy feeder, and its absorbents act with 
 great rapidity, so that in vine regions over-manuring is found 
 to weaken the juice and spoil the character of the wine, and is 
 sometimes forbidden by law on this account. An inopportune 
 application of foul manui'e is also apt to taint the fruit. Good 
 compost, having in it a mixture of bones, charcoal, and animal 
 matter, applied at the planting of the vines, and annually dug 
 in around them, with summer top-dressings of leached or un- 
 leached ashes, guano, or bone-dust, and attention to keeping 
 them free from weeds, with occasional additions of fresh sur- 
 face earth, which may be half-rotted sod pared thick from a 
 loamy road side and chopped up, or any good surface loam, will 
 ordinarily insure healthy vines and heavy crops. 
 
 Vines are arranged for cultivation upon arbors, trellises, or 
 stakes, and may be treated either upon the" spur" or " alter- 
 nating" system, though in general cultivators do not rigidly 
 adhere to either, but pm^sue a mixed course, according to in- 
 dividual fancy or knowledge, and the particular state of the 
 vines from year to year. Their training may either be up- 
 right or horizontal, but, if otherwise suitable, the latter is to 
 be preferred ; or any fancy winding, ornamental fashion may 
 be adopted with advantage. 
 
 ARBOR. 
 
 The vine as it appears in the spring 
 before it starts, upon the spur sys- 
 tem. 
 
 a. The permanent main canes, with 
 their spurs, and the buds from which 
 the fruit for the season is expected to 
 proceed. 
 
 Fig. 217. 
 
 Whether for arbor or trellis culture, the vines may be set 
 from ten to twenty feet apart, at discretion. 
 
350 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 SPUR SYSTEM. 
 
 In the spur system one or more shoots are permitted to ex- 
 tend themselves gradually from each plant, being cut back at 
 the first winter pruning after the setting out to three or four 
 buds, at the second to six or eight, or more, increasing the 
 length of these main canes from year to year, according to their 
 strength, permitting only a limited quantity of fruit to be 
 borne upon the spurs or side shoots from them until these main 
 ones have attained the length at which it is intended perma- 
 nently to keep them (see Fig. 217). After this, all the spurs 
 or side shoots are annually cut off at the winter pruning to 
 within a single bud, or close to the old stem or main cane 
 from which they issue. Each joint upon these main stems or 
 canes becomes by the annual repetition of this process a bunch 
 of undeveloped buds, from which young shoots are annually 
 put forth, upon which the season's crop of fruit is borne. 
 These' are kept in check during summer by nipping, and re- 
 moved entirely at the winter pruning, as described below. 
 
 The main canes of the vine in the figure are trained upright, 
 but they may also be trained horizontally by carrying the main 
 stem originally to the top of the arbor, and forming the main 
 canes from its side buds, or the mode may be subsequently 
 changed by cutting away all but one or two of the main canes, 
 making them stems, and furnishing the horizontal canes from 
 their spiu" buds. 
 
 TRELLIS. 
 
 The vine upon the trellis, winter pruned 
 and arranged upon the alternating system ; 
 as it appears before it starts in the spring. 
 
 a, a, a, o, a. Five canes cut lack, leaving 
 a single bud on each, close to the main stem, 
 to form the growth-canes of the current sea- 
 son and the fruit canes of the next. 
 
 b, b, b, b. Four canes shortened to the di- 
 mensions of the trellis to bear the current 
 season's crop of fruit, and be cut back in the 
 manner of a at the coming winter pruning, 
 and form next year's growth-canes. 
 
 The trellis is the arbor sides without its arch, a simple up- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 351 
 
 right frame of posts with bars or slats, these latter running 
 lengthwise, at about a foot apart. Its general direction should, 
 if convenient, be north and south. 
 
 Fig. 219. 
 
 STAKES. 
 
 Tlifi vine upon stakes as seen in spring before starting ; on 
 the alternating system. 
 
 «, a. Two canes cut back for growth. 
 
 6. A young bud near the main stem to form a third cane 
 for next season. 
 
 c, c. Young canes shortened for the season's crop, to be cut 
 out in the next winter's pruning. 
 
 Foreign grape-vines, with short joints and comparatively 
 moderate growth, may be cultivated, where other circumstances 
 favor, upon a single stake, by either system of pruning ; but 
 the extraordinary vigor of American grape-vines renders three 
 stakes expedient, if not absolutely necessary ; these form really 
 a small trellis, and this may be adopted as a preliminary mode 
 for vines which are intended to form permanent trellises or 
 arbors, or other stakes may be added as the extending growth 
 of the canes may demand. 
 
 ALTERNATING SYSTEM. , 
 
 This system, which is quite superior to the former, consists 
 in allowing only a limited number of young canes to grow in 
 each year, proportioning them, both in number and length, to 
 the strength and support of the vine root, and cutting out at 
 every winter pruning all canes that have previously borne 
 fruit. Thus, if the plant has two canes, each of Avhich in the 
 Avinter pruning you have shortened to four feet, then you will 
 permit only two new ones to grow the current season (Fig. 219). 
 To these four canes, two bearing and two growing, the usual 
 care is to be given through the summer and fall, as hereafter 
 directed. In the winter pruning the two bearing canes are 
 cut entirely out to a single bud, and you have again two shoots 
 
352 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 for the next season's fruit, Fig. 219 c, c, and two buds to form 
 growth, Fig. 219 a, a. If your vine has strengthened suffi- 
 ciently, the bearing canes may be left six feet long or more, 
 and a third growth-cane be provided for from a strong bud 
 near or on the main stem, Fig. 219 6. 
 
 This simple process, by w^hich the finest fruit is uniformly 
 produced, goes on from year to year without change, except 
 that, as the root of your vine increases in strength, you either 
 increase the number of the shoots you permit to grow, or add 
 to their length, or both. 
 
 The only rule in the case is to proportion the fruit canes 
 you leave to the capacity of the root, in view of its strength, 
 and the extent and richness of the space from which its sup- 
 plies are to be drawn, taking care to have at least an equal 
 number of growth-canes in preparation to succeed them in 
 bearing fruit the following year. 
 
 In many old vineyards of France and Germany the vines are 
 planted but from fom* to eight feet apart, and are never suffer- 
 ed to grow more than a few feet high, while in other circum- 
 stances a single vine may cover a vast area, and bear annually 
 hundreds of pounds of fruit. In general, it will be found bet- 
 ter, if otherwise suitable, to limit the number of bearing canes 
 and increase their length, not only on account of the easier 
 tending and beauty of display which it permits, but also be- 
 cause the finer fruit is commonly produced from canes of supe- 
 rior strength. 
 
 SUMMER PRUNING. 
 The summer pruning of the grape-vine should be begun at 
 the first appearance of the young leaf, all the pushing buds 
 that are not wanted being carefully broken off, permitting only 
 a single shoot to grow from each joint. Just before the blos- 
 soms open, remove all bunches that are small and weak, or in 
 excess, proportioning in the process the probable quantity of 
 fruit to the strength of the particular cane on which it is to 
 be borne, and the total quantity to the strength of the vine. 
 Suppress all weak, or irregular, or superfluous after-growth, 
 whether from the stem or main canes of the vine, limiting ab- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 353 
 
 solutely the number and direction of the shoots permitted to 
 grow to the pattern you propose to follow, and whether on ar- 
 bors, trellises, or stakes, confine each vine definitely to a given 
 space, and do not suffer it to run beyond it, but persistently 
 stop it at its boundary-line by nipping. 
 
 These things being done, the summer pruning of vines cul- 
 tivated upon the spur system, in which there is but one class 
 of growth, Fig. 217, becomes perfectly simple. The Avhole 
 proper young growth of the season must be shortened by nip- 
 ping each shoot at from three to five joints beyond the outer- 
 most bunch of fruit upon it, thus checking growth, yet leaving 
 sufficient foliage to fully elaborate the sap and preserve health 
 in the vine and fruit. 
 
 In the alternating system of cultivation there are two classes 
 of growth to be cared for, the bearing and non-bearing ; the 
 bearing canes, Fig. 218 6, 6, should be treated precisely as just 
 described for the spur system ; checking the young growth of 
 the season by careful but not excessive shortening, in order to 
 force the energies of the vine plant into the direction of fruit- 
 age instead of mere growth. 
 
 The non-bearing or growth-canes, starting from the buds 
 a, a, a, a. Fig. 218, must be laid carefully to their course and 
 tied securely. All side shoots thrown out from them must be 
 nipped, not close to the joint from which they proceed, as this 
 would be likely to force growth from the main bud of that 
 joint, which lies dormant at the base of the side shoot, and 
 upon the quiescence and strength of which your next year's 
 fruit depends, but nip them while quite tender at one or two 
 joints' distance from the main shoot, leaving them as spurs 
 upon it ; and when a second growth is put forth from the ex- 
 treme bud left, nip this again as often as may be needful ; and 
 just as the shortening of the whole growth in the bearing 
 canes concentrates the force of the vine in the fruit, so the 
 shortening of the side growth upon non-bearing canes concen- 
 trates it in the principal shoots, ripening their wood, enlarging 
 and strengthening their buds, and preparing them for yield- 
 ing a full crop of fruit in their season. It only remains to 
 limit the length of growth in these main non-bearing canes to 
 
354 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 their prescribed boundaries, whether allowing five feet or twen- 
 ty, nipping and renipping their extremities as may be required 
 to effect the object. 
 
 In doing this, leave at least one or two extra joints, to be cut 
 from the end in the winter pruning ; and if the canes are de- 
 sired to make cuttings, omit nipping the extremities of the main 
 shoots entirely until two or three weeks before the growth ceases 
 in the fall, which will afford time for perfectly maturing the 
 cane throughout its length. 
 
 Faithful summer pruning will be found not only essential to 
 the perfection of the growing crop, but largely conducive to 
 the amount and character of the next year's product ; it should, 
 however, be done regularly, and not neglected until its per- 
 formance becomes analogous to the French practice of strip- 
 ping off the leaves for fodder. American vines will not bear 
 this ; fullness of foliage is essential to their vigorous health ; 
 and, unless the leaves are so massed as to exclude air, the fruit 
 will ripen fairer and sweeter in their shade. 
 
 WINTER PRUNING. 
 
 The winter pruning of grape-vines in both systems is per- 
 formed, as already shown, by cutting out to a single bud all 
 the bearing canes of the preceding summer, cutting also clean 
 away all the side shoots or summer spurs of the new canes, and 
 shortening these to their proper length for producing the com- 
 ing crop, according to the bearing capacity of your vine. This 
 winter pruning may be properly performed at any convenient 
 time from the fall of the leaf to at least a month before the 
 actual opening of spring ; but the best time to do it is imme- 
 diately on the dropping of the foliage, chopping up all trim- 
 mings not required for cuttings, and burying them with the 
 fallen leaves around the vines from which they c^ime. The 
 green summer trimmings throughout the season should also be 
 either buried or strewn beneath the vines to decay, and not be 
 carried off. 
 
 The cuttings also may be made and planted before winter, as 
 directed page 197 ; or, if desired, the canes for cuttings may 
 be buried a few inches deep until spring. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN'. 
 
 355 
 
 Fig. 220. 
 
 GRAPE-HOUSE, 
 
 If a proper grapery is desired, its construction and manage- 
 ment may be learned 
 from any of the numer- 
 ous elaborate treatises 
 upon grape culture. But 
 any one may construct a 
 cheap cold grapery, as 
 shown in the figure, in 
 which foreign grapes, or 
 the more tender of our 
 own native kinds may be produced. 
 
 For this purpose, choose a spot facing as near south as pos- 
 sible ; if against a building or a bank wall, so much the better. 
 Trench the spot so chosen, and ten feet beyond where the front 
 of your house will come, to a depth of two feet or more, enrich- 
 ing it as you proceed with the various manures named p, 349. 
 If the subsoil is at all moist, throw into the bottom of each 
 trench, as you make it, loose stones, brick-bats, lime rubbish, 
 old boots and shoes, brush, &c., &c. 
 
 When this is finished and the ground settled, lay out your 
 house twelve feet wide, with the front two to four feet high and 
 the back twelve. Having set posts for the whole, board all 
 tight on both sides of the posts, as is usual in constnicting ice- 
 houses, leaving only an end door-Avay, and small openings for 
 ventilators along just beloAV the front and back plates, to be 
 closed either with hinged or sliding wooden or glass doors. 
 As you proceed with the boarding, fill in all between the posts 
 with sawdust, or dry tan, or swamp hay, or straw and charcoal 
 dust, or dried peat, or swamp-muck, pretty well packed down. 
 
 Having all smooth and ready, lay on your plates and arrange 
 the rafters, which will be something over fifteen feet long, and 
 may be three feet apart in the clear. This will require sashes 
 three feet wide, each having five rows of six-inch glass, or six 
 rows of five-inch. These sashes will rest, and may either be 
 fixed, or slide upon cleats nailed against the rafters, the front 
 plate being beveled so that the lower sashes will slide from 
 their cleats evenly over it, if desired. 
 
356 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 For the upper sashes, nail the cleats so as to bring the up- 
 per surface of the sash frames flush with the upper edge of the 
 rafters, while the lower end of each rests upon the back rail of 
 the lower sash, fitting closely, but so that it will slide over it 
 when it is desired to open the upper part of the house. These 
 sashes may be about six feet long, or the house may be made 
 sixteen feet wide, requiring rafters about nineteen, and sashes 
 seven feet or more long, and the small remaining portion of 
 the roof may be shingled or tightly boarded over, packing it as 
 the other boarded parts, if it is convenient. The frames of 
 such sashes, made of inch and a half or two-inch stuff, will 
 cost, without glass or painting, about one dollar each, and each 
 sash will hold from fifteen to eighteen feet of glass, which any 
 boy may put in. If you have no protection from bank wall or 
 building, you may, if convenient, add a small narrow shed along 
 the back, as shown in the figure. 
 
 Having your grape-house thus prepared, plant a vine under 
 each rafter ten or twelve inches inside the front, and another, 
 if you choose, immediately opposite, near the back. 
 
 By either the spur or alternating system of pruning, as de- 
 scribed for out-door culture, you gradually lead them up and 
 along just below the rafters until they meet. They require 
 careful summer pruning. Nip each bearing cane within two 
 or three buds of the fruit, and the small side shoots of the new 
 non-bearing canes uniformly to within one bud distance from 
 the cane, and repeat this nipping upon any second gi'owth that 
 may occur. See page 353. They also need frequent water- 
 ings, at least once a week, extending over the whole border, for 
 which soap-suds may be used. In bright weather, except while 
 blossoming, they should be syringed with tepid water three or 
 four times a week until the grapes are full grown, when water- 
 ing and syringing should gradually cease. 
 
 If the fruit is likely to crowd on the bunches, and there be 
 a fancy for peculiarly handsome bunches and fine berries, the 
 smaller berries may be thinned out Avith the grape scissors. 
 See Fig. 92 e, page 209, With this view, also, the number 
 of blossom bunches left at first may be specially limited. By 
 these combined means, under favorable circumstances, the fruit 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 357 
 
 will be much increased in size and improved in quality. If 
 the mildew occurs, scatter sulphur upon them immediately ; 
 and if the aphis attacks them, shut the house up, and either 
 with a furnace or patent fumigator or smoke it thoroughly with 
 tobacco, following this with heavy syringing. From first to last, 
 give them gradually, never suddenly, all the air you possibly can, 
 consistent with their protection from cold and sudden changes. 
 
 Careful pruning, plenty of air, and a temperature equable, 
 but rising with the advancing season, with syringing and wa- 
 tering, the artificial substitutes for dews and rains, complete 
 the circle of requisites in the treatment of a cold grapery. 
 
 In November the vines may be taken down and pruned for 
 spring, and being laid along upon the border, front and back, 
 must be covered with leaves, or mats, or straw, to preserve 
 them from frost through the winter. In March they should 
 be taken out and put up as before, first being carefully washed 
 throughout with soap-suds and a soft brush. 
 
 If you desire to convert your building into a warm grapery, 
 you may do so by putting in the heating apparatus described 
 page 475 for the green -house, giving it the same general care 
 and treatment as above directed for cold grapery, except that 
 the vines must be waslied ofi" and put up in January or Febru- 
 ary, or may be left up throughout the year ; and the heat, 
 whenever applied, must not be made strong at once, but grad- 
 ually and slowly raised to a summer temperatm^e. 
 
 If grapes are cultivated in the green-house, the vines must 
 be planted and laid down for winter just outside the front wall, 
 and may be introduced in proper season by raising the front 
 sash, from the lower corner of which a hole large enough for 
 the stem must be cut out. After the vine is in its place, this 
 must be closed around the stem by stuffing, and the outer por- 
 tion of the stem and the roots be well covered from the cold. 
 
 THE MULBERRY. 
 
 The mulberry is one of our abounding wild fruits, and is, 
 perhaps, worth};' of more attention and cultivation than it re- 
 ceives. The fruit resembles a long blax;kberry, and, if gath- 
 ered and eaten before it becomes dead ripe, has a pleasant 
 
358 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 221. 
 
 a. Fertile branch, witli fruit of natural size, and 
 leaf reduced nearly one half. 
 
 acid flavor; but if permitted to 
 ripen fully, it becomes of a pe- 
 culiar flavored faint sweet, and is 
 good only for chickens. The 
 white varieties are still more sick- 
 ly flavored than the red. 
 
 The Johnson Mulberry is an im 
 proved seedling from Ohio. 
 
 The European variety is larger and less elongated than the 
 American, and is by some esteemed for its flavor, but in this 
 respect it has similar defects. 
 
 The trees, which form a fine shade, may be transferred from 
 the woods, or raised from seed or cuttings. 
 
 h. Young branch, with its ament or 
 catkin, showing the stamens. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 359 
 
 The silk- worm feeds upon the leaves of almost every variety 
 of mulberry, but the white-fruited kinds, with the very large- 
 leaved ]Morus Multicaulis, are chiefly fed for silk. 
 
 VAJpiETIES, 
 
 Morus Rubra, or common wild red Mulberry (Fig. 221). 
 Morus Johnsonii, or Johnson's Mulberry. 
 Morus Nigra, or European Mulberry. 
 
 THE NECTARINE. 
 
 The Nectarine is a mere ^^"- ^^^" 
 
 sub-variety of the peach, 
 from the pits of which new 
 kinds of the nectarine are 
 sometimes "accidentally" 
 produced. It has a smooth 
 skin, and also some pleas- 
 ant peculiarities of flavor, 
 which render it a desirable 
 fruit ; but it is exposed to 
 the attacks of the curculio 
 and other insects to such 
 an extent as almost entire- 
 ly to discourage its culti- 
 vation. 
 
 It is treated in all re- 
 spects like the peach, tak- 
 ing the same precautions 
 against the worm in the 
 root, and adding, as paving 
 can not be resorted to, the 
 practice of jarring the cur- 
 culio into sheets, as direct- 
 ed for the plum, page 279. 
 
 In those districts of 
 country where the latter 
 
 fruit is successfully raised, b. Medium Nectarine. 
 
 the nectarine would probably succeed also, and would be found 
 a pleasant acquisition. 
 
360 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 NECTARINES 
 
 Numbered nearly in the order of ripening. 
 
 FREESTONES. 
 
 1. Early Violet. 
 
 2. Hunt's Tawney. 
 
 3. Hardwicke. 
 
 4. El Ruge. 
 
 5. New White. 
 
 6. Boston. 
 
 CLINGSTONES. 
 
 7. Newington. 8. Roman. 
 
 NUTS. 
 
 The butternut, Juglans cinerea ; the black walnut, Juglans 
 nigra ; the shatter-bark hickory-nut, Gary a alba ; and the 
 chestnut, Castanea Americana, which are common in the 
 Northern and Eastern States ; the chinquapin, or small chest- 
 nut, Castanea pumila, of Pennsylvania and southward ; with 
 the pecan-nut (French pacanier), Juglans oUvceformis, and 
 the peanut of the Southwest and South, are all familiar to 
 my readers. The Madeira-nut, Juglans regia, is a thin- shell- 
 ed and valuable nut, the trees of which are cultivated to some 
 extent among us, but which might probably be grafted upon 
 either the butternut or any variety of the hickory. There are 
 also a number of varieties of filbert, some of which are occa- 
 sionally seen, but seldom in the green state, in our markets. 
 They generally have thinner shells, and better flavored and 
 larger kernels than the hazel-nut ; they are rather elongated 
 in form, and the husk of some kinds is peculiarly and hand- 
 somely fringed. 
 
 The varieties are the Cosford, the Red-kerneled, the White, 
 the Frizzled. They are all easily raised from offshoots, or may 
 be grafted with perfect success upon the common hazel-nut. 
 
 There is a rather new small nut, which, though not a tree, 
 may be mentioned here. It is the Earth Almond or " Chufa," 
 Cyperus esculentus. This sweet and pleasant nut is pro- 
 duced abundantly upon the roots of a plant that resembles low 
 tussock grass. The nuts, which are about the size of lai-ge 
 bush beans, should be planted or sown in drills twelve or 
 eighteen inches apart, and an inch deep, at corn-planting 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 B61 
 
 Fig. 223. 
 
 time, and require during their growth only ordinary and not 
 deep culture, with a slight earthing up in the process. The 
 first frost in fall changes the foliage, after which they may be 
 taken up at any time before severe cold, and dried and stored 
 for winter use. They require to be washed or cleaned by fric- 
 tion, and may be eaten as chestnuts, either raw or boiled. 
 They are native in Southern Europe, and are supposed to be 
 nutritive and fattening. In certain soils and localities, how- 
 ever, they might become troublesome as an ineradicable knot 
 grass, of which the plant is a cultivated variety, 
 
 OLIVE. 
 
 The Olive is a small dark or green plum-like fruit, which, 
 while quite tender, is used for making pick- 
 les. For this purpose they are steeped 
 in weak ley, washed off, and bottled in 
 brine, with sweet fennel or spice for fla- 
 voring. 
 
 They are, however, chiefly valuable for 
 the sweet limpid oil they yield, which in 
 Southern Europe enters largely into the 
 ordinary course of cookery, forms a sub- 
 stitute for butter and cream, and is es- 
 teemed as affording both comforts and lux- 
 uries in families. It forms also an im- 
 portant article of commerce. The tree at- 
 tains a height of perhaps twenty feet, 
 bears in a few years after planting, prefers 
 the rockiest limestone regions, such as is 
 the Mount of Olives in sacred story, and 
 is very long lived. It is also tolerably hardy, and probably 
 might be raised to profit at the South. The tree is propagated 
 readily from seeds, cuttings, or layers, and also by small knot- 
 buds, or " eggs," which are formed upon the trunk, and which 
 are planted in the same manner as the seeds, the latter, how- 
 ever, producing the best trees. It might doubtless be grafted 
 successfully on the common wild olive or " devil-wood." 
 
 Q 
 
 a. i-ingle fruit. 
 
 b. Branch with 
 fruit. 
 
362 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 THE ORANGE, LEMON, LIME, CITRON, AND SHADDOCK. 
 
 Fig. 224 
 
 rf. Citron. 
 
 For all these fruits, the wild orange of the South affords a 
 ready supply of suitable stocks upon which they may be bud- 
 ded or grafted. In forming orange orchards, the trees may be 
 planted from eight to twenty feet apart, in rich, strong sod. 
 
 There is a considerable variety of oranges, some of which 
 have red pulp, and all fragrant blossoms. The Bergamot va- 
 riety yields the essence known by that name, by distillation 
 from its flowers, fruit, and leaves. The Bitter or Seville or- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 363 
 
 ange is valued for making 
 marmalade. Of the eat- 
 able kinds, the St. Micha- 
 el's, though small, is most 
 esteemed for its delightful 
 sweetness. There is also 
 a sweet lemon grown in 
 Italy, which resembles a 
 second-rate orange. 
 
 The lemon is the well- 
 known fine acid fruit of 
 
 [^haddock. 
 
 commerce. 
 
 The lime is a smaller and somewhat inferior fruit, but is 
 especially esteemed in the green state for preserves. 
 
 The citron is a rough fruit, with a very thick rind, larger 
 than the largest lemon, but inferior in the quality of its acid. 
 The candied citron of the confectioners is made from its skin. 
 
 The shaddock is a still larger fruit, in form more resembling 
 the orange, curious but worthless. 
 
 THE PEACH. 
 
 Of the two distinct classes into which peaches are divided, 
 as freestones or clings, the cultivation of the latter has been 
 almost entirely abandoned, the exceptions consisting of a few 
 kinds of peculiar excellence or for special uses, as the Heath 
 and Lemon clings. Their other natural division into white, or 
 yellow, or red fleshed, is equally marked, and furnishes some 
 aid in making selections. The finer white-fleshed varieties 
 furnish those of a more sugary and sometimes aromatic flavor ; 
 the choice yellow - fleshed are almost uniformly vinous and 
 sprightly ; the red-fleshed or blood peach is usually more acid 
 than is agreeable, except for preserving. 
 
 There are two common forms of the peach, which are of 
 some distinctness, the round and the long. Generally the 
 rounder forms (Fig. 225 a), which are also often slightly flat- 
 tened, or apple-form, indicate the higher grades of the fruit, 
 and include almost the whole list of superior peaches. 
 
 The elongated and compressed forms, with sometimes a heavy 
 
364 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 225, a. 
 
 suture (Fig. 225 b), approximating more nearly to the natural 
 
 Fig. 225, b. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 365 
 
 and thinner-fleshed form of the almond, include almost all the 
 inferior varieties down to those known as " hog peaches." 
 
 Until within the last thirty years, the peach-tree grew so 
 luxuriantly, and bore so abundantly without any care, that the 
 little labor which it now requires to bring it to maturity and 
 renew it every two or three years, since it can not be perpetu- 
 ated, is not unfrequently neglected or begrudged. It is still 
 the most easily raised of all our larger fruits. A few pits from 
 common and healthy fruit, kept and planted as directed page 
 204, will furnish stocks of from tlu'ee to five feet high, ready 
 for budding the first fall, upon which fruit of the finer varieties 
 may be expected in the third or fourth year from the pit. If 
 from any cause seedling peach stocks are not budded in the 
 fall of their first year, unless a high-stemmed stock is desired, 
 cut them down to the ground early in the following spring, 
 and permit a single shoot to grow from the stump for budding 
 in the succeeding fall. The necessity for this course should 
 be avoided by timely planting of the pits, careful summer cul- 
 ture of the young plants, and attention to budding and unbind- 
 ing in proper season ; but if it becomes necessary, it is better 
 than to leave the stock to an uninterrupted second year's 
 growth. The young trees may be set out and headed down ei- 
 ther the following spring before the bud starts, or, being headed 
 down, as directed page 225, may be left to stand another year, 
 when the growth from the bud will vary from four to seven or 
 eight feet high. 
 
 In their culture, from the start, let the head of the tree be 
 kept moderately open by cutting out a foot or two of the ex- 
 tremity or leader of the first year's growth from the bud, thin- 
 ning the branches annually afterward, and every spring short- 
 ening each young shoot one half of its growth of the previous 
 year. Set your peach-trees where they can be kept clean, and 
 cultivated as summer crops, and never, if it can be avoided, 
 where the sod is to remain unbroken around them. If this can 
 not be conveniently avoided, treat them with liquid manure re- 
 peatedly through the summer over a space somewhat larger 
 than the spread of the top, and dress in the spring with ash 
 compost or guano to the same extent ; yet be careful in all 
 
366 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 cases not to stimulate them too highly, especially in northern 
 latitudes, or they will probably be winter-killed. 
 
 For modes of treating the worm and yellows, see pages 262 
 and 277. 
 
 In orchard culture, the trees are set out at from twelve to 
 fifteen feet apart, and cultivated with the plow, more or less of 
 summer crops, as potatoes, &c., being raised between them. 
 The trees usually yield two or three crops and die, being suc- 
 ceeded by new plantings upon other spots. Under this system, 
 the light sands of New Jersey and the richer soils of Delaware 
 furnish the immense annual supplies which, unless cut off by 
 frost, glut our city markets. 
 
 SELECT LIST OP PEACHES, 
 
 Numbered nearly in the order in wJiich they will ripen in any 
 given soil and latitude^ with their usual time of ripening at 
 New York. 
 
 The size of this fruit depends so much upon soil, culture, 
 &c., that I have not deemed it worth while to note it particu- 
 larly. Those marked with a star are yellow-fleshed. 
 
 FREESTONES. 
 
 Tillotsoii, ripens early in August. 
 
 Troth's Early, early in August. 
 
 Gross Mignonne, mid-August. 
 
 Coolidge's Favorite, mid- August. 
 
 Early York (Serrate), after mid- 
 August. 
 
 Walter's Earty, late August. 
 
 Ked Rareripe (Morris's), last of 
 August. 
 
 George the Fourth, late August. 
 
 Crawford's Early, last of August. 
 
 Noblesse, last of August. 
 
 Oldmixon Free, early in Septem- 
 ber. 
 
 *12. 
 
 13. 
 *14. 
 
 *17. 
 
 20, 
 
 Bergen Yellow, early in Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 Nivette, early in September. 
 
 Scott's Nonpareil, mid-Septem- 
 ber. 
 
 Morris Wliite, September. 
 
 Late Admirable, mid- Septem- 
 ber. 
 
 Crawford's Late, after mid-Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 Druid Hill, last of September. 
 
 La Grange, last of September 
 and into October. 
 
 Ward's Late, early in October. 
 
 81. Oldmixon Cling, early in Sep- 
 tember. 
 *22. Lemon Cling, after mid-Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 23. Hyslop's Cling, early in Octo- 
 
 ber. 
 
 24. Heath Cling, October, and keeps. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 367 
 
 THE PEAR. 
 
 If there is some difl&culty in making choice of an assortment 
 of apples, there is still more in suitably selecting pears. 
 
 This arises not only from the great number of kinds, in- 
 creased by the annual introduction of new ones, but also still 
 more from the generally perishable nature of the fruit, and its 
 extreme liability to vary in character, and often to become 
 worthless from peculiarities of soil, season, or general climate. 
 Individual taste has also more to do with the reputation of 
 pears than perhaps with that of any other fruit, comparatively 
 few persons having such a range of acquaintance with kinds as 
 to qualify them to form a discriminating judgment by compar- 
 ison. 
 
 A gentleman who, in his youth, had eaten pears from a cer- 
 tain tree, and remembered them as finer than any others he had 
 ever tasted, rode forty miles to enjoy again the favorite of his 
 boyhood, and to obtain scions that he might place it foremost 
 in his fruit garden, but he found it utterly worthless in com- 
 parison with those he already possessed. The circle of his 
 knowledge had been enlarged, and his maturer judgment did 
 not verify the impression of his inexperience. 
 
 We have, however, attempted to name an assortment of kinds 
 that will not disappoint the cultivator, although in reference 
 to some of them much diversity of opinion still exists, and care- 
 ful attention to the remarks on introducing new varieties (pages 
 190 and 192) is especially urged in this connection. 
 
 Pear-trees generally, if on good seedling stocks, form longer, 
 and fewer, and less fibrous roots than apple or cheny-trees. It 
 is therefore peculiarly proper that they should be set out while 
 small, having their roots well shortened, and the top cut back 
 to balance. A strong cedar, or locust, or chestnut- stake, deep- 
 ly set by each tree, will defend it ; and if the tree be of irreg- 
 ular or drooping habit, the stake may be used to support it, and 
 aid in training it upward. See page 246. Many kinds of 
 pear-trees have habits of growth that render them unsightly, 
 and make it sometimes difficult to secure the fruit, the tree be- 
 
368 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 ing either straggling or rampant. Such should be carefully 
 watched and summer pruned by nipping, and, if need be, by 
 cutting back in August. The Seckel, and, still more striking- 
 ly, the Lodge, when growing naturally on moderate soil, afford 
 models for the general formation of the head of pear-trees, al- 
 though each of these may need to have the young cross- shoots 
 nipped out, and occasionally, perhaps, the shortening of a vig- 
 orous upright leader. 
 
 The distance for planting pear-trees may be from twenty to 
 thirty feet each way, the trees being alternated or in diamond 
 form, not in precise squares. Dwarfed pears may be set from 
 six to ten feet apart. 
 
 The best soil for pears, in general, is a deep warm loam, but 
 there are varieties suited to all soils ; and even from those 
 which are cold and unpromising, if the hardier and sweeter 
 summer and fall varieties are selected, fruit of fair quality may 
 be obtained, if it is properly treated after being gathered. 
 
 Winter pears may be suffered to hang as long as they are 
 safe from frost, but all the varieties of summer and fall pears 
 should be gathered before they " turn" upon the tree, and be 
 kept in a warm, dry room to hasten their ripening ; but if it be 
 an object to retard this, or for all winter kinds, let them be 
 wrapped and packed in barrels or boxes as directed for the finer 
 apples, page 289. On being brought from their cool place of 
 deposit into the warmth in such small quantities as may fi-om 
 time to time be desirable, they will ripen promptly and finely 
 for use. 
 
 There are as yet but few very fine winter or spring varieties 
 of pears, and the variableness of character above referred to is 
 perhaps more noticeable and more discouraging to the cultiva- 
 tor in these than in the ordinary summer and fall kinds, but 
 such as we have will well repay the care needed for preserving 
 and ripening them. 
 
 Winter pears, suitable for cooking, abound, and may be kept 
 safely in barrels in the same manner as apples ; and when baked 
 or stewed as directed for the latter, page 289, but with water 
 enough to cover them, they constitute another healthful and 
 pleasant substitute for indigestible sweetmeats or preserves. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 369 
 
 SELECT LIST OF PEARS 
 
 Numbered nearly in the order in ivhicJi they will ripen in 
 any given soil and latitude. 
 
 Most of the kinds will succeed dwarfed upon the quince, 
 perhaps especially the varieties named from 1 to 11. See 
 page 206, In a few kinds the size and quality of the fruit 
 will be improved by this process, particularly Louise Bonne de 
 Jersey, Beurre Diel, Duchesse d'Angouleme, and some others. 
 The ordinary time of their ripening at New York accompanies 
 the figure and description given below. 
 
 1. Madeline. 
 
 22. 
 
 Petre. 
 
 2. Bloodgood. 
 
 23. 
 
 Seckel. 
 
 3. Dearborn's Seedling. 
 
 24. 
 
 Virgalieu (or White Doyenne). 
 
 4. Julienne. 
 
 25. 
 
 Gray Virgalieu (or Gray Doy- 
 
 5. Tyson. 
 
 
 enne). 
 
 6. Rostiezer. 
 
 26. 
 
 Beurre Diel. 
 
 7. Summer Franc Real. 
 
 27. 
 
 Duchesse d'Angouleme. 
 
 8. Bartlett. 
 
 28. 
 
 Dix. 
 
 9. Canandaigua. 
 
 29. 
 
 Onondaga. 
 
 10. Vanilla. 
 
 30. 
 
 Oswego Beurre. 
 
 11. Stevens's Genesee. 
 
 31. 
 
 Beurre d'Aremberg. 
 
 12. Dunmore. 
 
 32. 
 
 Glout Morceau. 
 
 13. Heathcot. 
 
 33. 
 
 Passe Colmar. 
 
 14. Fondante d'Automne. 
 
 34. 
 
 Lawrence. 
 
 15. Lodge. 
 
 35. 
 
 Columbia. 
 
 16. Flemish Beauty. 
 
 36. 
 
 Knight's Monarch. 
 
 17. Maria Louisa. 
 
 37. 
 
 Chaumontelle. 
 
 18. Ananas. 
 
 38. 
 
 Winter Nelis. 
 
 19. Louise Bonne de Jersey. 
 
 39. 
 
 Winter Bell. 
 
 20. Beurre Bosc. 
 
 40. 
 
 Easter Beurre. 
 
 21. Urbaniste. 
 
 
 
 Heretofore the orchard cultivation of winter pears, either for 
 eating out of hand or cooking, has not been extensively pur- 
 sued ; a few of the larger kinds of the latter class have for 
 .many years been raised for exportation to the West Indies and 
 the extreme South. The cultivation of both classes might, no 
 doubt, be profitably extended. Those calculated for cooking 
 only, as the Winter Bell, Cattillac, and Black Pear of Worces- 
 ter, may be successfully raised in localities and on soils too cold 
 for the production of the others. 
 
 Q2 
 
370 
 
 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 226. 
 
 1. MADELINE, 
 
 Tree erect and very vigor- 
 ous ; young shoots olive. 
 
 Bears early and well, but is 
 subject to sour-sap blight, par- 
 ticularly in rich, moist soils. 
 
 Fruit below medium ; almost 
 obovate ; smooth yellowish- 
 green. 
 
 Flesh white, melting, juicy ; 
 sweet, sometimes slightly acid. 
 
 Matures from the middle to 
 the last of July. Should be 
 gathered in season, and ripened 
 in the house. 
 
 2. BLOODGOOD. 
 Fig. 227. 
 
 Tree of free but not 
 vigorous growth ; shoots 
 reddish - brown. Hardy, 
 and bears well. 
 
 Fruit below medium ; 
 pretty uniformly turbin- 
 ate ; dull yellow, slightly 
 russeted. 
 
 Flesh yellowish- white, 
 buttery, melting. 
 
 Flavor rich, sweet, and 
 aromatic. 
 
 Ripens best in the 
 house, from last of July 
 to near mid- August. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 371 
 
 Fig. 228. 
 
 dearborn's seedling. 
 
 Tree vigorous, rather spread- 
 ing ; shoots dark brown. Bears 
 abundantly in all soils. 
 
 Fruit small ; regularly tur- 
 binate ; light clear yellow, with 
 a little russet. Skin very 
 thin. 
 
 Flesh white, juicy, melting. 
 
 Flavor sweet and sprightly, 
 with a pleasant perfume. 
 
 4. JULIENNE. 
 Fig. 229. 
 
 Tree thrifty, upright ; 
 shoots light yellowish- 
 brown. A good and con- 
 stant bearer, but suited 
 only for rich, warm soils 
 and favorable localities ; 
 requiring high culture. 
 
 Fruit below medium ; 
 regular obovate ; clear 
 yelloAV. 
 
 Flesh white, and half 
 buttery, not fine-grained. 
 
 Flavor sweet, sometimes very slightly astringent, and, when 
 raised in warm soils, with house ripening, very good. 
 
 Ripens in the latter part of August. 
 
372 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 5. TYSON. 
 
 Fig. 230. 
 
 Tree erect, of ^rcat vigor ; 
 shoots dark olive. Bears well. 
 
 Fruit small ; nearly pyri- 
 form ; dull ycllowish-grcen, 
 with a reddisli-])rown cheek, 
 and a little russeted. 
 
 Flesh not fine-grained, but 
 extremely juicy and melting. 
 
 Flavor sweet, rich, and per- 
 fumed. One of the best sum- 
 mer pears. Ripens last of 
 August and onward. 
 
 Tree upright, vigorous ; 
 young shoots dark red- 
 dish-brown. Bears well. 
 
 Fruit nearly medium ; 
 short piriform, irregular ; 
 yellow, a little russet, with 
 red-brown cheek. 
 
 Flesh white, fine-grain- 
 ed, melting, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor sugary, aromat- 
 ic, and fine. Ripens last 
 of August. 
 
 C. ROSTIEZEE. 
 Fig. 231. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 373 
 
 7. SUMMER FRANC REAL. 
 Fig. 232. 
 
 Tree hardy, and of moderate growth ; young shoots downy. 
 Bears well in all soils. 
 
 Fruit nearly medium ; somewhat obovatc, largest in the mid- 
 dle, ami tapering pretty equally e;K;h way ; yellowish-green. 
 
 Flesh white, fine-grained, buttery, and melting. 
 
 Flavor sweet, rich, and excellent. Ripens last of August 
 and first of September. 
 
 The Franc Real is one of the most desirable of summer 
 pears. In favorable circumstances it is almost uniformly of 
 fair size, and perfect. Its character is very decidedly above 
 that of any pear which precedes it in ripening ; and with its 
 facility of adaptation to various soils, its healthful growth, and 
 good bearing (j^ualities, it will be found an acquisition to the 
 fruit plot. Its name is said to be derived from a Spanish gold 
 coin. 
 
374 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 8. BARTLETT. 
 
 Fig. 233. 
 
 Tree upright, and tolerably thrifty ; young shoots yellowish- 
 brown. Bears early and freely. 
 
 Fruit large to very large ; variable in form, mostly obtuse 
 pyriform, often almost oval pyriform, imperfectly pyramidal, 
 sometimes nearly obovate ; clear yellow when ripe, with some- 
 times a blush cheek, and smooth but wavy surface. Stem 
 rather short. 
 
 Flesh white, fine-grained, juicy, and melting. 
 
 Flavor fine, sprightly, vinous, with a pleasant perfume. In 
 cold soils and unfavorable localities subacid or almost acid. 
 
 Ripens from mid- August to mid-September. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 375 
 
 9. CANANDAIGUA. 
 
 Tree extremely vigorous, throwing up a growth of six or 
 Fig. 234. eight feet from the 
 
 graft in one season, 
 demanding careful 
 cutting back to give 
 strength of stem, 
 otherwise apt to lop 
 and grow unsym- 
 metrically. Young 
 shoots dark olive- 
 green, erect. An 
 early and heavy 
 bearer. Fruit large 
 to very large, irreg- 
 ular pyriform, some- 
 times almost oval 
 pyriform ; dull yel- 
 low, with thin rus- 
 set spots, and many 
 small obscure inden- 
 tations of surface. 
 Stem rather long. 
 
 Flesh yellowish- 
 white, fine-grained, 
 buttery, perfectly 
 melting, and very 
 juicy. 
 
 Flavor rich vinous and perfumed. Ripens with the Bart- 
 lett from the last of August to the middle of September ; is 
 sometimes sold for Bartlett, which it often closely resembles, 
 but is probably, on the whole, superior to it. 
 
 It is an American pear of striking and peculiar excellences ; 
 and though the place and date of its origin are in uncertainty, 
 it has, by common consent, received the name of Canandaigua, 
 having at least been most largely disseminated from that beau- 
 tiful village and region. 
 
376 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 10. VANILLA. 
 
 rig. 235. 
 
 Tree upright, of free growth while young, but checking with 
 its early and abundant bearing, and forming a somewhat spread- 
 ing head. Young shoots dark olive-brown. Fruit medium 
 or below, especially when bearing heavily ; round, obovate, 
 slightly imequal-sided ; bright grass-green, becoming yellow, 
 with a few russet spots, and a little light brown russet at the 
 insertion of the stem aiid in the eye. 
 
 Flesh white, fine-grained, buttery, and melting. 
 
 Flavor peculiarly high, rich, and aromatic, with a vanilla 
 fragrance. Ripens about the last of September. 
 
 The original tree of this exquisite pear was found and still 
 stands upon the old Huguenot Church property at New Ro- 
 chelle, Westchester county, whence it has been disseminated 
 to a limited extent under the names of " Church" and " New 
 
AMEBIC AN HOME GARDEN. 377 
 
 Rochelle" pear, and perhaps also by other names in different 
 localities ; but the name given above is to be preferred, as de- 
 scriptive of its most obvious peculiarity when carefully and 
 properly ripened. 
 
 11. STEVENS'S GENESEE. 
 Fig. 236. 
 
 Tree of great vigor, young shoots dark gray, diverging, sub- 
 ject to sour-sap blight. A good bearer. 
 
 Fruit above medium, round, obovate, light yellow, a little 
 rough. Flesh white, half buttery, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor fine rich aromatic. Ripens in September. 
 
 This pear is said to be a native of Livingston county, and is 
 one of the most valuable of the new pears which Western New 
 York has furnished. It belongs to the class of Bergamot pears, 
 of which hitherto there have been few good ones, except Gan- 
 sell's. It, however, requires guarding against the risk of sour- 
 sap blight, to which it is subject. See page 261. 
 
378 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 12. DUNMORE. 
 Fig. 237. 
 
 Tree of rather strong growth, young shoots brownish slate- 
 color, erect. A very good bearer, its blossoms standing pretty 
 hard frosts without injury. Fruit large, oblong-obovate, green- 
 ish, with some brownish-red russet. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, buttery, and very melting. Flavor 
 variable. With high culture, in favorable circumstances, rich 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 379 
 
 and high-flavored ; in opposite conditions often worthless. It 
 is suited to warm soils and locations. Ripens from middle of 
 September to October. 
 
 13. HEATHCOT. 
 
 Fig. 23S. 
 
 Tree upright, thrifty, and hardy, with reddish-brown shoots. 
 An abundant bearer. 
 
 Fruit medium, obovate or slightly rounded ; greenish-yel- 
 low, with considerable thin russet. Flesh white, buttery, rath- 
 er juicy and melting. 
 
 Flavor vinous, sprightly, and perfumed. Ripens last of 
 September. 
 
 This fruit, which originated in Massachusetts less than half 
 a century ago, though not of the very highest quality, is valu- 
 able for garden or orchard culture. 
 
a8o 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 14. FONDANTE D'aUTOMNE. 
 Fig. 239. 
 
 Tree hardy, of moderate upright growth ; shoots yellowish- 
 gray, A good bearer, but suited to dry, warm soils. 
 
 Fruit medium, obovate, pyriform ; pale greenish-yellow, with 
 slight russet. Flesh white, fine-grained, melting, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor very variable ; in suitable soil, rich, sugary, per- 
 fumed, and delicious ; in moist soils often worthless. Ripens 
 in the latter part of September. 
 
 This is a Flemish fruit, and strikingly illustrates the re- 
 marks we have made on the effect of soil and the diversity in 
 individual estimate of the character of pears. In fltvorable cir- 
 cumstances it is of very superior quality, and meets the high- 
 est commendation ; in opposite conditions its character is quite 
 inferior, and it is deemed a worthless outcast. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 :JH1 
 
 15. LOIXiE. 
 I'ii;. 240. 
 
 Tree uy)ri^lit, of mo<lerate growth, forming naturally a per- 
 fectly symmetrical "model" head, through which the fruit 
 hanf^s singly. Young shoots light brown, with gray specks ; 
 short jointed. Bears well annually, even while quite young. 
 Rcf[uires warm soil and care north of latitude 4{P. Fruit 
 of medium size (the figure is small), variable, generally pyri- 
 form, a little one - sided, but sometimes angular or ribbed ; 
 greenish, covered with clear brown russet. 
 
 Flesh white, very juicy, melting, and vinous ; when fully 
 ripe, excellent. South of Now York it matures thoroughly, and 
 stands deservedly high. Ripens about the last of 8ei)tember. 
 
382 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 16. FLEMISH BEAUTY. 
 
 Fig. 241. 
 
 Tree of very luxuriant growth, upright. 
 
 Young shoots dark brown. Bears young and freely, of fair, 
 handsome fruit. 
 
 Fruit large obovate, rather rough, and slightly russeted ; 
 pale yellow, with a reddish-brown cheek. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, rather coarse, but melting and juicy. 
 
 Flavor variable. In warm soils, and with early gathering 
 and house-ripening, it is rich, sugary, aromatic, and excellent, 
 but if left too long on the tree it is apt to soften at the core and 
 become flavorless. Ripens the last of September, and should 
 be eaten without delav. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 383 
 
 17. MARIA LOUISA. 
 
 Tree of strong but straggling growth. 
 
 Shoots olive-gray ; a good bearer, suited to warm soils and 
 locations, and high culture. 
 
 Fruit large, pyriform, inclining to oblong ; unequal-sided. 
 Greenish, with some light russet. 
 
 Flesh white, melting, and buttery. 
 
 Flavor quite variable ; in suitable conditions, rich, sugary, 
 and finely vinous. Ripens last of September and October. 
 
384 
 
 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 18. ANANAS. 
 Fig. 243. 
 
 Tree vigorous. 
 
 Young shoots dark brown or olive ; an early and regular 
 bearer. 
 
 Fruit uniformly above medium, often large, roundish obovate, 
 but variable, sometimes angular or oval obovate ; dull yellow- 
 ish-green, marbled with rough brown russet. 
 
 Flesh whitish, fine-grained, melting, and buttery. 
 
 Flavor sweet, rich, and perfumed. Ripens in all Septembei*. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 385 
 
 19. LOUISE BONNE DE JERSEY, 
 Fig. 244. 
 
 Tree upriglit, vigorous, and hardy. 
 
 Young shoots dark brown or purplish -olive, with gray specks. 
 A very good bearer of uniformly fair fruit. 
 
 Fruit above medium or large ; regular pyriform, or very 
 slightly one-sided ; pale green, with grayish dots and brown- 
 ish-red cheek. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, juicy, and melting. 
 
 Flavor rich, rather vinous, excellent. Ripens from middle 
 of September into October. 
 
 R 
 
386 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 20. BEURRE BOSC. 
 
 Fig. 245. 
 
 Tree of moderate vigor and straggling growth. 
 Young shoots brownish-olive. Bears fairly and regularly. 
 Fruit pretty long-ncckcd or acute pyriform ; yellow, with 
 some light russet, and a brownish-red in the sun. 
 Flesh white, melting, and buttery. 
 Flavor rich, sweet, and perfumed. Ripens through October. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 387 
 
 21. URBANISTE. 
 1 ig. 24C. 
 
 Tree upright, healthful, and moderately vigorous. 
 
 Young shoots grayish-yellow. Not an early, but a good 
 hearer, and suiting well in rich soils. 
 
 Fruit medium obovate, inclining to pyramidal ; light yellow, 
 with gray dots and some russet. 
 
 Flesh white or yellowish, buttery, melting, and very juicy. 
 
 Flavor rich, perfumed, vinous, or sweet. Ripens in the house 
 through October and November. 
 
 The Urbaniste resembles the Virgalieu in quality, and some- 
 what also in appearance, though, in general, rather smaller. It 
 is of fine healthful growth, and, once in bearing, continues to 
 yield its fruit regularly and abundantly. 
 
388 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 22. PETRE. 
 Fig. 247. 
 
 Tree of moderate growth. 
 
 Young shoots slender, yellowish-brown. A good bearer. 
 
 Fruit medium obovate, pyriform ; light yellow, with some 
 greenish russet. 
 
 Flesh whitish, fine-grained, buttery. 
 
 Flavor sweet, rich, with a high mvisky flavor when in per- 
 fection. Ripens in October, and keeps into November. 
 
 This is a desirable and valuable pear of the Virgalieu class, 
 which, if gathered early, may be kept for some time. It was 
 raised in Philadelphia by Mr. Bartram, from seed sent to him 
 from London in 1735 by Lord Petre. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 389 
 
 23. SECKEL. 
 
 f''s- 243. Tree of healthful, but not 
 
 rapid growth, forming a com- 
 pact symmetrical head, not 
 attaining a very large size. 
 
 Young shoots brown-olive, 
 stout and short. A good and 
 regular bearer. 
 
 Fruit small obovate, red- 
 dish-brown. 
 
 Flesh Avhite, buttery, juicy, 
 and melting. 
 
 Flavor peculiarly high, rich, 
 and aromatic. The very finest 
 of pears. Ripens in the house 
 through September and Octo- 
 ber, or later. 
 
 This small but exquisite frait stands deservedly at the head 
 of all pears for its peculiarly rich, high flavor. There is no 
 European variety that resembles or compares with it. It is 
 not a result of careful, intelligent cultivation, but, like many 
 of our foremost fruits, an " accidental variety," the precise der- 
 ivation of which is unknown. 
 
 The original tree was found near the Delaware, a few miles 
 from Philadelphia, and was in bearing at the period of the 
 Revolution ; but the fruit remained in obscurity until the land 
 on which the parent tree stood, and perhaps still stands, became 
 the property of Mr. Seckel, after whom the pear is named, and 
 by whom it was first brought to public notice. 
 
 24. viRGALiEU {Fig. 249). 
 
 Tree upright, of medium strength. 
 
 Young shoots light brown ; productive. 
 
 Fruit medium or above, obovate, variable, sometimes almost 
 pyriform ; pale clear yellow, speckled with small dots, some- 
 times having a fine red cheek. 
 
 Flesh white, very fijie-graincd, buttery, nnd melting. 
 
390 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 249. 
 
 Flavor rich and exquisite, second only to the Seckeh Rip- 
 ens in the house through October and November. 
 
 25. GRAY VIRGALIEU. 
 
 Tree upright, tolerably vigorous, healthier than the Virga- 
 lieu. 
 
 Young shoots grayish-brown, or brown with gray dots. A 
 good and constant bearer. 
 
 Fruit medium, roundish obovate, covered with rather light 
 or golden russet when perfectly ripe. 
 
 Flesh white, very fine-grained, melting, buttery. 
 
 Flavor rich and exquisite, similar to the " Virgalieu," but 
 ripens a little later. 
 
 In cold or unfavoral)]o soils or localities this fine pear some- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 Fig. 250. 
 
 •M)l 
 
 times blasts, but succeeds -well near New York city and south 
 of it. 
 
 26. BEURRE DIEL (Fig. 251). 
 
 Tree quite vigorous, but twisting in its growth. 
 
 Young shoots dark grayish-brown. A good bearer, suited 
 with high culture and warm soil and season. 
 
 Fruit large, obovate to obtuse pyriform, uneven, of a green- 
 ish-yellow, becoming deep yellow, with large spots of russet. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, somewhat coarse, half melting, and 
 sometimes buttery. 
 
 Flavor variable ; when well ripened, rich, sugary, and excel- 
 lent. Ripens tlirough October and November. 
 
392 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 I-ig. 251. 
 
 27, DUCHESSE D'ANGOULEME. 
 
 Tree of upright, very strong growth, its luxuriance often re- 
 quiring to be cheeked by summer or root pruning. 
 
 Young shoots light yellowish-brown, A fair bearer ; best 
 suited to warm soils and latitudes. 
 
 Fruit very large, generally obtuse pyriform or oblong-obo- 
 vate ; surface knobby and uneven, greenish-yellow, with spots 
 and streaks of russet. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, rather coarse, juicy, melting, and but- 
 tery. 
 
AMEKICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 252. 
 
 'MVi 
 
 Flavor very variable ; on quince stocks, or where the fruit is 
 perfected, rich and very good, but worthless on pear stocks at 
 the north. Ripens from October to November. 
 
 28. Dix (Fig. 253). 
 
 Tree erect and of moderate vigor. 
 
 Young shoots slender, pale yellow, not coming into bearing 
 early, but hardy and productive Avhen of age. 
 
 R 2 
 
394 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GAEDEN. 
 
 Fig. 253. 
 
 Fruli large, oblong pyriform, rather rough, deep yellow, with 
 spots of russet. 
 
 Flesh not very fine-grained, but juicy and melting. 
 Flavor rich, sugary, and vinous, with a fine aroma. 
 Ripens through October and November. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 395 
 
 The original tree of this variety stands in the garden of Mrs. 
 Dix, of Boston, after whom the fruit is named, and has been in 
 bearing only about thirty years. It does not bear well while 
 young, which may be regarded as an advantage on the whole, 
 and as indicating soundness of constitution, and warranting the 
 expectation of a fruitful and prolonged maturity. 
 
 29. ONONDAGA. 
 Fig. 254 
 
 Tree upright, vigorous. 
 Young shoots yellowish-green or light olive, 
 regular bearer. 
 
 An early and 
 
396 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fruit large, variable, obovate or oval pyriform ; golden yel- 
 low when fully ripe, with russet dots, and sometimes a faint 
 blush cheek. 
 
 Flesh white, juicy, and buttery. 
 
 Flavor varying ; at its best, rich, aromatic, and vinous, or 
 slightly subacid. Ripens in October and November. 
 
 30. OSWEGO. 
 
 Fig. 255. 
 
 Tree hardy and vigorous, of rather spreading habit. 
 
 Young shoots reddish-brown, with many distinct gray dots. 
 Bears early and abundantly. 
 
 Fruit medium, roundish obovate ; dull yellowish-green, with 
 spots of thin russet 
 
 Flesh white, melting, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor sprightly, vinous, or almost sweet. . Ripens in Octo- 
 ber and November. 
 
 This is a native of Western New York, hardy, very produc- 
 tive, and an early bearer either on pear or quince, 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 397 
 
 31. BEURRE d'AREMBERG. 
 
 Fig. 256. 
 
 Tree strong, upright, with young shoots of a yellowish- 
 brown, with pale specks. An abundant and constant bearer 
 of fine fruit, but requiring high culture and summer pruning, 
 with careful ripening, to perfect it. 
 
 Fruit pretty large, obovate, with much taper toward the 
 stem, becoming obtuse pyriform ; yellow, with much light 
 russet. 
 
 Flesh white, buttery, and melting, and quite juicy. 
 
 Flavor rich, sprightly, and vinous. Ripens from November 
 to January. 
 
398 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 32, GLOUT MORCEAU. 
 
 Fig. 25T. 
 
 Tree of fine pyramidal growth, somewhat spreading. 
 
 Young shoots of a bluish or olive-green. A good bearer, 
 suited with strong soil and high culture. 
 
 Fruit large, almost oval or obtuse pyriform, often irregular ; 
 greenish-yellow, with some russet and many greenish russet 
 specks. 
 
 Flesh white, fine-grained, melting, and buttery. 
 
 Flavor rich, perfumed, dead .sweet. Ripens from December 
 to February. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 399 
 
 33. PASSE COLMAR. 
 Fig. 258. 
 
 Tree very vigorous, with long, straggling, brownish-yellow 
 shoots. Often bears too abundantly, and requires that the 
 crop be thinned. Needs high culture. 
 
 Fmit pretty lai'ge, variable, obtuse pyriform or obovate; 
 pale yellow at maturity, with considerable sprinkling of russet. 
 
 Flesh yellowish- white, juicy, and buttery. 
 
 Flavor, when well ripened, rich, sweet, and aromatic. Rip- 
 ens from Noveml)er to January. 
 
400 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 34. LAWRENCE. 
 Fig. 259. 
 
 Tree of moderate vigor and somewhat thorny. 
 
 Young shoots light brown, rather slender. An abundant 
 bearer. 
 
 Fruit rather large, long obovate, sometimes almost pyriform, 
 obtuse at the stem ; dull yellowish-green, with small patches 
 of russet near the ends. 
 
 Flesh yellowish-white, juicy, melting, sometimes gritty at 
 the core. 
 
 Flavor, when well raised and ripened, rich and sugary. 
 Ripens from November throughout the winter. 
 
 The Lawrence is a new American pear, which originated at 
 Flushing, Long Island, a few years ago, and promises to be an 
 acquisition, particularly for orchard culture, either on the pear 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 401 
 
 or quince stock, afibrding a good winter fruit, not liable to 
 shrivel or decay. 
 
 35. COLUMBIA. 
 Fig. 2fi0. 
 
 Tree of upright strong growth, with brownish-yellow shoots. 
 Bears largely and constantly ; foir marketable fruit. 
 
 Fruit rather large, regular, long obovate, inclining to ob- 
 long ; fine golden yellow at maturity, with gray dots. 
 
 Flesh white, not fine-grained, but juicy and melting. 
 
 Flavor sweet, rich, and aromatic. Ripens through Decem- 
 ber and into January. 
 
 This fruit originated upon the land of Mr. Andrew Corsa, in 
 the lower part of Westchester county, New York. The parent 
 
402 AMERICAN HOME (JARDEN. 
 
 tree has been supposed to have sprung from a seed thrown away 
 by some soldier of the British Hessian troops, whose encamp- 
 ment at one period of the Revolutionary war covered or ad- 
 joined the spot where it grew. 
 
 36. knight's monarch. 
 
 Fig. 261. 
 
 Tree strong, upright. 
 
 Young shoots yellowish or light olive. An abundant bearer. 
 
 Fruit large, obovate, regular ; yellowish-brown, with red- 
 dish cheek and numerous gray dots. A peai' of mark and ex- 
 cellence, but not yet fully proved with us. 
 
 Flesh yellowish- white, melting, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor rich, musky, and excellent. Ripens through Jan- 
 uary. Requires very high culture. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 403 
 
 37. OHAUMONTELLE. 
 
 Fig. 2G'2. 
 
 Tree vigorous, with long, slender, dark brown, flexuous 
 shoots. Requires high culture, and warm soil and locality. 
 At the north succeeds only on the quince. A fair bearer. 
 
 Fruit large, oblong obovate, somewhat A^ariable, rather rough ; 
 yellow, with brownish-red on the sunny side. 
 
 Flesh melting and buttery. 
 
 Flavor sugary and pleasantly perfumed. Ripens from No- 
 vemlier to January, or later. 
 
404 • AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 38. WINTER NELIS. 
 Fig. 2G3. 
 
 Tree hardy and thrifty, the young branches light olive, very 
 slender and diverging. A good and regular bearer of fair 
 fruit. 
 
 Fruit medium or below, round obovate ; yellowish-green 
 when ripe, with much russet. 
 
 Flesh yellowish- white, fine-grained, melting, and juicy. 
 
 Flavor rich, sugary, and aromatic. The best of winter pears. 
 Ripens in December and January. 
 
 39. WINTER BELL. 
 
 Tree of strong, erect growth. 
 
 Young shoots very dark olive. A good or heavy bearer. 
 Fruit large to very large, irregularly obtuse or oval pyri- 
 form ; yellowish-green, with a brownish-red cheek. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 Fig. 264. 
 
 405 
 
 Flesh hard and coarse ; tender and of a reddish color when 
 cooked. 
 
 Flavor a rough sub-acid, becoming rich and excellent when 
 baked or stewed. See pages 289, 368. . 
 
 The Vicar of Winkfield may be substituted for this if it be 
 desired to have a cooking fruit which is also sometimes good 
 to eat out of hand, or that fine old French variety, the Catil- 
 lac, may take its place. 
 
406 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 40. EASTER BEURRE. 
 Fig. 2G5. 
 
 Tree thrifty, erect, forming rather a compact and symmetri- 
 cal head. Bears well, but requires high culture. 
 
 Fruit medium or above, obtuse obovate ; greenish, with some 
 spots of brownish russet. 
 
 Flesh white, fine-grained, melting, and buttery. 
 
 Flavor> when well raised and ripened, fine, sweet, and rich. 
 Ripens from December to May. 
 
 The Easter Beurre, in ungenial soils and climates, some- 
 times disappoints the cultivator by its persistent immaturity. 
 
 It should have good soil, culture, and climate, be carefully 
 gathered and wintered as directed p. 368, and ripened in spring. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 407 
 
 THE PLUM. 
 
 This is a pleasant and rather useful finiit, which every house- 
 keeper wishes to possess, but can not always secure, the varie- 
 ties which are in a- measure exempt from fatal disease or the de- 
 structive assaults of insects being so few that, in selecting this 
 fruit, we rather take what we can get than what we might de- 
 sire. 
 
 Many different varieties of this fruit are dried, and become 
 articles of commerce in the form of prunes, prunelles (that is, 
 prunes skinned and pitted), and common dried plums. 
 
 Plums may be planted at the distance of ten or twelve feet 
 each way ; and wherever they can be raised successfully, or in 
 particular seasons when the fruit is perfected, they constitute 
 a profitable market crop. 
 
 The trees should be carefully planted while quite young, and 
 the head properly formed and balanced by both winter and 
 summer pruning, many of the varieties having a natural tend- 
 ency to long growth, which caiTies the fruit out of reach if 
 pruning is neglected. 
 
 A strong loam or a clay soil is thought best suited to plum- 
 trees, although they will grow thriftily even in very light soils ; 
 and it may l^e that a heavy cold clay soil is rather specially 
 unfavorable to the insects Avhich injm-e them than directly fo- 
 vorable to the fruit. 
 
 SELECT LIST OF PLUMS 
 
 Numbered nearly in the order in which they luill hefound_ to 
 ripen in any given soil and latitude. 
 
 The ordinary time of their ripening at New York accompa- 
 nies the figure and following description. Those marked with 
 a star are green or yellow. 
 
 1. 
 
 Ottoman. 
 
 *8. 
 
 Lawrence's Favorite 
 
 *2. 
 
 Hudson Gage. 
 
 *9. 
 
 Washington. 
 
 3. 
 
 Peach. 
 
 10. 
 
 Lombard. 
 
 4. 
 
 Duane's Purple. 
 
 *11. 
 
 Bleecker's Gage. 
 
 5. 
 
 Schenectady. 
 
 12. 
 
 Smith's Orleans. 
 
 *G. 
 
 M'Laughlin. 
 
 13. 
 
 Cruger's Scarlet. 
 
 *7. 
 
 Green Gage. 
 
 U. 
 
 Columbian Gage. 
 
408 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 *15. Jefferson. *21. Coe's Golden Drop, 
 *1G. Imperial Gage. 22. Coe's Late Red, 
 
 1 7. Purple Gage, 23. Blue Imperatrice. 
 
 18. Manning's Long Blue. 24. Frost Gage. 
 
 19. Dominic Dull. 2;"). Ickworth. 
 *20, Catharine. 
 
 This list, though so brief, will, it is believed, be found to in- 
 clude most of the really fine and valuable plums we possess, 
 from the earliest to the latest varieties, but it may easily be 
 doubled or tripled, if necessary, 
 
 1. OTTOMAN {Fig. 266). 
 
 Tree a moderate grower and good bearer. Young branches 
 somewhat downy. Fruit rather small ; dull yellow, with mar- 
 blings of a darker shade, and having a thin bloom. 
 
 Flesh juicy, sweet, and good, cleaving to the stone, Ripens 
 last of July, 
 
 Fig. 266. 
 
 Fig. 26T. 
 
 *2, HUDSON GAGE {Fig. 267), 
 
 Tree of free growth and a good bearer. 
 
 Young branches slightly downy. 
 
 Fruit medium ; yellow, with streaks of green under the skin, 
 with a light bloom. 
 
 Flesh greenish, juicy, melting, and of fine flavor ; almost free 
 from the stone. Ripens first of August. 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 409 
 
 Fig. 268. 
 
 PEACH. 
 
 Tree of rapid and strong 
 growth, and a good bearer. 
 
 Young branches of a pur- 
 ple tint, smooth. 
 
 Fruit large roundish flat- 
 tened ; purplish -red, with 
 spots of light bronze or rus- 
 set, nearly covered with a 
 blue bloom. 
 
 Flesh greenish - yellow, 
 juicy, and sweet ; not fine- 
 grained ; a partial free- 
 stone. Ripens in the first 
 half of August. 
 
 4. duane's purple. 
 i^ig- 269. Tree of strong growth ; 
 
 a moderate bearer. 
 
 Young branches and 
 leaves gray and downy. 
 
 Fruit large, light pur- 
 ple or red, with yellow 
 specks and light bloom. 
 Oblong or oval, one-sided. 
 
 Flesh amber-colored, not 
 very juicy, but of fair qual- 
 ity, or rather rich ; clings 
 to the stone. Ripens to- 
 ward the middle of Au- 
 gust. 
 
 This early and very 
 showy plum is sometimes 
 rather acid, but in favora- 
 ble seasons good, or first- 
 rate. 
 
 It is also valuable as a market fruit. 
 
 S 
 
410 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 5. SCHENECTADY {Fig. 270). 
 Tree of fair growth and a free bearer. 
 Young branches smooth and rather slender. 
 Fruit medium, round-oval ; deep purple. 
 Flesh greenish-yellow, melting, juicy, and rich. Ripens 
 about the mitldle of August. 
 
 Fig. 270. 
 
 Fig. 271. 
 
 *6. MCLAUGHLIN {Fig. 271). 
 
 Tree of strong, free growth, and a good bearer. 
 Young branches smooth. 
 
 Fruit large, roundish, russet-yellow, with red or purplish tint. 
 Flesh yellow, somewhat firm, juicy, sweet, and rich ; clings 
 to the stone. Ripens about the middle of August. 
 
 *7. GREEN GAGE {Fig. 272). 
 
 Tree of slow growth and dwarfish habit, but a good bearer. 
 
 Young branches smooth, with large shouldered buds. 
 
 Fruit medium or below, nearly round, yellowish-green when 
 ripe, with slight dottings or marblings of red. 
 
 Flesh pale green, melting, juicy, sprightly, luscious ; a free- 
 stone. Ripens about the middle of August. The finest fla- 
 vored and richest of plums. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 Fig. 2T2. Fig. 273. 
 
 411 
 
 8. *lawrence's FAVORITE {Fig. 273). 
 
 Tree thrifty -and upright ; a good bearer. 
 
 Young branches downy and short jointed. 
 
 Fruit pretty large, roundish, somewhat flattened ; dull yel- 
 lowish-green, with darker streaks beneath, and covered with 
 bloom, and some reddish dots and mottling in the sun. 
 
 Flesh greenish, very juicy, melting, and rich ; a free-stone 
 when fully ripe. Ripens about the middle of August. 
 
 *9. WASHINGTON. 
 
 Fig. 274 
 
 Tree of very vigorous 
 growth and a free bearer. 
 
 Young branches downy. 
 
 Fruit very large round- 
 ish oval, dull yellow marbled 
 with green, and a few red- 
 dish dots in the sun. 
 
 Flesh yellow, firm, but 
 sweet and good ; a free-stone. 
 Ripens after mid-August. 
 
 This fine plum was first 
 fruited about forty years ago 
 by Mr. Wm. Bolmer, a mer- 
 chant of New York city, and 
 often bears his name. 
 
412 
 
 AMEEICAN HOME GAEDEN. 
 
 10. LOMBARD {Fig. 275). 
 
 Tree thrifty and an abundant bearer, suited to light soils. 
 
 Young branches smooth, bright purple. 
 
 Fruit medium roundish oval, a little flattened, pale violet- 
 red, with dots of deeper red, and 
 a thin bloom. 
 
 Flesh yellow, juicy, and pleas- 
 ant ; clings to the stone. Rip- 
 ens from the middle to the close 
 of August. 
 
 Fig. 2T5. 
 
 Fig. 2T6. 
 
 *11. bleecker's gage {Fig. 276). 
 
 Tree a good healthy grower, and regular and free bearer. 
 
 Young branches downy. 
 
 Fruit medium roundish oval, yellow specked with white, 
 and having a thin bloom. 
 
 Flesh yellow, sweet, and excellent ; almost a free - stone. 
 Ripens from the middle to the close of August. 
 
 12. smith's ORLEANS {Fig. 277). 
 
 Tree extremely vigorous, and a good and constant bearer in 
 all soils, adapting itself also to varieties of climate. 
 
 Young branches very slightly downy ; purplish. 
 
 Fruit large oval, inclining to oblong ; purplish-red, covered 
 with a deep blue bloom. 
 
AMEKICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 413 
 
 Flesh yellow, somewhat firm, but juicy, sprightly, and vin- 
 ous ; clings to the stone. Ripens toward the last of August. 
 
 This plum was raised some thirty-five years ago at Gowanus, 
 Long Island, by Mr. Smith, from a seed of the " Orleans," one 
 of the oldest, if not the very oldest, of om* dessert plums, and 
 is named after the originator and the variety from which it 
 was produced. Li general, it is the finest of the class of vin- 
 ous-flavored plums, but on strong cold soils becomes too acid for 
 eating out of hand. Its large size and productiveness, with 
 its general excellence, and the habit of hanging long on the 
 tree, will render it always a favorite and profitable fruit. 
 
 Fig. 27T. Fig. 2T8. 
 
 13, cruger's scarlet {Fig. 278). 
 
 Tree of free growth, and bearing freely and constantly ; it is 
 superior for light soils, being but little subject to injury from 
 the curculio. 
 
 Young branches downy. 
 
 Fmit medium round oval ; bright red or lilac, with golden 
 dots and a thin bluish bloom. 
 
 Flesh orange, rather dry, of a mild, but lively and pleasant 
 sweetness. Ripens about the last of August, and hangs long 
 on the tree. 
 
 It is a valuable market fruit. 
 
414 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 2T9, 
 
 COLUMBIAN GAGE. 
 
 Tree of strong growth 
 and spreading habit ; a 
 very good bearer. 
 
 Branches when young, 
 downy ; stout. 
 
 Fruit very large, near- 
 ly globular ; brownish 
 purple, reddish in the 
 shade, with many fawn- 
 colored dots and much 
 blue bloom. 
 
 Flesh orange, not fine- 
 grained, and somewhat 
 dry, but a fine, rich, sug- 
 ary fruit when ripe ; a 
 free-stone. Ripens about 
 the last of August. 
 
 =15. 
 
 F!g. 280. 
 
 JEFFERSON. 
 
 Tree vigorous and a good 
 bearer. 
 
 Young branches almost 
 smooth. 
 
 Fruit large round oval ; 
 golden - yellow, purplish-red 
 on the sunny side, and cov- 
 ered with thin whitish 
 bloom. 
 
 Flesh orange, very juicy, 
 and richly flavored ; almost a 
 free-stone. Ripens about the 
 last of August, and hangs 
 long on the tree. 
 
 This plum was raised and 
 named by the late Judge 
 Buel, of Alban3\ 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 415 
 
 *16. IMPERIAL GAGE {Fig. 281). 
 
 Tree of remarkably luxuriant growth, an abundant bearer, 
 and peculiarly adapted to light soils ; lacking flavor on heavy 
 ones. 
 
 Young branches very slightly downy. 
 
 Fruit medium or above ; yellowish -green, striped or marbled 
 beneath the skin with darker green. 
 
 Flesh greenish, melting, rich, and juicy ; almost a free-stone. 
 Ripens about the first of September. 
 
 Fig. 281. 
 
 Fig. 282. 
 
 17. PURPLE GAGE {Fig. 282). 
 
 Tree of moderate growth, and a good bearer. 
 
 Young branches smooth and short-jointed. 
 
 Fruit medium roundish ; violet, with yellow dots and a fine 
 blue bloom. 
 
 Flesh yellowish, rich, and sugary, but somewhat dry ; will 
 hang long on the tree ; a free- stone. Ripens through Septem- 
 ber. 
 
 18. manning's long blue {Fig. 283). 
 Tree of moderate growth, and an abundant bearer. 
 Young branches smooth. 
 
416 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 283. 
 
 Fruit large long oval ; dark 
 purple, with a heavy blue bloom. 
 
 Flesh yellowish, moderately 
 juicy, sweet, and pleasant ; al- 
 most a free - stone. Ripens 
 through September, or later. 
 
 Fig. 284 
 
 19. DOMINIE DULL {Fig. 284). 
 
 Tree of free but not large growth, and a very good bearer. 
 
 Young branches smooth. 
 
 Fruit medium long oval ; very dark purple, with a light cov- 
 ering of blue bloom. 
 
 Flesh yellow, juicy, sweet, and good, becoming dryer and 
 richer if left hanging on the tree ; clings to the stone. Ripens 
 in all September. 
 
 *20. CATHARINE {Fig. 285). 
 Tree of moderate growth, bearing abundantly. 
 Young branches smooth and somewhat slender. 
 Fruit medium obovate ; pale yellow, with occasionally a red- 
 dish cheek, and covered with a tliin white l)loom. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 417 
 
 Flesh yellow, juicy, per- 
 fumed, and rich ; clings to 
 the stone. Ripens toward 
 the last of September. 
 
 Fig. 286. 
 
 Fig. 285, 
 
 *21. coe's golden drop {Fig. 286). 
 
 Tree of strong growth and a fair bearer, requiring warm 
 soils and locations if planted north of latitude 40°. 
 
 Young branches smooth. 
 
 Fruit very large oval, tapering toward the stem ; light green- 
 ish-yellow, with dark red spots on the sunny side. 
 
 Flesh yellow, rather firm, and not fine-grained, but sweet, 
 rich, and sometimes melting ; clings to the stone. Ripens 
 about the last of September, and may be left on the tree, or 
 gathered and kept, for some time. 
 
 22. coe's late red {Fig. 287). 
 
 Tree of free growth and productive. 
 
 Young branches downy. 
 
 Fruit medium, round, or very nearly so ; purplish light red, 
 with a blue bloom ; a very desirable late fruit for garden or 
 orchard culture. 
 
 S2 
 
418 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Flesh yellowish, firm, juicy, and 
 vinous; almost a free-stone. Rip- 
 ens through October. 
 
 Fig. 28T. 
 
 Fig. 288. 
 
 23. BLUE IMPERATRICE {Fig. 288). 
 
 Tree of free growth and quite productive. 
 
 Young branches smooth and rather slender. 
 
 Fruit medium, obovate ; dark purple, with a heavy blue 
 bloom. 
 
 Flesh greenish-yellow, not juicy, but rich and sweet ; clings 
 to the stone. Ripens in October, and hangs until November. 
 
 Fig. 289. 
 
 24. FROST GAGE. 
 
 Tree thrifty and an abundant bearer. 
 
 Young branches smooth and rather 
 slender. 
 
 Fruit small round-oval ; deep purple, 
 with a fine rich bloom. 
 
 Flesh greenish -yellow, melting, rich, 
 and sweet ; clings to the stone. Ripens 
 in October, and continues for some time. 
 
 This plum, like the damson, is common- 
 ly increased by its offshoots. It is not 
 only excellent in quality, but very beau- 
 tiful upon the tree. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 419 
 
 Fig. 290. 
 
 25, ICKWORTH. 
 
 Tree of moderate vigor and 
 a fair bearer. 
 
 Young branches smooth and 
 somewhat slender. 
 
 Fruit medium to large, obo- 
 vate ; purple, with irregular 
 tracings of light fawn color. 
 
 Flesh greenish-yellow, rich, 
 juicy, and very good, becoming 
 sugary with keeping ; clings to 
 the stone. Ripens in October, 
 and may be kept in a dry room 
 for several weeks, or sometimes 
 months, if ^\Tapped singly and 
 carefully in paper. 
 
 This valuable late plum is a 
 somewhat recent English vai*i- 
 ety, usually called Ickworth 
 Imperatrice ; but as we have 
 already a " Blue Imperatrice," the latter name is dropped. 
 
 THE POMEGRANATE. 
 
 The wild Pomegranate of Europe and China is of a sharp 
 acid flavor, but the cultivated kinds are subacid or sweet. 
 
 The fruit is of ordinary peach size or larger, and contains 
 numerous red seeds, and a juicy pulp of pleasant flavor, cooling 
 and excellent for use in fevers, etc. It has a tough skin, but 
 its yellow color and red cheek, with its large calyx eye or 
 crown, render it very beautiful. It grows well with less care 
 than the orange-tree in the latitude of 40° north, fruiting 
 freely in Maryland and Virginia, but not ripening its crop 
 with certainty farther north than the Carolinas, 
 
 The tree is pretty, having small lance-formed leaves, with 
 reddish veins. It grows about twenty feet high at the most, 
 and bears a profusion of showy scarlet flowers. There is also 
 a double-flowering scarlet variety, which is still more orna- 
 
420 
 
 AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN". 
 
 mental, extensively cultivated as a conservatory or green-house 
 plant in the colder latitudes. 
 
 Fig. 291. 
 
 o. Branch in blossom. 
 
 6. Branch in fruit. 
 
 It is well suited with any moderately good soil, though pre- 
 ferring a rather light loam. The plants may be raised from 
 seeds sown as soon as ripened, or by cuttings or layers. 
 
 Wherever it will stand out during winter it may form beau- 
 tiful ornamental hedges, and in some localities might answer 
 for fences. 
 
 THE QUINCE. 
 
 The Quince is a rough-flavored, astringent fruit, entirely 
 unfit for eating in the raw state, but is a favorite for stewing 
 and making preserves, on account of its fine fragrance and 
 richness. Quince-trees intended for bearing should be pruned 
 to a single but generally low stem, and all ofishoot growth 
 prevented. 
 
 They may be planted at a distance of eight to twelve feet 
 each way, or between fruit-trees of larger growth, and are suit- 
 ed with a rather moist soil, though with care they will grow 
 in any. 
 
 There are quite a number of various kinds of quinces, hav- 
 ing the same general character and flavor, but differing chiefly 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 421 
 
 in the size and fleshiness of their fruit. The common infe- 
 rior-fruiting kinds are often used as stocks for dwai"fing pear- 
 trees, but a free-growing variety, known as the Angers Quince, 
 and some others of similar habit, are greatly superior for this 
 purpose. The Japan Quince is an ornamental shrub bearing 
 a small green fi'agrant, but otherwise useless fruit. 
 
 Most of them may be raised from seed, and all are readily 
 increased from offshoots, or by hill or common layering, or by 
 cuttings planted in the fall or early spring and mulched. 
 
 The Apple Quince, Fig. 292 a, is a fine golden-colored fruit 
 of rich appearance and superior quality. 
 
 Fig. 292, a. 
 
 Apple Quince. 
 
 The Pear Quince, Fig. 292 h, though by no means equal to 
 the former, is extensively raised for market, and is a fniit of 
 fair quality, less tender in cooking than the former, and by no 
 means equal to it, but both are valuable and profitable. 
 
422 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Fig. 292, b. 
 
 Pear Quince. 
 
 THE RASPBERRY. 
 
 There are numerous varieties of this esteemed fruit, of di- 
 vers colors, almost all being prolific, and most of the red or 
 dark-fruited kinds of good flavor. Perhaps the Red Antwerp 
 and the FastolfF, which ripens rather later, are the finest, but 
 at the north they require covering in winter to secure a crop. 
 
 The Franconia is a hardy variety, which bears abundant 
 crops of fruit, scarcely, if at all inferior, when fully ripe, to the 
 Red Antwerp, either in size or quality, having a firmness of 
 texture which renders it valuable for preserving. 
 
 Knevet's Giant is a new English variety of good reputation 
 both for quality and hardiness. Some new and promising va- 
 rieties have also been recently raised from seed. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 Fig. 293. 
 
 423 
 
 fftr 
 
 h. rastolflf. 
 
 
 Franconia. 
 
 a. Red Antwerp. 
 
 The most common of the dark-fruited raspberries is the 
 American Black, the red-cane variety which for so many 
 years has been extensively cultivated for the New York mar- 
 ket. It is perfectly hardy, and bears abundant crops of rather 
 small but well-flavored, though not first-class fruit. 
 
 The double-bearing, of which there are several varieties, 
 yield a partial second crop of fruit of middling character late 
 in the fall, just when peaches abound, and are therefore of no 
 special importance. 
 
 The Yellow Antwerp bears a fine, large, thimble-formed 
 berry, and shows well upon the table when mixed with the 
 red, but it also is tender, and has, in common with its inferior 
 varieties, a certain degree of faint sweetness in the flavor that 
 requires mingling with something more acid to make it agree- 
 able. The Orange, which resembles it, is later in ripening, 
 and hardier. 
 
 Raspberries should stand in rows six or eight feet wide, the 
 bushes being from two to four feet apart in the rows, accord- 
 ing to the habit of the kind planted. The soil can scarcely be 
 made too rich and warm for them. 
 
 They require only winter pruning, which consists simply 
 in removing the old dead canes, and shortening the ends of the 
 young shoots, to bring the rampant growers within bounds and 
 strengthen the spring growth, upon which all the fruit is 
 borne. They should be cut back to about fom^ feet high if we 
 desire fine fruit, and, if at all weak, might be pnmed still 
 shorter to advantage. 
 
424 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 The more moderate-growing kinds of raspberries are often 
 cultivated by tying up the canes of each plant to a single 
 stake, or to a bar fastened along the row of stakes for this pur- 
 pose ; but the stronger growers, of which the red-cane named 
 above is the most rampant, are usually inclosed by running a 
 single bar along each side of the row, with posts at about six 
 feet apart, Avith cross braces at proper intervals, making a 
 frame about two feet wide. Within such a frame the bearing 
 shoots and the young strong canes of the current season be- 
 come mingled and thickened, and the difficulty of gathering 
 the fruit and the labor of winter pruning are much increased. 
 
 Let this frame be made three feet wide instead of two ; nail 
 two braces, an inch and a half or two inches apart, upon each 
 pair of posts, putting two such upon each side of every third 
 pair. Let the narrow space between the braces range at a lev- 
 el from end to end of the frame ; into this space, and close upon 
 one side of the frame, introduce a strip of plank two or three 
 inches wide, put a pin through it at each end near to the brace 
 to prevent it slipping out, and fit it so at the third pair of 
 posts that its end will not interfere with the next length. 
 Put in similar strips tlii'oughout, and you have a sliding bar 
 along your frame ready for use. Suppose your canes trimmed 
 for the spring of 1858, with the slide-bar resting to the west- 
 ward of them ; you move it across to the eastward, pressing the 
 canes before it till they are near or rest upon the outer bar ; 
 allowing them such "play" as you may think they require, 
 fasten your sliding bar for the season by pinning it to or notch- 
 ing it into the braces, or in any way you find convenient , and if 
 the canes do not spread evenly along their allotted space, form 
 a sort of rack for them by tacking short pieces of lath here and 
 there. When the young canes shoot up from the root, they 
 will naturally grow upright and apart from the bearing shoots ; 
 but if they should incline toward them, a small strip of board, 
 without sharp edges, or a light bean-pole laid between them 
 and resting its weight upon both, will sway them a little in 
 the opposite direction, and leave your fruit entirely within 
 reach and at command, and prepare the whole mass of old cane 
 for being easily cut away at the next pruning. It remains 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 425 
 
 only to press the bar westward in the spring of 1859, and so 
 alternate it from year to year. 
 
 The chief, if not the only objection to the use of such a 
 frame lies in the reduced amount of shade afforded to the fruit, 
 raspberries and blackberries seldom attaining their finest size 
 when entirely exposal, being also liable to scorch and become 
 imj^erfect in the full sun. In certain latitudes and soils this 
 may become a serious difficulty, and wherever it is so the stake 
 or single-bar mode should be adopted. 
 
 THE STRAWBERRY. 
 
 A great number of kinds of strawberries are in cultivation, 
 some of them very large ; others that range generally of better 
 flavor, but more moderate size. 
 
 There are but two distinct systems of cultivation — the one 
 may be called the hilling, and the other the bedding system. 
 In both systems, so far as garden cultm'e is concerned, the 
 deepest and warmest soil it affords should be selected, and the 
 plants set out in rows twelve to fifteen inches wide, and a foot 
 apart in the row, with a narrow walk between eveiy third and 
 fom'th, or fourth and fifth row. 
 
 In the hilling system the beds thus formed are kept perfect- 
 ly clear of weeds, and all runners from the plants ai*e cut off 
 as soon as they start. 
 
 Under this course of treatment, the plants, instead of over- 
 running the bed, form large branched or multiplied crowns, 
 from which, in its season, the fruit is produced — finest and most 
 abundantly in the first full-bearing year, afterward gradually 
 declining, until in fom* or five years, at most, the beds must 
 be replaced by others. An annual top-dressing of compost is 
 applied after the crop is gathered, being lightly dug in with 
 the spade-fork. 
 
 After the spring hoeing of such beds they are carefully 
 mulched by laying straw, or litter, or tan, or moss between the 
 rows, so that the fruit, when bent down by its own weight or 
 from dashing rains, will not become dirty and unfit for use. 
 For this pui'pose, a coat of cut straw, such as is commonly fed 
 to horses, etc., will be found excellent and easily applied. 
 
426 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 In the bedding system less labor and care are required, pro- 
 vided they be given at the proper time. 
 
 The beds should be annually renewed in the following man- 
 ner : 
 
 At the ends of the rows, when first planted, set a small lo- 
 cust, or chestnut, or cedar stick, thrust into the ground to the 
 depth of a foot or more. If your bed is planted in early spring, 
 or even at any time before the middle of June, and w^ell tend- 
 ed, being hoed often and carefully till they begin to run, and 
 afterward hand- weeded if requisite, and all runners that would 
 spread themselves into the paths cut ofi" or turned in, the whole 
 surface of the bed will be covered before winter with strong 
 young plants ; the crowns of the parent plant, instead of 
 branching immediately around itself, as in the hilling system, 
 will have spread and planted themselves at a distance in inde- 
 pendent positions. In the following spring the bed will yield 
 its crop in season, and the mat of leaf-growth upon it will 
 keep the fruit clean. 
 
 As soon as the crop is gathered, begin on one side, and find 
 by your mark-sticks where the old rows stand, and stretch a 
 line exactly midway between the first two of them, from end 
 to end of the bed ; then, Avith a spade or grass-edger, cut along 
 each side of the line so stretched, at two inches distance from 
 it, proceeding thus until you have gone over the bed, dividing 
 it into four strips of about eleven inches width, in which the 
 old-plant rows stand, and three strips of four inches, occupied 
 exclusively by young plants. If, on looking at it, you think' 
 you would prefer to have five rows in yom* new bed rather than 
 three, though the latter is generally preferable, make another 
 cut along just outside of each old outside row, and you will 
 have a narrow rim of young plants standing on each side of 
 your bed. 
 
 If you wish plants for enlarged plantings, you may pare off 
 with your spade, an inch or two deep, all the wide intervals, 
 and can choose out the young plants for resetting as you may 
 desire, or the plants on the wide spaces, instead of being pared 
 off, may be dug under if they are not needed for use, tnus re- 
 taining them in the bed as specific manure for their successors, 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 427 
 
 adding compost also in the process. If pared off, fill up the 
 spaces with leaf-mould or compost, and either dig them with 
 the spade-fork or hook them over deeply with a potato-hook ; 
 then let the naiTOw strips of young plants be well hoed and 
 perfectly cleaned from weeds and grass, and you will leave the 
 whole bed as clean and loose as when it was just planted, but 
 with a better stock of plants, and these undisturbed and ready 
 to grow right on. Place your mark-sticks at the centre of 
 the ends of your new rows, and keep the bed clean as before, 
 until the runners cover it again preparatory to your next 
 crop ; and so alternate from year to year, manuring with com- 
 post, etc., as may be needful, at the annual renewal of the 
 bed. 
 
 This mode, though it may at first appear complicated, is 
 really a simple and efficient process for securing a clean and, 
 with proper precautions, a full-cropping strawberry-bed at a 
 small expense of labor. 
 
 Dress your bed repeatedly through the summer and fall with 
 leached ashes and liquid manure. Give it a very light winter 
 covering of straw or evergreen. Let it have at least one lib- 
 eral application of liquid manm'e at the opening of spring ; 
 and, if drought occur while the plants are in blossom or fruit, 
 water them often and heavily to such a degree as will prevent 
 their becoming sensible of want of moisture. 
 
 Upon beds so treated the fruit will prove to be almost uni- 
 formly fine ; plants seldom yield fruit equaling, and never sur- 
 passing, the product of their second year, and by this system 
 every bearing plant in your bed comes within this class. 
 
 In large operations for marketing, the strawberry crop is 
 sometimes brought into the system of farm rotation, upon this 
 alternating or renewal principle. New acres are planted every 
 spring, at from two to three feet distance each way, the land 
 being well manm'ed, and furrowed as for corn, and the plants 
 set at the crossing ; they are kept clean with the cultivator, or 
 with the plow and corn-harrow, and a little hoeing until they 
 begin to run. Before winter they cover the ground ; and, as 
 soon as the crop is marketed in the following spring, the whole 
 patch is plowed under, and a fall crop of vegetables planted on 
 
428 AMKUH'AN IIOMK CJAUDEN. 
 
 tho liuul. .If the plantini!;s aro made in the fall, Avhirh is lui- 
 (lesirable, tho patch runs over to the spring of the third year 
 for its main cvoj). 
 
 DiiVuMilty, and not nnfroqnentl)'^ disappointments, arc met 
 •\vi(li ill strawberry culture from tho irroguhu* botiuiical pecul- 
 iarities of the blossoms. Unless skilled in these, so as to dis- 
 criuiinato clearly, it -will be well that you slioidd watch your 
 bed from year to year, and destroy all plants that bloom, but 
 fail to fruit ; for, if this be neglected, they will, after a while, 
 conquer the less vigorous iVuit-bearers, and spoil your bed. 
 
 Naturally the blossoms of most varieties of the strawberry. 
 like those of the ajij)le and cherry, or, more strictly, like those 
 of tho raspberry, Jiro bi-sexual and perfect, combining stamens 
 and pistils in due proportion in the same flower; but in cer- 
 tain kinils, the ilowers, or most of them, are imperfect, some 
 varieties lacking pistils, and others being destitute of stamens, 
 so that fruit is not i)roduced. The Avhole family of IIau'L'HOIS, 
 or high-stem strawberries, known by their jwramidal lieaAis 
 and crimpeil foliage, is peculiarly subject to these defects; 
 and, although their fruit is of a remarkably line, high flavor, 
 they have failed to nuike their way into general cultivation. 
 
 l\>abody's new se(>dling llnutlH)is is said to be an exception 
 to the rule, having perfect flowers, bearing Avell, and retaining 
 the peculiar flavor of its class ; i/ so, it will be regarded us an 
 acquisition, at least to private gardens. 
 
 ^luch has been said and writtc^i by way i>f obviating the 
 dilVu'ulties resulting to the ])rivate cultivator from these im- 
 perfections. The best general remedy is to throw away all 
 such kinds, or leave them to professional fruit-growers or s]ie- 
 cial amateiu's, and obtain ]>lants of perfect -flowered varieties 
 that may be relitnl on alone for a lair or abundant crop. Theiv 
 is pnUmbly no kind with defective flowers so superior to others 
 in the character of its fruit as to make it worthy of continued 
 cultivation by those whose general duties are likely to inter- 
 feiv with any small attentions to such a matter, or wl\ose time 
 ;uid labor aw deemed of value. 
 
 The following figures and explanations will ])erhaps aid in 
 obtaining a clear idea t>f the peculiarities referred to. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 429 
 
 8'l'RAWHERRY BLOSSOMS. 
 I'ig. 294. 
 
 A. Pprfcd, or l)i-Hoxnal Wosfioin, Imviiif? Htamciis and pintiln in duo jiroportioii. 
 li. InipcrlVcl. ulaniiiiatii Mossom, liuvint^ Htniiii'iiM, \n\\, lackiiiK l)iHlilrt. 
 C. Imitoiiect piHtillatc bliwsoni, having piatil.-i, but laoking «tanionH. 
 
 A. Plants bearinf]^ perfect or bi-scxual flowers, as Fig, 294 A, 
 arc ahvays fruitful, but more or less so according as they pro- 
 duce their stamens and pistils in sufiicient or insufficient ])ro- 
 |)ortion to one another. These varieties are very connnonly, 
 but quite improperly, called staminates, or by another designa- 
 tion, -which, as applied to fei'tile plants, is simply absurd. 
 
 B. Plants bearing only staminatc flowers, as Fig. 294 B, 
 are uniformly and entirely fruitless. 
 
 G. Plants bearing pistillate flowers, as Fig. 294 C, are fruit- 
 less, unless in combination Avith plants bearing perfect flow- 
 ers, as A^ certain varieties of which have stamens in excess ; 
 or with plants bearing only staniinato flowers, as B, in con- 
 nection with which they may be regarded as anonuilous dioe- 
 cious varieties (see page 7()). In such combinations they are 
 very fruitful, and some of the finest known varieties ai-e of this 
 class, or belong to a subdivision of bi-scxual flowers in which 
 a deficient ])r()])ortion of stamens is developed, and, conse<]|uent- 
 ly, when planted alone, they yield but little fruit, and ai'e 
 therefore also sometimes erroneously called pistillates. 
 
 COMBINATION OP CLASSES. 
 If it is desired to cultivate such kinds on account of special 
 qualities in the fruit, the end may be readily secured by plant- 
 ing yom* beds of only three rows width, leaving a space of three 
 feet between the beds, and along the centre of this space phmt- 
 ing a single row of any good perfect-flowered variety, which 
 
430 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 must be either cultivated upon the hilling system or limited 
 to its own space by running the grass-edger, or a substitute for 
 it, along each side of it from time to time, cutting off and re- 
 moving all runners, and maintaining a perfect separation be- 
 tween it and the beds ; or the beds may be made five rows 
 wide, the centre row of each being of a perfect-flowered variety, 
 and kept apart from the others with the grass-edger, as above 
 directed. The blossoms of these will supply the deficiency of 
 fertilizers in your beds, and secure full crops. The following 
 kinds are of reputation in their several classes. 
 
 Either of the varieties comprised in the first of the follow- 
 ing classes may be planted as fertilizers in combination with 
 those of the second, but perhaps No. 1 or No. 3 will prove as 
 desirable and successful as any for the end sought. 
 
 CLASS I. 
 
 Varieties having perfect or bi-sexual flowers, bearing their 
 full natural crop of fruit when planted alone. Sometimes 
 wrongly called staminates. 
 
 NO. 1. LARGE EARLY SCARLET. 
 
 Fig. 205. 
 
 Pretty large, round ovate ; tender and rich. Color a fine 
 bright scarlet. A good bearer, and ripens early. 
 
 This is an improved sub-variety of the old or native early 
 scai'let, and very superior to it in all respects. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 431 
 
 NO. 2. longworth's prolific. 
 
 Fig. 296. 
 
 Rather large ; dark crimson ; roundish ; flesh firm, subacid, 
 rich, and high flavored. It is a regular and free bearer, car- 
 rying its fruit well upon the stem. Ripens at medium season. 
 
 NO. 3. WILSON'S ALBANY. 
 Fig. 297. 
 
432 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Large to very large ; roundish-conical, form varying with 
 the size, as in the figures. Color dark ruby. A strong grow- 
 er, very productive, and of excellent quality. Ripens at me- 
 dium season or rather later. 
 
 Wilson's Albany is one of the most recent and valuable of 
 strawberries, and is fast making its way to merited popularity. 
 
 Large, roundish, slightly necked ; of good quality, and fine 
 appearance. Color dark crimson. Very productive, and car- 
 rying its fruit finely on the stem. Ripens late. 
 
 To this class may be added Iowa, Walker's Seedling, a fruit 
 of much merit, Ross's Phoenix, and Jenny Lind, all of which, 
 in suitable circumstances, will be found productive and of fine 
 quality. 
 
 The Iowa has been extensively used in combination as a fer- 
 tilizer at the West. 
 
 CLASS II. 
 
 Varieties having imperfect or uni-sexual flowers, being de- 
 ficient in stamens or destitute of them ; comparatively unfruit- 
 ful alone, but bearing abundantly in combination with varieties 
 having either perfect or staminate flowers. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 433 
 
 NO. 5. burr's new pine {Fig. 299). 
 
 Large, roundish-conical ; tender, sweet, rich, and aromatic. 
 Color a clear pale red. Ripening early, and in combination 
 bearing fine perfect berries. 
 
 Fig. 299. 
 
 Fig. 300. 
 
 NO. 6. CRIMSON CONE {Fig. 300). 
 Pretty large, long conical, with a neck, so that the fruit 
 may be gathered without stems. Sprightly, rich, but slightly 
 acid. Color bright crimson. Ripens rather early. 
 
 NO. 7. hovey's seedling. 
 
 Very large, round -oval, or nearly 
 conical ; firm, sprightly, and in fa- 
 vorable circumstances rich. Color 
 fine dark red. Ripens at medium 
 season or rather later. 
 
 This fine strawberry, raised in Bos- 
 ton by the gentleman whose name it 
 bears, has attained, perhaps, a greater 
 celebrity than any other fruit of its 
 class. In proper combination it yields 
 very largely. 
 
 T 
 
 Fig. 301. 
 
434 
 
 AMEKICAN HOME GAEDEN. 
 
 Fig. 302. 
 
 NO. 8. m^avoy's superior. 
 
 Very large ; irregular and variable ; 
 mostly roundish sub-conical. Tender, 
 juicy, rich, and high flavored. Color 
 dark crimson. Ripens at medium sea- 
 son or rather later. 
 
 This rather uncouth fruit originated 
 in Cincinnatti about ten years ago, and 
 is the largest of the numerous new va- 
 rieties which the West has furnished. 
 It has a somewhat coarse and open core, 
 though otherwise excellent in quality, 
 but is too tender to bear transportation 
 to a distant market. 
 
 To this class may be added Monroe Scarlet, Moyamensing 
 Pine, Burr's Hudson (Rival), and Jenny's Seedling. 
 
 All the foregoing vaiieties of the second class are partially 
 fruitful alone, but none of them crop fully except in combina- 
 tion Avith fertilizers. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Flowers, Shrubs, &c., of various Classes. — Propagation of Flowers, &c., by 
 Cuttings, Layers, Budding, and Grafting. — Soils and Composts for Flow- 
 ers. — Select Lists of Flowers of various Classes. — Treatment of Plants in 
 House and Green-house, Heating Apparatus, &c. — Select Lists of hardy 
 Shrubs, Roses, Climbing Shrubs, Evergreens, Shade-trees, &c., with Di- 
 rections for their Propagation and Culture. 
 
 FLOWERS, SHRUBS, ORNAMENTAL TREES, &c. 
 The variety of flowers, shrubs, &.C., is so very large and so 
 constantly increasing that only the most limited selection from 
 each class can be given, and of these the prettiest and most 
 easily cultivated kinds, not likely to disappoint any reasona- 
 ble expectation, have been preferred for the subjoined lists, 
 none being excluded because they are old, nor inserted merely 
 because they are new. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 435 
 
 A large proportion of each class, except the bulbous roots, 
 ai-e natives of our woods, and swamps, and prairies, and mount- 
 ains. I would gladly have introduced more of them, but the 
 limits of my work forbade. A good collection of American 
 trees, plants, and flowers is a desideratum worthy even of na- 
 tional attention and effort. Perhaps the city of Ncav York 
 will do herself the honor of at least a beginning in this direc- 
 tion in the arrangement of her new Central Park. 
 
 In the selections presented the amateur will probably mark 
 omissions which even limited space might not have induced 
 him to make, and certainly he will be able to make large ad- 
 ditions to them of admired plants. 
 
 Previous to the outlay of labor and care on a plant, it is al- 
 most always desirable to be personally acquainted with it. 
 Many are found in collections and catalogues that are of a neg- 
 ative character, and unworthy of a place in the private flower- 
 garden, however they may interest the botanist or the amateur 
 collector. There are also some of which the name has been 
 their only " ticket of admission," as " Love in a 3Tist ;" and 
 others which, though showy, have some capital defect, as the 
 offensive odor of the Cleome, or Spider^flower. 
 
 In general we cultivate flowers for their beauty, but tastes 
 differ, and we do not always agree in the use of terms, or de- 
 fine them clearly. Beauty may be either simple or composite. 
 There is beauty of form irrespective of other elements, as a 
 curve — the rainbow without its colors; there is beauty of 
 color, as the Tyrian purple, or the azure of a cloudless sky ; 
 there is beauty of texture, as in the soft satin ; but a flower, 
 to be beautiful, must combine beauty of form, color, and tex- 
 ture, and, lacking either of them, it ceases to be beautiful as a 
 flower. It may be of beautiful form, as a plaster rose ; or of 
 beautiful color, as a painted cheek ; or of exquisite texture, as 
 the eider down ; or, farther, it may also be curious in its parts, 
 as the Fly-trap ; or admirable in its arrangement, as the 
 Pitcher-plant, but it is not a beautiful flower. If, however, a 
 flower possess these elements of beauty, its beauty may be 
 heightened by the variation and multiplication of one or more 
 of them. The numerous and varied curves in the Cupped 
 
436 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Rose and the Meadow Lily add greatly to the beauty of the 
 first, and give to the last its peculiar elegance ; the varied 
 shades or mingled stripes of color in the Tulip and the Carna- 
 tion give them their power to excite enthusiastic admiration, 
 and make men " tulip-fanciers," &c. ; and the varied texture 
 of the Iris and many other flowers adds sensibly to their 
 beauty. 
 
 But in choosing flowers for cultivation, we take some that 
 are not beautiful, because they are showy, and others because 
 they are fragrant, and still others because they come so early 
 in the spring as to afibrd us the first substantial assurance of 
 its return, or so late in the fall as to postpone somewhat the 
 thought of winter. 
 
 In treating this ornamental department of gardening, the fol- 
 lowing divisions may be named and defined : 
 
 Bulbs, among which some tuberous roots, as the Anemone, 
 &c., are commonly placed, are a class generally yielding flow- 
 ers of fine color and texture, and some of them excellent in form. 
 
 Annuals are such as either naturally blossom and bear seed 
 and die within the compass of a single year, or are so classed 
 in northern climates because the winter kills them. All these, 
 however, may be made, in a sense, biennials, by sowing them 
 late and wintering the young plants for next year's blossoming ; 
 while some of them, as the Mignonnette, become perennial if 
 propagated from cuttings and not permitted to ripen seed. 
 
 Biennials are such as either naturally form the young 
 strong plant one year, and blossom, bear seed, and die the 
 next, as most garden vegetables, red clover, Canterbury Bells, 
 &c. ; or they are those of which the young plants will bear the 
 cold of winter, but the old plants will not, as certain kinds of 
 Pinks, Snap-dragon, Sweet Scabious, &c. These also may gen- 
 erally be made triennial or perennial by preventing the produc- 
 tion of seed, and renewing them by cuttings or layers. 
 
 Perennials, commonly known as herbaceous plants, are such 
 as have not woody stems, and in climates too cold for their 
 constitution die down in the winter, but spring up every year 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 437 
 
 from the same root. Thus the Chriseis Crocea, formerly Ess- 
 choltzia Californica, is ranked in New York as an annual, but 
 in Southern California it is herbaceous and perennial. 
 
 Green-house Plants, sometimes also called pot plants, are 
 such as in northern climates require more or less of artificial 
 heat and house protection to carry them through the winter, 
 and, in general, a return for this trouble and care is sought in 
 the flowers they are made to yield at that ungenial season. 
 
 Shrubs are the smaller class of woody plants, some of them 
 valued only for their foliage, as the Box ; others for their flow- 
 ers, as the Rose ; and still others, as the Cydonia Japonica, both 
 for flowers and foliage. 
 
 Climbers, to whatever class they may belong, climb either by 
 winding, as Morning-glory and the Bitter-sweet ; or by cling- 
 ing with their tendrils, as the Pea and the Grape-vine ; or by 
 striking their roots all along as they run, even into a brick 
 wall, as the Virginia Creeper and the Trumpet-flower. Those 
 climbers which are of woody growth are really shrubs, i. e., 
 small trees, of peculiar habit. We have therefore called them 
 Climbing Shrubs. 
 
 Evergreens are such shrubs or trees as do not lose their 
 leaves in winter, whose greenness cheers that season and links 
 it with its kindlier sisters, though sometimes, in dense masses, 
 deepening its gloom. The lowly Epigaia, or trailing Arbutus, 
 and the tall-growing hemlock, are of these. 
 
 Shade Trees are either fruit or forest trees when used for 
 the purpose of shade, but generally the latter only are intended. 
 
 Ornamental Trees and Shrubs are such as may be chosen 
 from either of the foregoing classes to beautify and form part 
 of the surroundings of a home. 
 
 PROPAGATION OF FLOWERS, SHRUBS, &c. 
 
 by cuttings. 
 
 green-house and herbaceous cuttings. 
 
 Cuttings of woody plants of small growth, as green-house 
 
 and ordinary herbaceous plants, are made in the same manner 
 
 as those of large woody growth, except that they are usually in 
 
 leaf when the cuttings are taken ofi". See the following figm'es. 
 
438 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 Fig. 303. 
 
 a. Common cutting of small woody growth. 
 
 6. A Hlip cutting of the same, with the butt untrimmed. 
 
 c. A slip cutting trimmed for planting. 
 
 d. A common herbaceous cutting. 
 
 e. A cutting of Carnation or I'icotce. 
 
 /. A cutting of the smaller, or garden Pink, made with the knife. 
 g. A pink " piping," made by drawing out, without using the knife. 
 h. The pipe or tube from which tlie piping had been drawn. 
 
 The Carnation and Pieotoe are commonly layered, but cut- 
 tings may be made, as Fig, e, and are to be preferred. The 
 smaller, or garden Pink, is usually raised from cuttings, as Fig. 
 /, but these are also often made without the knife by simply 
 pulling out a sufficient length of the heart gi'owth, while the 
 lower or stem end of the shoot is held firmly between the thumb 
 and finger. If dexterously done, the cutting will separate pre- 
 cisely at the joint, and is at once ready for planting. Fig. g. 
 This is called " a piping," because, when drawn out, it leaves a 
 pipe or tube formed by the bases of the two next lower leaves 
 which enfolded it. Fig. h. Branch cuttings of all kinds may 
 usually be planted at a depth equal to one half of their length, 
 but cuttings of Carnations, Pinks, and a few other varieties of 
 peculiar growth, are planted so as to bring the bases of their 
 untrimmed leaves just into the surface of the earth. A very 
 little experience and observation will enal^le the cultivator to 
 j udge at once of the proper depths from the size of the cutting 
 and the character of the pai'ticular variety. Cuttings that are 
 planted in a sloping position are thought to root more readily 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 439 
 
 than upright ones. When planted in pots, they should be 
 placed around the inside of the pot, and in contact with it, in 
 which position they root more certainly. 
 
 All cuttings take root more promptly and freely if so arranged 
 that the soil in which they are planted becomes warm, which 
 is effected by placing the bed over a flue, or by prepai'ing a hot 
 bed for the purpose. If, therefore, a green-house is built and 
 heated as shown page 475, a bed for cuttings may be made 
 immaliately above the boiler, so ari'anged as that the steam 
 will pass under its whole length. 
 
 Very fleshy cuttings, as the strong-growing scarlet Gerani- 
 imis, the Cacti, and some others, are benefited by having their 
 cut parts di'ied a little before planting. They are akin to air- 
 plants, and may be left sometimes for weeks upon the sui-face, 
 and still live. These shoidd never be covered closely, but the 
 harder and more woody cuttings, particularly those hanng fine 
 foliage, as the Fabiana, the Myrtle, &c., are greatly benefited by 
 covering them with glass, to prevent rapid evaporation, lifting 
 the cover occasionally so as to afford air, and, if mouldiness be 
 indicated upon the cuttings, tilt or raise it at the edge, that 
 they may have a constant supply. All plant cuttings should 
 be potted singly as soon as the young roots are well formed ; 
 if this is neglected, they must be carefully trimmed at potting, 
 as directed for larger trees. Shade and warmth, and careful 
 watering for a few days after removal, until they fairly re- 
 start, will be found essential to all cuttings or plants. 
 
 BY LAYERING. 
 
 Almost all ornamental shrubs, &c., may be increased by lay- 
 ers, as noted imder each. In general, the layering is performed 
 as directed page 199, but there are some to which peculiar 
 modes are applicable, as Chinese layering, American span lay- 
 ering, &.C. 
 
 These latter processes are of comparatively recent use with 
 us, and have but a limited range of adaptation. All very free- 
 rooting varieties, whether runners or otherwise, may be in- 
 creased by the Chinese mode ; but American span layering is 
 adapted only to luxuriant runners, as grape-vines. Wistaria, &c. 
 
440 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 CHINESE LAYERING. 
 
 Fig. 304. 
 
 cord or wire between the joints. 
 
 In the process known by this 
 name, a young shoot is pegged 
 down flat at its length, and 
 covered about two inches deep, 
 each bud being expected to 
 form a plant, which they often 
 fail to do, though perhaps this 
 defect might be remedied by 
 pretty tight constriction with 
 
 is a some- 
 new process. 
 
 AMERICAN SPAN LAYERING. 
 
 This 
 what 
 
 first practiced, so far 
 as he is aware, by 
 the author, though 
 he has learned re- 
 cently that it has 
 also been used by others, and is always found completely suc- 
 cessful. It is performed by pegging into the ground a single 
 joint every foot or eighteen inches, curving the shoot upward 
 between each two layers. Each layered joint may be tongued 
 or not, according to the kind of plant under treatment. This 
 mode is applicable only to running plants, but ten or a dozen 
 layers may be readily made by it from a single pretty long 
 shoot of such as are suitable. 
 
 HERBACEOUS HILL LAYERING. 
 
 Hill layering, so far as applicable to fruit-trees and woody 
 plants in general, has been described page 200 ; but this mode 
 is peculiarly adapted to the propagation of those plants, as 
 Pinks, &c., which do not make long shoots, or which require 
 tongueing, but are too brittle to bear bending. In these cases 
 a dished hill of good earth is made entirely around the plant, 
 and the tongue of the layer is made on the under side of the 
 
AMERICAN HOME (JARDEX. 441 
 
 ^'s- 30G. sprout, which, being strained off a 
 
 very little from the plant, is bent 
 and pinned down just enough to 
 open the slit and set the tongue 
 bud fairly in the soil, and allow 
 of covering it about one inch and 
 a half deep. See Figure. The 
 hill should be carefully mulched, 
 ^== and watered regularly at evening 
 until the layers arc rooted. 
 
 BUDDING AND GRAFTING. 
 
 Various fancy forest trees and shrubs are budded or grafted, 
 grafting being generally prefen-ed for these, perhaps without 
 good reason. For the mode of grafting, see page 229. 
 
 The lighter-growing kinds of Cactus are often grafted upon, 
 or rather planted in those of stronger growth, by a simple yet 
 curious and successful process. Stocks of suitable strength 
 are raised from cuttings, which root readily if planted in sand 
 after being cut a day or two. The graft is dressed to a thin 
 but quite short wedge ; the stock is cut off, and the graft 
 wedge set into the heart of it, in a slit made with the point of 
 a knife, or a bone or wooden wedge, the sides of the stock re- 
 maining uncleft, and, instead of binding, a small wooden skew- 
 er, or a long, slim thorn from a large cactus is then passed 
 through the stock and graft, pinning the latter to its place. In 
 a short time the graft (really the cutting) throws its roots 
 downward through the substance of the stock, and grows finely. 
 
 The operation of budding ornamental trees, as well as or- 
 anges, &c., among green-house plants, is performed in the com- 
 mon mode, described page 220. Roses also are budded pre- 
 cisely as fruit-trees, except that some extra care is required in 
 the operation, on account of their comparative smallness, their 
 thorniness, and the softer and more stringy nature of their bark. 
 
 All the autumnal and ever-blooming classes of roses, if 
 budded early in the summer, and cut down at the time of bud- 
 ding to within four or six inches of the bud, will gi'ow and 
 blossom in the course of the same season. 
 
 T 2 
 
442 AMERICAN HUME GARDEN. 
 
 SOILS FOR FLOWER COMPOSTS, &c. 
 
 Good i.Oam, among the cultivators of flowers, means such as is 
 of a rather dull yellow, not reddish, and, when moderately dry, 
 cutting with a certain cheesy softness, yet friable when thrown 
 up with the spade, breaking into rather coarse granules, a lump, 
 when broken, showing the same structure, yet not clayey or li- 
 able to bake hard after rain. The finest, sweetest pasture 
 grows on such soil. If, however, your loam is more sandy, re- 
 duce the sand or peat in the compost you prepare with it, 
 
 Leaf-:\I0'JLD, as its name imports, is the black earth formed 
 in woods, and along fences, and in corners by the annual decay 
 of fiillen leaves. In general they should be left to enrich the 
 forest trees from which they fell, but when decayed the mould 
 forms a most valuable element of flower composts. 
 
 Peat is vegetable matter accumulated upon an uncultivated 
 level surface by the long-continued growth of successive sea- 
 sons' upon the decaying product of their predecessors, in which 
 state it has a mixture of sand ; or it is the mass of vegetable 
 matter foijnd in bog meadows and swamps, so compacted and 
 drained as to be readily cut into blocks and dried for fuel. In 
 its wet state it is known as swamp muck. 
 
 Road-wash is the deposit of sand and gravel made by the 
 running road-gutters Avherever the Avatcr may find a place to 
 rest long enough to permit its settling, and is valuable upon 
 all strong soil, and especially so for flower composts. 
 
 Sand may either be road-wash, where it is sufiiciently free 
 from earth, or it may be common white or silver sand, or ordi- 
 nary clean, sharp mortar sand, not too coarse. 
 
 In preparing composts for flowers, the loam and sand or road- 
 wash may be fresh from the sm-face, but all manures used 
 should be from one to two years old, and thoroughly reduced by 
 turning, chopping, and mixing. 
 
 The manure of spent hot beds is generally used for this pur- 
 pose, but in composts for certain kinds of flowers, sheep ma- 
 nure, and blood, or other animal matter, are supposed to be val- 
 uable. 
 
 Peat and swamp muck for these should also l:)e sweetened 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 443 
 
 by exposure and frequent turning over for a year Or two before 
 using them. 
 
 A pretty deep and rather sandy loam, moderately rich, will 
 suit almost every cultivated variety of hardy flower, shrub, and 
 tree. A few exceptional cases may be found. 
 
 FLOWER COMPOSTS. 
 
 Composts are prepared for particular plants in order to raise 
 them in perfection where the natural soil is unfavorable, or ta 
 produce some special effect upon the plant or flower ; and inas- 
 much as this is often attempted upon a mere notion, composts 
 become as numerous as fancy cultivators. 
 
 The following, it is believed, will meet all ordinary demands. 
 
 NO. 1. PLANT COMPOST. 
 
 2 parts of good surface loam. 
 
 2 " leaf-mould or peat. 
 
 2 " spent hot bed or stable manure, perfectly rotted. 
 
 1 " road-wash or sharp sand. 
 
 Let these materials be thoroughly chopped and mixed to- 
 gether, and if the manure was properly rotted beforehand, the 
 compost may be used in a week, being again chopped and mix- 
 ed in the preparatory process. Almost every variety of plant 
 will thrive in it. 
 
 NO. 2. LAYER AND CUTTING COMPOST. 
 
 2 parts of good loam. 
 
 2 " leaf- mould or peat. 
 
 2 " rotted manure. 
 
 1 " road-wash or sharp sand, screened. 
 
 1 " charcoal dust. 
 To be chopped and mixed as directed for No. 1. 
 Almost any cutting or layer Avill root and grow in it. A 
 few species of hard-wood green-house plants require for their 
 successful propagation by cuttings that these be set under a 
 bell-glass in almost entirely clear sand. Rather coarse white 
 or silver sand, fine road- wash, or ordinary sharp bank-sand may 
 be used. The latter particularly, if much colored with loam, 
 should be washed before use, and at discretion one twentieth 
 
444 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 part of leaf-mould may be added to it, and the same quantity 
 of fine charcoal -dust. As soon as cuttings so planted take root, 
 they should be potted, the sand being shaken clean from their 
 roots in the process. 
 
 NO. 3. BULBOUS ROOT COMPOST. 
 
 4 parts of leaf-mould or peat. 
 4 " "well -rotted cow manure. 
 4 " road- wash or clean sand. 
 2 " good surface loam. 
 1 " poudrette. 
 Let it be thoroughly mixed a week or more before using it. 
 See Tulips, page 449, 
 
 NO. 4. FLOWER COMPOST. 
 
 4 parts of good loam. 
 4 " leaf- mould or decayed wood. 
 4 " perfectly rotted cow or sheep manure, or slaugh- 
 ter-house manure. 
 2 " road-wash or sharp sand. 
 
 1 "' poudrette. 
 
 ^ " old wall-plaster, or J part fresh-slaked lime. 
 Add salt in the proportion of a pint to ten bushels of the 
 compost. It should be prepared a month or two beforehand by 
 repeated and thorough turning and mixing. It is calculated 
 for any variety of fancy flower which it is desired to raise of 
 extra quality. 
 
 NO. 5. ROSE COMPOST. 
 
 4 parts of good loam. 
 
 4 " well-rotted manure from spent hot bed or the 
 
 barn-yard, 
 4 " peat. 
 
 2 " poudrette. 
 
 1 " road-wash or sand. 
 
 1 " guano carefully sifted. 
 
 All roses will be found to grow and blossom finely in this 
 compost, prepared by thorough chopping and mixing a few 
 weeks or months before it is used. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 445 
 
 FLOWERS. 
 
 In describing the various classes of flowers, &e., those only 
 have been called hardy of which, at least, young strong plants 
 will bear an ordinary New York winter with a very slight pro- 
 tection, or without any. All others should be sown or plant- 
 ed in spring, and where necessary, as noted, must be started in 
 the house or a hot bed. 
 
 TRANSPLANTING FLOWERS. 
 
 All bulbous roots that it is found necessary or desirable to 
 transplant should be taken up as soon after flowering as the 
 plant leaves begin to die, and either replanted or dried and 
 kept for fall planting ; and all those which it is not intended 
 to transplant shoiild be perfectly cleai-ed of grass and other 
 weeds in the fall, receiving such dressing as they may require, 
 and thus be prepared for their early spring movement. 
 
 Annual and biennial flowers, while small, may be transplant- 
 ed by removing them with the point of the garden trowel, or with 
 a piece of shingle, taking a little eaith with them ; but if it is 
 found desirable to transplant them when lai'ge, a spade, or two 
 trowels, or the flower transplanter must be used. See p. 52. 
 
 Perennials from seed or cuttings may be removed in the same 
 manner at any season ; but their large roots should be divided, 
 if at all, soon after they cease flowering, or in the spring just 
 after the growth of the season has commenced, the plants being 
 watered and shaded, if necessary, until they re-start. Green- 
 house plants may be removed at any time, but the main annual 
 pruning and repotting should be done in August or September. 
 
 Those who cultivate only out-door flowers are sometimes 
 perplexed by the difficulty of so grouping them as to have a 
 succession of various blossoms sufficiently numerous to make a 
 show in the garden or furnish a bouquet for the parlor. This 
 may be secured by setting out, in spring, Verbenas in their 
 numerous varieties, wintered for this piu^se, with the double 
 Feverfew, or Lafayette Daisy, the Sah-ia Splendens, Gaillardia 
 Picta, Petunias, Sweet Alyssum and ^lignonnette, either win- 
 tered or i-aised early in hot bed, with some other kinds that 
 
446 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GAHDEX. 
 
 bloom freely and constantly. These, added to a small number 
 of well-managed autumnal and ever-blooming roses, and the 
 ordinary annuals, particularly Portulacca and Schizanthus, and 
 some biennials, as Sweet Scabious and Larkspm-s, will make the 
 garden perpetually gay. 
 
 As a farther aid to this end, I have inserted the following 
 list of trees and shrubs, perennials and biennials, bulbous and 
 tuberous roots, &c., which, Avith ordinary treatment in the open 
 ground, and in similar soils and latitudes, nearly correspond in 
 their times of blossoming, and follow and interlink with one 
 another almost in the order in which they are given. 
 
 TREES AND SHRUBS. 
 
 Mezereum. 
 
 Scarlet Quince and i 
 Forsythia. ' 
 
 Magnolias. 
 
 Flowering Almond j 
 and Currant. i 
 
 Spiraea Prunifolia 
 and Deutzia Graci- 
 lis. 
 
 Lilacs. 
 
 Rhododendron and ) 
 May Apple. ' 
 
 Wistaria. 
 
 Weigela. 
 
 Spiriea Reevesii. 
 
 Sweet-scented Shrub ^ 
 and Snow-ball. | 
 
 Double Scarlet Haw 
 thorn and Labur 
 num. 
 
 Syringa and Deutzia ) 
 Scabra. > 
 
 Laurel. 
 
 f 
 
 Roses in varieties run- 
 ning through to.^ 
 
 winter. 
 
 LIST. 
 
 PERENNIALS AND BIEN- 
 NIALS. 
 
 Blood-root. 
 Columbines. 
 Dielytra and Dwarf Iris. 
 Phlox Stolonifera, &c. 
 
 Primroses, Violets, ) 
 and Pausies. ) 
 
 American Cowslip. 
 
 Lily of the Valley. 
 
 Tree Peony. 
 Large Iris. 
 Phlox Maculata. 
 
 Honesty. ) 
 
 Yellow Day Lily. ) 
 
 Baptisia. 
 
 China Pink. 
 
 Canterbury Bells, 
 Chinese and other 
 Larkspurs, Sweet I 
 William, Double i 
 Feverfew, and Gail- j 
 lardia Picta. J 
 
 BULBS, TUBERS, &C. 
 
 Snowdrop. 
 Crocus. 
 
 Persian Iris, &c. 
 Daffodil. 
 
 Crown Imperial. 
 
 Hyacinth. 
 
 Star of Bethlehem. 
 
 Jonquile Narcissus, &c. 
 
 Tulips. 
 
 Anemone. 
 
 ( Ranunculus and Spi- 
 ( ra2a Filipendula. 
 
 Crimson Peony. 
 
 White Sweet Peony, &c. 
 
 r White Lily, and ear- 
 I ly - sown Annual 
 Flowers, in varie- 
 ties to run to win- 
 ter. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 44Y 
 
 TREES AND SHRUBS. 
 
 Climbing Honeysnck- J 
 
 les. 1 
 
 I 
 
 Milk Vine. \ 
 
 White Jasmine. 
 
 Clematis and Passion J 
 Flower. ^ 
 
 Trumpet Creeper. 
 
 Rose of Sharon. 
 
 PERENNIALS AND BIEN- 
 NIALS. 
 
 Verbenas, Petunias, J 
 
 to continue through >- 
 
 the season. ) 
 
 Pinks, Picotees, &c. 
 Veronica, Fraxinella, ) 
 
 and Snapdragon. > 
 Blue and Scarlet 
 
 Sage, Mourning 
 
 Bride, &c. 
 Phlox Speciosa, &c., 
 
 and White Day 
 
 Lily. 
 
 Hollyhocks. 
 
 Virginian Dragon-head. 
 
 Fringed Gentian. 
 Artemisias in varieties 
 till winter. 
 
 BDLBS, TUBERS, &C. 
 
 Commelina. 
 
 Jacobean Lily. 
 
 Mexican Tiger Flower. 
 
 Gladiolus. 
 Four o'Clocks. 
 
 Dahlias in varieties to 
 run through to win- 
 ter. 
 ( Double Perennial 
 i Sun-flower. • 
 Tuberose. 
 
 HARDY BULBOUS-ROOTED FLOWERS. 
 
 SPRING FLOWERING. 
 
 TEN KINDS. 
 
 1. Crocus, White, Blue, Yellow, &c. Among the very earli- 
 est flowers, and always beautiful. 
 
 2. Crown Imperial, Frittelaria Imperialis. A fine, early, 
 showy flower, of lily-like character, but having an unpleasant 
 odor. 
 
 3. Dafibdil. The well-known large double yellow Narcis- 
 sus ; among the flrst blossoms of the season. 
 
 4. Hyacinth. See below. 
 
 5. Iris, Persian, &c. The varieties are numerous and beau- 
 tiful ; chiefly of various shades of blue, though some are pure 
 white, and others of a fine golden yellow. The bulbous vari- 
 eties should be taken up soon after flowering, and replanted in 
 the fall, as they are apt to rot if left in the ground. 
 
 6. Lily, White, Tiger, &c., &c. Lilium Candidum, &c. 
 Many and beautiful varieties, well known, both wild and cul- 
 tivated. 
 
448 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 7. Narcissus, White or the Poets', &c. A simple white 
 flower with a small edged cup in its centre. The Jonquile 
 Narcissus is yellow, and some of the varieties peculiar. Al- 
 most all are pretty and fragrant, whether single or double. 
 
 8. Snow-drop, Galanthus Nivalis. A simple white flower, 
 of drooping ear-drop form, striped inside with green. It is 
 the earliest blossom of spring, and deserves extended cultiva- 
 tion. 
 
 9. Star of Bethlehem, Ornithogalum Umbellatum. Anoth- 
 er early simple white flower streaked with green, blooming in 
 pretty large panicles. Common, but pretty ; sometimes wild. 
 
 10. Tulip. See below. 
 
 All hardy bulbs should be planted in the fall, in light rich 
 soil, rather sandy than otherwise, at from two to six inches 
 apart, according to their size, and from two to four inches deep ; 
 and if planted in beds, let the sm-face be rounded slightly to 
 throw off" excess of water. With the exception of the sweet 
 Jonquil, which requires a little care, those named above are as 
 hardy and as easily raised as onions, and their more general 
 cultivation is desirable. 
 
 Hyacinths may be planted singly or in groups or beds. 
 If a bed is made it should be planted in October or early in 
 November, setting the bulbs from six to eight inches apart, 
 and full four inches deep. With care in respect to the taste- 
 ful arrangement of the difierent^colors and the various shades 
 of each, and attention to the natural varieties of height, which 
 latter will be affected by the strength or weakness of the par- 
 ticular root, a fine eflect may be produced independent of the 
 merits of the individual flowers. That no mistake may occur, 
 the arrangement should first be made on paper, and the dia- 
 gram preserved for correction, if necessary, when they bloom. 
 
 Hyacinths will generally bear the winter well if planted at 
 proper depth, yet some of the finer kinds, particularly the 
 white ones, are of delicate constitution, and will more certain- 
 ly keep and bloom strongly if the bed is annually mulched a 
 little for winter, taking care to remove the mulching at the 
 earliest opening of spring. 
 
 They may also be planted in pots for house blooming. In 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. i-i'J 
 
 this case the bulb should be left about one third uncovered, 
 and the pots be set in a cool place, so that the growth may not 
 be forced hastily. After they start they may be kept warm, 
 needing only ordinary care, except that while blooming they 
 should have plenty of water constantly in the saucers. 
 
 The Hyacinth, and also sometimes the Narcissus, is bloom- 
 ed by house culture in water, in deep glasses known as bulb- 
 glasses. These are filled, and the bottom of the bulb placed 
 so as that it just and scarcely touches the water into which its 
 roots descend, and the flower-stem is soon thrown up. The 
 only precautions necessary are to start the growth slowly and 
 at a low temperature, gradually raising it to ordinary house 
 warmth (65°), and keeping it pretty even ; change the water 
 every three or four days, taking care that what you put in is 
 as warm as that which you throw out. It is a highly exhaust- 
 ive process, which can not be successfully repeated upon the 
 same root for several years ; but if such roots, after their blos- 
 soms decay, are thrown into water and allowed to remain un- 
 til the leaves die, the roots, after Ijeing dried, may be planted 
 in the open ground in the fall ; but to reproduce a fine large 
 bulb, the blossom stems for one or two years must be broken 
 ofi" as they start, just as what are called rare-ripe onions are 
 raised of marketable size by breaking out the seed -pipes. 
 
 Tulips may be planted and arranged precisely as above di- 
 rected for Hyacinths in the open ground ; but, instead of or- 
 dinary bulbous-root compost, the soil of the tulip-bed should 
 be almost exclusively good sm'face loam, the sod being chop- 
 ped and rotted, with one third road-wash or sand, and, if a 
 little manure is added, let it be perfectly-rotted cow-manure, 
 and dig it deeply in. Whenever there is special danger from 
 mice or moles, hardy bulbs may be planted in pretty large pots, 
 sunk where they are intended to bloom, which may either be 
 taken up after the blooming or remain over. 
 
 As soon as the flower falls, snap off the seed-vessel to aid the 
 growth of the bulb. 
 
 Tulips have a habit of change, technically called inmning, 
 in which the striping and brightness of the flower disappear 
 in one dull muddy color, while the roots become multiplied and 
 
450 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Strong. To counteract this tendency, and to preserve and im- 
 prove the beauty of the flowers, " tulip-fanciers" pursue a sys- 
 tem of artificial treatment by which the root is weakened, and, 
 in fact, diseased ; the bulbs, being taken up every year as soon 
 as the tops die, are dried and planted again in the fall. This 
 annual drying of the roots is usually found sufiicient to pre- 
 serve their character, except in wet seasons or too rich soils ; 
 but, in order to improve them or to originate new varieties, 
 seedlings are raised, or certain kinds of superior form are se- 
 lected, and the drying, accompanied by change of soil and 
 other means, is carried to an extreme, the change caused by 
 the process being technically called " breaking." 
 
 With seedlings, which, for this purpose, are always raised 
 from finely-formed " selfs" — that is, flowers of one color with- 
 out striping, the process is ordinarily continued for seven or 
 eight years before they break into their proper colors, or attain 
 a sufficient degree of fixedness in their habit. 
 
 Sometimes tulips break naturally ; the cultivator finds a 
 flower which, from its exquisite beauty, he does not at once 
 recognize, and marks it for special preservation ; but when, in 
 due season, he digs for the root, it is foimd to be entirely de- 
 cayed : the process of improvement had been carried to its cli- 
 max. It was the hue of beauty on the cheek of death, exqui- 
 site loveliness linked to extreme fragility. 
 
 Persons often become enthusiastic in their admiration of 
 these flowers, and very expert in their proper arrangement in 
 the bed, which, under such hands, becomes one of the finest of 
 floral exhibitions. With this view it is made seven rows wide, 
 the taller-growing varieties occupying the centre or fourth row, 
 and being known as " fourth-row flowers ;" those somewhat 
 shorter, or the weaker roots of the former varieties, being set 
 on either side, and known as third-row flowers ; and so on to the 
 first row or outside flowers, the disposal of colors for the pro- 
 duction of effect being also carefully attended to. 
 
 Double tulips seldom deserve culture, being coarse, formless, 
 and generally thick colored. The double yellow rose-scented, 
 the golden-centred crimson, and the bright red-striped " Ma- 
 nage de ma fille," may be reckoned as exceptions. 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 451 
 
 TENDER BULBOUS-ROOTED FLOWERS. 
 
 SPRING AND SUMMER FLOWERING. 
 
 SIX KINDS. 
 
 1. Anemone, Hortensis, &c. A rather peculiar bulb or 
 tuber resembling ginger-root, requiring care in planting, so 
 that they be set right side up. They yield flowers of great 
 variety and brilliancy of color. 
 
 2. Gladiolus or Sword Lily. A showy popular flower, a 
 few varieties of which are fine, but many lack clearness of color. 
 
 3. Lily, Jacobean, Amaryllis Formosissima. A fine, rich, 
 deep scarlet flower. 
 
 4. Ranunculus. A fine flower of varied forms, cupped, 
 globular, &c., and of bright scarlet, crimson, and other colors. 
 
 5. TiGRiDA Pavonia, or Mexican-tiger Flower. The va- 
 riety known as Conchiflora is the finest. There are many 
 flowers in succession, each lasting from early morning until 
 afternoon. If cut before opening and kept in entire darkness, 
 they may be preserved until evening, and will then open in 
 the light. 
 
 6. Tuberose, Tuherosa. A rather tall, free-growing flower, 
 creamy white and fragrant, on which account it is esteemed. 
 It may be started early in pots and turned out in season, or 
 planted as directed below. * 
 
 In planting tender bulbs, let them be covered carefully about 
 two inches above the crown, pressing the earth upon them. 
 The Ranunculus and the Anemone require planting in the 
 fall in rich, strong, loamy soil, but must be protected through, 
 the winter of the North by a covering of leaves, or mulch in a 
 cold bed ; or, with care, the roots may be preserved through 
 winter and planted in very early spring in a bed from which 
 the frost has been excluded, receiving any necessary defense 
 against recurring severity of cold in spring. 
 
 The others may be planted in the open ground when spring 
 frosts are passed, and, being kept clean by occasional hoeing 
 and weeding, will give their beauty or their fragance in its 
 season. They should all be dressed with liquid manure when 
 they are in bud. Before winter, let the roots be taken up and 
 
452 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 dried, and preserve tliem for replanting in boxes or paper bags 
 in a dry, cool place, out of the reach of frost. 
 
 TUBEROUS-ROOTED FLOWERS. 
 
 DAHLIAS. 
 
 TWENTY-ONE VARIETIES. 
 
 Single-flowering Dahlias have entirely disappeared from 
 cultivation, and double ones, which florists wrote of as rarities 
 thirty years ago, are found to-day in almost innumerable vari- 
 eties. The following list, though choice, is given only as an 
 assortment of colors. 
 
 13, 
 
 Ansel's Unique, yellow, edged 
 with scarlet. 
 
 14. Mrs. Hansard, yellow, white tip. 
 
 15. Striata Perfecta, lilac, striped 
 
 and flecked with crimson. 
 
 16. Lilac King, finest of lilacs. 
 
 17. Elizabeth, amethyst, white tipped. 
 
 18. Rachel Rawlings, peach-blossom. 
 
 19. Blanchefleur, pure white. 
 
 20. Prince Albert, white, edged with 
 
 lavender. 
 
 21. Empress Eugenie, white, edged 
 
 with amaranth. 
 
 1. Gem of the Grove, neai'ly black. 
 
 2. Beeswing, dark red. 
 
 3. Bathonia, dark maroon. 
 
 4. Sir Charles Napier, dark scarlet. 
 6. Grenadier, bright crimson. 
 
 6. Brilliant, fine scarlet. 
 
 7. Sir R. Whittington, ruby crim- 
 
 son. 
 
 8. Latour d'Auvergne, orange scar- 
 
 let. 
 
 9. Gasperine, maroon, white tipped. 
 
 10. Kossuth, scarlet, white tipped. 
 
 11. Cleopatra, clear yellow. 
 
 12. Oriflame, splendid orange. 
 
 Dahlias are of most easy culture, reconciling themselves to 
 almost any soil, and poor soil is sometimes prescribed for them. 
 It is possible that very tall, strong -growing kinds may be 
 dwarfed and brought more readily into flower by this treat- 
 ment ; but it will be found safer to select moderate-growing 
 kinds, and give them pretty high culture. With this, a dozen 
 plants of difierent kinds will furnish a good variety and plenty 
 of flowers. 
 
 To treat them properly, make holes of at least fifteen inches 
 diameter and fifteen to eighteen inches deep ; put into each 
 about a peck of half-rotted manure, just such as you would use 
 for hilling potatoes or corn ; mix the earth through it, and chop 
 it well up with the spade ; fill up the hole a little above the 
 natural level, and with a crowbar set a strong stake as deep- 
 as the bottom of your hole, and a little back of the centre. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 453 
 
 This being done, and not before, open a small hole in the cen- 
 tre with your hand or a trowel, and set the plant in, an inch 
 or two deeper than it has previously stood, or if it be a root not 
 yet grown, set the crown the same depth below the surface, 
 press the earth firmly about it, level the surface nicely, and it 
 is in order. 
 
 At every six inches of its subsequent growth tie the main 
 stem carefully, but not tightly, to the stake with strong bass- 
 mat strips or cotton wick, colored if you prefer it. Hoe often 
 around it while young, and nip the side shoots entirely, but 
 not the stem-leaves, from the two lower joints of the stem. 
 As the other side shoots grow, put an outer band or two around 
 them, not binding them out of their natural position unless 
 you wish to, but staying them against winds. Nineteen twen- 
 tieths of your flowers will be due to your stakes and bands. 
 
 In the course of the season, when buds are forming freely, 
 give them one or two dressings of liquid manure, and, if a 
 drought occurs at this period, mulch them thickly. When the 
 frost kills the foliage, hill a little earth around the plants if 
 they are not mulched, and let them stand until the near ap- 
 proach of winter ; then, in the morning of a fine dry day, cut 
 ofi" the tops, take them up, and, having shaken the earth from 
 them, let them stand to dry for a few hours ; then, carefully 
 labeling each, put them into a barrel, and in a few days cover 
 them over with a little straw and earth, or set them compact- 
 ly upon the floor of a dry, cool cellar, and cover them lightly 
 with earth or sand. 
 
 Just at the opening of spring, and not too early, take them 
 out and set them close together, but singly, in a light hot bed, 
 or immediately upon a few inches of warm manure, or in a 
 wai'm spot without manure ; cover them just over the crowns 
 with good earth ; keep them well watered, and shield them 
 with a blanket or other defense from cold nights and storms. 
 
 When they have sprouted three or four inches, take them out 
 on a warm day, and cut them apart, splitting first right through 
 the centre of the old stem. Leave no more than one shoot to a 
 plant, making cuttings of any surplus shoots. K you do not 
 wish to divide the entire plant at once, uncover the crown 
 
454 ALIERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 lightly, and cut off from the root the longer shoots, each with a 
 tuber or more, or with only a small portion of the crown of the 
 old plant. The tubers are of no consequence to the young 
 plant after it strikes its own roots, and generally the less of the 
 old tuber you plant the better, if you either pot the young- 
 shoots until they root, or plant them at once and shade them 
 till they start. If you wish to increase them largely, each 
 shoot may be thus cut out, as the eyes of potatoes are cut out 
 for planting in times of scarcity, or you may still farther mul- 
 tiply them by making cuttings of them all. For this purpose, 
 cut off each young shoot just above the crown, leaving the low- 
 er circle of incipient buds on the old root. Set each cutting 
 thus obtained singly in a half-pint pot, and place them in a 
 moderate and shaded hot bed, with plenty of air, until they are 
 well started, which may require a week or two, when they are 
 ready for setting out. When your old roots have thrown new 
 shoots from the collar buds you left, cut your second and more 
 numerous crop in the same manner, leaving just the collar cir- 
 cle of each, and treat them as the first. This may be contin- 
 ued and repeated far into the season, only taking care not to 
 force the growth of shoots too fast, so as to destroy the stamina 
 of the cutting. 
 
 At the close of the cutting season the old roots may be 
 taken out and divided as first directed. 
 
 Dahlias are also readily raised from seed, which, though suf- 
 ficiently abundant in the poorer sorts, is scantily yielded by 
 the very finest varieties of this flower ; but upon plants of the 
 very best character certain comparatively imperfect blossoms 
 will appear in the course of the season, and the earlier of these 
 will generally furnish a few perfect and ripened seeds. These 
 may be sown early in spring, in a box or hot bed, and should be 
 transplanted while small into half-pint pots, and treated in all 
 respects as directed for cuttings. With early sowing and cai'e 
 they will often blossom the first season, and always in the sec- 
 ond, yet so large a proportion of seedling flowers prove of infe- 
 rior character that private cultivators seldom find it worth 
 while to raise them. 
 
 Dahlias are sometimes grafted upon tubers of common kinds. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 455 
 
 For this purpose, cut the top of a single tuber horizontally ; cut 
 a small and rather thin slice of an inch or two in length from 
 one side ; take a young shoot and cut it into the fonn of a 
 shouldered crown graft, making the shoulder-cut close to a bud 
 — see page 233 ; let this shoulder-bud rest upon the head of 
 your stock tuber, and j&t the rinds together as in tongue graft- 
 ing, but without tongueing ; bind it, and pot it, and set it in a 
 hot bed as a cutting. This may be done for curiosity, but as a 
 matter of business it is worthless. " Le jeu ne vaux pas la 
 chandelle.^^ Other tuberous-rooted floAvers are included in An-, 
 nuals, Biennials, &c. 
 
 ANNUALS. 
 
 All annual flowers may be sown in the spring months, or 
 even in June, and brought into bloom by care in their cultiva- 
 tion, few kinds requiring more than two months to produce 
 flowers. For rules as to depth of sowing, &c., see page 84. 
 
 There are some kinds which shed their seeds and produce 
 young plants in the fall, which continue through the winter, 
 thus becoming in a sense biennial ; others shed their seeds, 
 which commonly sprout abundantly in spring, but any plants 
 that may grow in the fall are killed by the winter. In the 
 following lists the former are marked " self-sowing in the fall," 
 the latter " self-sowing in the spring." Of either class abun- 
 dance of plants may generally be obtained after spring opens 
 from any spot where they grew the previous year. Of the an- 
 nuals named below, none will be found without merit, though 
 some of them may, in certain sections, be so common as not to 
 require cultivation. A few more might have been added, but 
 if these are tastefully aiTanged and well cultivated, the flower- 
 garden will be adequately supplied with this class of flowers. 
 To economize space, detailed descriptions are omitted. 
 
 ANNUAL FLOWERS. 
 
 THIRTY-FOUR VARIETIES. 
 
 1. Ageratum, Blue, Ageratum odoratum. Pi-etty and 
 sweet, about eighteen inches high. 
 
 2. Alyssum, White Sweet, ^??/5S2mi ?wanV«m«m. About 
 
456 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 six inches high, simple and fragrant. Self-sowing in the 
 spring. 
 
 3. Aster, China, Aste7' Sinensis. Fine varied colors, grow- 
 ing from twelve to fifteen inches high. Sometimes self-sow- 
 ing in the spring. 
 
 4. Bartonia, Golden, Bartonia aurea. Spreading, but 
 rising to the height of six inches. 
 
 5. Bachelor's Button, Gomjphrena globosa. White or 
 purplish-crimson ; globular or clover-like flowers, pretty for 
 drying ; a foot high. 
 
 6. Calendrina grandifiora, &c. A showy lilac flower, re- 
 quiring to be sown very early in rich soil. 
 
 7. Candytuft, White, Crimson, Iheris coronaria, speciosa. 
 Simple border or edging flowers, six or eight inches high. 
 
 8. Centranthus, Long-tubed, CentrantJius macrosipTion. 
 A very pretty clear pink flower, about a foot high, a constant 
 bloomer ; does not well bear transplanting. Self-sowing in the 
 spring. 
 
 9. Coreopsis, Golden, Calliopsis hicolor (heretofore Core- 
 opsis tinctoria). Showy and fine, two to three feet high. 
 Self-sowing in the fall. 
 
 10. Cockscomb, Bufi", Crimson, Celosia cristata. From six 
 inches to two feet high. Sow early in hot bed. 
 
 11. Claukea, 'Li[ixc--piTak, ClarJcea pulchella. Curious and 
 pretty, six to eight inches high. 
 
 12. Eternal, Golden, Helichrysum hradeatum. Pretty 
 for drying ; from two to three feet high. Sow early in hot bed. 
 
 13. Euphorbia, Variegated, Quaker's Daughter, Euplioi-hia 
 variegata. Showy and peculiar, two feet high. Sometimes 
 self-sowing in the spring. 
 
 14. Golden Cup, Chriseis crocea (formerly EsscJioltzia). 
 Flower and foliage superior. 
 
 If the plants become straggling, cut them clean to the ground 
 in July, and they will grow again and afford their finest flowers 
 in the fall. 
 
 It often survives the winter, and is also self-sowing in the 
 spring. About a foot high. Chriseis alba is similar except 
 in color. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 457 
 
 15. Four-o'clock, Common, Sweet-scented, Mirabilis ja- 
 lapa, longifiora. The former well known, two feet high ; the 
 latter spreading, and reaching sometimes a foot high : a long- 
 tubed, pale pink fragrant flower. Tuberous-rooted, and may 
 be wintered as dahlias. 
 
 16. Hawkweed, Golden, Crepis harbata. A beautiful 
 morning flower, but closing in the strong sunlight ; six or 
 eight inches high ; trails. 
 
 17. Hibiscus, African (a large flower of an hour). Hibiscus 
 Africanv.s. A pretty morning flower, fading by noon, about a 
 foot high. Self-sowing in the spring. 
 
 18. Ice Plant, Mesembi'Tjanthemum crystallinum. Cu- 
 rious and pretty. Sow early in hot bed. Trailing. 
 
 19. Ladies' Slipper, or Balsam, Balsamina Jiortensis. 
 From a foot to two feet high. The double or camellia-flowered 
 varieties are showy and fine, but readily deteriorate if inferior 
 flowers are allowed to open their blossoms near them. 
 
 20. Malope, Crimson, Mdtope grandifiora. Showy, grow- 
 ing from a foot to two feet high. 
 
 21. Mignonnette, Beseda odorata. A simple fragrant 
 flower, six inches to a foot high, and trailing, deserving the 
 name which French taste has given it. 
 
 22. Monkey Flower, Mimuhis. Peculiar showy tubu- 
 lar flowers, from light yellow to deep orange, with spots and 
 blotches of crimson ; blooms the first season, and is sometimes 
 self-sowing ; easily propagated by slip cuttings ; requires shade 
 and plenty of water in summer. 
 
 23. Morning Glory, Dwarf blue, Gonvolvulics minor. A 
 beautiful morning flower, a foot high, but trailing. 
 
 24. Nemophila, Blue, or Love Grove, NemopMla insignis. 
 Beautiful ; requires shade and moistm-e ; about six inches high. 
 
 25. Pink, French, or Ragged Sailor, Cyanus minor. Of fine 
 varied colors, eighteen inches high. Self-sowing in the fall. 
 
 26. Poppy, Fringed, &c., Pajoaver^m&na^ww, &c. Many 
 varieties, very showy, from a foot to two feet high, and of all 
 colors. Self-sowing in the fall or spring. 
 
 The Papaver Orientalis is a hardy perennial Poppy, very- 
 large and coarse, but showy. 
 
 U 
 
458 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 27. Poppy, Mexican, Argemone grandijiora. A rather 
 handsome white flower, with a profusion of yellow stamens, 
 blooming as an annual, but its roots may be wintered in a cel- 
 lar and replanted. 
 
 28. Petunia, "White, Purple, &c., Petunia alba, Phoenicia, 
 &c. A showy constant flower from May to Avinter, about a foot 
 high, and trailing. Self-sowing in the spring. 
 
 There are double varieties, which, as yet, are inferior to the 
 single ones. 
 
 29. Phlox, Drummond's, Phlox Drummondii. A fine va- 
 riable pink flower, about a foot high. 
 
 30. PoRTULACC A, Purple, White, &c., Portulacca splendens, 
 alba, &c. Extremely showy, opening in the sunlight, about six 
 inches high, and trailing. Self-sowing freely in the spring. 
 
 31. Rose of Heaven, Viscaria oculata. A simple, pret- 
 ty, varied pink flower, with a dark eye. 
 
 32. Scmz XNTEUS, Schizanthus venustus, kc Several va- 
 rieties of delicate flowers, finely penciled and spotted, from 
 eighteen inches to two feet high ; a free and constant bloomer. 
 
 33. Sensitive Plant, Mimosa sensitiva. Pretty foliage, 
 which shrinks on being touched. 
 
 34. Tassel Flower, Scarlet, Caccalia coccinea. A bright 
 scarlet flower, of a tassel or brush form ; pretty ; from a foot 
 to eighteen inches high. 
 
 CLIMBING annuals. 
 
 SIX VARIETIES. 
 
 1. Cobea, Climbing, Cobea scandens. Coarse but curi- 
 ous ; dull purple, goblet-formed flowers. 
 
 2. Cypress Vine, Ipomcea quamodit. A native at the 
 South ; both flower and foliage beautiful. Pour boiling water 
 Upon the seed, stirring it ; pour it off in a few minutes, and 
 sow immediately half an inch deep, 
 
 3. Morning Glory, Purple, &c., Convolvulus major. 
 Morning Glory, Large dark purple, Ipomcea atropurpu- 
 
 Tea. 
 
 Morning Glory, Scarlet, Ipomcea coccinea. Self-sowing 
 in spring. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 459 
 
 4. Maurandya, Purple, Maurandya Bardayana. A 
 beautiful perennial vine, tender, but growing well and bloom- 
 ing abundantly as an annual ; its flowers are pendent tubes of 
 a fine deep purple. There are also white, and mixed muddy 
 varieties of little value. 
 
 5. Peas, Sweet, Lathyrus odoratus. Fine fragrant flow- 
 ers of various colors, running about four feet high, 
 
 6. Thunbergia, Bufl", &c., TJmnbergia alata, alba, &c. 
 A pretty runner, bearing abundance of white, nankin, and or- 
 ange-colored tubed flowers, with a dark puce-colored throat, 
 looking like the pupil of an eye. 
 
 BIENNIALS. 
 
 TWELVE KINDS. 
 
 Biennials should be sown in the latter half of May, and by 
 the first of August, or whenever they are of sufiicient size, they 
 may be transplanted into their permanent places. Shade them 
 for a few days after setting out, and hoe and weed them often 
 through the fall. In the spring clean them perfectly, digging 
 lightly around them until they begin to throw up their blos- 
 som-stems. Such of them as generally or often bloom the first 
 season are noted in the list. 
 
 1. Canterbury Bells, Blue, &c., Campanula medium. 
 Showy bell or goblet formed flowers, generally admired ; from 
 a foot to eighteen inches high. Self-sowing in the fall. 
 
 2. CoMMELiNA, Blue, Commelina celestis. A plant of little 
 show except in masses, with broad grass-like leaves, the ex- 
 quisite tint of its rather scattered flowers constituting its only 
 claim to cultivation. Though generally raised and treated as 
 an annual or biennial, it is tuberous-rooted, and may be pre- 
 served as dahlias or potatoes. From a foot to two feet high. 
 
 3. Foxglove, Purple, White, Digitalis purpurea, alba. A 
 coarse mullein-like plant, throwing up strong spikes of light 
 purple or white tubular flowers, the inside of the purple variety 
 being spotted. Self-sowing in the fall ; two to four feet high, 
 
 4. Honesty, or Satin Flower, Lunaria biennis. An early 
 flower, of a rich though not very clear purple color, but deriving 
 its name and credit chiefly from the thin transparent mem- 
 
-UU) AMKinCAN HOMK CAKPEX. 
 
 bniTio >vhioh iv\uaii\s nt'tor tlio !?oim1s aiv shod. It somoAvhat 
 ivsoinblos n small lv\ttKHiiXn\ havinj; tho toxtinv of satin, and. 
 liko honosty. shouiuii' tho saiuo on Knh sidos ; aKnit oii:;htoou 
 iuohos hii;::h. 
 
 ;"). lloi.i.YiiooK. AlfJuo n\<t'a. A stivnir-i^nnviniX ouvi"so 
 plant and tlowor. bnt ot'toti of fiiio oolors ; vow showy whou 
 bUxnnini; anionj; shrublviy or by oan-iagi.^->Ya\"s ; thiw to six 
 ftvt hiiih. It may Iv |HT|HHuatiHl by slip-outtinirs. 
 
 r>. liAUKsri'K. Vcipliiniinn AJacis. o,;<,n\)/A/(?. Oi:o. Thoso aw 
 showy bionnial llowors. whioh also bUxnn as annuals, and oftou 
 Kwnno favorites ; none of thoui aiv iMiniwrablo to the Chinese 
 LriU-kspur in its varieties, whieh has the same habit of five 
 bhxnning and self-sowing. S^v paj:^^ 4lU>. 
 
 7. Monkshood. Aivm'tum na^Klhift, A tall, stivng stem, 
 bearing tlowers of blue and white, with a tiuixe of yellow in- 
 side, of A eurious double-luxxi form, whenee its name. It ranks 
 as a pei\Minial. but is moiv piv^xM'ly a biennial that often holds 
 over. Self-sowing in the fall or spring ; two to thive tlvt 
 high or motv. 
 
 8.. MoiRNixa .1>KU>E. Swet.n Seabious. «St'«?/»n),V(j otropio'' 
 jDMrtYi, Oco. Theix^ aiv various shades of this Hower. fivm a 
 rieh deep manxni to a |xx>r lihio. Its fr;igrance is very pleas- 
 ant, and is aeixnnpauieil by a very slight pungiMiey. It is an 
 old and wwthy favorite, often bkxnning the tirst year. Self- 
 sowing in the fall ; alxnit two f<.vt high. 
 
 W Pink. China, Diivithuff Chhicih'i{< or annuns. A pivtty 
 little phmt, yielding viu'iously eviloiwl single and double flow- 
 ers the tii"st year fixnu the Scxxl. but bUxnning also the seoi^nd 
 year, and may lx» }xn"jxHuat^\l by euttings. They aiv also 
 fively self-sown : eight inehes to a tlx^t high. 
 
 10. Paxsiks. Heartsease. }li'>la tn\\)lor. A very tvumuvii 
 and very Ixwutiful family of plants, lx>tTi wild and eultivateil. 
 some of eaeh Ixnng fragr-ant. l>Kxnning the tii-st year fmm 
 sixxi. and easily pivserved fivm year to year by slip euttings. if 
 desircii : a few inehes high ; aiv abund;mtly self-sown. 
 
 11. SwKKT Wii.iiAM. DiiDithufi Ikirhitiis. Some virieties 
 of this tlowor aiv ivmarkably tine, having oi^lors of alnu>st daz- 
 zling brightness ; but less caiv than it deserves has Ixvu given. 
 
AMERICAN HOMK OARDEN. 461 
 
 to it, and inferior kindw ufxiund. No garden Hhouid Tk; with- 
 out the finer i<in(lH. A i<X)t lii^^i ; wilf'-wmin^ freely. 
 
 \2. S\Ari)j{A';().v, AnUrrldnum. Hpc/doHv/m,, 6u:. The wnap- 
 dragon iw a lip or mouth-fomied flower of variouH and fine c^^l- 
 orH, having the amuHing faHhion of opening itH njoiith wlien 
 pinehed " lnvck of the ear.H." Tfie Spe<;ioHuni is pure wfiiU;, 
 witfi JipH of fine criniwin. From a ffx;t to eight<M;n inef)(;H 
 high. They are fnxjly Hclf-Hown, and Hometiuies the phmtM 
 blofjrn the first year. 
 
 PERENNIALS. 
 
 TWBKTV-HIX KIM>H. 
 
 T})e see-<]H of pf;rennialH or hf;rhaew)U.s plantH may Ik; f¥)V,h 
 at any time througli tiie Hpring, an<l the young plantH, wiien 
 of Hufficient h'i'/a;, tranHphmted an directed for bienniaJw, or they 
 may fx; left in the Heed-row.s until the next spring. 
 
 P^or particular Hpwiies of plants in the following brief list, 
 special directions are given as to the mfxles \>y which the-y 
 may Ix; inercjised, but, in general, this is cjisily done by dividing 
 the crowns of the nxjts either when they have ccaswl growing 
 in the fall, or after they start in the spring. Usually, at this 
 latter perifxl, each Hj;K;ar, if sef)arated with ever s^; small a por- 
 tion of the rwt, or even siipficd off without rrxjt, will grow, if 
 proper care \)0 given to shade and water it ; biit the inexfxjri- 
 enced cultivator should Ix; content with a rnfxierate division of 
 the Kx>ted pieces. 
 
 1. Adam's Thread and Keedi.e, YuaM JU/mimloHd find 
 Y. gloriom. Almost entirely hardy ahx;-like plants, pnxluc- 
 ing ufxjn a branching stern a multitude of white lx;ll-shaped 
 flowers. The first blooms most freely. At the North a little 
 straw covering in winter is desirable. 
 
 2. Artkmihia or Cil[iYSANTHEMr;M. Many varieties, with 
 large or small flowers ; all showy, and w^me of them fine ; they 
 are our latest fall flower. 
 
 The Paper White, the White Quilled, the Golden Ix^tus, the 
 Straw and the Rose colored, and the Crims^^n or PurjJe, may 
 }x; named. 
 
 For hou.se-bkx>ming, make cuttings early in August of alyjut 
 
462 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 eight inches of the point of each of the young shoots ; pot them 
 as soon as they are well rooted in compost No. 1 or 4, pages 
 443, 444, and keep them regularly watered, and a fine show of 
 blossom may be expected Avith a moderate growth of stem. The 
 stems from which the cuttings were taken will also branch 
 and blossom in their season. 
 
 3. Baptisia, Indigo-plant, Baptisia atro-cerulea. One of 
 the most beautiful of native herbaceous plants, taking care of 
 itself when once planted ; two feet high. 
 
 4. Bloodroot, Sanguinaria Americana. A well-known 
 wild plant, with clear white floAver and pretty foliage, bloom- 
 ing in the earliest spring. It should have a cool, moist place 
 in every garden, where such can be found. It is tuberous- 
 rooted. 
 
 5. Columbine, Wild, Garden, Aquilegia Canadensis, Vul- 
 garis glandulosa, &c. All the varieties of Aquilegia are pret- 
 ty, but none prettier than the wild, unless the Glandulosa, with 
 its calyx-skirt of sky-blue covering a pure white " dimity" co- 
 rolla, may be thought to excel it. The Aguilegia Siherica also 
 is a rather peculiar variety, yielding its erect crimped double 
 blue flowers profusely. From a foot to two feet high ; self-sow- 
 ing in the fall. 
 
 6. Cowslip, American, Dodecatheon media. An early- 
 flowering, lettuce-leaved plant of much prettiness ; a native of 
 Pennsylvania and the Southwest ; flower - stems about six 
 inches high. 
 
 7. Chinese Dielytra, Dielytra spectabilis. A new, beau- 
 tiful, and perfectly hardy Chinese plant, with curious rose-col- 
 ored flowers. It is of the very easiest cultivation, blooming in 
 early spring, and may be continued in succession through the 
 season by slipping off a few cuttings from the crown of the 
 plant in April, May, and June, or even July ; the later ones 
 may be potted for house-blooming. About two feet high ; it 
 will become a universal favorite. 
 
 8. Day Lily, White, Yellow, Blue, HemerocalUs japonica, 
 fiava, cerulea. The first pure white, the second clear lem- 
 on-yellow, and both of exquisite fragrance. The blue is not 
 fragrant, but is admired. From a foot to two feet high. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 408 
 
 9. Dragon's Head Virginian, Dracocephaluin Virginia- 
 num. A wild plant of Pennsylvania and southward, bearing 
 spikes of light lilac tubular flowers, finely and curiously spot- 
 ted inside. Grows about two feet high, and needs care to 
 prevent it spreading itself too freely. 
 
 10. Eupatorium, Blue, Eupatorium celestinum. A wild 
 plant of the South and Southwest, of a beautiful sky-blue ; 
 nearly two feet high ; increased by its roots too freely. 
 
 11. Feverfew, Double, or Lafayette Daisy, PyretJirum 
 parthenium plena. A very pretty pure wdiite flower, bloom- 
 ing freely in the green-house or garden. The old plants are 
 apt to winter-kill, but young plants from cuttings are quite 
 hardy. Common or slip cuttings root without care if planted 
 in the shade. 
 
 12. Fraxinella, Red, White, Didamnus fraxineUa. A 
 peculiar and strongly fragrant plant, its smell producing in 
 some persons nervous headache. Its blossoms give out an in- 
 flammable gas. 
 
 13. Gentian, Fringed, Oentiana crinita. An upright 
 tubed flower, of an exceedingly fine pale blue, the edges being 
 delicately fringed. Found every where in the shady spots of 
 moist meadows in- early fall, growing from six inches to a foot 
 high. It is one of the most beautiful of flowers. 
 
 14. Iris, Fleur de Lis, Purple, White, &c.. Iris purpurea, 
 celestina, alba, &c. Of these there are many showy and fra- 
 grant varieties. The dwarf purple, /ris Jiumilis, makes a good 
 edging for paths. Six inches to two feet high. 
 
 15. Larkspur, Chinese, &c.. Delphinium Sinensis, &c. 
 The flower of the Chinese Larkspur is sometimes white, but 
 mostly of various fine shades of blue. 
 
 The young plants bloom freely the first season, continuing 
 till quite late, and from year to year it will be found one of 
 the chief and most constant ornaments of a garden. 
 
 The Double Chinese and Breck's Seedlings are superb vari- 
 eties of this flower. 
 
 16. Lily of the Valley, Convallaria majalis. A low- 
 growing, small, white, bell-formed flower, of pleasant fragrance 
 and beauty. 
 
464 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 17. Lychnis, Scarlet, Lychnis Chalcedonica. The fine 
 bright scarlet of the flower, rivaling the Chalcedony, is its 
 chief recommendation. From a foot to two feet high. 
 
 18. Peony, large Crimson, Rose, White, Chinese Tree, &c., 
 Pceonia officinalis, rosea, Whitlijii, 3Ioutan, &c. A well- 
 known and large class of showy flowers, many of them fragrant. 
 The last, Pa^onia Moutan, is a low shrub, yielding an abund- 
 ance of large rose-colored flowers. It is increased by layers 
 and offshoots, the former rooting rather slowly. 
 
 19. Phlox, Crimson, Striped, White, Pink, &c.. Phlox spe- 
 ciosa. Van Houtii, pyramidalis, stolonifera, &c. The last, 
 Phlox stolonifera, is a trailing variety, one of om' earliest 
 spring flowers ; the others are summer or fall flowers, of all 
 hues, and Avell worth the little culture they require. The 
 'VV'hole family telong to our continent, but they are sometimes 
 known as French or Spanish lilacs. The " grass pink" used 
 for edging is the Phlox suhulata. 
 
 20. Pinks, Picotees, Carnations, Diantlms plumarius, 
 caryophillus, &c. Varieties of the garden Pink, Diantlms 
 plumarius, are more or less common every where ; but the 
 larger Picotee, or " spotted" Pink, and the striped, or Carna- 
 tion, are comparatively rare, from causes which are, however, 
 easily obviated. In general, the odor of the pink is increased 
 with the depth of its color, and the dark crimson Carnations 
 are called cloves from their strong spicy fragrance. 
 
 Some very double flowers are liable to burst on one side, and 
 become irregular and unsightly. If such are cultivated, the 
 divisions of the calyx, or flower-case, should be cut open equal- 
 ly with a pen-knife about a quarter of an inch down, and a 
 band of yarn or narrow bass strip tied around the middle of the 
 bud to stay it. Fancy cultivators slip a circular card, with a 
 cross-cut opening in the centre, over the main bud, to be drawn 
 up to foi-m a tablet for the flower when it opens, trimming off 
 also all side blossoms to strengthen this one. All the varieties 
 may be increased by seeds, by cuttings, or by layers. 
 
 The natural state of almost all flowers is single, or, at most, 
 semi-double ; and most pinks raised from seed yield single 
 flowers, which, though sweet, are not esteemed ; but a few fine, 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 465 
 
 and sometimes superior flowers arc also obtained. Seeds should 
 be sown in spring in good soil, and lightly covered, and the 
 young plants transplanted when about two inches high. To 
 make a pink cutting of the larger varieties, take oflf the young 
 tender shoot before it starts to run up to blossom ; uncover the 
 lower buds or joints by stripping off a few of the older leaves ; 
 then, with a keen knife, cut the stem clean ofi" very close be- 
 low the slightly swollen ring or joint of the stem ; trim off the 
 next one or two pair of leaves just where they begin to diverge 
 from the stem, and shorten the points of the rest an inch or 
 two, if at all spreading, by a single cut. See Fig. 303 e, p. 
 438. Set the cutting in good light earth, or compost No. 2, 
 p. 443, from an inch to two inches deep, according to the 
 strength of the growth and length of the shank ; press the 
 earth firmly about it Avith your thuml) and finger ; water it 
 moderately, and cover it either with sash, or hand-glass, or 
 bell-glass, or tumbler, or simply set it in the shade, and, in 
 general, you will succeed to your satisfaction. Cultivators 
 sometimes slit the butt of the cutting between the buds, about 
 half an inch up, with a view to induce an outgrowth of roots 
 from each, one side only throwing out roots when it is left 
 whole, which yet, upon other accounts, is to be generally pre- 
 ferred, unless in skillful hands. The smaller varieties are cut 
 in the same manner, but require less trimming. See Fig. 303 
 /, page 438. 
 
 Pink cuttings are also called " pipings," from the stem be- 
 ing entirely sheathed by each pair of leaves, which are left in 
 a pipe or tube form, when the cuttings are made by simply 
 drawing out the heart-growth down to the desired joint, as is 
 sometimes practiced with the garden pink. Fig. 303 g, h, p. 
 438. Layers are made as directed page 441. 
 
 Both cuttings and layers should be made in June, just at 
 the time of blossoming, and must be watched and watered once 
 or twice with Aveak liquid manure, and shaded or mulched, be- 
 ing also examined occasionally, so that, as soon as they are well 
 rooted, which will be in a month or six weeks, they may be 
 transplanted carefully and shaded till they take hold. If in- 
 tended for winter blossoming, they may be potted at once. 
 
 U2 
 
466 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 In one or other of these modes they should be renewed every 
 year. The plants raised by layers are not quite so hardy as 
 those from cuttings or seeds ; but the young strong plants of 
 almost all of them bear the winter about as well as grass, while 
 the old ones of the larger kinds require to be housed, and even 
 those of the smaller kinds suffer by exposm-e. 
 
 Skillful florists of taste and fancy, who take pride in floral 
 exhibitions, practice various arts in preparing flowers for show, 
 known technically as " dressing" them. By means of a pair 
 of long and delicate tweezers, or tongs, usually of wire, with 
 flattened and smoothly-finished ends, the petals are arranged 
 to the very best advantage ; any curled, or imperfect, or mis- 
 placed petals are removed, and, if need be, substitutes from an- 
 other flower inserted. It is the careful, and not always hon- 
 est toilet of the flower, that it may catch the eye and secure the 
 conquest. 
 
 Pinks, Picotees, and Carnations are peculiarly liable to be 
 made the subjects of these manipulations, although, perhaps, 
 no class of show flowers is entirely exempted from them. 
 
 21. Primrose, &c.. Primula. This class of flowers, includ- 
 ing the Primrose, Polyanthus, Cowslip, &c., are, like the Daisy 
 and Pansy, early and very pretty, though at the north the win- 
 ter is too severe for some of them if xmprotected. They are 
 increased by dividing the plant when it has done flowering for 
 the season, shading the young ones for a while. 
 
 22. Sage, Blue-flowering, Salvia angusti/olia. The flow- 
 er is of an extremely fine shade. See also page 472. 
 
 23. Spike Flower, Steeple-top, Veronica spicata, varie- 
 gata, &c. Simple pretty flowers of numerous varieties, some 
 growing three or four feet high, and others hiding their mi- 
 nute and delicate beauty among the short grass by the way- 
 side. 
 
 24. Spiraea Filipendula. A small, pure white double 
 flower, of peculiar delicacy of habit, yet hardy and easily raised 
 if slightly shaded from the strong sun. It has small tuberous 
 roots, and is increased by dividing from the crown. 
 
 25. Sun-flower, Double Perennial, Heliantlms mvlti- 
 Jlorus pleno. A tuberous-rooted sun-flower, bearing numer- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 467 
 
 ous double yellow blossoms, of the size of dahlias, in early fall. 
 Grows about four feet high. 
 
 26. Violet, Poetic or Single Purple, Double Purple, Double 
 Blue, or Neapolitan, Viola odorata in vars. All delightfully 
 fragrant. The Double Blue requires winter protection, and the 
 Double Purple is liable to suffer if entirely unsheltered. Either 
 of the latter may be bloomed in pots in the house. 
 
 GREEN-HOUSE PLANTS. 
 
 Scientific cultivators divide what are commonly called 
 " Green-house Plants" into two classes : " Stove Plants," 
 that is, intertropical plants, which require a higher tempera- 
 ture or a longer continuance of heat than even our New York 
 summers afford, in order to their healthful growth ; and Green- 
 house Plants proper, or such as, being natives of the Avarmer 
 portions of the temperate zones, require only protection through 
 the winters of the colder latitudes. , 
 
 There are many elaborate treatises on the construction of 
 green-houses, with the various modes of heating, and the prop- 
 er cultivation of plants in them, of which those who desire to 
 obtain detailed and precise instructions in this department may 
 avail themselves. The limits of this work will permit only a 
 reference to the more familiar varieties, and the simplest ar- 
 rangements for their winter protection or culture. 
 
 SHRUBS FOR THE GREEN-HOUSE. 
 
 EIGHTEEN KINDS. 
 
 1. Abutilon Striatum, Strijjed Ahutilon. One of the 
 most elegant and free-blooming of green-house shrubs. It is 
 increased from cuttings almost as readily as the willow. There 
 are larger flowering varieties not so pretty. 
 
 2. Azalea Indica, Phcenicia, &c. The pretty wild vari- 
 eties of Azalea are known as the May-apple, Honeysuckle, &c. ; 
 but there are many fine varieties for green-house culture, of 
 which the Phoenicia is perhaps the most generally admired. 
 It is a purple. They are increased by layers, or by cuttings in 
 sand, with heat under them, as immediately over the flue or 
 pipes, &c., in the green-house, or in a light hot bed, and cov- 
 
408 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 ered with a bell-glass. Seedlings are also raised in sand and 
 peat under a bell-glass with care. 
 
 3. BiGNONiA Venusta, &c., Beautiful Bignonia. A fine, 
 tender trumpet flower for a green-house climber. Increased 
 by layers or cuttings. 
 
 4. Camellia Japonica, Japan rose. The varieties of this 
 splendid flower are without number. A pretty full assortment 
 of them would require a large green-house. If only a few are 
 desired, Alba plena, the old double white ; imhricata, crim- 
 son and white ; Jeffersonii, bright crimson ; Washington, deep 
 crimson ; and Americana, blush dashed with rose, all of fine 
 form and free bloomers, may do Avell for a "beginning. Camel- 
 lias are capable of bearing slight frosts with but little, if any 
 injury. They are increased by layers, cuttings, and seeds 
 sown as soon as they are ripe, or by tongue gi-afting, or inarch- 
 ing upon stocks of single-flowering kinds provided for the pur- 
 pose. 
 
 5. Citrus, Orange, Lemon, &c. See page 362. 
 
 6. Cytisus racemosus, &c. a pretty class of bushy, 
 small, yellow, pea-blossomed shrubs. Increased by layers, off- 
 shoots, and cuttings. 
 
 7. Daphne odora. Sweet Daphne. A shrub of which the 
 flowers are very fragrant. Increased by cuttings under glass. 
 
 8. Deutzia Scabra, D. Gracilis. Hardy shrubs abomid- 
 ing with pure white blossoms, either potted in the green-house 
 or set in the open garden. Increased by offshoots, layers, or 
 cuttings. 
 
 9. Gardenia Florida, Florida jasmine. A shrub with 
 white fragrant rose-like flowers. Increased by layers or cut- 
 tings under glass. 
 
 10. HoYA Carnosa, Wax-plant. Quite a pretty and pe- 
 culiar climber, with panicles of Avax-like honeyed flowers, and 
 thick, fleshy leaves, which root when planted as cuttings. It 
 is also increased by ordinary cuttings, layers, or offshoots. 
 
 11. Lagerstremia Indica, (7r«pc l/?/r^fe. A shrub which 
 at the South is hardy, bearing abundance of clear pink blos- 
 soms, delicately fringed or cut, Avith a crinkled, crape-like ap- 
 pearance. It is improved by pretty close winter pruning. In- 
 creased bv cuttings under glass. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 469 
 
 12. Lavandula Spic ATA, Z/«vew<:?(?r. A small slinib class- 
 ed among herbs, modest but worthy, bearing short spiked pale 
 blue flowers, of a fine delicate odor, which they preserve when 
 dried, and yield freely by distillation. The perfume is much 
 used in making Eau de Cologne. It is hardy south of New 
 York, and may be raised from seed, as sage (see p. 176), or by 
 common or slip cuttings. 
 
 13. Nerium Oleander, &c., Oleander. Several varieties 
 of a showy and free-growing plant, with rose or crimson flow- 
 ers, &c., well known under its common name. Increased by 
 ofishoots, layers, or cuttings in earth or water. 
 
 14. Passiflora C^rulea, &c.. Passion Fhiver. Several 
 of the tender varieties are singularly fine. Increased by off- 
 shoots or layers, and cuttings of the very young growth will 
 root pretty well under glass. 
 
 15. PiTTOSPORUM TOBIRA, Pittosporum. A pretty large 
 green-house shrub, with glossy laurel-like leaves and single 
 white flowers in small bunches, having a piny fragrance. In- 
 creased by layers or cuttings. 
 
 16. Rosa, Rose in varieties. Lamarque, Solfatarre, Chro- 
 matella, among running roses, and Hermosa, Devoniensis, La 
 Heine, and Souvenir de Malmaison among those of bush growth, 
 may he named, to which additions may be made to such extent 
 as individual taste may prompt. Young budded plants gen- 
 erally bloom well in the house or green-house. 
 
 17. Spir.ea Reevesii, &c.. Reeves'' s Spirma. A hardy 
 shrub, with abundance of pure white flowers in green-house or 
 garden. Spiraea prunifolia forms a small and rather compact 
 bush, which covers itself with small double white flowers. In- 
 creased by offshoots, layers, or cuttings. 
 
 18. Viburnum Tinus, Lauriistinus. A pretty evergreen 
 shrub, hardy at the South, with panicles of delicate white 
 flowers. It is quite ornamental. Increased by offshoots, lay- 
 ers, or cuttings shaded under glass. 
 
 All the a]x)ve " shrubs for the green-house" that are not 
 entirely hardy may be wintered safely, with a little care, in a 
 common cellar with air and light. 
 
470 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 PLANTS OP SMALLER GROWTH FOR THE GREEN-HOUSE. 
 
 TWENTY KINDS. 
 
 1. Aloyzia Critiodora, Lemon Plant. A well-known old 
 favorite. The lemon fragrance of its foliage has given it a 
 name. Its flower is simple, but pretty. Increased by layers ; 
 or cuttings of the last year's growth root freely, with or with- 
 out glass, particularly if taken before they start in the spring 
 from plants that have rested from growth through winter. 
 
 2. Amaryllis Formosissima, Jacobean Lily. A fine deep 
 scarlet lily, blooming freely potted in compost No. 3 ; bulbous. 
 
 3. Begonl\ Sanguinea,&c., (7rmso?i-?eavec?^e(/o/wa. A 
 peculiar soft-stemmed plant, with red leaves or leaf- veins, and 
 delicate pink or flesh-colored wax-like flowers. Increased by 
 ofishoots or cuttings. 
 
 4. Calceolaria, Purse Flower. There are many varieties 
 of this plant, some of which are herbaceous, others woody. 
 They all bear flowers of a peculiar bag form, and in general are 
 finely colored or spotted. Pretty in green-house or garden, but 
 do not bear exposm'e to a strong sun. Licreased by seeds or 
 cuttings. 
 
 5. Calla Ethiopica, lAly of the Nile. The well-known 
 pure white funnel-formed Ethiopian Lily. Increased freely by 
 ofl"shoots if kept moist. 
 
 6. Cineraria. A numerous family of very showy house 
 plants, which bear profusely their star-like flowers, generally 
 edged with various shades of crimson, and purple, and lilax? 
 around a white centre. Increased by cuttings, and in some 
 varieties freely by ofishoots. 
 
 7. DiELYTRA Spectabilts, Beautlful Dielytra. A hardy 
 plant, but making one of the finest ornaments of the gi-een- 
 house. See page 462. 
 
 8. Fabiana Imbricata. A delicate heath-like plant, cover- 
 ing itself with small white tubular blossoms. Cuttings root 
 freely under bell-glass in the shade. 
 
 9. Fuchsia, Ladies'* Ear-drop. Of this old and favorite 
 house-plant there is now a large number of new varieties, some 
 of them very beautiful, some only peculiar, and some coarse and 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 471 
 
 lacking almost entirely the grace that distinguished the older 
 kinds. They are all readily increased by cuttings. 
 
 10. Heliotropium, Heliotrope. A common house plant, 
 with light or dark lilac blossoms of delightful fragrance. In- 
 creased readily by cuttings. 
 
 11. IpoMiEA. There are several varieties that make desira- 
 ble climbers for the green-house ; their flowers resemble the 
 Convolvulus, but are of sm-passingly fine colors. Increased by 
 cuttings set in sand under a bell-glass, in a warm but shaded 
 spot. 
 
 12. Jasminum Revolutum, Yellow Jasmine. A semi- 
 climbing plant, bearing yellow tubular flowers, the margin of 
 which is rolled a little backward. Increased readily by cut- 
 tings. 
 
 13. Lonicera Japonic a, Japan Honeysuckle. A favorite 
 fragrant climber. Increased by cuttings. 
 
 14. LoPHOSPERMUM Erubescens, Fiiih LopJiospermum. 
 A rather delicate climber, bearing somewhat sparsely fine light 
 pink flowers of a tubular form ; sometimes set in open borders 
 in summer. 
 
 15. Maurandya Barclayana, Purple 3Iaurandya. A 
 rapid and showy climber, with rather large tubed flowers of a 
 fine purple color ; often raised as an annual — see page 459. 
 Increased by seeds or cuttings. 
 
 16. Mignonnette. Sown in pots, and not permitted to seed, 
 it will continue to grow and blossom throughout the year. 
 
 17. Pelargonium, Geranium. Of these plants there are 
 innumerable varieties, many of them of great beauty, and a 
 number with fine fragrance both of the leaf and blossom. All 
 of them are increased freely by cuttings. When these are 
 taken off very young, or from the fleshy-growing kinds, the cut 
 ends should be suffered to dry a little before they are planted, 
 to prevent rotting. Some of the kinds may also be raised read- 
 ily from cuttings of the root. 
 
 18. Petunia Alba, &c., Petunias. These showy annuals 
 may be made to ornament the green-house or parlor by potting 
 either old or young plants or cuttings in the fall, having first 
 pretty thoroughly trimmed them ; they Avill grow afresh, and 
 
472 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 blossom freely throughout the -svinter with ordinary house 
 treatment, 
 
 19. Salvia Splendens, Fulgens, &c., Scarlet Sage, &c. 
 The green-house varieties of Sage, which also flower freely in 
 summer borders, afford flowers remarkable for the richness of 
 their colors. They are easily increased by cuttings, and some 
 varieties by seeds. 
 
 20. Viola Odorata, Violets. Sweet Violets, blue or pur- 
 ple, single or double, should have a place in every green-house 
 or parlor as well as garden, for their exquisite odor. 
 
 Almost all the above, as noted under each, may be raised 
 from cuttings planted in June, and shaded either under glass 
 or without it. As soon as they begin to root they should be 
 potted in suitable compost — see page 443 — taking care to put 
 small sherds, or stones, or broken shells into the bottom of eaxjh 
 pot for proper drainage ; trim the young roots, if they have 
 become long ; fill up the pot sufficiently before putting in the 
 plant ; set its roots naturally, and fill the pot up cai'efully, 
 shaking it a little from time to time, and pressing the earth 
 moderately around the roots with the hand. Shade and water 
 them carefully for a few days until they start afresh. If they 
 are first set in small pots, they will require repotting with the 
 older plants in August or September, preparatory to taking 
 them in for winter. At this time let all straggling growth be 
 removed, and all excess shortened, and the plants, both old and 
 young, be brought into snug compass and neat condition. Let 
 all matted roots also be cut away, and long ones be shortened ; 
 remove a considerable portion of the old earth, and replace it 
 with fresh compost. Shade and water them with special care 
 until they recover from the operation, and before taking them 
 in for winter, pick off" all dead or faded leaves, and burn them. 
 
 If it be proposed simply to preserve the plants of this class 
 through the winter, the shrubs and many of the smaller plants 
 may be kept in a light, airy cellar ; but it is better that they 
 be placed at once in a pit so graded as that the tops are eight 
 or ten inches below the glass. The pit being properly banked 
 around, the sashes may be put on when found necessary for 
 the defense of the plants, and shutters, or straw mats, or both, 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 473 
 
 added as the cold becomes more severe, covering still thicker, 
 if required, with long stable-manui'e. Keep these coverings 
 dry from the first by spreading over all, and carefully fasten- 
 ing, a strong canvas or India-rubber sheet that will shed the 
 rain, and with which any ordinary snow can be rolled off as 
 soon as the storm ceases. Open the front of the sashes to give 
 air in mild weather, but keep them closed at all other times, 
 letting in the shaded light occasionally, in bright moderate 
 weather, at midday. As spring approaches, lessen the cov- 
 ering, and gradually increase the air and light given until it 
 is time to take them out for the summer. 
 
 If it is intended to keep and bloom them in the house, they 
 may be placed in a cold bed until the severe frost approaches, 
 and then be transferred to a well-lighted room, without heat, 
 and placed on their stands with castors ; or they may be at 
 once taken to such a room in early fall, leaving it open day 
 and night when the weather is not too severe ; into this room, 
 by means of a drum, or register, or small stove, introduce only 
 just so much warmth as will exclude frost until about mid- 
 winter, then very gi-adually increase the heat until it rises to 
 about 65° in the day ; let it sink in the night, but not lower 
 than to about 40° at the lowest. If the thermometer goes 
 above 70°, let in air carefully at the top of yom- Avindows. 
 Never permit sudden variations of temperature ; if these oc- 
 cur to any considerable extent, they will prove as injurious as 
 a frost. Remove all decaying leaves, and keep the plants 
 clean by washing them off with tepid ivater at least once a 
 week if they become dusty : this may be effected by dipping 
 their tops in a tub of water and moving them gently in it, or, 
 if needful, the cleansing may be aided by the careful light use 
 of a soft brush or fine sponge ; or set them one or two at a 
 time in the tub, and shower them with the common rose water- 
 ing-pot, held two or three feet above them, ad(hng to this also, 
 if necessary, the use of the brush or sponge. 
 
 K a room heated by a drum or register is appropriated ex- 
 clusively to them, and they do not become dusty, water may 
 be given moderately upon the surface of the earth in the pots 
 once in three or four days, if it seems to be getting dry ; but 
 
474 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 do not suffer water to stand in the saucers unless it be for bulb- 
 ous roots or water-plants, as the Calla, when blossoming. Let 
 light and air be admitted as freely as is found safe. With care 
 in this respect, any arrangement by which the room can be 
 filled with the steam of clear water twice a week, for a few 
 hours at a time, mitil it moistens the leaves, will preserve the 
 plants in perfect health. For this purpose, a flexible steam- 
 tube, that will fit on to the steam-tube of a kitchen boiler-cover, 
 may be bought for about twenty cents a foot. If, however, 
 they are in the parlor, this can not be done, and, whether there 
 be dust or not, showering or dipping will be essential, or 'the 
 more tedious process of washing each plant leaf by leaf with a 
 soft sponge. 
 
 All winter watering and washing of plants should be done 
 in the morning, or at least when the heat is rising ; but the 
 steam may be let in at night, and, if desired, form an impor- 
 tant part of the heating medium during that time. 
 
 Upon the south side of any dwelling a conservatory or plant- 
 room may be made, in which plants will grow and bloom finely 
 through the winter with no more artificial heat than may be 
 afforded by a register from the adjoining room, and the occa- 
 sional use of steam as above directed. For such a room or 
 conservatory the sashes should be glazed on both sides, about 
 an inch space intervening between the panes ; and, as this 
 double glazing makes the sashes heavy, provision for admit- 
 ting air should be made by having one or two of them short, 
 and arranged to slide horizontally. 
 
 No shutters are needed, but shades will be found essential ; 
 for, if the full sunlight be admitted, the oft-repeated and great 
 fluctuations of temperature between noon and midnight, or be- 
 tween the warmer and colder days of winter, will forbid success, 
 except with the very hardiest plants. An equable but grad- 
 ually advancing temperatiu-e must by all means be secured. 
 
 If a cheap green-house is desired, one may be built precise- 
 ly as directed for a cold grapery, page 355. Arrange the 
 " staging" for yom* plants, consisting of shelves, placed stair 
 fashion, six inches w ide, and varying from seven to ten inches 
 high, leaving a broad platform toward the back wall, upon 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 475 
 
 which the larger plants may be set. Place other shelves, as 
 may be fomid convenient, along the front, or in any spare space, 
 for smaller plants or cuttings. 
 
 It may be heated by a small common brick flue running en- 
 tirely around it under the staging, rising a little as it goes, 
 and connecting with a chimney at the end. If the draught is 
 insufficient, it may be increased by a pretty high wooden ex- 
 tension of the chimney, to be well secm'ed against the wind. 
 If preferred, the heating apparatus figured and described below 
 may be introduced. 
 
 Fig. SOT. 
 
 «. A small copper cylinder furnace, with common stove draught, of which the fire-cham- 
 ber ia thirteen inches deep and nine inches diameter, surrounded by a copper water-cham- 
 ber ; whole diameter eleven inches. The draught and fire managed as in a common stove. 
 
 b. The boiler, placed a little higher than the furnace. It may be a barrel, or a metallic 
 vessel, which will radiate more heat. 
 
 c. c. Iron circulating tubes from the water-chamber to the boiler. 
 
 d. AVater-tank, to be kept filled. 
 
 e. Supply-pipe from tank to boiler, to be governed by a floating ball or other arrange- 
 ment in the boiler. 
 
 The above apparatus, which may cost some $10, was, I be- 
 lieve, originally intended to be used with tubes only a few 
 inches long, for heating water for domestic uses ; but it serves 
 admirably for a small green-house, in which it may be all hid- 
 den by the staging, &c., except the furnace. Let the arrange- 
 ment be such as to make the course of the circulating tubes as 
 direct as possible between the water-chamber and boiler, rising 
 a little toward the latter. The only danger is of collapse from 
 exhaustion of the water in the boiler below the mouth of the 
 upper tube, and this is entirely removed by attention to filling 
 the tank regularly, and as often as is necessary. A little ex- 
 perience will enable you to regulate the degree of fire to be 
 kept up. A barrel of water, at a distance of sixteen to twenty 
 
476 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 feet, may be boiled in about an hour, and an escape tube should 
 be fixed so as to carry the steam entirely outside when not re- 
 quired for heating, &c. 
 
 When using it for any purpose within the house, fix the cov- 
 ering, &c., of the boiler so that the escaping steam will not 
 strike any plant directly. When it is thus permitted to escape 
 during the night, your plants, on opening the house in the 
 morning, will generally appear as if covered with the heavy 
 dew of a cool night in early fall. They will not need syi-in- 
 ging, but perhaps a little care to plac© any plants that may be 
 disposed to suffer from moisture near to the furnace, where they 
 will dry off quickly. Let your sashes be well glazed ; cover 
 them with good shutters or straw mats, or use double glazed 
 sashes and shades, and give attention to the gradual increase 
 of the temperature as above directed for house treatment. Wa- 
 ter moderately in the morning once or twice a Aveek, as may be 
 found requisite, rather giving too little than too much at any 
 one time. If the temperature rise to 70°, give air at the back 
 ventilators ; and if higher, admit a little also at the door or 
 lower ventilators, or both. 
 
 The green-house is sometimes troubled with a small bright 
 red spider, which is very injm'ious to the plants. Moisture 
 prevents it ; but if it appear, the house should be Avhitewashed 
 while the Avash is still hot, mixing into each pailful about a 
 pound of sulphm-. If aphides or other insects infest the plants, 
 close the house carefully, and burn tobacco in a small furnace 
 or otherwise in it, until completely filled with the smoke, al- 
 lowing it to remain thick for fifteen or twenty minutes ; then 
 open the house and syringe it thoroughly. 
 
 With the same view, single plants may be set in a covered 
 barrel containing tobacco, which may be rapidly burned by 
 blowing through a small draught-hole left for the purpose near 
 the bottom ; or the same end may be attained by setting a few 
 sticks around the plant, and throwing a cloth over and around 
 it, burning the tobacco underneath. For large plants an um- 
 brella may be used, with a stick of sufficient length spliced for 
 the time to its handle, and a cast-off skirt, hooped if conven- 
 ient, with the gathers taken out, run on to its outer edge ; this 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 477 
 
 being set over the plant by fixing the lower end of the stick in 
 the earth, the tobacco-burning proceeds. 
 
 Dipping the plants in tobacco infusion or weak ley may bo 
 substituted ; but, Avhatever course is adopted, the plants must 
 be dipped in, or showered, or syi'inged with clear Avater almost 
 immediately afterward, and the plants so treated will not con- 
 tinue free from these pests unless kept in vigorous health by 
 increased care. 
 
 If earth-worms become troublesome, water the pots a few 
 times with lime-water. 
 
 In the spring, when the plants are taken out for the season, 
 clear them perfectly from dead leaves, &c. ; wash the outside 
 of the pots ; clean the house thoroughly, and let all the gath- 
 ered rubbish be carefully bm'ned. In the fall when they are 
 taken in again, repeat these operations. 
 
 HARDY SHRUBS. 
 
 TWENTY-FIVE KINDS. 
 
 All flowering shrubs and plants that bear their blossoms 
 upon the young growth of the season, as the Althea, or August 
 flower, the Rose, &c., should be carefully and pretty closely 
 trimmed every winter or spring. Others, that produce their 
 flowers on the branches of the previous season's growth, should 
 only be pruned so much as is needful to secure compactness 
 and symmetry of foi*m. 
 
 1. Almond Dwarf, Double-flowering, ^m?/5rc?aksPer- 
 sica. A very showy early flowering shrub. Raised from off- 
 shoots or layers. 
 
 2. Buffalo Berry, Shepardia argentea. This is classed 
 among fruit-bearing shrubs, but it is also quite ornamental. 
 Increased by layers or seeds. 
 
 3. Burning Bush, Euonymns Americanus. Its common 
 name is derived from the profusion of bright red angular ber- 
 ries which it bears in the fall. Raised from seeds or layers. 
 
 4. Bush Honeysuckle, Lonicera. Several pretty pink 
 flowering varieties. Increased readily from offshoots, layers, 
 or cuttings. 
 
 5. Chinese Weigela, Weigela rosea, W. amabilis. A new 
 
478 AMERICAN HOME -GARDEN. 
 
 hardy shrub from Northern China, with a profusion of single 
 rose-colored flowers, somewhat resembling the smaller Rose 
 Bay or Rhododendron. Increased by offshoots or layers. 
 
 6. Deutzia, Large-flowering, Deutzia scahra ; Small-flow- 
 ering, Deutzia gracilis. These very pretty shrubs are of simi- 
 lar habit in every respect, except the size of their blossoms and 
 growth. Their abounding pure white flowers resemble a mul- 
 titude of snow-drops hung gracefully upon the branches, one 
 of which might well sufiice to form a bridal wreath. Increased 
 from offshoots, layers, or cuttings. 
 
 7. False Indigo, Amorpha fruticosa. A wild shrub of 
 Pennsylvania, bearing spikes of blue flowers in July. In- 
 creased by layers, cuttings, or seeds. 
 
 8. Flowering Currant, Rocky Mountain Currant ; Bibes 
 aureum,Golden Flowering ; Atro sanguineum, Scarlet. Very 
 showy shrubs, that are increased by layers or cuttings, and al- 
 most too readily from offshoots. 
 
 9. ¥0Y{BYTRiA,CiimE&E, Forsythia viridissima. A showy 
 early-flowering shrub, its branches seeming ruffled with the 
 abundance of its curious crumpled yellow blossoms. The foli- 
 age which comes after the flowers is of a fine deep green, and 
 the whole plant ornamental. Increased by offshoots, layers, or 
 cuttings. 
 
 10. Fringe -tree, Bhus cotlnus, Venetian sumach. A 
 shrub rather curious than pretty. 
 
 11. Fringe-tree, the American, Chionanthus Virginica. 
 Common about New York and southward. Bearing a profusion 
 of white fringe-like flowers in the spring. Increased by off- 
 shoots or layers. 
 
 12. Globe Flower, Kerria japonica. A showy yellow 
 flowering shrub of willowy growth, spreading so much from the 
 roots as often to be deemed a pest. 
 
 13. Lilac, common and Persian, Purple, White, Syringa 
 grandifiora, Persica. Well-known flowering sln-ubs. All are 
 increased by offshoots or layers. The common Avhite and the 
 Persian, both white and purple, are worthy of more extended 
 cultivation. 
 
 1 4. May-apple, Azalea nudiflora. Known also as " Hon- 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 479 
 
 eysuckle," " Pinxter Blomache," and " Swamp Pink." There 
 are many hardy varieties of these pretty shrubs, all which may 
 be increased from layers or seals. Prune closely, or cut them 
 clean down if transplanting them from the swamps or woods. 
 
 15. Mezereum, Daphne mezcreimi. Except the wild Yel- 
 low-root and the Leather-wood, this is the earliest shrub that 
 puts forth. Its blossoms are purplish, showy, and very fragrant. 
 Increased freely from its pretty red berries, if sown as soon as 
 they drop. It should have a deep, dry, loamy soil. 
 
 16. Osage Orange, 3Iaclura aurantica. A thorny shrub, 
 with foliage and worthless fruit resembling the orange. It is 
 ornamental, but is chiefly used for hedges, which, when made, 
 should always be trimmed pyramidally — that is, broad at the 
 bottom, and gradually narrowing to the top, otherwise the over- 
 shadowing top will kill the undergrowth and spoil the beauty 
 of the hedge. Increased by seeds, layers, and cuttings. 
 
 17. Privet, Prim, Ligustrum vidgare. A small, pretty 
 semi -evergreen shrub, used for ornamental hedges or singly. 
 Increased from offshoots, layers, or cuttings, planted in the fall. 
 
 18. Roses, Rosa Damascena, &c. Annual Roses bloom 
 but once a year, in spring or early summer, and hence are often 
 called June Roses. Autumnal and ever-blooming Roses blos- 
 som most heavily at this season, but bloom again more or less 
 freely, according to soil, climate, and treatment, throughout 
 the summer and fall, which gives them their peculiar value. 
 The fragrance of the Annual Roses, as a class, is very distinct 
 from the perfume of the old Monthly or the more tender and 
 highly-scented Tea Roses, &c., and it has been so long con- 
 nected with recurring spring or opening summer that it is 
 highly esteemed, not only for its intrinsic character, but also 
 for its pleasant associations. Many of the stronger-growing 
 autumnal Roses are of similar odor, and, though blooming in 
 late summer or fall, bring back, as we gather them, all the fresh- 
 ness of the opening season. The kinds named below are se- 
 lected from various classes of Roses known as Bourbons, Per- 
 petuals,Remontants, Hybrids, &c., &c., the distinctions between 
 •which are arbitrary, and unintelligible to all but the florist or 
 amateur, and are therefore entirely disregarded. 
 
480 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 ANNUAL ROSES. 
 
 EIGHTEEN VARIETIES. 
 DARK. 
 
 Tuscany, Black Tuscany, dark velvety purple. 
 Rivers' George IV. (pillar), rich violet-crimson. 
 Dutch Velvet, bright carmine. 
 Gloire de Colmai-, deep crimson. 
 
 ROSE COLOR. 
 
 Maiden, deep rose. 
 
 Moss, Common Blush, rose. 
 
 Moss, Crested, rose. 
 
 Cabbage Provence, rose. 
 
 Coup d'Hebe (pillar), bright pink. 
 
 YELLOW. 
 
 Persian Yellow, golden color (not fragrant). 
 
 Harrison, bright straw color. 
 
 Madam Stolz, pale straw color. 
 
 Fortune's Yellow, yellow, tinged with red — a free bloomer. 
 
 W H I T B, C R E A M Y. 
 
 Unique, or White Provence, white. 
 
 Clementine, pure Avhite. 
 
 Count Plater, cream color. 
 
 Bouquet (tout fait), pillar, creamy white, clustered, and very fragrant. 
 
 STRIPED. 
 
 Tout Parfait, white varied with rose and crimson ; the best known striped 
 
 EVER-BLOOMING AND AUTUMNAL ROSES. 
 
 THIRTY VARIETIES. 
 
 Agrippina, bright scarlet. 
 
 Giant of the Battles, glowing scarlet. 
 
 Jules Margottin, bright scarlet. 
 
 Count de Paris, bright crimson. 
 
 I'rince Albert, crimson pin-ple. 
 
 Edward Jesse, deep purplish-crimson. 
 
 Paul Joseph, rosy-crimson. 
 
 Bouquet de Flore, deep carmine. 
 
 La Reinc, brilliant glossy rose color ; large. 
 
 Madam Ory, bright rose ; mossy. 
 
 Belmont (pillar), bright rose (a fac simile of the old China Monthly). 
 
 Prince Leon, bright cherry. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GAKDEN. 481 
 
 Baronne Prevost (pillar), brilliant rose color. 
 Lady Alice Peel, rosy-carmine. 
 Robin Hood (pillar), rosy- carmine. 
 Dr. Marx, bright rosy-carmine. 
 Bernard, salmon-pink. 
 
 Hermosa, pale rose ; known sometimes as the Monthly Cabbage Rose, com- 
 mon, but one of the finest of roses. 
 Odorata, old tea-scented, light pink. 
 Eivers', rose shaded with buff. 
 William Griffiths, bright lilac-rose. 
 Souvenir de Malmaison, pale flesh color ; large. 
 Madam Bosanquet, light flesh color. 
 Eliza Sauvage, pale yellow, orange centre. 
 Solfatarre, sulphur yellow ; very fragrant. 
 Lamarque, very pale straw color. 
 Devoniensis, creamy white. 
 Acidalie (pillar), white. 
 Eliza Balcombe, white, blooming in clusters. 
 Eponine, pure white ; clusters. 
 
 Annual roses are increased by offshoots or by layers. Most 
 of the kinds thi^ow up the former too freely, but the Moss, the 
 Maiden, and some other valuable kinds require careful layering 
 in a warm, sandy soil, or in compost No. 2, which may be per- 
 formed either in fall or early spring, or in June upon the yomig 
 growth of the season. 
 
 Of the Autumnal and Ever-blooming Roses, all may be in- 
 creased by layers ; some throw up offshoots as freely as the An- 
 nuals, and the more delicate kinds may be readily raised from 
 cuttings. Some of them are hardy any where, but others re- 
 quire banking with earth or careful coating with straw north 
 of Philadelphia, and a few, as Solfatarre and Devoniensis, even 
 somewhat south of that point. Wherever this is necessary, 
 the best and most convenient mode will generally be to bend 
 the whole plant down and cover it with the common earth six 
 or eight inches deep. Open and set them into place early in 
 the spring, and prune carefully and pretty closely. 
 
 Autumnal and Ever-blooming Roses, in order to secure the 
 highest success in their summer and fall flowering, require to 
 be managed with some care, otherwise their heavy spring crop 
 of blossoms will so far exhaust them that but few will be sub- 
 sequently yielded. If, however, certain selected bushes be pre- 
 
 X 
 
482 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 vented from blooming in spring or early summer by plucking 
 the incipient buds, or by deferring their winter pruning imtil 
 the leaf is putting forth, and then cutting them closely back, 
 they will probably furnish abundance of blossoms late in sum- 
 mer or in the fall. Transplanting or root pruning, with cut- 
 ting back in the fall or very early spring, will be found con- 
 ducive to the same result ; but any or all of these means should 
 be accompanied by high compost or liquid manuring and clean 
 and careful culture. For Running Roses, see page 484. 
 
 Rose-bushes are infested with various insects, particularly 
 the Aphis and Scale insect, for which the remedies directed 
 pages 264 and 265 may be used. The Rose worm or slug, larva 
 of Selandria (Blennocampa) Rosae, is still more injm-ious. It is 
 a small, greenish, smooth, semitransparent worm, resembling 
 the Cherry slug, page 275, about half an inch long, found often 
 in June on the under side of the leaves of rose-bushes, which 
 it eats until only the veins and the thin skin of the upper side 
 of the leaf are left. They do not generally eat over the whole 
 leaf, but spot it ; but in moist seasons they abound, and will 
 then sweep the rose foliage as if fire had scorched it. 
 
 Sowing slaked lime, or dry ashes, or sulphur upon the 
 bushes, or syringing them with weak ley or whale-oil soap may 
 destroy the worm, but vigorous health in the plants generally 
 prevents it. 
 
 19. Rose of Sharon, Hibiscus Syriacus, known also as 
 AUhea, or August FloAver. Increased from layers, cuttings, or 
 
 20. Scarlet Quince, Cydonia japonica (formerly Pyrus 
 japonica). Increased by cuttings of the root or by layers, 
 and sparingly by offshoots. Extremely showy and of pretty 
 foliage. 
 
 21. Spirea, Reeves's, Double-blossomed, &c., Spirea Beve- 
 sii, prunifolia flore pleno, &c, A class of pretty white- 
 flowering shrubs, spreading freely by offshoots, or increased by 
 i ayers. 
 
 22. Snowball, Guelder Rose, Viburnam opulus. An old 
 and well-known shrub ; increased from offshoots, and still more 
 readily by layers. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 483 
 
 23. Snowberry, Symphoria racemosa. A simple shrub, 
 bearing bunches of white berries until late in the season. Its 
 numerous offshoots become troublesome. 
 
 24. Syringa, Fhiladelpkus coronarius, PMladelphus gran- 
 difiora. The former is universally known for its fragrance. 
 The latter has larger similar flowers, but lacks odor. Increased 
 by offshoots, layers, or cuttings. 
 
 25. Sweet-scented Shrub, CalycantJms Icevigatus. A 
 native of the Southern States, widely known for its " apple" or 
 " strawberry"-scented maroon-colored blossoms. Increased by 
 offshoots, layers, and with care by cuttings. 
 
 CLIMBING SHRUBS. 
 
 TWELVE KINDS. 
 
 All the following climbing shrubs, as well as those for the 
 green-house, may be increased by layering in the ordinaiy mode, 
 or by span layering, some by offshoots, and most of them, also, 
 by cuttings planted in a cold bed in October, and protected a 
 little through winter, and shaded and aired through spring ; 
 or in the green-house at any time from November to April ; 
 or in a light hot bed, made for the purpose, in the spring or 
 summer, and kept carefully watered, and shaded, and aired 
 after the cuttings are planted. 
 
 1. Bittersweet, Celastrus scandem. A common but beau- 
 tiful winchng wild climber. 
 
 2. Clematis, White, or Virgin's Bower, Blue, Sweet-scent- 
 ed, &c.. Clematis Virgmica, cerulea, Jlammula, &c. Slender 
 and graceful tendril climbers ; the first a hardy wild plant, the 
 last an exotic, tender at the North, but of delightful fragi-ance. 
 Clematis Sieholdii is a fine Japanese species, also tender. 
 
 3. Honeysuckle, Scarlet Tiimipet, Yellow Trumpet, Chi- 
 nese Evergreen, &c., Lonicera semper virens, flava, Sinensis, 
 &c. Ornamental and perfectly hardy winding climbers ; the 
 last. Sinensis, being of beautiful foliage and excellent fra- 
 grance, almost an evergi'een. 
 
 4. Ivy, Irish, European, Hedera Hihernica and H. helix. 
 A creeping, rooting climber, with deep green glossy leaves, 
 sometimes planted to run on chm'ch edifices, but ha\dng, at 
 
484 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 the North, a sorry appearance when winter has browned the 
 foliage. It is pretty in pots as a house plant. 
 
 5. Ivy, American, or Virginian Creeper, Ampehpsis quin- 
 quefolia. A very fine ornamental rooting climber, growing 
 wild over a wide region. It is often found in company with 
 the Poison Vine, Rhus Toxicodendron, and not unfrequently 
 mistaken for it, yet is easily distingmshable, each leaf having 
 five leaflets, rather narrow and toothed, while the Poison Vine 
 has but thi^ee, which are broader and smooth-edged. 
 
 6. Jasmine, White, Sweet, &c.,Jasmm'W77^o^c^7^afe, &c. A 
 simple, fragrant, and pretty runner, but requires training, hav- 
 ing neither tendrils nor other effective means of self-support. 
 At the North it is only half hardy ; it may be laid down, and 
 either covered with straw or banked with earth. 
 
 7. Milk Vine, Virginia Silk, Periploca Grceca. A wild 
 climber, with rather pretty, clean foliage and purple blossoms, 
 abounding south of New Jersey. 
 
 8. Passion Flower, Blue Hardy, Passifiora cerulea. A 
 free-growing slender tendril climber, called hardy, requiring 
 protection from the severity of winter north of Philadelphia, 
 but springing up from the root annually, and blooming freely. 
 Its flowers, like all of its class, are peculiar and striking. 
 
 9. Roses, Running, Bosa. Belmont (see page 480) ; Prai- 
 rie Queen, bright rose-color ; Laura Davoust, white, becoming 
 pink ; Baltimore Belle, delicate blush, large clusters, not fra- 
 grant ; Garland, white — the well-known old white trellis Rose ; 
 Rampant, pure white ; blooms late. 
 
 There are many other fine varieties, tender at the North, 
 which, however, may be successfully grown if laid down for 
 winter like tender grape-vines, and covered thoroughly with 
 earth. 
 
 10. Trumpet Creeper, Common, Chinese Great Flowering, 
 &c., Bignonia radicans, grandifiora, &c." Very strong, luxu- 
 riant-growing rooting climbers. The last is somewhat new, 
 having large dull orange-colored blossoms. The flowers of the 
 Common are scarlet, and more compact. 
 
 11. Vine, Grape, Vitis. The value of the grape as a fruit 
 is perhaps leading us to overlook the beauty of the vine as a 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 4«5 
 
 climber, and to forget its fragrance, in wliich it is almost sin- 
 gular among om:- wild climbing shrubs. It is really one of the 
 very finest of climbers, perfectly hardy and vigorous ; and, when 
 left to the complete abandon of its natural growth, there is an 
 extreme wealth of picturesque beauty in its graceful convolu- 
 tions, as well as in the profusion and richness of its diversified 
 forms of foliage, while no perfume floats upon the summer air 
 more delicious than the odor of its blossoms. 
 
 Its varieties, both fruit-bearing and fruitless, are numerous ; 
 and the wild, fruitless, gash-leaved vine ( Vitis riparia) is pe- 
 culiarly fragrant. 
 
 12. Wistaria, Blue Chinese, Wistaria Sinensis. A per- 
 fectly hardy and very rapid winding runner, having a peculiar 
 pair of hooks, turning backward, at each joint, which some- 
 times aid its ascent. It bears a perfect burden of large pen- 
 dent racemes of pale lilac or blue flowers, of a peculiar and 
 delicate fragrance, which come out before the foliage expands 
 in the spring. The absence of green leaves with the blossoms 
 is a drawbaxjk upon its beauty which in some localities might 
 be obviated by arranging it so as to intermingle its growth 
 with an evergreen, though its own foliage is flne when it ap- 
 pears. If the young shoots are nipped at about two feet long in 
 June or July, a considerable second crop of blossoms will be 
 yielded in August. 
 
 Many of these climbers may be planted to run upon trees, 
 either deciduous or evergreen. They show finely in combina- 
 tion with either, but those which wind should not be set by 
 trees while young, lest they cut in and destroy them. They 
 may also be made to overrun rocks, or rough stone fences 
 which it i s desired to blind. 
 
 Artificial rock-work is sometimes made for ornament by 
 throwing together loose stones or rocks in such forms as fancy 
 dictates, and mixing with them just enough of leaf-mould and 
 loam to afford support to small plants. For these the various 
 kinds of Stonecrop may be used, interspersed with Columbines, 
 Wood Anemones, &c. If it be desired to cover them, plant 
 some of the above climbers, or Petunias, Portulacca, &c., among 
 them. The plant known in European agriculture as Esparsette, 
 
486 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 or Saintfoin, is also useful in this way, its flowers and foliage 
 being quite pretty, and its roots running so that it is almost 
 impossible to destroy them. Hops answer a similar purpose. 
 
 EVERGREEN TREES AND SHRUBS. 
 
 FOURTEEN KINDS. 
 
 1. Arbor Vit^e, American (Savin), Thuya Occidentcdis ; 
 Chinese, Thuya Orientalis ; Siberian, Thuya Siberica. All 
 pretty evergreens, often used for hedges ; but the Chinese is 
 rather tender, and unsightly in winter. 
 
 2. Balsam Fir, American, Picea halsamea. A common 
 but fine tree. 
 
 3. Box-tree, Buxus arhorescens, &c. A fine ornamental 
 evergreen, with silver or golden striped varieties, resembling 
 somewhat the common garden box, but of freer and larger 
 growth, and not so hardy. Increased by layers. 
 
 4. Cedar, Indian, Cedrus deodara. A fine drooping ev- 
 ergreen, growing late in the fall, and often injured by the cold 
 of winter at the North. 
 
 5. Cedar, Red, Juniperus Virginiana. Too common to 
 be esteemed as it deserves. Good for ornamental hedges, and 
 excellent for shelter. 
 
 6. Cedar of Lebanon, Cedrus Lihani ; Silver-leaved, Ce- 
 drus argentea. Fine trees, but of slow growth. The Cedar 
 of Lebanon is, however, worthy of cultivation for its associa- 
 tions. Its seeds are borne in fine large cones. 
 
 7. Cotoneaster, Small-leaved, Cotoneaster microphylla. 
 A small, pretty shrub. Increased by layers. 
 
 8. Holly, American, Ilex opaca ; European, Ilex aquifo- 
 lium. The European Holly has a very deep green foliage, and 
 the variegated kinds are pretty and desirable wherever the win- 
 ters are not too severe. They are grafted upon stocks of the 
 green varieties, generally by tongue-grafting, a little extra care 
 being used in the operation. 
 
 9. Mahonia, Holly-leaved, Mahonia aqui/olia. A showy 
 shrub three or fom^ feet high, especially gay in the fall, but 
 having its foliage injured in the winter at the North, unless 
 covered from the sun. Increased by layers. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 487 
 
 10. Pine, White or Wejmaouth, Pinus strobus ; California, 
 Piiius Benthamana ; Grand Pacific, Pm^^s Lambertiana, often 
 grows two hundred feet high ; Long-leaved, Pinus larico ; Nut, 
 Pinus cembra, growing only fifteen to twenty feet, having a 
 large cone with edible seeds. 
 
 There are many other varieties of Pines, several of them new 
 and very beautiful. 
 
 11. Spruce, Hemlock (common Hemlock), Abies Canaden- 
 sis ; Norway, Abies excelsa. Among the noblest of evergreen 
 trees. The former, when tasseled with its young spring growth, 
 is peculiarly beautiful. 
 
 12. Japan Dogwood, Euonymus japonicus. Pretty, but 
 tender at the North. Increased by offshoots, layers^ or cuttings. 
 
 13. Laurel, Kalmia latifolia. The beautiful wild Laurel 
 of our woods, which, as it disappears before cultivation, should 
 be transferred to the lawn and garden. Its unfading green- 
 ness, and the composition of its blossom-tuft by the union of an 
 indefinite number of star-like flower-buds, each perfect in itself, 
 render it by no means an inappropriate floral emblem of our 
 national Union. Increased by layers or seeds. 
 
 14. Rose Bay, Catawba Rose Bay, Rhododendron Cataic- 
 biense ; Great Laurel or Larger Rose Bay, Rhododendron 
 maximum. Fine flowering wild swamp shrubs, requiring, 
 when cultivated, some shade and moistm-e. The first, which is 
 the finest of its tribe, may need a little winter protection in 
 certain localities. They thrive in leaf mould, or peat, or sweet- 
 ened swamp muck. Increased by layers, and sometimes by 
 seeds. 
 
 shade and ornamental trees. 
 
 TWENTY-FOUR KINDS. 
 
 Almost all our shade and ornamental trees, as well as shrubs 
 and evergreens, may be raised from seed by those who have pa- 
 tience to wait for their growth. 
 
 If possible, the drying and storing of their seeds should be 
 avoided. All those which are naturally shed in the fill, as 
 chestnuts, acorns, maple and ash " keys," &c., should either be 
 sown in the fall, or mixed with earth and bmied out of doors 
 
488 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 until spring ; and those which usually retain their own cover- 
 ing until spring, as the Catalpa, the Hemlock, the various 
 Pines, the Locust, the Tulip-tree, &c., may be sown at the 
 eai-liest opening of spring directly from the tree, or may be col- 
 lected in the fall or winter, and kept in their pods or cones till 
 wanted. 
 
 Some seeds of trees and shrubs are difficult to sprout, as the 
 Locust and some others, which, when not sown until spring, are 
 benefited by being first scalded by pouring hot water upon 
 them while stirred, and suffering them to cool. Others, as the 
 seeds of the Rose and the various berry -bearing Thorns, require 
 to be sown or buried in their first season, but do not vegetate 
 until the second year. 
 
 Evergreens are apt to be extremely feeble when they first 
 spring from seed, and require special care. All the seedlings, 
 whether of evergreens or deciduous ti'ees, should be transplanted 
 carefully at one or two years old, and subsequently every third 
 or fom'th year, having their roots shortened at each removal, to 
 prepare them for final setting out. See page 492. 
 
 FORMING AND PRUNING. 
 
 The proper formation and pruning of the head of young 
 shade and ornamental trees is of great importance. We do not 
 look for our return in fruit, but in beauty from these, and if the 
 main limbs are permitted to start at acute angles, so that as 
 they enlai'ge they will touch and rub, the tree, when of full size, 
 or before, will become diseased, and liable to be split in pieces 
 by a single gust of wind. It may be well to bolt them strong- 
 ly when they begin to crack, as is sometimes done to save fine 
 shade-trees in our city streets, but it is much better to prevent 
 the necessity for such a course. You may do what you will 
 with them while they are young. Never, therefore, let the 
 principal branches spring as the fingers spring from the palm, 
 but compel them to put forth rather as the arms stand out 
 from the shoulders when the hands are raised above the head. 
 
 Except in the case of the grape-vine, it is not common to at- 
 tempt to combine profit with ornament in tree-planting, yet 
 certainly many varieties of fruit-trees are highly ornamental, 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 489 
 
 and some of them are also, on various accounts, well suited to 
 the lawn. Among others, that bearing the rather small, pretty 
 sweet apple, called by Duhamel the " Pigeonnette,^^ which is a 
 beautifully-formed tree, with clean, expanding anns and free 
 habit, and, though the fruit may be kept into winter, yet it be- 
 gins to ripen early, and is admirably adapted to the use of 
 children, as it falls gradually from the tree. 
 
 Along our country roads, too, fruit-trees might to some ex- 
 tent be properly planted, not only for ornament, but use, to be 
 reckoned, like our wild fruits, as common property. 
 
 Besides those named above, our woods furnish a great variety 
 of fine ornamental trees, which are easily obtained. The Chest- 
 nut, Castanea Americana ; the various Oaks, particularly the 
 White Oak, Quercus alba, and the Rock Oak, Quercus monta- 
 na, both yielding also solid and useful timber ; the American 
 Linden or Basswood, Tilia glabra ; the Wild Cherry, Primus 
 Virginiana ; the Hop Hornbeam or Ironwood, Ostrya Vir- 
 ginica ; the Shad Flower, Aronia hotryapium, and many oth- 
 ers, which the following list does not include. 
 
 1. Ash, Weeping, Fraxinus pendula. A curious and pret- 
 ty ash, readily increased by side grafting upon the common 
 kinds. 
 
 2. Beech, Copper-colored or Purple, Fagus purpurea ; Red, 
 Fagus ferruginea ; Common, Fagus sylvatica. The two lat- 
 ter are common in our woods, and are clean and beautiful for- 
 est trees. The first, which is curious, may be grafted upon 
 them by tongue or side grafting. 
 
 3. Birch, White, Betula alba ; Red, Betula rubra ; Yel- 
 low, Betula excelsa / Paper, Betula papyracea. All common, 
 aboimding, and beautiful. 
 
 4. Catalpa, or Cigar-tree, CataJpa syringcefolia. A fine 
 flowering tree, easily raised from seeds sown in the spring. 
 
 5. Cherries, Large Double-flowering, Cerasus sylvestris 
 pleno ; Weeping, Cerasus vulgaris semper jior ens. May be 
 grafted on any common kind. 
 
 6. Chinese Kolreuteria, Kolreuteria paniculata. A 
 pretty tree, with a profusion of yellow blossoms in the latter 
 part of summer. Increased by layers. 
 
 X 2 ' 
 
490 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 7. Dogwood, Cornus Jlorida, Common Dogwood ; Cornus 
 sericea, Red Osier. Both pretty, and easily obtained from the 
 ■woods. 
 
 8. Elm, Ulmiis Americana, &c. There are many varieties, 
 all ornamental and some fanciful. Increased by seeds, layers, 
 or by grafting one kind upon another. 
 
 9. Golden Chain, Cytisus laburnam. A small tree, of 
 pretty foliage and rather weeping habit, bearing large racemes 
 or hanging bunches of golden-yellow flowers. It is a univer- 
 sal favorite. Increased by seeds. 
 
 10. Horse Chestnut, ^sculus Mppocastanum. A very 
 fine ornamental tree, blooming freely. The Buckeye, JEsculus 
 glah^a, is a rather smaller and more compact-growing kind. 
 The Rubicunda is a red-flowering variety. The two former 
 are increased from seed, and the latter may be grafted upon 
 them. 
 
 11. Larch, Pinus larix. An exotic deciduous Pine, near 
 akin to the Tamarack or Hackmatack and the Red Larch of our 
 swamps, but thought by some to be prettier. Increased from 
 seeds. 
 
 12. Locust, Rose-colored, Rohinia Mspida; Flesh-colored, 
 Rohinia viscosa. Both of these are pretty, the former es\)e- 
 cially so when grafted high upon the common locust. Increased 
 by ofl"shoots. Rohinia pseudacacia is the common but beauti- 
 ful and fragrant Locust-tree. Increased by seeds, or offshoots, 
 or root cuttings, which can easily be transported to almost any 
 distance. 
 
 13. Magnolia, Magnolia glauca. Beaver-tree, Swamp Lau- 
 rel ; Magnolia acuminata, Cucumber-tree ; Magnolia tripeta- 
 la. Umbrella-tree ; Magnolia grandijlora. Big Lam-el, Magno- 
 lia. All these are found in swamps or woods south of New 
 York, the last being the large fragrant Magnolia of the South. 
 There are also several fine kinds from China, where it is called 
 the Lily-tree. Of these, or seedlings from them. Magnolia con- 
 spicua and Magnolia Soulangiana are large-flowering showy va- 
 rieties, blooming before the foliage appears. All are increased 
 by layers, and most of them by seeds. They may also be 
 grafted on the common varieties. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 491 
 
 14. Maple, Red, Acer rubra ; Sugar, Acer saccharinum ; 
 Larger, Acer major. The latter is the European Sycamore, 
 the two former well-known and favorite shade-trees. All in- 
 crease rapidly from seeds, 
 
 15. Mountain Ash, Sorbus (or Pyrus) aucuparia. A 
 tree of pretty growth and foliage, bearing niunerous white blos- 
 soms, like the Elder, from which large bunches of berries are 
 produced, that become of a shining orange- scarlet color in the 
 fall. Increased by seeds or common and hill-layers. 
 
 16. Mulberry, Morus rubra. Common Red Mulberry of 
 the woods. A desirable tree, where the fruit-stain may not be 
 objectionable. The Paper Mulberry somewhat resembles it in 
 gi'owth, but soon becomes a nuisance from its numerous off- 
 shoots. 3Iorus Multicaulis is also well known, and, by some, 
 still better remembered. Increased from layers, or offshoots, 
 or seeds. Ranks among fruits. See page 358. 
 
 17. Paulownia, Japanese, Pauloivnia imperialis. A fine, 
 rapid-growing shade-tree, with heart-shaped leaves, which, 
 upon young growth, sometimes measure two feet across. Its 
 blossom-buds are formed in the Ml, in spikes, each bud being 
 inclosed in a fawn-colored covering of finer texture than the 
 finest doeskin cloth, but are often killed by the winter north 
 of New York. Its flowers, which are put forth before the fo- 
 liage, are not unlike those of the Catalpa in general form and 
 style of gi'owth, but are of a fine light blue, and very fragrant. 
 Increased by offshoots, hill-layers, and cuttings of the root. 
 
 18. Peach, Double Blossomed, Pemca i;2<?5ran'5^fewo. A 
 very pretty pink rose-like flower is borne by this tree in the 
 usual profusion of peach blossoms, and sometimes three or four 
 angular fruit are produced from one blossom. Increased by 
 budding on peach or plum stocks. 
 
 19. Pepperidge, Nyssa villosa. A common tree, but very 
 ornamental, both in its summer growth, and when the frost 
 makes its leaves vermilion colored in the fall. Readily obtain- 
 ed from the woods. It would make ornamental hedges of great 
 beauty. 
 
 20. Pride of India, Melia azedarach. A splendid flower- 
 ing tree of the South, with large divided leaves, and clusters 
 
492 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 of fragrant lilac flowers at the extremities of its branches, well 
 known in the latitudes to which it is suited. Increased freely 
 by seeds or layers. 
 
 21. Sassafras, Laurus sassafras. A sweet, aromatic, and 
 pretty tree, worthy of a place wherever ornamental shrubs are 
 planted. Increased by layers, offshoots, or root cuttings. It 
 can be obtained from the woods. 
 
 22. Thorn, Crataegus, coccinea, pleno, Double Scarlet Haw- 
 thorn. A very delicate and pretty deep pink or scarlet flower- 
 ing thorn. Increased by grafting on the common Hawthorn. 
 
 23. Tulip-tree, Whitewood, Liriodendron tulipi/era. One 
 of the noblest and most beautiful of flowering trees, often cov- 
 ering itself with its green and orange blossoms. When not 
 crowded its head forms a handsome cone, but in the woods it 
 sometimes runs a clean column eighty feet high. Increased 
 by hill-layers or by seeds, which seldom vegetate until the 
 second year. 
 
 24. Willow, Weeping, &c., Salix Babylonica, &c. The 
 Weeping Willow, the Golden Twigged, and the Golden Flow- 
 ering Willows, and other varieties, are quite ornamental. The 
 Osier Willows form an article of commerce. In Belgium they 
 are sometimes so planted as to be mowed from year to year. 
 
 REMOVING ORNAMENTAL TREES, EVERGREENS, &c. 
 
 Ornamental or forest trees or shrubs and evergreens very 
 often' fail to live when removed, and still oftener only just 
 live and linger along, making but feeble growth for years. To 
 prevent this, and secure vigor as well as life after removal, 
 some preparation is desirable. In all well-managed nurseries 
 this preparation is given by repeatedly transplanting trees of 
 this class, shortening their roots from time to time, so as to 
 limit the growth of single strong roots, and increase and con- 
 centrate fibrous ones ai'ound the collar and the short main roots 
 proceeding from it. If we do not form a nursery, but take trees 
 from the woods and swamps, we may meet the difficulty either 
 by removing them in the winter with large masses of frozen 
 earth, or by cutting clean around the trees we intend to remove 
 two or three years before transplanting them, cutting off the 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 4y3 
 
 horizontal roots at such a distance as may seem judicious, and, 
 if we find but few of these, proceed farther and open the trench, 
 so that the dov/nward roots may be partially or wholly cut off. 
 Repeat and perfect the operation in the following year or years, 
 and, if it has been skillfully performed, your tree may be re- 
 moved without difficulty in the fall or spring of the third or 
 fourth year. 
 
 If the subsoil be such that you know the roots do not go far 
 down, as is common in swamp trees, the root-cutting may be 
 effected by a single deep cut with a spade around the tree as 
 directed for root-pruning, page 255. 
 
 In preparing trees for transplanting by cutting round them, 
 or in their actual removal, it will be found a good general rule 
 to make the diameter of the ball of earth in the proportion of 
 one foot to one inch diameter in the stem of the tree at a foot 
 above the collar. 
 
 In removing trees, other than evergreens, from the woods, it 
 is of great practical importance to prune them closely at the 
 time of transplanting, cutting away from their heads from one 
 third to one half the weight, carefully shortening and opening 
 them. All the climbing shrubs so transfeiTcd will be benefit- 
 ed by being cut down to the ground, so that the growth of the 
 plant may be entirely new. The same is true of most varieties 
 of bush shrubs, particularly the Azaleas, Wild Roses, and the 
 Laurel (Kalmia), which, though an evergreen, is in this respect 
 an exception to its class. 
 
 This process is not to be rigidly applied to those plants 
 which we select for the sake of their stems already formed, but 
 it will be found good for most kinds and individuals from the 
 woods, and veiy often, also, nurseiy plants, particularly if they 
 have been over-forced, or are transplanted when in leaf and 
 wilt upon your hands, or from any cause are weakened before 
 being reset. It also relieves from the necessity of seeking for 
 handsome plants, as they will grow natmrally, and therefore 
 prettil}', when, having sufficient room, they grow anew. 
 
 Evergreens appear to suffer and exhaust with the winter. 
 Early spring is the season of their peculiar weakness, and if 
 removed carelessly or harshly then, there is little hope of them. 
 
494 AMERICAN HOME GAR! EN, 
 
 They should, therefore, always either be removed in the winter, 
 with the frozen earth about them, or be so prepared as that 
 their fibres will hold and carry with them sufficient earth to se- 
 cure success. It will also be found better, in general, to defer 
 their removal until late in spring, say to the last of April or 
 May, and sometimes even to June, or still later. 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN 495 
 
 CHAPTER XXn. 
 
 Brief Notes on Farm Crops, with Table of Quantities of Seed required per 
 Acre. — Crop estimated by its Money Value, and by its Capacity to support 
 Animal Life. — Table of average Product of various Farm Crops, and of 
 their chemical Constituents. — Remarks explanatory of the Table. 
 
 BRIEF NOTES ON FARM CROPS. 
 QUANTITY OF SEED. 
 
 The quantity of seed which it may be desirable or expedient 
 to sow upon an acre varies materially with the particular kind, 
 the state of the land, or the period of the season at which it is 
 sown. The relative size of the seeds, say the nmnber they 
 will count to the peck, with the mode of plant-growth, as 
 branching or otherwise, allowing a little for increased risk of 
 loss in small seeds, generally determines the first point. 
 
 Of the gi'ains, buckwheat is usually sown thinnest, and 
 needs to be varied only as on poor or rich land ; but, contrary 
 to the general rule with other grain, it should be sown thicker 
 on rich land than poor, for the reason that it will otherwise 
 branch considerably, and be difficult to cradle without loss ; 
 while, being more thinly sown on poor land, it will still yield 
 as much as the soil is capable of producing. Winter grain 
 sown early, or at least seasonably, may be sown thinner on 
 rich land than on poor, because on the former it will grow and 
 branch vigorously, and it is plain that one bushel of seed, giv- 
 ing two ears from a plant, is equal to two bushels giving only 
 one ear ; but on poor land the plant will not branch much, and 
 it is therefore desirable to increase somewhat the quantity of 
 seed sown. Very late-sown winter grain, and all spring-sown 
 grains, often lack opportunity to branch and strengthen before 
 they are driven up to seed by the prompt warmth of the open- 
 ing spring, and on this accomit they should be sown more 
 thickly than might otherwise be necessary, due allowance, 
 however, being still made for the different condition of the 
 land on which they may be sown. 
 
496 AMERH'AN IIOMK (JAliDKN. 
 
 In rospoct, to f^.'iHHos, tlicn; in nn ii(lvantaf];c in thick how- 
 in^;; lliis is not, loiind in a, materially increased burden of 
 fr^y.iHH in fjivonihh! ciffMnnstanccH, l)nt in tlic; promptitude! witli 
 wliicli tli(! yoini^ [)l;uits j)r(!occupy the; wliolc ^ronn<l and pre- 
 vent the f^rowth of weeds, whicli, in thin Howinff, would be apt 
 to dispute possession. In this view of the matter, the fact 
 that liJilf the y<)un<r f^rass-plants are afterward smothered by 
 thos(! which ta,l<(; tin; lead in ^I'owth is entirely unimportant. 
 
 From what has been said above, the following table will bo 
 understood as embodying suggestions rather than rules in rcf- 
 orenco to this subject. For maimer of sowing, see page 82. 
 
 For seeding down grass-plot or lawn, a, mixtun; of grass 
 seeds should Im; us(mI, say ecjual parts by weight of Red-top and 
 Blue Grass, adding White Clover in the proj)ortion of one sixth 
 of the wholes and half as much Sweet Vernal (irass as Clover. 
 If th(' land be wet, Timothy may be sul)stituted lor the IJluo 
 (jrass in part or wholly. IMio grass upon a plot or lawn 
 should n(!ver be suflered to go to seed, but should be regularly 
 and (closely mowed when from four to six inches high, or even 
 while still shorter. 
 
 TABI.K OK OI^ANTITIKS OK RKl'^DH, ETC., REQUIRED TO SOW OR 
 1'1-ANT AN ACRE. 
 
 Corn |iliin((Ml in hills 1 to 1 i pks. per acre. 
 
 " (irilKMllnr fodder 4 to G " " 
 
 " sown hrofidciist 8 to 12 " " 
 
 Wlieivt Hown broiulcnsl 4 to 8 " " 
 
 llyo " " 4 to 8 " " 
 
 Hnrlry " " (! to 10 " " 
 
 OiilH " " 8 to 12 " ♦' 
 
 Bitckwhcni sown hrondciist 3 to (> " " 
 
 Pons drilled 4 to (\ " " 
 
 " In-oiulcast 12 to IfJ " " 
 
 Biwh BcaiiH (IrilhMl 4 lo " " 
 
 " broiidcast, iCso sown nt all 10 to 12 " " 
 
 lliee drilled 8 to 10 " " 
 
 Millet broadeast .'Mo 5 " " 
 
 Jied Clover alone 10 to 20 lbs. " 
 
 with Timothy 8 to 12 " " 
 
 Titnolby alone 12 to 20 (jrt.s. " 
 
 with lied Clover 8 to 10 " " 
 
 lied-to]) alone 12 to 20 " " 
 
AMERICAN HOMli GARDEN, 497 
 
 Kcd-top with Itoil Clover H to 10 fjrts. per acre. 
 
 Blue Grass , „ . , . , 
 
 jj ^^ ( for Kpfcial purposes or particular 
 
 rJ , t r^ { loealitics 10 to 25 lbs. " 
 
 Orchard Urass ' 
 
 Wliite Clover to be added to either of the above... 2 to 4 " " 
 
 " " if for any reason sown alone i to G " " 
 
 Broom Com drilled 4 to pks. " 
 
 Flax drilled 4 to « " 
 
 I'otiifoes, varying very much, as being in hills or) <i \ \ k 
 
 drills, small or iar^o, cut or uncut. See p. 1 71 . ) ^" " ^ ''"''''• 
 
 Iluta Bai^a drilled or broadcast ) , , , , „ ,, 
 
 rr. • 1 -11 I 1 1 . 1 to I i lbs. " 
 
 Common rurmiis drilled or broadcast ) 
 
 Beets drilled 2 to 4 " *' 
 
 Carrots drilled lito 2 " " 
 
 Parsneps " 2 to 4 " " 
 
 Onions " 3 to 5 " " 
 
 Cabbages: i lb. of seed, if thinly sown, and escaping the fly, will yield an 
 
 abundance of plants for one acre. 
 
 ESTIMATE OF CROP. 
 
 Crop, or that return for our outlay of manuro, and 8ced, and 
 laW, which '\h derived from hind, may be CHtimated either by 
 its money value or by itH capacity to supply the wants of ani- 
 mal life. If estimated by the former, which always depends 
 on the relation of supply and demand, it is manifest that it 
 will be liable to fluctuation from a great variety of causes : the 
 variations of seasons, difference of localities, failure or super- 
 abundance of the same crop, or any similar class of crops, in 
 other sections or countries, &c. Any of these may so iiff<;ct 
 this relation that a rich crop will give but a poor return in 
 money, or that a very moderate crop may prove extremely 
 profitable ; the very abundance of the yield in tbe former case, 
 whether from natural or artificial causes, rendering tlie prorliif;t 
 almost valueless, when the extra la?K)r of gathering and mar- 
 keting the excess is taken into account. 
 
 In general, j-Kjrishable products, as fruits and vegebibles for 
 consumption in the current season, are most promptly and 
 largely affected by this cause ; but, in a degree, grain, and the 
 various dry products that admit of being kept, obey the same 
 immutable law, and fluctuate, often to the disappointment of 
 the farmer's hopes or the ruin of the miscalculating speculator. 
 
 The lesser or greater distance from market also affects this 
 
498 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 estimate. It may be very profitable to raise carrots, or egg- 
 plants, or celery near large cities where there is a daily de- 
 mand for them, while the expense of their transportation from 
 a distance, with the attendant risks, would reduce them to the 
 ordinary standard of farm crops. 
 
 A difference of latitude of even less than one degree may 
 occasion an entirely opposite result from the same crop in the 
 same season. Early peas, or potatoes, or fruits, raised thirty 
 or more miles south of a given market, securing the highest 
 price, because maturing at the opening of the season ; while 
 those raised at an equal distance to the north, or such crops 
 of late kinds raised at the South, obtain the lowest price, be- 
 cause coming in when the market is glutted with similar 
 products from more favorable localities. 
 
 The mere money estimate, moreover, may or may not be at 
 all dependent on any intrinsic capacity in the product to sup- 
 port animal life ; even things that are almost utterly destitute 
 of this may become largely profitable, as coffee, from the fact 
 that it furnishes a pleasant beverage ; or as tobacco, which, 
 in its various forms, ministers chiefly, if not entirely, to a vi- 
 tiated taste. 
 
 If the estimate be formed upon the basis of the capacity of 
 the crop to sustain animal life, which really would seem to af- 
 ford some fixed principles as criteria of its intrinsic value, one 
 might suppose that with a little experience in the cultivation 
 of a pai-ticular soil, with the gathering and feeding out of its 
 crops, and a little observation of the climate in which we live, 
 it might be safely and pretty accurately made. But not only 
 does the adaptation or non-adaptation of soil and general climate 
 to particular crops modify this estimate of it, but also the char- 
 acter and changes of particular seasons whose current climate 
 may be favorable or unfavorable ; thus- hay the growth of a 
 moist, warm, rapid season, is comparatively poor — in common 
 phrase, it " does not feed out so well" as that which is raised 
 in a drier and less growthy spring. It is also affected by the 
 com'se of cropping pursued and the character of the manures 
 applied to the land. All vegetable products show by analysis 
 chemical differences in various lots of the same kinds of crop, 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 499 
 
 which may arise either from the absence of one or more ele- 
 ments from the soil, necessitating the appropriation of others 
 as substitutes, or from the simple excess or deficiency of a given 
 ingredient in such soil inducing a corresponding excess or de- 
 ficiency in its appropriation by the growing crop. 
 
 In order to ascertain coiTectly the comparative value of va- 
 rious crops for supplying the wants of animal life, we need, in 
 addition to chemical analyses, carefully-perfonned and repeated 
 experiments in feeding with the products, noting their effects 
 upon health, with temperature, age of animals, and other cir- 
 cumstances. No knowledge of constituents, however perfect, 
 will sufiice, for these, even when rich, often become of little 
 use from lack of adaptation in the form in which they ai^e pre- 
 sented. Thus dried tea and cabbage leaves are chemically al- 
 most as rich in protein compounds as beef, but could hardly be 
 made to supply its place. The corn-stalks from an acre con- 
 tain generally more food than the corn, but in a form not well 
 adapted to consumption, even by cattle, and on this account 
 should always be cut up short and steamed for feeding. 
 
 Such experiments as those above referred to should of course 
 include the cost of production in a given locality or climate, 
 for it is plain that a crop may be so costly in its production, 
 owing to climate or other causes, that it would become the part 
 of wisdom to prefer another, though much lower in the scale of 
 gross value, on account of its higher nett results. Li Ncav York 
 Sugar Beets would pay better than Sugar-cane. 
 
 Though we have by no means full and reliable information 
 upon all the points involved in this matter, yet, from the vari- 
 ous experiments and analyses which have been recorded, it is 
 possible to form such a judgment in the case as may be useful. 
 We may approximate to a satisfactory estimate of the actual 
 and relative value of any ordinary crop, on the whole, in the 
 particular soil and climate in which we labor, a very bi'ief 
 experience supplying us with the local data necessai-y to an 
 intelligent application of the tests which the appended table 
 of products and their constituents fui'nishes. 
 
500 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 Table of Quantities and Chemical Composition of variods Crops, 
 OF Constituents, as to furnish Data for cal- 
 
 Corn 
 
 Corn-stalks 
 
 Wheat 
 
 Wheat Straw 
 
 Rye 
 
 Rye Straw. .. 
 
 Barley 
 
 Barley Straw. 
 
 Oats 
 
 Oat Straw . . . 
 Buckwheat . . 
 
 Peas 
 
 Bnsh Beans. . 
 
 Rice 
 
 Millet 
 
 Clover Hay. . 
 Meadow Hay. 
 
 Potatoes 
 
 Ruta Baga. . . 
 
 Common "| 
 
 Turnips ) 
 
 Beets 
 
 Carrots 
 
 Parsneps . . . . 
 Cabbages 
 
 without the 
 
 stalks 
 
 Division 1. 
 
 Division 2. 
 
 Amount of product per 
 acre. 
 
 30 bush., at 53 lbs. 
 
 20 bush., at 60 lbs. 
 
 20 bush., at 53 lbs. 
 
 30 bush., at 48 lbs 
 
 40 bush., at 32 lbs, 
 
 25 bush., at 48 lbs. 
 20 " at 63 " 
 20 " at CO " 
 25 " at 70 " 
 50 " at 50 " 
 2 tons. 
 IV " 
 200 bush., at 60 lbs, 
 10 tons. 
 
 10 " 
 
 10 " 
 10 " 
 10 " 
 
 20 " 
 
 1,740 
 2,500 
 1,200 
 2,400 
 1,120 
 
 Hi ©151 
 12 @15 
 10 ©17 
 12 @15 
 12 @15i 
 3,000 12 @15 
 1,440 14 @151 
 1,500 12 ©15 
 
 1,280 
 2,000 
 l,20o' 
 1,200 
 
 9 ©16 
 
 12 ©10 
 12 ©15 
 
 ],20o'll ©20 
 1,750 [l5 ©IS 
 2,500 
 4,000 
 3,000 
 12,000 
 
 12 ©14 
 12 ©14 
 68 ©SO 
 20,000'80 ®S7 
 
 20,000 
 
 20,000 
 20,000 
 20,000 
 
 40,000! 
 
 85 ©03 
 
 80 ©90 
 
 S3 ©93 
 
 217i 
 312i 
 150 
 300 
 140 
 375 
 180 
 1871 
 160 
 250 
 ISO 
 150 
 180 
 2G21 
 3121 
 500 
 375 
 9,000 
 17,000 
 
 1S,000 
 
 17,000 
 
 17,000 
 15,300 
 
 90 36,000 
 
 Division 3. 
 
 4 ©15 
 25 ©40 
 12 ©16 
 
 5 ©10 
 40 ©50 
 8 ©15 
 
 Vegetable fibre. 
 
 3 ©20 
 40 ©45 
 14 ©27 
 3J@101 
 61 ©10 
 3i© 5 
 
 2 ©10 
 
 12i 
 331 
 
 12} 
 50 
 
 81 
 45 
 121 
 50 
 20 
 45 
 20 
 
 7r 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 20 
 25 
 30 
 
 3 (?) 
 
 3 (?) 
 
 3 (?) 
 
 29-10(?) 580 
 
 .5 ^ 
 
 2171 
 
 833} 
 
 150 
 
 1200 
 
 95i 
 
 1350 
 
 180 
 
 750 
 
 256 
 
 900 
 
 240 
 
 90 
 
 96 
 
 70 
 
 500 
 
 1000 
 
 900 
 
 360 
 
 600 
 
 600 
 
 3 (?) 
 
 600 
 1000 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 501 
 
 ESTIMATED AT SUCH RaTES OF PRODUCT PER AcRE, AND SUCH PERCENTAGES 
 CULATING THEIR ACTUAL AND RELATIVE VALUES. 
 
 Material foe Respieation and Fattening. 
 
 Material for Muscle 
 OB lean Flesh. 
 
 AIaterial foe Bone. 
 
 Division 4. 
 
 Division 5. 
 
 Division 6. 
 
 Division 7. 
 
 Oily Matter. 
 
 Carbonaceous elements 
 other than oily matter, 
 comprising sugar, hon- 
 ey, starch, dextrine, or 
 gum, &c. 
 
 Nitrogenous elements 
 known as " Protein 
 compounds," compris- 
 ing gluten, casein, al- 
 bumen, legumin, ave- 
 nin, &c. 
 
 Saline or inorganic ele- 
 ments, comprising earths, 
 alkalies, and metals, us- 
 ually or always combined 
 with acids. 
 
 J = 
 s| . 
 
 > 
 
 
 •j.H a. 
 
 Variations in percent- 
 age of carbonaceous 
 elements otlier tliau 
 oily in divers analy- 
 
 Pi 
 
 Total weight of carbon- 
 aceous elements other 
 than oily In product 
 per acre in pounds. 
 
 -ESS 
 |?-| 
 
 ■"£__ ^ 
 
 > 
 
 if 
 
 •§ * ° 
 
 Total weight of nitro- 
 genous or " Protein 
 compounds" in prod- 
 uct per acre in lbs. 
 
 Variations in percent- 
 age of saline or inor- 
 ganic elements in di- 
 vers analyses. 
 
 |§.l 
 
 Total weight of saline 
 or inorganic elements 
 in product per acre 
 in pounds. 
 
 3 @12 
 
 Ti 
 
 130i 
 
 50®80 
 
 60 
 
 1044 
 
 5 @14 
 
 n 
 
 113 
 
 1 @ 11 
 
 1 
 
 171 
 
 1 ®'U 
 
 1 
 
 25 
 
 50+ 
 
 421 
 
 1066f 
 
 3 ®10 
 
 41 
 
 1121 
 
 4 ® 6 
 
 6 
 
 150 
 
 2 @ 4 
 
 n 
 
 30 
 
 55@75 
 
 58 
 
 696 
 
 10 @16 
 
 121 
 
 150 
 
 1.2 ® 2.3 
 
 2 
 
 24 
 
 i@U 
 
 1 
 
 24 
 
 
 25 
 
 600 
 
 
 11 
 
 36 
 
 31® 15 
 
 10 
 
 240 
 
 2 @ 3J 
 
 2^ 
 
 28 
 
 60®78 
 
 63 
 
 7051 
 
 10 @15 
 
 121 
 
 140 
 
 1.03 ®1.04 
 
 1 
 
 Hi 
 
 
 f 
 
 15 
 
 
 37i 
 
 1125 
 
 
 11 
 
 45 
 
 2 ® 31 
 
 3 
 
 90 
 
 2 ® 21^ 
 
 2 
 
 2SJ 
 
 55®68 
 
 60 
 
 864 
 
 10@14 
 
 10 
 
 144 
 
 3 ® 18 
 
 3 
 
 431 
 
 U 
 
 7t 
 
 
 31(?) 
 
 465 
 
 
 11 
 
 221 
 
 4 ® 61 
 
 41 
 
 671 
 
 3 @ 6i|5 
 
 64 
 
 40@70 
 
 45 
 
 576 
 
 13 ©191 
 
 14 
 
 1791 
 
 21® 4 
 
 31 
 
 44i 
 
 
 i 
 
 10 
 
 
 35 
 
 700 
 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 5® 71 
 
 6 
 
 120 
 
 
 > 
 
 c 
 
 50@65 
 50@62 
 
 40 
 
 588 
 
 10 ®16 
 16 @20 
 
 121 
 
 150 
 
 
 3 
 
 36 
 
 2i@3 
 
 2i 
 
 30 
 
 50 
 
 000 
 
 £5 
 
 300 
 
 2i® 3 
 
 21 
 
 30 
 
 2 @ 3 
 
 2i 
 
 30 
 
 30@50 
 
 43 
 
 516 
 
 19 @38 
 
 £8 
 
 336 
 
 3 ® 41 
 
 31 
 
 42 
 
 i®2i 
 
 i(?) 
 
 8i 
 
 T6®86 
 
 75 
 
 13121 
 
 3}@ 6i 
 
 41 
 
 781 
 
 1® 1 
 
 1 
 
 171 
 
 
 31 
 
 121 
 
 
 45 
 
 1125 
 
 10}(?) 
 
 181 (?) 
 
 462 J 
 
 
 3i(?) 
 10 
 
 871 
 
 3 ® 4 
 
 140 
 
 
 40 
 
 1600 
 
 9 
 
 300 
 
 5 ® 10 
 
 400 
 
 2 @ 5 
 
 3 
 
 90 
 
 
 40 
 
 1200 
 
 
 7 
 
 210 
 
 11® 51 
 
 71 
 
 225 
 
 1-12® i 
 
 i 
 
 30 
 
 10@20 
 
 18 
 
 2160 
 
 i® 2i n 
 
 270 
 
 1 ® 2 
 
 U 
 
 180 
 
 
 (?) 
 
 (?) 
 
 
 10 
 
 2000 
 
 
 1 
 
 200 
 
 1® 11 
 
 1 
 
 200 
 
 
 (?) 
 
 (?) 
 
 
 5 
 
 1000 
 
 
 1 
 
 100 
 
 1 ® 21 
 
 u 
 
 300 
 
 
 1-10 
 
 20 
 50 
 
 
 9 
 8i 
 
 1800 
 1650 
 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 400 
 400 
 
 
 1 
 
 u 
 
 2(10 
 300 
 
 i®2.5 
 
 11® 21 
 
 
 (?) 
 
 (?) 
 
 
 13i 
 
 2700 
 
 
 2 
 
 400 
 
 1 ® 4 
 
 3 
 
 600 
 
 
 1-10(?) 
 
 40 
 
 
 62-5 
 
 2550 
 
 
 11 
 
 600 
 
 
 - 
 
 200 
 
 
 
 
 
 
502 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 This Table has been prepared with considerable care and la- 
 bor, but I have not thought it worth while to name the authori- 
 ties consulted and compared ; they include most of the French, 
 German, English, and American chemists, whose various anal- 
 yses of farm products constitute the active capital of writers 
 and speculators upon the subjects to which they relate. 
 
 The Table is not assumed — indeed, was not intended to be, 
 and could not be made absolutely accurate, but it is believed to 
 come so near to the true standard that, with the explanations 
 given, no one is likely to be deceived by it ; and the author 
 will be happy to receive any suggestions by which it may be 
 made more useful, and give them a place in a futm'e edition, 
 should such be demanded. 
 
 I have not included in it the recently-introduced Chinese 
 Sugar-cane, or Sorghum saccharatum, because that, so far as I 
 am advised, no perfect and reliable analysis of it has yet been 
 made, nor have statements of its average yield of sufficient ac- 
 curacy and extent yet appeared to form the basis of a conclu- 
 sion respecting it. From experiments made with it, however, 
 in various sections, it seems likely to prove valuable for fodder ; 
 and if it should be found impracticable to extend the culture 
 of the Sugar-cane sufficiently to meet the growing demand for 
 its products, persistent efforts will doubtless be made to devise 
 means for the production of sugar from this very juicy crop. 
 It may be cultivated in hills or rows, as corn, and. for a fodder 
 crop it has the advantage of a small and easily-sown seed. 
 
 The Chinese Potato, or Yam, Dioscorea Battatas, has been 
 omitted on account of its sheer worthlessness. 
 
 EXPLANATORY REMARKS. 
 Of the particular quantities given in the first division as 
 representing the product of an acre, corn may be regarded as 
 quite low, and oats, millet, potatoes, cabbages, and the root 
 crops as rather high. For the latter I have taken the average 
 of the English turnip crop, which, according to Johnston, is 
 ten tons per acre, though in common turnips we never ap- 
 proach this, and very rarely in Ruta Baga or the other root 
 crops. It is seldom, too, that twenty tons of cabbages ai'e 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 503 
 
 raised upon an acre, yet it is quite possible to obtain this quan- 
 tity ; but upon the land that would produce it, twice, or even 
 thrice the weight of com and stalks named in the table might 
 be raised, and harvested at less than half the risk and labor, 
 I have purposely made the average of corn and stalks very 
 low, because of my entire conviction of the immense superiority 
 of the coru crop over all root crops in our climate. The aver- 
 age of corn in the table must at least be doubled to make the 
 comparison a fair one with the last six articles. I have en- 
 deavored so to arrange the percentages adopted that any one 
 can with ease calculate the value of a larger or smaller product 
 per acre of any crop given. 
 
 Divisions 2 and 3, Water and Vegetable Fibre, represent 
 constituents of the crop which in ordinary cases simply add to 
 its bulk. As vehicles of food, or mingled with it, their mere 
 bulk aids digestion, and thereby promotes health, while they 
 may also, in extreme cases, become, to a certain extent, available 
 as nutriment. 
 
 Divisions 4, 5, 6, and 7 (omitting the silica in the latter) 
 contain the materials by which, in combination with water, all 
 animal bodies ai-e framed, covered with muscle and fat, sup- 
 ported in growth, their waste resupplied, and wannth and 
 vigor given to them. The aggregate of the items in these col- 
 umns indicates the true value of any crop we raise. Milk, 
 which is the only complete and perfect animal food, contains 
 them all (with the omission noted), mixed with more or less of 
 water, and in proportions analogous to those of the general 
 crops in our table, the wants of the animal economy requiring 
 larger supplies for respiration and fattening than for muscle 
 and bone. No one of them, however, could be dispensed with 
 or ignored. With No. 7 the bones might be formed, and by 
 the aid of No. 6 be bound in then* places and work, as puppets 
 are worked with cords, but must remain angular, and cold, and 
 of themselves motionless, unless the supplies from Nos. 4 and 
 5 lay a lining of soft cellulose matter beneath the skin, round 
 the general outlmes of the limbs and body, lubricate the joints, 
 and feed with appropriate fuel the vital furnace in the lungs. 
 
 The valuations in the percentages of the several constituents 
 
504 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 given by the different chemical authorities, as shown in the 
 table, are very striking. 
 
 Those in the water and vegetable fibre, divisions 2 and 3, 
 may probably have arisen from actual differences in the dry- 
 ness of the articles analyzed, or in the amount of their exterior 
 coating, as might very naturally occur in several of the grains. 
 
 Those found in the percentage of oily matter, division 4, may 
 perhaps be accounted for by supposing the analysts to have ex- 
 perimented upon different varieties of the same crop ; thus, to 
 take Corn as an example, it is perfectly comprehensible how 
 neither Liebig nor any other chemist could find even five per 
 cent, of oily matter in our light flour Corns, which seem to re- 
 semble Buckwheat in their character, while Dumas and others 
 might readily obtain nine or ten per cent, from a strong north- 
 ern yellow Flint Corn. 
 
 This division properly belongs with No. 5, the elements in 
 both being carbonaceous, but I have given the oily matter a 
 separate division, because, as the ready-formed fat in food is 
 most easily appropriated, and, Avithal, renders important aid in 
 digestion, the amount of this material found in a given crop 
 affords a measurable test of its relative value in the fattening 
 of animals. 
 
 The differences foimd in the percentages of the other car- 
 bonaceous and the nitrogenous elements, divisions 5 and 6, 
 may be due, in part, to the same cause as those of the oily 
 matter, but probably still more to differences of clmracter and 
 quality, independent of variety of stock, arising from differ- 
 ences in the feeding and culture of the particular crops from 
 which the specimens were derived. The manure from a barn- 
 yard that is very thoroughly leached into the neighboring 
 brook will not have much material to give stamina and rich- 
 ness to the crop to which it is applied ; and if, in addition to 
 this, the season's culture be slighted, a crop relatively rich in 
 vegetable fibre, and poor in the more important constituents, 
 may be reasonably expected. 
 
 The variations in the percentages of saline or inorganic el- 
 ements, division 7, may be traced to the same or analogous 
 causes. It is well settled that plants, like animals, feed not 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 505 
 
 always upon that wliich is most desirable and proper, but upon 
 what can be had in their season of need.' If, therefore, the 
 rains have carried off the elements of this and the two preced- 
 ing divisions from the barn-yard, and they have been previous- 
 ly largely cropped out of the soil and sold off without return 
 to the land, no grand and heavy crop can be expected. 
 
 Under the general terms saline or inorganic elements are 
 included, in very various proportions. Silica or Flint, Lime, 
 Magnesia, Alumina, Potash, Soda, metallic Oxides, Phospho- 
 ric and Sulphuric Acids, Chlorine, and a few other constitu- 
 ents ; and, though their aggregates, as shown in this division, 
 are small as compared with those of Nos. 5 and 6, yet they 
 are, more or less of them, essential to every crop, and can not 
 1)6 taken by the plant from the atmosphere, whence much of 
 the material for the others may probably be derived. Hence 
 this division becomes of special importance, showing as it does 
 the total amount of the privation which land sustains by the 
 loss of these elements in a given crop. 
 
 By far the greater portion of these aggregates, however, are 
 derived from about one half of the elements named above. Of 
 the 24 lbs. of inorganic matter given in the table as obtained 
 from the product of an acre of wheat, about 8^ lbs. may be Sil- 
 ica, 2 lbs. Lime, 2 lbs. Magnesia, 4j lbs. Potash, and 5 lbs. 
 Soda ; and of the 240 lbs. yielded by the straw, about 189 lbs. 
 may be reckoned as Silica, 16 lbs. Lime, 2 lbs. Magnesia, 1^ 
 lbs. Potash, and 2 lbs. Soda, with some 10 lbs. Phosphoric 
 Acid ; the small remaining balance in both being composed 
 of minute portions of the other elements. The large predom- 
 inance of silica and lime is a remarkable feature in this divi- 
 sion, and may illustrate the natm-al law by which supply and 
 demand are regulated in the vegetable and animal kingdoms. 
 Without the silica, neither corn, grain, nor grass would stand 
 upright to maturity ; it forms the outer coating and strength- 
 ener of the stem of these and certain other plants, and may, 
 without impropriety, be said to fm-nish to them the bones of 
 vegetable gi'owth. The lime is equally essential to the forma- 
 tion and strength of animal bones, of which it constitutes so 
 large a part. Extraordinary means are sometimes used to 
 
 Y 
 
506 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 supply the lack of it vfhen the bones are in the forming state ; 
 thus the peasant mothers of Germany are said to give lime- 
 water to their young children ; and when, in raising calves 
 by hand, milk is economized by the use of hay-tea, &c., it is a 
 custom, which I think is immemorial, to make up the great 
 defect of the infusion by giving them chalk to lick, with which 
 they instinctively supply the necessities of the animal econ- 
 omy. From the multiplicity of these saline or inorganic con- 
 stituents of vegetables and their importance, although many 
 are minute in quantity, it is apparent that very light applica- 
 tions of such manures as are rich in these elements may be of 
 essential service to the crop. 
 
 A glance at the table shows that hay, and stalks, and 
 straw contain more of saline or inorganic matters than is 
 found in the grains, and the same is true of the vines of peas, 
 potatoes, &c., which are omitted; to preserve all these with 
 care, and return them, with suitable additions, to the soil, 
 may therefore be regarded as one of the first duties of the in- 
 telligent cultivator. 
 
 Where, as in the case of tobacco, almost the whole product 
 is of necessity sent away, the soil must be speedily exhausted, 
 unless the various elements contained in the crop are replaced 
 by importation, or by taxing other crops for a supply ; but, in 
 reference to ordinary farm soils and crops, the case is some- 
 what different. The elements contained in the various crops 
 above enumerated may all be replaced, and the general condi- 
 tion of the farm progressively improved by the accumulations 
 of a well-managed barn-yard, with the use of ashes, gypsum, 
 marl, and swamp-muck treated with lime, where these are ob- 
 tainable ; but especially may this be effected by the frequent 
 and regular use of clover as green manure ; this, with the ap- 
 plication of gypsum and occasional dressings of lime, will be 
 found the cheapest and easiest known mode of resupplying the 
 draughts made by the various crops, and sustaining and im- 
 proving the strength and productiveness of the soil. 
 
ADDENDUM. 
 
 Forcing Vegetables and Fruits. — Training Fruit-trees, 
 
 FORCING AND TRAINING, 
 Forcing common garden vegetables and forcing or training 
 ordinary fruit-trees are modes of culture not likely to be very 
 generally adopted in American home gardens ; but, inasmuch 
 as they may occasionally be fancied or found desirable, the fol- 
 lowing brief account of their objects and modes is introduced 
 here as an addendum to the more valuable and important proc- 
 esses described in the body of the book. 
 
 FORCING. 
 
 Forcing is the general term descriptive of the various proc- 
 esses for raising vegetables, fruits, or flowers out of their natu- 
 ral or ordinary seasons or climates, by means of carefully-ap- 
 plied artificial heat under glass, whether in hot bed, or pit, or 
 grapery, or orchard-house, or green-house, or dwelling. 
 
 Among gardeners, success in forcing is an object of ambition, 
 and its honors are worn with a good deal of professional pride. 
 Some affect to have peculiar modes of practice, which they hide 
 carefully from others, but which are often mere worthless con- 
 ceits. 
 
 It will be apparent to any observant mind that crops which 
 in ordinary culture bear without injury the common vicissi- 
 tudes of climate in the open air may easily endm-e the lighter 
 and less frequent changes to which they are subjected in house 
 or frame culture, unless a most unnatural system is pursued, 
 or great carelessness displayed in their treatment. 
 
 The beau ideal of forcing is to create artificially a climate so 
 perfectly resembling that which is natural and congenial to the 
 plants forced as to induce fair vigorous growth and fruiting un- 
 der a system of treatment not differing materially in other re- 
 
508 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 spects from high out-door culture. To effect this the chief thing 
 is to give incessant care to the degree of temperature and moist- 
 ure which the crop may require, and so to limit the quantity 
 of fruit permitted to set as to keep it always somewhat below 
 the bearing capacity of the tree, of which every gardener is 
 supposed to be capable of judging at a glance, and every culti- 
 vator may learn to judge by a few careful experiments in fruit- 
 ing. He can scarcely err injuriously except on one side. If 
 he leave an excess of fruit upon the tree, the whole crop may 
 be injured or destroyed, but if he reduce the amount, even much 
 below the natural or necessary line, the remaining fruit will be 
 certainly and perhaps greatly improved, and may very possibly 
 more than make up in its aggregate weight for the excessive 
 thinning. 
 
 Some vegetable plants are forced for use in winter by a 
 process of simple self-exhaustion. Their strong roots being 
 transferred in the fall to a cellar, or hot-bed frame, or heated 
 pit, or green-house, yield a limited crop under the stimulus of 
 the Avarmth thus furnished ; this being obtained, the roots thus 
 taxed are either thrown away or set out again in the spring to 
 regain their ordinary strength. Sea-kale, Asparagus, Pie- 
 plant, Succory, etc., etc., are thus treated where it is deemed 
 worth while. 
 
 The more common vegetables, as Lettuces, Radishes, and cer- 
 tain small matters for salads, require in their forced production 
 in hot-bed frames but little if any more or different care, though 
 longer continued, than is necessary for raising early hot-bed 
 plants of various vegetables for setting out. See page 30. 
 
 Cucumbers and melons are often raised in unfavorable local- 
 ities by a system of half forcing sometimes called " ridging." 
 For this purpose a pit or trench of any desired length, about 
 three feet wide and two feet deep, is dug at the close of spring, 
 and filled Avith heating manure in the manner of making hot 
 bed (see page 30), the manure being covered twelve or fifteen 
 inches deep with surface earth well enriched with old garden 
 compost and chopped half-rotted sod, adding sand or road-wash 
 if the soil be heavy. 
 
 Potted plants, previously prepared in hot bed, are set out 
 
AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 509 
 
 carefully along the centre of this ridge, in hills from four to six 
 feet apart. Set a hand-glass over each hill ; give air and cul- 
 tui-e as needed until the vines begin to run freely, then raise 
 the hand-glasses upon bricks or blocks, that they may pass un- 
 der ; nip or stop them at about t^Y0 feet from the stem, that 
 they may branch and blossom compactly ; and when the full 
 summer is upon them remove the hand-glasses entirely, and 
 give them ordinary but careful culture until the crop perfects. 
 
 The plants for ridging or forcing, both of cucumbers and 
 melons, are in general carefully raised from old seed, that 
 the vine-growth may be moderate ; or they are produced by 
 cuttings, particularly if new seed has been sown. The cut- 
 tings are made in the ordinary manner (see page 438), and 
 being set two or three in a pot, and placed in the hot bed Avith 
 slight shade, will root in a week or so, and soon furnish strong 
 compact growing plants, which will also, if well raised, be 
 more hardy than those direct from seed, and less liable to 
 " damp off," as the stem-rotting of succulent plants in a cool 
 moist climate is called. 
 
 In those climates which discourage or forbid their out-door 
 cultivation, they are often forced under glass, in hot bed or pit, 
 throughout their growth and fruiting, requiring peculiar and 
 extraordinary care in the process. 
 
 With this view the hot bed is made as directed page 30, but 
 with ten or twelve inches' depth of earth, which should consist 
 of thoroughly-prepared garden compost (page 63), to which an 
 equal quantity of well-chopped and half-rotted loamy sod is 
 added. The seeds are planted, or the potted plants set out, 
 just under the centre of each sash ; and at the appearance of 
 the third leaf, if they are seedlings, only the two or three best 
 plants are left in each hill ; the surrounding vacant space, if 
 such use of it is found desirable, can be temporarily occupied 
 by pots, in Avhich any kinds of early plants may be raised, to 
 be taken away as fast as the growth from the central hill de- 
 mands the room. 
 
 The most assiduous daily attention is required, to give air 
 and tepid water as may be found needful, taking especial cai'e 
 to furnish both regularly but moderately, according to the va- 
 
510 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 rying condition of the weather and the consequent necessities 
 of the plants. 
 
 Hill them slightly as they grow, and apply light dressings 
 of liquid manure from time to time to the hills and around 
 them, but in these and the ordinary waterings avoid much wet- 
 ting upon the stems or leaves of the plants. 
 
 As the vines extend it will become necessary to nip their 
 points for the purpose of thickening the bearing growth, caus- 
 ina: them to branch from near the root, and also afterwai-d to 
 " stop" them when they reach the sides of the frame, and, 
 again, to prevent their becoming over-thickened by their young 
 side branches, which must be kept thinned out when the fruit 
 is forming or in growth ; the number of fruit upon each plant 
 must also be limited if you desire to have them fine ; and 
 when as many as you wish to have are set, nip all subsequent 
 blossoms before they open. 
 
 The general temperature of the hot bed, or pit, should range 
 from 60 to 80 degrees, and this range be continued as uniform- 
 ly as possible. In order to secure this object, in addition to 
 the daily care in airing, etc., it may be found necessary to 
 " line the bed," that is, when the heat of the bed itself de- 
 clines, to bank fresh heating manure to the thickness of one 
 or two feet all around it in the same careful manner as the 
 hot bed was built at first, repeating this operation time after 
 time if found necessary, cutting away and removing all the old 
 manure from the outside of the frame so as to bring the new 
 warmth as nearly as possible into contact with the body of the 
 bed which it surrounds ; if thought needful, this lining may 
 be raised above the level of the bed so as to reach nearly to 
 the upper edge of the frame, with a slope to throw the water 
 away from it in rainy weather. 
 
 When raised in a " cucumber pit," heated either with ma- 
 nure, or hot water, or steam, these vegetable fruits are not un- 
 frequently trained upon trellises, being carefully and pretty 
 closely pruned, and strictly limited to their proper space, by 
 which system some room is gained, and the hanging fruit is 
 also ornamental. 
 
 Almost every variety of garden vegetable may be and is 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 511 
 
 produced by forcing where the demands of luxury render the 
 operation profitable ; but few persons will be likely to attempt 
 to force these in a plain " home garden." 
 
 Fruits are variously forced, either in the green-house or in 
 houses specially appropriated to them. For strawberries, steep 
 single-pitch, narrow, temporary " strawberry houses" are often 
 made with the glass reaching nearly to the ground. From a 
 furnace sunk a sufficient depth at one end, a single line of 
 stove-pipe or small brick flue, slightly raised, runs along the 
 middle of the floor. The staging is so constructed as to cover 
 this, and bring the plants within a foot or less of the glass 
 from top to bottom, the whole looking like a covered strawbeiTy 
 bed upon a steep slope. 
 
 Grapes are more commonly than other fruits forced in the 
 green-house ; they are, however, more successfully forced by 
 themselves in a grapery, though strawberries in pots or other- 
 wise may be conveniently forced with them? Peaches are also 
 generally forced alone in " peach houses," and these, with some 
 other varieties, are occasionally forced together in what we have 
 called "orchard houses." For this pm-pose they are some- 
 times, though rarely, planted in the orchard house, as ordinary 
 dwarf or low-stemmed trees, but generally trained upon upright 
 trellises by the walls of the house, or inclined or curved ones 
 in the body of it, and sometimes are cultivated as extra dwarf 
 trees in pots, or tubs, or boxes. 
 
 Fruits so forced require, even more than vegetables, extraor- 
 dinary and constant care in respect to temperatm-e, moistm'e, 
 air, pnining, and fruiting. The preparation of the house bor- 
 ders, etc., and the general course of treatment required do not 
 differ greatly from the directions for the grapery, page 357. 
 
 Forced vegetables which are raised from seed, etc., are start- 
 ed at once in summer heat ; but in forcing fruits we seek to 
 make a mimic spring, beginning at a low temperature, say 
 35 to 40 degrees, and gradually raising it at the rate of two 
 or three degrees a Aveek, until, by the time the fruit has set, it 
 has gone up to 60 degrees in the day ; or at this point and on- 
 ward it may rise to 70 or 80 degrees if the sunshine carry it 
 up ; but in this case free ventilation must be given, and a hu- 
 
512 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 mid atmosphere produced by watering or syringing, and spe- 
 cial care be taken that after such an accession of heat the re- 
 cession be not sudden. The night temperature may range 
 miiformly al)out ten degrees below that of the day, the state 
 of the house being sedulously watched, its slightest variations 
 being indicated by a double registering thermometer. 
 
 Besides a very severe system of summer pruning, almost 
 entirely suppressing growth, there are in fruit forcing various 
 other nice points to be attended to, the detailed minutiae of 
 which will be found in works specially devoted to this depart- 
 ment of fancy culture, and these scanty general indications are 
 all that can be given here. 
 
 The ripening of the larger fruits will generally be effected in 
 about five months from the first application of heat. 
 
 TRAINING. 
 
 "Training" is any process by which the young growth of 
 trees or shrubs is diverted from its natural course, and made 
 to take such directions or assume such forms as the fancy 
 of the cultivator may prescribe. Hence the various kinds of 
 training are designated as "upright," "horizontal," "fan- 
 shaped," " weeping," " coiled," or " winding," etc. For illus- 
 trations of the two former see Arbor and Trellis Culture of the 
 Grape, p. 349-50. 
 
 Training the larger fruit-trees upon trellises is, in general, 
 merely a fancy mode of treating dwarf trees like the weeping 
 cone and other peculiar forms, or it is practiced in preparing 
 such trees for the ornamentation of path sides, etc. ; but train- 
 ing such fruits against walls or other shelters is adopted with 
 a view of producing in ungenial climates fruits not otherwise 
 producible in them, or to obtain in perfection in unfavorable 
 localities or soils certain fine varieties of fruits, which even 
 the processes of dwarfing and summer pruning do not enable 
 us, under the circumstances, to ripen satisfactorily. It may 
 be practiced in either or all its forms so far as time, means, 
 and taste permit or prompt. 
 
 Where it is proposed to cultivate "wall fruit," as the prod- 
 uct of trees so trained is termed, the borders or holes for the 
 
AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 513 
 
 trees are prepared with more or less care and thoroughness, 
 somewhat after the mode prescribed for grape borders in house 
 culture, page 355. If you desire success, prepare them Avell. 
 There is an equity in the matter ; your pay will be according 
 to your labor. 
 
 Fig. 308. 
 
 Fig. 309. 
 
 Maiden tree cuf^back and set out for 
 fan training. 
 
 Young fan-trained tree with its first year's 
 growtli of three shoots. 
 
 The first step in training is to plant a tree of one year's 
 growth from the bud, technically called a " maiden tree," 
 against a wall or trellis, having first cut it back, if intended 
 to be fan-formed, to within one, or two, or three inches of the 
 point of junction with the stock. Fig. 308. 
 
 In planting it, let it be set so that the head of the stock 
 where it was cut down after budding and the face of the new 
 cut made in cutting back the young tree may be toward the 
 wall, and the swell of the original bud growth, with its nu- 
 merous undeveloped buds, be thro^vn outward to furnish shoots 
 to radiate from that point for training if it be cut veiy closely 
 back. 
 
 The precise number of buds that are permitted to start the 
 first year may vary, but for illustration I have chosen three as 
 a sufficient and convenient number (Fig. 309). 
 
 These are to be laid carefully to their proper places as their 
 growth proceeds by nailing them by means of small bands of 
 cloth or leather placed around them, forming, when nailed, 
 
 Y 2 
 
514 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN, 
 
 loose loops, through which the shoot runs ; and it will gener- 
 ally be found convenient to alternate the sides on which the 
 nails are driven, so that the shoot may be strained in any de- 
 sired direction. In training immediately upon brick walls, 
 small cast nails are used like those which bootmakers call 
 "sparrow-bills," but larger; but to avoid the necessity of 
 nailing into brick, a frame or trellis, as in open culture, is 
 often set between the wall and the tree, upon which the young 
 shoots may be tied securely but not tightly to their places by 
 strips of bass mat or other material. 
 
 All growth shoots thrown directly forward from the face of 
 the tree, and all branching growth from the young shoots that 
 are laid into place, must be suppressed as soon as they start, 
 and all over-luxuriance or disproportion in the growth of any 
 one or more of the shoots of the season must be prevented by 
 Avatchful summer pruning. 
 
 In the Avinter pruning these shoots of the season are cut 
 back, according to the vigor of their growth, to the length of 
 from ten to fifteen inches, more or less, as shown in Fig. 310. 
 
 Fig. 310. 
 
 Fig. 311. 
 
 Young fan-trained tree with its first year's 
 growtli cut back at tlie winter pruning. 
 
 Young fan-trained tree with its second 
 year's growth, each main shoot having 
 thrown out two secondary ones. 
 
 From each of them the next season three shoots, a main 
 and two opposite side shoots, may be suffered to grow, as Fig. 
 311. These, like the former year's shoots, are to be laid into 
 place, summer pruned with the same care, and nailed or tied 
 
A.MEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 515 
 
 as above directed ; cut back each of them at the winter prun- 
 ing according to the strength of the individual shoot, shorten- 
 ing the secondary shoots in general to about half the length 
 allowed to the main ones, or cutting them nearly as far back 
 as to where the main shoots of the season started, as shown in 
 horizontal training, Fig. 315. 
 
 This process is continued from year to year, permitting sec- 
 ondary side shoots to branch off from the main ones as the 
 spaces between them widen with their extension, until the 
 whole surface appropriated to the tree is covered with its 
 growth, regularly laid in against the wall, or fence, or trellis, 
 in a flat fan form, as Fig. 312. 
 
 Fig. 312. 
 
 A full-sized fan-formed tree. 
 
 a, a. Dotted line showing the point to which a diseased tree 
 may be cut back. 
 
 When trained trees have thus filled up their allotted space, 
 they must be absolutely limited to their specific boundaries, 
 and only so much wood permitted to gi'ow from year to year 
 as may be required to fill up the blank spots made by the win- 
 ter prmiing. From the very first the trees are to be carefully 
 
516 
 
 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 summer pruned, as directed for dwarf trees, page 255 ; with 
 proper attention to this, so that no shoot is suifered to grow 
 with disproportionate vigor, it will generally be found suffi- 
 cient, while the tree is forming, to cut annually from the 
 young shoots at the Avinter pruning about one third or one 
 half the length of the season's growth. 
 
 By this course, steadily pursued, the burden of fruit which 
 the tree may become capable of bearing will be concentrated 
 upon and sometimes seem to cover its whole area as it hangs 
 from the numerous fruit branches. 
 
 If it is intended to train the tree horizontally, it may either 
 be cut back as above directed for fan training, or may be left 
 six or eight inches long from the bud at the setting out, as 
 shown in Fig. 313. 
 
 Fig. 313. 
 
 Fig. 314. 
 
 Maiden tree cut back and 
 set out for horizontal 
 training. 
 
 Young horizontal-trained tree with its first year's gi'owth of 
 three shoots shown as cut hack at the winter pruning. 
 
 One upright leader, with not more than two opposite main 
 side shoots, may be allowed to start the first year, the latter 
 to be trained horizontally, and at the winter pruning each 
 must be cut back as shown in Fig. 314 a. 
 
 In the second year these lengthen from the extreme bud of 
 each, but are not permitted to form secondary side shoots, 
 which, if they put forth, must be nipped throughout the sum- 
 mer : two other main side shoots are also formed and ti'ained 
 
AMERICAN HOME (JARDEN. 
 
 511 
 
 horizontally as they grow. See Fig. 315 a, a. These are all 
 shortened at the Avinter pruning, as also shown in Fig. 315, 
 each shoot being kept about the length of one year's pruned 
 growth behind its predecessor. 
 
 Fig. 315. 
 
 Young horizontal-trained tree with its second year's gi-owth shown as cut back at the 
 winter pruning. 6, b, b, b. Spurs with their bunches of blossom buds. 
 
 This process, like that of fan-training, with similar care in 
 respect to summer pruning, is continued from year to year un- 
 til the tree attains its full size (Fig. 316), after which it is 
 simply limited to its appropriate space, and permitted annu- 
 ally to renew by its growth the wastage of its winter pruning. 
 
 Under skillful treatment its branches will become studded 
 in the fall with "spurs," which are short stiff shoots from 
 half an inch to four inches long, ending in bunches of full 
 rounded "blossom buds" (Fig. 315 h), the ordinary growth or 
 leaf buds being of a more pointed form. Upon these spurs, or 
 from buds set immediately upon the branches (Fig. 316), its 
 burden of fruit will be annually produced, but special care is 
 required in the pruning and general management of trained 
 trees to secure regularly upon them a full but not excessive 
 annual crop of fruit. 
 
 The directions given above for regulating the growth and 
 training of the trees are not to be considered absolute ; the ar- 
 rangement may be changed or inverted at the pleasure of the 
 
518 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 
 
 cultivator, the horizontal tree being permitted to form second- 
 ary side shoots, and the fan-formed one being limited to main 
 shoots and spurs. 
 
 Fig. 316. 
 
 Full-sized horizontal-trained tree covered with fniit buds. 
 
 a. A main shoot cut clean out, and a new one forming. 
 
 b, 6. Dotted lines showing the cutting back of diseased trees. 
 
 Under this non-natural course of treatment trees are more 
 than commonly liable to become diseased. Sometimes it is 
 necessary, and still oftener expedient, to renew certain por- 
 tions of a trained tree by cutting an old main shoot clean out, 
 and forming a new one in its place by gradually carrying a 
 young shoot from the central radiating point, or from the up- 
 right leader, annually shortening and pruning it as in forming 
 the tree at first. See Fig. 316 a. 
 
 If a tree indicates general weakness or disease, and ordinary 
 means fail to renovate it, cut back the whole growth from one 
 third to one half, less or more according to your judgment, as 
 indicated by the dotted lines, figm-es 312 a, 316 b. Shorten 
 at the same time the side shoots of the remainder ; clear it 
 of insects if infested, by the use of some suitable wash (see 
 page 284) ; change the surface earth around it, substituting 
 fresh sm-face loam and rotted sod, and, if it seem requisite, 
 give an extra application of liquid manure occasionally, espe- 
 
AMERICAN HOME (iARUEN. 519 
 
 cially toward the extremities of its roots ; examine its deep 
 roots, and if the disease is caused by their entering a cold or 
 poisonous subsoil, cut them off; or, if the case prove inveterate, 
 take up the tree, remove the subsoil as extensively as you find 
 necessary, pave or concrete the bottom of the hole thus made, 
 fill it with good compost, etc., and replant the tree carefully. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 Almond, 287; Earth Almond... 360 
 Alternating System of Grape 
 
 Culture '. 351 
 
 American Span Layering 440 
 
 Annual Flowers 436 
 
 Annual Flowers, Time of Sow 
 
 ing, &c 455 
 
 Annual Flowers, List of 34 Kinds 455 
 
 Annular Budding , 223 
 
 Aphides on Garden Vegetables. . 99 
 
 " on Fruit-trees 264 
 
 Appendages to the Garden 2G 
 
 Apple Blossom, a perfect or bi- 
 sexual Flower 74 
 
 Apples 2 
 
 " Gathering and Wintering 
 
 of 289 
 
 Apples, Selection of fifty Kinds.. 290 
 
 1. Early May 290 
 
 2. " Strawberry 291 
 
 3. " Hai-vest 291 
 
 4. Sweet Bough 292 
 
 5. EedAstrachan 293 
 
 6. Summer Rose 294 
 
 7. Williams's Favorite 294 
 
 8. Summer Pippin 295 
 
 9. Gloucester Cheese 296 
 
 10. American Pearmain 297 
 
 11. Jersey Sweeting 298 
 
 12. Maiden's Blush 298 
 
 13. Porter 299 
 
 14. Gravenstein 800 
 
 15. Hawley 301 
 
 16. Fall Pippin 302 
 
 17. Fameuse 303 
 
 18. Mother 303 
 
 19. Vandervere 304 
 
 20. Dyer 305 
 
 21. Hubbardston Nonsuch 306 
 
 22. Minister 306 
 
 23. Hurlbut 307 
 
 24. Male Carle 308 
 
 25. Chandler 309 
 
 26. Peck's Pleasant 310 
 
 27. Jonathan 310 
 
 28. Rambo 311 
 
 29. Westfield Seek-no-further 312 
 
 30. Broadwell Sweet 312 
 
 31. American Golden Russet . 313 
 
 32. Wagener 314 
 
 33. Rhode Island Greening... 315 
 
 34. Yellow Belle Fleur 315 
 
 35. Danvers Sweet 316 
 
 36. Ortley 317 
 
 37. Baldwin 318 
 
 38. Wine Apple 319 
 
 39. Swaar 319 
 
 40. Red Canada 320 
 
 41. Lady Apple 321 
 
 42. Pryor's Red 321 
 
 43. Northern Spy 322 
 
 44. Wood's Greening 323 
 
 45. Yellow Newtown Pippin.. 323 
 
 46. Ladies' Sweeting 324 
 
 47. Raule's Janet 325 
 
 48. Boston Russet 326 
 
 49. Pottghkeepsie Russet 326 
 
 50. Tewkesbury Winter Blush 327 
 Apples, Varieties of, for the East- 
 ern and Northern States 328 
 
 Apples for the Middle States 328 
 
 " for the Western States... 329 
 " for the Southern and 
 
 Southwestern States 329 
 
 Apple-tree Borers and parent 
 
 Bugs 266 
 
 Apricot, eight Varieties of 330 
 
 Arbor for the Grape-vine 349 
 
 Arrangement of Garden 15 
 
 Arrangement and Distance of 
 
 Fruit-trees in Plot or Orchard 247 
 
 Artemisias 461 
 
 Artichoke, Globe 114 
 
 Jerusalem 115 
 
 Asparagus 115 
 
 Assortment of Garden Seeds for 
 
 a Family Garden 188 
 
522 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 Page 
 Autumnal and Ever - blooming 
 
 Roses, thirty Varieties 480 
 
 Average Product of various) 500 
 
 Farm Crops, Table of j 501 
 
 B. 
 
 Bandages for Buds 220 
 
 Baud Labels 215 
 
 Beans, English 117 
 
 " Bush 117 
 
 " Pole 119 
 
 Bearing Qualities of various 
 
 Fruit-trees 193 
 
 Bedding Seedling Plants of Veg- 
 etables 87 
 
 Bedding System of Strawberry 
 
 Culture 426 
 
 Beets 120 
 
 " Forms of. 121 
 
 Bee Worm Ill 
 
 Bell Glass 35 
 
 Bene Plant 124 
 
 Berberry 33 1 
 
 Biennials 436 
 
 " Selection of 12 Kinds.. 459 
 
 Binding Buds 222-3 
 
 " and covering Grafts 238 
 
 Blackberry 332 
 
 Black Knot.... 260 
 
 Blanching 136 
 
 Blind Ditches 20 
 
 Blossoms, perfect, &c 74 
 
 ' ' of Strawberries 429 
 
 Borecole 147 
 
 Botanical Peculiarities of Straw- 
 berry Blossoms 428 
 
 Box Edging for Paths 16 
 
 Box Wheelbarrow 33 
 
 Branch Cuttings 197 
 
 Brief Notes on Farm Crops 495 
 
 Brine Wash 283 
 
 Brocoli 124 
 
 Brussels Sprovits 125 
 
 Bud Cuttings 196 
 
 Budding, Annular 223 
 
 " Knives 211 
 
 Natin-e of. 218 
 
 " Process of 220 
 
 " Time of 223 
 
 " and grafting flowering 
 and ornamental Shrubs and 
 
 Trees 441 
 
 Buds, After-treatment of 224 
 
 Bud Scion and Buds 220 
 
 Page 
 Bud Worm and parent Moth .... 268 
 Bulbous Roots, Selection of ten 
 
 hardy Kinds 447 
 
 Bulbous Roots, Selection of six 
 
 tender Kinds 451 
 
 Bulbous Root Compost 444 
 
 Bulbs 436 
 
 Bursting of the Bark of Fruit- 
 trees 260 
 
 Bush Scythe 53 
 
 " Hook 63 
 
 C. 
 
 Cabbage, Early 126 
 
 " Late 127 
 
 " Worms and parent 
 
 Butterflies 104 
 
 Camellia 468 
 
 Canker Worm and parent Moth 269 
 
 Cardoon 130 
 
 Carrot 130 
 
 " Formsof 131 
 
 Cauliflower 133 
 
 Celeriac 137 
 
 Celery 135 
 
 Chemical Constituents of vari-~l ^^„ 
 
 ous Farm Crops classed, Ta- > ^^, 
 
 bleof ) ^"^ 
 
 Cherries 333 
 
 " Select List of sixteen 
 
 Varieties 334 
 
 1. Purple Guigne 334 
 
 2. Mayduke.... 335 
 
 3. Elton 335 
 
 4. Knight's Early Black 336 
 
 5. Black Heart 336 
 
 0. Black Tartarian 336 
 
 7. Holland Bigarreau 337 
 
 8. Graffion..... 337 
 
 9. Black Eagle 338 
 
 10. Downton 338 
 
 11. Downer's Late 338 
 
 12. Florence 339 
 
 13. Earlv Richmond 339 
 
 14. Carnation 340 
 
 15. Plum-stone Morello 340 
 
 16. Rumsey's Morello 340 
 
 Cherrv Worm or Slug 275 
 
 Chervil 137 
 
 Chinese Layering 440 
 
 " Potato or Yam, Dlosco- 
 
 rea Eattatas 502 
 
 Chinese Sugar - cane, Sorghum 
 saccharatum 502 
 
INDEX. 
 
 523 
 
 Chisel, Pruning 207 
 
 Cistern 31 
 
 Citron 362 
 
 Citron Watermelon 137, 152 
 
 Cives or Chives 137 
 
 Cleaning and scraping Fruit- 
 trees 256 
 
 Climbers 437 
 
 ' ' Selection of six Kinds of 
 
 annual 458 
 
 Climbing Shrubs, 12 Kinds 483 
 
 Cold Bed 29 
 
 " in Pit 28 
 
 Color of Vegetables 71 
 
 " Fruits 191 
 
 Combination of Vegetable Crops 85 
 " of Fruit-trees . 249-251 
 
 " of Strawberries 429 
 
 Compost, Ash G4 
 
 " Bulbous Root 444 
 
 " Flower 444 
 
 " Garden G3 
 
 " Guano 04 
 
 ' ' Layer and Cutting 443 
 
 Plant 443 
 
 " Rose 444 
 
 Conservatory or Plant-room 474 
 
 Contents, general 7 
 
 Core Worm and parent Moth.... 270 
 
 Corn 138 
 
 Corn Grubs and parent Bugs 105 
 
 Corn Planter 46 
 
 Corn Salad 139 
 
 Covered and Pipe Drains 21 
 
 Cranberry 341 
 
 Crop, estimated by its Money 
 
 Value 497 
 
 Crop, estimated by its Capacity 
 
 to support Animal Life 498 
 
 Crop Hilling 90 
 
 " Hoeing 92 
 
 " " Time for 93 
 
 " Plowing 91 
 
 " Ridging 90 
 
 " Watering 93 
 
 CroMbar 47 
 
 Cucumber Blossom monoecious... 74 
 
 Cucumber, Varieties, &c 1 39 
 
 " Borer 107 
 
 " Biig 100 
 
 ' ' Fly or jumping Beetle 101 
 
 Cultivator 44 
 
 Currants 341 
 
 Currant Worm or Borer 275 
 
 Page 
 
 Cuttings of Fruit-trees 195 
 
 " of flowering and herba- 
 ceous Plants 438 
 
 Cutworm 107 
 
 D. 
 
 Dahlias, Modes of increasing 453 
 
 " twenty-one Varieties.... 452 
 
 Dedication 3 
 
 Deterioration, the natural Tend- 
 ency to, in Vegetables, how 
 
 stimulated 72 
 
 Dibber 68 
 
 DilKculties met with in raising 
 
 the Strawberry explained 428 
 
 Digging 24 
 
 Dioecious Blossoms 74 
 
 Diseases of Fruit-trees and Fruits 259 
 
 Dock 141 
 
 Double glazing Sashes 474 
 
 Draining 19 
 
 Drawing-knife 208 
 
 Dressing Flowers for Exhibition 466 
 
 Dressing Shears 209 
 
 Dwarfing Stocks 206 
 
 Dwarf Trees, planting 244 
 
 " pruning 255 
 
 E. 
 
 Edging for Paths 16 
 
 Egg-plant 141 
 
 Elements of Plant Life 59 
 
 " Animal Life 59 
 
 Enarching, see Inarching 235 
 
 Endive 142 
 
 Estimates of Crop Values 497 
 
 Ever - blooming and Autumnal 
 
 Roses, thirty Varieties 480 
 
 Evergreens 437 
 
 Evergreen Trees and Shnibs, 14 
 
 Kinds 486 
 
 Evergreen Trees and Shrubs, 
 
 Time and Mode of removing.. 492 
 Explanatory Remarks on Table 
 
 of Crops, &c 502 
 
 F. 
 
 Farm Culture of the Strawber- 
 
 ly 427 
 
 Fencing the Garden 17 
 
 Fertilization, Organs of 74 
 
 a. Perfect or bisexual Flower 74 
 
 h. Monoecious Flowers 74 
 
 c. Dioecious Flowers 74 
 
524 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Fertilization necessary to Pro- 
 duction of the Seed 
 
 Fertilization not absolutely nec- 
 essary to the Production of 
 Fruit 
 
 Fertilization as related to the In- 
 termixture of Kinds 
 
 Fertilization, natural Modes of... 
 " artificial Modes of. 
 
 Field Mice 
 
 Fig 
 
 Fig Apple 
 
 Flavor of Fruits, Peculiarities of 
 
 Flower and Seed Scissors 
 
 Flower Compost 
 
 Flower Pots 
 
 Flower Transplanter 
 
 Flowers, hardy and tender 
 
 ' Flowers, Shrubs, &c.. Classes of. 
 " Modes of 
 
 increasing 
 
 Flowers, Shrubs, &c., Choice of. 
 
 Flowers, Shrubs, Trees, &c., 
 
 blooming at corresponding 
 
 Times, or Interlinking, List of 
 
 Flowers, Transplanting 
 
 " hardy bulbous -rooted, 
 
 10 Kinds 
 
 Flowers, tender, 6 Kinds 
 
 " tuberous, 21 Varieties.. 
 
 Forcing and Training 
 
 " Fruits 
 
 " Vegetables 
 
 Fork, 3 Kinds of. 
 
 Frixit Cellar 
 
 Fruit Crack 
 
 Fruit Gatherer 
 
 Fruiting, doubtful Views respect- 
 ing 
 
 Fruiting, healthful natural Tend- 
 ency to 
 
 Fruiting, the Law of premature 
 
 o r f r c e d 
 
 Fruiting, how forced 
 
 Fruit-room 
 
 Fruits, Classification of 
 
 " Color of 
 
 " Effect of Soil upon 
 
 " " Climate upon ... 
 
 " " the Stock upon. 
 
 " Flavor of 
 
 ' ' Production of new 
 
 " Shape of 
 
 ' ' Specific Gravity of 
 
 Fruits, Theory of improving 
 
 76 " transferofN. andS.. 190, 
 Fruit-trees, After-cultm'e in Plot 
 
 or Orchard 
 
 76JFruit-trees, Arrangement and) 
 Distances, with Tables ) 
 
 77 Fruit-trees, bearing Qualities .... 
 
 78 " Combinations of,) 
 78 with Plans, 1, 2 ) 
 
 285 Fruit-trees, Habits of 
 
 343 " Modes of Growth of. 
 
 76 " ornamental 
 
 191 " preparing Holes for 
 209 and planting 
 
 444 Fruit-trees, Propagation of 
 
 36 a. By Cuttings 
 
 52 b. By Layers 
 
 445 c. By Seeds 
 
 434 Fruit - trees, selecting Varieties 
 of 
 
 437 Fruit-trees, setting out 
 
 435 Fruit-trees, shortening Roots and 
 Top 
 
 Fruit-trees, Stocks for budding 
 and grafting 
 
 446 
 445 
 
 447 
 451 
 452 
 507 
 511 
 508, 
 54| 
 26 
 259 
 211 
 
 256 
 
 257 
 
 257 
 258 
 26 
 189 
 191 
 189 
 190 
 219 
 191 
 194 
 191 
 192 
 
 G. 
 
 Garden, Diagram of 
 
 " Form, Aspect, and Ar- 
 rangement 
 
 Garden Engine 
 
 Garden Frame with Sashes 
 
 Garden House with Frait-room 
 and Cellar 
 
 Garden Rakes 
 
 Garden Shovel 
 
 Garden Trowels 
 
 Garlic 
 
 Gathering Apples, Time and Or- 
 der of 
 
 Gathering and ripening Pears... 
 
 Gange "Wheel and Rack 
 
 Girdled Trees, how to save 
 
 Gooseberry, three Varieties of . . . 
 
 Gooseberry Worm 
 
 " smaller 
 
 Goose-necked Garden Hoe 
 
 " Cranesbill Hoe.... 
 
 Grafting 
 
 " large Trees by Install- 
 ments 
 
 Grafting, Modes of 
 
 a. " Single Bud" 
 
 b. "Side" 
 
 Page 
 194 
 192 
 
 248 
 247 
 248 
 193 
 249 
 251 
 192 
 193 
 488 
 
 245 
 195 
 195 
 198 
 204 
 
 192 
 243 
 
 244 
 
 204 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 34 
 
 28 
 
 26 
 56 
 48 
 62 
 143 
 
 289 
 
 368 
 
 45 
 
 286 
 
 345 
 
 275 
 
 276 
 
 50 
 
 61 
 
 225 
 
 226 
 
 228 
 228 
 229 
 
INDEX. 
 
 525 
 
 Page 
 
 c. "Saddle" 229 
 
 d. "Cleft" 230 
 
 " on large Trees 232 
 
 e. "Crown" 233 
 
 / "Tongue" 234 
 
 Grafting by Approach, or "In- 
 arching" 235 
 
 Grafting, Time for 237 
 
 Grafting Compositions, Nos. 1, 
 
 2,3 ; 239 
 
 Grafting Knife 212 
 
 " Mortar 240 
 
 " Stiletto 213 
 
 " Tool 214 
 
 Grafts, Preparation of 227 
 
 " binding and covering 238 
 
 ' ' After-treatment of 240 
 
 " transporting 228 
 
 Grains, various, sowing 49; 
 
 Grape, 13 Varieties of. 347 
 
 " manuring 349 
 
 ' ' Modes of Culture 349 
 
 1. Arbor 349 
 
 2. Trellis 350 
 
 3. Stakes 351 
 
 Grape, Spur Sj'stem of pruning 
 
 the 350 
 
 Grape, Alternating System 351 
 
 " Training the 349 
 
 " Summer-pruning the 352 
 
 " Winter-pruning the 354 
 
 Grape House, Culture in 355 
 
 Grajje Scissors 209 
 
 Grape Worms 276 
 
 Grass Edger 54 
 
 Grasses, mixed for Lawn 496 
 
 " sowing 496 
 
 Grass Hook 54 
 
 Grasshopper 103 
 
 Grass Scythe 53 
 
 Green-house 474 
 
 " Plants, &c 437,467 
 
 " Shrubs, 18 Kinds.... 467 
 
 " Plants of smaller 
 
 Growth, 20 Kinds 470 
 
 Green-house Plants, wintering in 
 
 Cellar or a Pit 472 
 
 Green-house Plants, wintering in 
 
 Dwelling-house 473 
 
 Green-house Plants, steaming ... 473 
 Green-house Plants, wintering in 
 
 Green-house 474 
 
 Greens, 15 Kinds 143 
 
 Grouting 88 
 
 Page 
 Growth of wild Plant and Seed . 67 
 Growth of cultivated Plant and 
 Seed 67 
 
 H. 
 
 Habit of blossoming of certain 
 
 Fruit-trees 193 
 
 Half Axe 207 
 
 Hammer 207 
 
 Hand Fork 54 
 
 Hand Glasses 34-5 
 
 Hand "Marker" 57 
 
 Hand Seed-sower 46 
 
 Hardy Shrubs, 25 Kinds, with 
 
 Treatment of, &c 477 
 
 Harrowing 22 
 
 H arrows 42-3 
 
 Hatchet 207 
 
 Heart Worm 109 
 
 Heating Apparatus for Green- 
 house, &c 475 
 
 Hedges, various Plants for 17 
 
 Height of Stem for Fruit-trees... 241 
 
 Herbs, 18 Kinds 144 
 
 Hilling (Crops) 90 
 
 Hilling Hoe 49 
 
 Hilling System for the Strawberry 425 
 
 Hill Layering Trees, &c 200 
 
 " herbaceous Plants 441 
 
 Hoeing Crops 92 
 
 Hoes (6 Varieties) 49-51 
 
 Hook, Potato 55 
 
 Hop , 146 
 
 Hop Blossom, Fertilizer, |^ Dice- 
 
 " Fertile, j cious 74 
 
 Hop Worm 109 
 
 Horse Radish 146 
 
 Hot Bed 30 
 
 " made in Pit 28 
 
 Hyacinths i 448 
 
 I. 
 
 Ice-house 32 
 
 Imperfect Blossoms of the Straw- 
 berry 429 
 
 Implements of common Culture. 38 
 " for Budding, Graft- 
 ing, Pruning, &c 207 
 
 Index 507 
 
 Insects, Life, Periods of. 94 
 
 " Breathing, Circulation, 
 
 and Digestion of 94 
 
 Insects, Changes of 95 
 
 " Periodical Prevalence of 95 
 
526 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 Insects vary in Kind according 
 
 to Climate, Locality, and Crop 95 
 Insects, Means of Defense and Of- 
 fense against 96 
 
 1. Natural Enemies 96 
 
 2. Changing Sowing Time.... 97 
 
 3. Their Tastes or Distastes .. 97 
 
 4. Means of injuring or de- 
 
 stroying them 97 
 
 5. A Limit to wise Labor in 
 
 Reference to them 98 
 
 Insects injurious to Fruit-trees 
 
 and Fruit 263 
 
 Insects injurious to Vegetables .. 99 
 
 Insects on Green-house Plants... 476 
 
 Intermixture of Vegetables 77 
 
 K. 
 
 Kale or Borecole 147 
 
 Knives for Budding, &c 211 
 
 Knives, various 212 
 
 Kohl Rabi (or Tm-uip Cabbage). 147 
 
 L. 
 
 Labels, Band 215 
 
 " Stake 217 
 
 Labeling and Diagram to be) 215 
 
 attended to ) 251 
 
 Large Trees as Stocks 225 
 
 " Grafting 226 
 
 Layering, Modes of 198 
 
 1. "American Span" 440 
 
 2. "Chinese" 440 
 
 3. "Common" 198 
 
 4. " Hill" (herbaceous) 441 
 
 5. "Hill" (Trees, &c.) 200 
 
 Layer and Cutting Compost 443 
 
 Layers of Shrubs, &c 439 
 
 Layers properly Branch. Cuttings 199 
 
 Layer Stocks for Fruit-trees 203 
 
 Lawn, mixed Grasses for 496 
 
 Leaf Blight 261 
 
 Leaf Mould 442 
 
 Leek 148 
 
 Lemon 362 
 
 Lettuce 148 
 
 Ley Wash 284 
 
 Lime 362 
 
 Line Reel and Line 57 
 
 List of Trees and Shrubs, Peren- 
 nials, &c., that correspond in 
 
 their Times of blossoming 446 
 
 Loam 442 
 
 Page 
 M. 
 
 Manure Fork 54 
 
 Manure Heap 63 
 
 Manures, Classes of 60 
 
 " Application of 62 
 
 ' ' certain, free from Weed 
 
 Seeds 62 
 
 Manures suited to certain Soils.. 61 
 
 " liquid 64 
 
 "■ " how prepared 65 
 
 Manuring and Manures 60 
 
 Manuring Fruit-trees 248 
 
 " the Strawbeny 427 
 
 Marker, Hand 57 
 
 " Horse 42 
 
 Mattock 48 
 
 Means by which the various El- 
 ements of the Soil are returned 
 
 to it 59 
 
 Mechanical Preparation of vari- 
 ous Soils 18 
 
 Melon, Musk 150 
 
 " Water 152 
 
 Mice, Field 285 
 
 Mildew 261 
 
 Milk the sole perfect Compound 
 for Animal Support and 
 
 Growth 503 
 
 Missionary Hoe 51 
 
 Model Trees in Form, &c 368 
 
 Modes of Growth in Fruit-trees . 193 
 Moles, Injuries and Benefits of.. 113 
 
 Monoecious Blossoms 74 
 
 Money Estimate of Crop Values 497 
 
 Mulberrj- 357 
 
 Mushrooms 153 
 
 " Spawn for 153 
 
 Musk Melon 150 
 
 Mustard 154 
 
 N. 
 
 Nasturtium 155 
 
 Natiu-al Fertilization 78 
 
 Nectarine 359 
 
 " 8 Varieties of 360 
 
 Nest Worm, Eggs, and parent 
 
 Moths 271 
 
 Net Worm and parent Moth 272 
 
 New Varieties of Vegetables 79 
 
 a. By Selection 80 
 
 b. By Intermixture 80 
 
 c7 By Transfer or foreign Ac- 
 climation 81 
 
INDEX. 
 
 527 
 
 Page 
 
 d. By Disease 81 
 
 e. By Introduction from otlier 
 
 Countries 81 
 
 Notch Worm and parent Moths . 273 
 Nuts, 13 Kinds 360 
 
 O. 
 Offshoots or Stem-sucker Stocks 203 
 
 Okra 155 
 
 Olive 361 
 
 Onion 156 
 
 " Forms of 157 
 
 " Sets 158 
 
 " Escallions 158 
 
 " Top 158 
 
 " Potato 159 
 
 " Welsh 160 
 
 Orange, Lemon, Lime, Citron, |^ 362 
 
 and Shaddock j 363 
 
 Organs of Fertilization, with their 
 
 Petals 74 
 
 Organs of Fertilization, without 
 
 Petals 75 
 
 Ornamental Trees and Shrubs... 437 
 
 P. 
 
 Palmer Worm and parent Moth 274 
 
 Parsley 160 
 
 Parsley Worm 110 
 
 Parsnep 161 
 
 " Forms of 161 
 
 Pea Bug 101 
 
 Peach 363 
 
 " Classes of 363 
 
 " Decay of. 365 
 
 " Disease of 262 
 
 " Forms of 363 
 
 " Growth and Culture of .... 365 
 
 " 24 Varieties of 366 
 
 Peach Worm, with Chrysalis and 
 
 parent Flies 276 
 
 Pears 367 
 
 " difBcult to select 367 
 
 " Distances for 368 
 
 " Gathering and Ripening .. 368 
 
 " Growth of Roots of 367 
 
 " Model Trees of. 368 
 
 " Pnming 368 
 
 " Soil suitable for 368 
 
 ' ' Winter Varieties of 368 
 
 " Selection of forty Varieties 369 
 
 1. Madeline 370 
 
 2. Bloodgood 370 
 
 3. Dearborn's Seedling 371 
 
 Page 
 
 4. Julienne 371 
 
 5. Tyson 372 
 
 6. Rostlezer 372 
 
 7. Summer Franc Real 373 
 
 8. Bartlett 374 
 
 9. Canandaigua 375 
 
 10. Vanilla 376 
 
 11. Stevens's Genesee 377 
 
 12. Dunmore 378 
 
 13. Heathcot 379 
 
 14. Fondante d'Automne 380 
 
 15. Lodge 381 
 
 16. Flemish Beauty 382 
 
 17. Maria Louisa 383 
 
 18. Ananas 384 
 
 19. Louise Bonne de Jersey... 385 
 
 20. Beurre Bosc 386 
 
 21. Urbaniste 387 
 
 22. Petre 388 
 
 23. Seckel 389 
 
 24. Virgalieu (or White Doy- 
 
 enne) 390 
 
 25. Gray Virgalieu (or Gray 
 
 Doyenne) 390 
 
 26. Beurre Diel 391 
 
 27. Duchesse d'Angouleme ... 392 
 
 28. Dix 393 
 
 29. Onondaga 395 
 
 30. Oswego Beurre 396 
 
 31. Beurre' d'Ai-emberg 397 
 
 32. Glout Morceau 398 
 
 33. Passe Colmar 399 
 
 34. Lawrence 400 
 
 35. Columbia 401 
 
 36. Knight's Monarch 402 
 
 37. Chaimiontelle 403 
 
 38. Winter Nelis 404 
 
 39. Winter Bell 404 
 
 40. Easter Beurre 406 
 
 Pear-tree Worm and parent Bee- 
 tle 278 
 
 Peas, early 163 
 
 '• late 163 
 
 Peat or Swamp Muck 442 
 
 Peppergrass 166 
 
 Peppers 165 
 
 Perennials .•• 436 
 
 " Selection of 26 Kinds 461 
 
 Perfect or bisexual Blossoms 74 
 
 Pickaxe 47 
 
 Pickles, various 167 
 
 Pie-plant 168 
 
 Pinks, Picotees, Carnations - 464 
 
 Pipe or covered Drains 21 
 
528 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Pit 26 
 
 Plan of Garden 13 
 
 Plant Compost 443 
 
 Planting Fruit-trees 243 
 
 Plant-room or Conservatory 474 
 
 Plowing 21 
 
 " in Crops 91 
 
 " Subsoil 23 
 
 " Trench 23 
 
 Plows, 7 Varieties 38, 42 
 
 Plum, the 407 
 
 " Distances for 407 
 
 " Planting and Pruning 407 
 
 " Qualities of 407 
 
 " Soil suited to 407 
 
 " Varieties of for Drying ... 407 
 Plums, Selection of 25 Vai-ietics 407 
 
 1. Ottoman 408 
 
 2. Hudson Gage 408 
 
 3. Peach 409 
 
 4. Duane's Purple 409 
 
 5 Schenectady 410 
 
 6. M'Laughliii 410 
 
 7. Green Gage 410 
 
 8. Lawrence's Favorite ....... 411 
 
 9. Washington 411 
 
 10. Lombard 412 
 
 11. Bleecker's Gage 412 
 
 12. Smith's Orleans 412 
 
 13. Cruger's Scarlet 413 
 
 14. Columbian Gage 414 
 
 15. Jeffei-son 414 
 
 16. Imperial Gage 415 
 
 17. Purple Gage 415 
 
 18. Manning's Long Blue 415 
 
 19. Dominie Dull 416 
 
 20. Catharine 416 
 
 21. Coe's Golden Drop 417 
 
 22. Coe's Late Red 417 
 
 23. Blue Imperatrice 418 
 
 24. Frost Gage 418 
 
 25. Ickworth 419 
 
 Plum Worm (Curculio) with pa- 
 rent Bug 278 
 
 Pomegranate 419 
 
 Potato 170 
 
 ' ' combined with Pole Beans 171 
 
 " Hook 55 
 
 " Size for Sets of. 171 
 
 Po,tting seedling Vegetables 87 
 
 Preface 5 
 
 Premature Frui i ing 25 7 
 
 Preparation of Scions and Grafts 227 
 Preparation of Soils for Garden. 18 
 
 Page 
 Preparatory Steps for final Trans- 
 planting of seedling Vegeta- 
 bles 87 
 
 1. Bedding 87 
 
 2. Potting 87 
 
 3. Grouting 88 
 
 Preparing Holes and planting 
 
 Trees 245 
 
 Prodiiction of new Varieties of 
 
 Vegetables 79 
 
 Propagation of Fruit-trees 195 
 
 " Flowers 437 
 
 " Shrubs 437 
 
 Protectioji of Garden 17 
 
 Pruning, opposite Purposes of, &c. 251 
 
 " dwari'Trees 255 
 
 " ornamental Shrubs, &c. 477 
 " and Forming of Fruit 
 
 and Shade Trees 254, 488 
 
 Pruning, "Root" -. 255 
 
 " "Summer" 254 
 
 " "Winter" 252 
 
 " " excessive... 253 
 
 " Chisel 207 
 
 " Knife 211 
 
 " Saw 208 
 
 " Sheai-s, 3 Sizes 209 
 
 Pumpkin 172 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quantities of various Seeds re- 
 quired to sow or plant an Acre, 
 
 Table of 496 
 
 Quantity of Grain Seed per Acre 495 
 Quince, Varieties and Culture of 420 
 
 R. 
 
 Rack and Gauge Wheel 45 
 
 Radish 173 
 
 " Forms of 173 
 
 Rake, 3 Varieties of 56 
 
 Rape or Colewort 175 
 
 Raspberry 422 
 
 " Varieties 422 
 
 " Modes of planting 423 
 
 " Soil for .-...' 423 
 
 " pruning the 423 
 
 " Frame for 424 
 
 Red Worm, or Wire Worm Ill 
 
 Removing Evergreens, Time and 
 
 Mode of, &c... 492 
 
 Removing ornamental Trees, &c. 492 
 
 a. Practice of Nurserymen ... . 492 
 
 b. Preparation for 492 
 
INDEX. 
 
 529 
 
 I'age 
 
 Reproduction, Tendency to in 
 Vegetables 66 
 
 Reproduction effected principally 
 in a single Channel 66 
 
 Reproductive Tendency weaken- 
 ed in certain Cases by Cultiva- 
 tion 67 
 
 Ridging Soils for Winter 22 
 
 " Crops yO 
 
 Road Wash 442 
 
 Rocambole 143 Seventeen-year Locust 
 
 Rock Work 485 Shaddock 
 
 Page 
 Selections of Varieties of the Ap- 
 ple for various States 328 
 
 a. For the Eastern and North- 
 ern States 328 
 
 b. For the Middle States 328 
 
 c. For the Western States 329 
 
 d. For the Southern States ... 329 
 Setting out Fruit-trees 243 
 
 " Shade and orna- 
 mental Trees 492 
 
 280 
 
 363 
 
 Root Pruning 255 
 
 Root Stocks 201 
 
 Root Worms 110 
 
 Roquette 176 
 
 Rose Bug 282 
 
 Rose Compost 444 
 
 Roses, Everblooming and Au- 
 tumnal, 30 Varieties 480 
 
 Roses, '-June" or Summer- 
 blooming, 18 Varieties 480 
 
 Roses, Running, 6 Varieties 484 
 
 Rose Worna or Slug 482 
 
 Saddle Grafting 229 
 
 Sage 176 
 
 Salsafy 176 
 
 Sand 442 
 
 Sashes, Size for, &c., &c 29 
 
 Scale Insects 265 
 
 Scions and Buds prepared for 
 
 Budding 220 
 
 Scissors, Flower and Seed 209 
 
 " Grape 209 
 
 Scorzonera 177 
 
 Scraper, Tree 208 
 
 Scythe, Bush 53 
 
 " Grass 53 
 
 Sea Kale 177 
 
 Seed and Plant, wild, of meagre 
 
 Growth 67 
 
 Seed and Plant enlarged by Cul- 
 tivation 67 
 
 Seedling-'Shade Trees 487 
 
 Seedling Stocks 204 
 
 Seeds of Fruit-trees 204 
 
 Shade Trees 487lSpade 
 
 Shade Trees 437 
 
 " Seedlings of 487 
 
 " Selection of twenty- 
 four Kinds 489 
 
 Shallots 178 
 
 Shape of Fruit, desirable 191 
 
 Shears, Dressing 209 
 
 " Pruning, 3 Sizes 209 
 
 Shovel, 3 Forms of. 48 
 
 Shrubs 437 
 
 " for Green-house, 18 Kinds 467 
 
 " hardy, 25 Kinds 477 
 
 " climbing, 12 Kinds 483 
 
 Shrubs, &c.. Propagation of 437 
 
 Side Grafting .". 229 
 
 Sieves of 2 sizes 35 
 
 " for Flower Seeds 36 
 
 Single Bud Grafting 228 
 
 Size of Fruit, desirable 194 
 
 Soapsuds Wash 284 
 
 Soft Soap " 284 
 
 Soils 442 
 
 Loam 442 
 
 Leaf Mould 442 
 
 Peat or Swamp Muck 442 
 
 Road Wash 442 
 
 Sand 442 
 
 Soils, Effect of, upon Fruits 189 
 
 Sorel 178 
 
 Sources of Vegetation 59 
 
 Sour-sap Blight 261 
 
 Sowing, Manner of 82 
 
 " Time of 83 
 
 " Depth of. 84 
 
 " in Hot Bed 30 
 
 Sowing Tube 46 
 
 Seed Sower, Hand 46 
 
 " Horse (or Com 
 
 Planter) 46 
 
 Seeds, Vitality of 67 
 
 Selecting Fruits 100-2! Spur Pruning of the Grape 
 
 z 
 
 48 
 
 Spade-fork 54 
 
 Specific Gravity of Fruits 192 
 
 Spinach 179 
 
 " New Zealand 179 
 
 350 
 
53U 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page I 
 
 Squash Bug 102| 
 
 Squash, Summer 180 
 
 " Winter 181 
 
 Stake Labels '••• 217 
 
 Stakes for Grape-vines 35 1 
 
 Steaming Green-house 476 
 
 Stem-sucker Stocks, or Offshoots 203 
 "Stock" or Character of Vege- 
 tables defined 73 
 
 Stock Knife 212 
 
 Stock Splitter 215 
 
 Stocks for Fruit-trees 201 
 
 " Incongruous 201 
 
 " Root 201 
 
 " Sucker 202 
 
 " Stem-sucker, or Offshoots 203 
 
 " Layer 203 
 
 " Seedling 204 
 
 " for weak or irregular 
 
 Growers 206 
 
 Stocks for Dwarfing 206 
 
 Stocks, suitable, prepared, bud-) 221 
 
 ded,&c > 222 
 
 Strawberry, the 425 
 
 " botanical Peculiari 
 
 tiesofthe 428 
 
 Strawberry, Classes of the 429 
 
 " Combination of 
 
 Classes of the 429 
 
 Strawberry, Difficulties in rais- 
 ing the 428 
 
 Strawberry, Farm Culture of the 427 
 
 " Mamu-ing the 427 
 
 " Selection of 4 Va-j ^g^ 
 
 rieties of each Class of the, \ ^^ 
 434 
 
 249 
 251 
 
 500 
 501 
 
 496 
 
 to each ( 
 
 ■^ith additions 
 
 named ; 
 
 Strawberry, Systems of Culture 
 
 of the 425 
 
 a. Hilling 425 
 
 h. Bedding 426 
 
 Straw Mats (Mode of making).. 36-7 
 
 Stub Hoe 47 
 
 Subsoil Plowing 23 
 
 Succession of Flowers 446 
 
 Sucker Stocks 202 
 
 Sulphur Paint Wash 285 
 
 Sulphur Wash 285 
 
 Summer Pruning 254, 352 
 
 Summer Savoiy 181 
 
 Sweet Basil 182 
 
 Sweet Marjoram 182 
 
 Sweet Potato 182 
 
 Syringe 34 
 
 Table of Arrangement, Dis-") 247 
 tances, Area, &c., for plant- .- 248 
 
 ing Fruit-trees ) 
 
 Table of Combination of Fruit-) 
 
 trees ) 
 
 Table of various Farm and 
 Root Crops, giving estimated | 
 Yield per Acre and chemic- 
 al Analysis, with explana- 
 tory Remarks 
 
 Table of Quantities of various 
 Seeds required to sow or plant 
 an Acre, with Explanations... 
 
 Tank 33 
 
 Theory of Advancement in Fruits 194 
 
 Thrust Hoe (see Hoe) 51 
 
 Thyme 183 
 
 Ties, various Materials for 218 
 
 Time of Budding 223 
 
 " Grafting 237 
 
 Tobacco Smoke for Plants 476 
 
 Tobacco Wash 285 
 
 Tobacco Water Wash 284 
 
 Tomato 183 
 
 Tongue Grafting 234 
 
 Training the Grape 349 
 
 " of Fruit-trees, fan form 515 
 " " " horizontal 516 
 
 Transplanter, Flower 52 
 
 Transplanting, Effect find Im- 
 portance of to Vegetables, &c. 86 
 
 Transplanting, Mode of final 89 
 
 " pi-eparing seed- 
 ling Vegetables for final 87 
 
 Transplanting Flowers 445 
 
 " Fruit-trees 243 
 
 " shade, ornament- 
 
 al, and evergreen Trees, &c... 492 
 
 Tree Scraper 208 
 
 Trees, evergreen 486 
 
 " shade and ornamental .... 487 
 
 Trellis for the Grape 350 
 
 Ti-ench Plowing 23 
 
 Trenching 23 
 
 Trowels, Garden 52 
 
 Tulips 449 
 
 Turnip Bug or Fly 102 
 
 Turnips 1^ 
 
 Forms of 186 
 
 V. 
 
 Vegetable Forms, Advantages 
 and Disadvantages of certain . 70 
 
INDEX. 
 
 531 
 
 F'.agc 
 
 Vegetable Forms, Changes in.... 69 
 
 " Importance of 69 
 
 " Original 69 
 
 Vegetables alphabetically ar- 
 ranged for the Garden, with 
 
 Directions for Culture, &c 114 
 
 Vegetables, Color of 71 
 
 " Production of new 
 
 Varieties of 79 
 
 Vine Borer 276 
 
 Vitality of Seeds 67 
 
 Continuance of 68 
 
 Conditions of 68 
 
 Causes which injure or de- 
 stroy 68 
 
 Various effects of weakening 68 
 
 W. 
 
 Washes to destroy Insects 283 
 
 1. Brine Wash 283 
 
 2. Soap-suds Wash 284 
 
 3. Ley Wash 284 
 
 4. Soft Soap Wash 284 
 
 5. Whale-oil Soap Wash 284 
 
 Page 
 
 6. Tobacco Water 284 
 
 7. Tobacco Wash (or Mixture) 285 
 
 8. Siilphur Paint Wash 285 
 
 9. Sulphur Wash 285 
 
 Water Cress 188 
 
 Watering Crops 93 
 
 Watering Pot 34 
 
 Whale-oil Soap Wash 284 
 
 Wheelbarrow, Canal and Box ... 33 
 
 Winged Insects on Fruit-trees... 280 
 Wintering Green-house Plants in 
 
 Cellar or Pit 472 
 
 Wintering half-hardy Plants in 
 
 Pit 28 
 
 Winter Pears 368 
 
 Winter Pruning Orchard 252 
 
 " the Grape 354 
 
 Wire Worm or Red Worm Ill 
 
 Worms or Larvse on Fruit-trees, 
 
 &c 266 
 
 Worms or Larvae on Vegetables 104 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yellows in the Peach 262 
 
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 Resolution ; of the Viplomacy ; of the Confederation and Federal Constitution ; 
 the Prisons and Prison Ships of New York; Lives of the Signers of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, and other matters of curious interest to the historical student. 
 A new and very elaborate analytical index has been prepared, to which we call 
 special attention. It embraces eighty-five closely printed pages, and possesses 
 rare value for every student of our revolutionary history. It is in itself a com- 
 plete synopsis of the history and biography of that period, and will be found ex- 
 ceedingly useful for reference by every reader. 
 
 As a whole, the work contains all the essential facts of the early history of our 
 Republic, which are scattered through scores of volumes often inaccessible to the 
 great mase of readers. The illustrations make the whole subject of the American 
 Revolution so clear to the reader that, on rising from its perusal, he feels thorough- 
 ly acquainted, not only with the history, but with every important locality made 
 memorable by the events of the war for Independence, and it forms a complete 
 Guide-Book to the tourist seeking for fields consecrated by patriotism, which lie 
 scattered over our broad land. Nothing has been spared to make it complete, re- 
 liable, and eminently useful to all classes of citizens. Upward of THIRTY-FIVE 
 THOUSAND DOLLARS were expended in the publication of the first edition. 
 The exquisite wood-cuts, engraved under the immediate supervision of the author, 
 from his own drawings, in the highest style of the art, required the greatest care 
 in printing. To this end the efforts of the publishers have been directed, and we 
 take great pleasure in presenting these volumes as the best specimen of typogra- 
 phy ever issued from the American press. 
 
 The publication of the work having been commenced in numbers before its 
 preparation was completed, the volumes of the first edition were made quite un- 
 equal in size. That defect has been remedied, and the work is now presented in 
 rwo volumes of equal size, containing about 780 pages each. 
 
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