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 USAaryAnn 2> eiitecke 
 (Decorative cArt 
 (oueclxonj 
 
 STERU N G 
 AND FRANCINE 
 
 C1A1UC 
 ART INSTITUTE 
 
 UBRAKT 
 
THE 
 OB, 
 
 TWELVE LETTERS, 
 
 FROM A FARMER TO HIS SON, 
 
 IN WHICH HE DESCRIBES THE METHOD OF LAYING 
 OFT AND MANAGING THE 
 
 BY P. AGRICOLA 
 
 A LB ANY: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY DANIEL STEELE Sc SON. 
 
 JYV. 437 & Market-Street, 
 
 P^knrd i, Van Benthuyiep, Prin^r- 
 
 1824, 
 

PREFACE. 
 
 Horticulture is a progressive art. Every attentive 
 practitioner will find that he becomes annually more and 
 better informed upon the subject. 
 
 But the great impediment to the progress of Gardening 
 is to be found in the different climates of the earth, and in 
 the variety of soils and situations : For that practice which 
 would be proper in one place, might be very improper in 
 another. Besides, the habits and customs of society fre- 
 quently render important changes in this, and all other 
 arts, quite indispensable. 
 
 Every considerable district of country, therefore, requires 
 a treatise upon the art of growing culinary vegetables pe- 
 culiar to itself. 
 
 To encourage and instruct the young Agriculturist, in 
 the state of New- York, and country adjacent, in the best 
 manner of conducting their Kitchen-Garden, is the intent 
 of the following work. And in order that it might contain 
 v as much useful matter as possible, the writings of many 
 English, and several American G rdeners, have been ex- 
 amined, and from them every thing which experience would 
 i warrant, as suitable and proper for us, have been copious- 
 ly extracted. 
 
 — And that the young inquirer may have an easy access to 
 
 - the particular business of every season, there is a Letter 
 
 ^ far every month in the year, which he ought to consider as 
 
 A 
 
 Aa 
 
ti PREFACE. 
 
 directly addressed to himself; ond if he will pay suitable 
 attention to the lessons which they contain, but for a few 
 years, he will most assuredly become not only a complete 
 Gardener, but an improved and successful farmer ; foi 
 such is the affinity between the arts, that every improve- 
 ment in one, necessarily extends its benefits to the other. 
 
 In this state, almost all the labour of Gardening is per- 
 formed in the months of May, June, and July ; but in 
 each of the other months, there is something to be done, 
 fnany things to be prepared, and much to be learned. 
 
 The last Letter (December) contains some explana- 
 (isuo and additional instructions, and may be considered 
 as an Appendix to the preceding numbers. 
 
 To complete the whole, there is annexed a catalogue oi 
 all the plants usually cultivated in our Gardens, arranged 
 in alphabetical order* with their botanic names set direct- 
 ly opposite. 
 
 From the great pains taken to render every part of this 
 work replete with practical information, it is confidently 
 hoped that this little volume will find a place in every far* 
 mer's library. 
 
JANUARY. 
 
 My Dear Son, 
 
 There is no period of life in which a 
 father feels greater interest in the pursuits 
 and employment of his favourite child, than 
 when he is first entering into the practical 
 exercises of his occupation. 
 
 From your early infancy I had no greater 
 ambition than to see you a skilful and suc- 
 cessful farmer ; and to that point all your 
 education has been directed. The books on 
 natural history which you have read, and the 
 chemical lectures and experiments which 
 you have attended, have all been meant to 
 form your mind for this important employ- 
 ment, and to facilitate your success as a prac- 
 tical husbandman. 
 
 You are now to have the management of 
 a farm, the soil of which is good, but spon- 
 taneously it will produce nothing, except 
 " thorns and thistles," as its late occupant 
 can testify. It is now every thing but what 
 a good farm ought to be, and materially dif- 
 ferent from what I hope to see it a few years 
 hence, under your superintendance 
 
n JANUARY. 
 
 Here you will have need of all your skill, 
 and room for all your industry. Satisfied 
 that trifling obstacles would not impede your 
 progress, I did not hesitate to make the pur- 
 chase, although many of my friends said the 
 farm was worn out, and worth but litvie. I 
 cannot, however, think it possible that twen- 
 ty or thirty years of the worst manage- 
 ment can ruin a soil naturally good. I 
 know if you maintain a family upon this 
 farm, you must pursue a course directly 
 opposite to that of its late owner. You 
 must not suffer the dung to accumulate in 
 the barn yard, so as to be under the ne- 
 cessity of making a bea, (as he call'd it,) for 
 its removal. Those heaps of stones piled 
 about the fields, must be removed, and made 
 into fences. Those naked fields, over which 
 his meagre flock has ranged for years, must 
 alternately be deeply ploughed and sowed to 
 clover, for it is principally from this grass and 
 the plough, that you are to expect the reno- 
 vation of the soil. Upon this subject many 
 good practical essays have already been writ- 
 ten, which from time to time I will lay before 
 you. There is one thing, however, upon 
 which 1 know of no book that can give you 
 the necessary instruction. 1 mean that of 
 the Farmer's Kitchen-Garden. 
 
 The English abound in celebrated writers 
 upon horticulture : but none of them are cal- 
 culated for our meridian, or suited to our 
 country, and to our wants Their seasons 
 
JANUARV. '» 
 
 are so widely different from ours, that none 
 but an experienced gardener can read their 
 works with profit. You might almost as 
 well consult Virgil upon the best method of 
 raising bees, as Abercrombie upon garden- 
 ing. To remedy this defect, Mr. IVMVlahan, 
 of Philadelphia, has published a large work, 
 and has attempted to render it suitable to 
 every part of the United States ; put here he 
 fails, and must not be followed by our far 
 mers. Besides, his directions are generally 
 intended for opulent gentlemen, rather than 
 farmers, and on that account, in many parti- 
 culars, are not suited to our means, or our 
 wants. 
 
 His book, notwithstanding, has much mer- 
 it ; and when you have had more experience, 
 would recommend it to your attention. I 
 do not expect that you will immediately be 
 a proficient in this art. Time and observa- 
 tian are indispensable, The former may be 
 abridged by instruction, and the benefits of a 
 good garden sooner realized. 
 
 With proper management the garden will 
 be a bank from which you may draw every 
 day in the year, for the use of your family ; 
 and that excessive use of animal food, so in- 
 jurious to children, and so unnecessary for 
 adults, may be avoided. Besides, how much 
 more economical and pleasant is it, to have 
 an abundance of good vegetables always up- 
 on the table. 
 
10 JANUARY. 
 
 I sincerely hope you intend not to sell your 
 farm, but, with the blessing of God, will make 
 it your permanent residence. Frequent mov- 
 ing, so common with young farmers in this 
 country, is fatal to their prosperity, and fully 
 accounts for the ignorance and hardship of 
 their advanced age. 
 
 A good garden is not the product of a sin- 
 gle year. Time as well as skill is requisite. 
 
 In fixing the site of your garden, you need 
 not be over solicitous about the quality of 
 the soil. With suitable means and proper 
 manure cultivation, almost every soil may be 
 rendered productive, and without them none 
 will long continue so. 
 
 I would not be understood to say, that ev- 
 ery soil and situation is equally well suited to 
 the production of garden vegetables. If you 
 was a tenant for years, I would certainly ad- 
 vise, that you select a spot of the richest and 
 deepest soil upon your farm, that you might 
 immediately, and at a small expense, supply 
 the wants of the family. 
 
 It is not necessary that the garden should 
 adjoin the dwelling house, but for many rea- 
 sons, it should not be far from it. It is seldom 
 in the power of small farmers to select a place 
 for the garden, free from any fault. A situ- 
 ation moderately low, at the same time not 
 liable to be overflowed, is on many accounts 
 to be preferred. Here your tender plants 
 will be less exposed to the cold vernal winds. 
 
JANUARY. 11 
 
 and the soil will be more retentive of mois- 
 ture, in the heat and drought of summer, — 
 and if it should gently slope, and face to the 
 south, so much the better. It will be fit to 
 work earlier in the season, and your crops 
 will come sooner to perfection* 
 
 However, in this respect, you are limited 
 to a small place, and must content yourself 
 with such as nature has furnished. If the soil 
 is sufficiently deep, you may easily remedy 
 every other defect ; and even this can be 
 amended by art. If your soil is sandy, im- 
 prove it with loam, and rotten dung. Ii 
 clayey, and cold, and damp, mix plentifully 
 of stable manure and light sandy soils. For 
 a clay soil, sand is the best addition you can 
 make ; this, when well wrought, will form a 
 light loam, the best soil for a garden. In a 
 word, that kind of ground which never fails 
 to produce good crops of grain and grass. 
 with small labour, will yield abundantly of 
 garden vegetables. 
 
 The next point for consideration is. the 
 size or dimension of your garden ; and here 
 let me caution you against imitating any of 
 your neighbours. The farmers of this state 
 have generally erred greatly in this particu- 
 lar. Few of them occupy for this purpose 
 more than a fourth of an acre, and many 
 of them less ; and here they have their fruit, 
 as well as kitcheti-^arden. If some of them 
 exclude the apple tree from this favoured 
 
12 JANUARY. 
 
 spot, it is only to make room for the pear, 
 the cherry, and the plumb, with all their nu- 
 merous progeny. Nothing that will ever 
 become a tree should have a place in the 
 kitchen garden. Their shade is injurious, 
 and the strong absorption of their roots, 
 starve the small plants in their vicinity ; — 
 besides, they impede the use of the plough 
 and spade, and form a nursery for weeds and 
 insects. 
 
 Although your garden should give room to 
 none of these occupants, it should contain at 
 least an acre. In a field of this dimension, 
 you may use the plough, the best of all in- 
 struments for cultivating the earth ; not cer- 
 tainly to the total exclusion of the spade, but 
 its use, where the plough can work, is very 
 much diminished. In a garden of this size, 
 you can observe a proper rotation of crops, 
 a practice as essentially necessary in gar- 
 dening as in farming. This is an important 
 fact, to which my experience can bear am- 
 ple testimony, and I should be sorry if it 
 should ever escape your memory. 
 
 It is true, that a plenty of manure and 
 deep cultivation, will cause most vegetables 
 to flourish a number of years in succession 
 in the same place ; but the time will come, 
 when neither manure nor labour will answer 
 the purpose. To prevent this deterioration 
 of the soil, the only means known at present, 
 is a change of crops : and this should be 
 
JANUARY. 13 
 
 <!one at least every four or five years, not 
 *imply by changing the place of your annu- 
 als, that whole class must give place to bien- 
 nials, or what is better, perennials, and the 
 best of this class is clover. I know many 
 will disapprove of this advice, and exclaim, 
 do you recommend clover as a plant to be 
 nursed in the garden ! Certainly I do. Who- 
 ever shall try it u\)on land that has been long 
 cultivated as a garden, will find nothing equal 
 to this grass to improve and renovate the 
 soil. 
 
 If your garden contains an acre, one fourth 
 of this in succession may constantly be in 
 clover, and this you may denominate your 
 flower garden. The herbage of this plant, 
 when it grows luxuriously, is superior in 
 beauty to the carnation or hyacinth, and its 
 flowers are as variegated and as fragant as 
 the rose. Other flowers make a scanty re- 
 turn for the great care bestowed upon their 
 cultivation ; but here we have riches, fra- 
 grance, and beauty, united. And if further 
 ornament is required, you may have the ho- 
 lyhawk and sunflower, standing in majestic 
 beauty around the border of this great flow- 
 er-bed. 
 
 That kind of gardening which I would re- 
 commend, is truly nothing more than agri- 
 culture in miniature. Agriculture is a living 
 science, constantly improving, and in no 
 place can you learn this science with so much 
 
 B 
 
14 JANUARY, 
 
 facility, or at so small expense, as in your 
 garden. It was here our first parents were 
 placed, by divine wisdom, that they might 
 learn all that was necessary for man to know. 
 Nor is there any employment better calcu- 
 lated to impress the mind wth vital piety, 
 and teach us the cardinal virtues of humility 
 and patience. For it is here not only, " in 
 the cool of the day," that fhe voice of God 
 may be heard, and his footsteps traced, but 
 in the warmth of noon his " handy works" 
 appear, surrounded by love and munificence. 
 Here all the conflicting theories relative to 
 the growth and the nutrition of plants, the 
 nature and use of manures, and the various 
 kind of tillage, may easily be brought to the 
 test of experiment. Here all foreign or new 
 plants or seeds should be first propagated, 
 and their qualities ascertained ; and here 
 you may try, without expense, the yarious 
 kinds of Indian com, beans, potatoes, &c. 
 and select the best of their species for field 
 cultivation, and it is only in the distant sec- 
 tions of a large garden, that you can raise the 
 several kinds of cucumbers, melons, squash- 
 es, &c. without admixture, or ripen the nu- 
 merous varieties of cabbage and turnip seed, 
 without injury from each othor. And here 
 let me advise you to furnish yourself with a 
 blank book, neatly bound, for the purpose of 
 making extracts from such publications as 
 you may think deserving of notice. Here 
 make memoranda of all your practice, either 
 
JANUARY 15 
 
 upon the farm or garden ; note the quality 
 and kind of seed which you may use. Here 
 give names or numbers to all your fields, 
 and note the quality of the soil ; and every 
 autumn give a faithful history of their pro- 
 duce, with such remarks as experience may 
 suggest. Let this book be divided into sepa- 
 rate apartments, to each of which prefix an 
 appropriate title, — as tillage, manures, har- 
 vesting, &c. To this you may resort as oc- 
 casion may require. Here you will learn 
 what your several fields have produced, and 
 what has been the result of the rotation of 
 crops, which you have raised. Without some 
 record of this kind, you may grow old with- 
 out growing wise, and many material circum- 
 stances must escape your memory and be lost. 
 It is from wanting the facts, which this book 
 mightxoatain, that you see farmers so tardy 
 in improvement, so positive in error, and at 
 three score, so little advanced in the know- 
 ledge of their profession. You may make 
 this book a valuable legacy to your children. 
 It may teach them our present mode of hus- 
 bandry ; and they may derive benefit not on- 
 ly from your success, but from your failure. 
 Improvements will be perpetuated. 
 
 Under the head of " Insects," I wish you 
 to give, with the year, not only the name, 
 but a minute description of all such insecte 
 as you may find troublesome in the garden 
 or fields ; note the time of their appearance, 
 the time of their greatest depredation, and 
 
16 JANUARY • 
 
 when they cease to be injurious. Relate 
 with accuracy whatever you may have tried 
 to prevent their ravages, or cause their de- 
 struction. This class of insects are extreme- 
 ly numerous, and composed of various tribes ; 
 and it is quite proper and necessary that you 
 should understand their history. This you 
 must study in the garden ; this you must 
 learn, not from books, but from careful ob- 
 servation, and practical acquaintance. With 
 the knowledge thus obtained, you will be 
 able to secure your garden, if not your fields, 
 from any considerable loss. As the season 
 advances, and those hostile armies begin to 
 appear, you shall hear from me further upon 
 that subject. The frost of our winters is 
 usually severe, and where the ground has 
 been laid up in ridges, the parent seed of 
 those animals are destroyed. But indepen- 
 dent of this, our winters have their use. and 
 long as they are, many of us are not prepared 
 for the spring when it arrives. The good 
 husbandman is known and distinguished by 
 his winter preparations for summer. The 
 importance of this truth makes me extreme- 
 ly desirous to impress it indelibly upon jour 
 mind, that when the spring of your days shall 
 be over, and your summer is gone and past, 
 you may spend the winter of life in quietude 
 and cheerful reflection. / am, &c. 
 
 P. AGRICOLA. 
 
FEBRUARY. 
 
 My Dear Son, 
 
 At this inclement season, when the 
 ground is covered with snow, and the vege- 
 table world in " icy fetters bound," there is 
 certainly no work to be done in \ our gar- 
 den ; bat if you expect it to supply your 
 table with sauce for the coming year, there 
 is much to be done out of it. It is time to 
 determine in what manner it is to be inclos- 
 ed, and of what materials. It is not neces- 
 sary here, as in many countries, that the 
 wails should be seven or eight feet high, 
 — here neither the north or sou'h wind will 
 be your enemy ; nor have you to fence 
 against the arts of thieves, or the depreda- 
 tions of robbers. Here your choicest fruits 
 may ripen, secure from fraud or violence. — 
 Here, unprotected by hot-beds or glasses, 
 the cucumber and melon may grow and bask 
 in the sun. Surrounded by freemen, who 
 know and respect the rights of each other, 
 you have no use for the mastiff by night or 
 by day. Let your inclosures be substantial, 
 and you may sleep in quiet, for neither man 
 
 Bb 
 
I 6 FEBRUARY, 
 
 or beast will trespass upon you* If you in' 
 tend your fence to be made of wood, now is 
 the time to carry your logs to the mill, 
 and to bring the necessary posts and plank. 
 Remember the farmer's profits are made up 
 of trifling items, and unless you economise in 
 your improvements, they will terminate in 
 embarrassments and real inconveniences. — 
 " Count the cost," say the oracles of divine 
 wisdom, and having faithfully done that", let 
 industry and perseverance finish the work. 
 
 The prudent husbandman will not permit 
 the garden to absorb all the profits of the 
 farm, but will so manage both, that each shall 
 contribute, and mutually lend assistance. — 
 The interest of these twin sisters can never 
 be separated ; they should always have a 
 previous understanding, and harmoniously 
 play into each others hand. 
 
 This will lead me to some remarks upon 
 the subject of manures, an article of the 
 greatest importance to both farm and garden, 
 and without which neither can be long culti- 
 vated with pleasure or profit. 
 
 I know some English farmers contend, that 
 by tillage alone, judiciously applied, and by 
 a proper rotation of crops, the application of 
 manures may be dispensed with. Tull, and 
 his disciples, maintain, that nature does not 
 require any pause or rest ; for, say they, 
 " the earth was evidently designed to yield 
 % regular and uninterrupted produce, and as 
 
FEBRUARY. 19 
 
 the productive qualities ot the earth never 
 cease, if grain is not sown, weeds will grow. 
 It is therefore our business to extirpate the 
 unprofitable plants, and introduce those that 
 are beneficial." The practical husbandman 
 will tell you that by skilful tillage alone, good 
 crops may be raised upon good land, but 
 with the judicious use of manures, good crops 
 can be raised upon land the most sterile. 
 But then judgment, improved by experience, 
 is necessary in the application ; for in no soil 
 or situation should a greater quantity be giv- 
 en at one time than is sufficient to fructify 
 the ground, or render it capable of produc- 
 ing good crops, until the time arrives when 
 a fresh dose can be administered. The er- 
 ror of many farmers consists in giving too great 
 a quantity at once, thereby depriving the 
 ground of its regular nourishment ; — in other 
 words, the soil riots in the midst of plenty 
 for two or three years, and fasts and starves 
 for several succeeding ones. Hence the ge- 
 nerality of fields or gardens are either too 
 rich, or too poor ; either saturated with ma- 
 nure, or completely barren from the want of 
 it. Whereas, had supplies been furnished 
 with more economy, and been distributed 
 with judgment, a more uniform produce 
 would have been the consequence. 
 
 At present it is a well established fact, that 
 when land has been brought into a good 
 state, a small quantity of manure, annually 
 
26 PKBRUARV. 
 
 applied, is best upon farm or garden. The 
 ground is then regularly fed, but never sur- 
 feited, or parched with profusion. Hence 
 the crops, constituting a regular rotation, are 
 more uniformly good than can be obtained 
 in any other way. Again, if a quantity of 
 manure is bestowed sufficient to impregnate 
 the soil, all above that deserves to be consi- 
 dered as profusely thrown away, at least the 
 benefit of it is in a great measure sacrificed. 
 Manure, upon many soils, is soon deprived 
 of its enriching powers; upon all, its strength 
 is dissipated and carried off by heat, wind 
 and rain. Therefore, the oftener it is re* 
 peated, the greater will be the benefit deriv- 
 ed from the application. 
 
 These remarks are principally intended 
 for ordinary farmers, who do not reside in 
 the vicinity of large towns, but who must act 
 upon their own supplies, who possess but a 
 limited portion of manure, and whose care 
 should be directed to manage that portion in 
 such a way as to derive from it the greatest 
 possible advantage. 
 
 Upon your garden you will certainly use 
 more manure, in proportion to the quantity 
 of land, than upon any other part of the 
 farm. Constant tillage, and the exhausting 
 nature of most of the crops, require it. And 
 here, as upon the farm, you should pay the 
 utmost attention to the spreading and distri- 
 bution of this valuable substance, for a much 
 
FEBRUARY. 
 
 less quantity will produce the desired fertili- 
 ty, when all the clods and lumps are lorn and 
 shaken asunder, and the whole divided into 
 the minutest parts. Then every part of the 
 soil has an equal supply, and the parching 
 heat and droughts of our summers will pro- 
 duce less injurious effects. 
 
 Although manure has, very properly, been 
 characterized as the magic wand of the far- 
 mer, let me caution you, not to expect that 
 it will in any case do awaj the necessity of 
 careful tillage. Manure alone may produce 
 an abundant crop of weeds ; but if you would 
 render it useful in your field or garden, it 
 must be artfully mixed with the soil, and ev- 
 ery interloper that would take away any 
 part of it, must seasonably be destroyed. — 
 However warm or dry the weather, be not 
 afraid to use the hoe. " 111 weeds grow 
 apace ;" and while you may be waiting for 
 rain, they will overtop your plants, and 
 starve them to death ; whereas frequently 
 stirring the soil with the hoe, makes it more 
 retentive of moisture, and gives to the fa- 
 vourite plants all the advantage of the ma- 
 nure, and the undivided use of the water and 
 dew. 
 
 It is not thirty years since the farmers of 
 this country considered the dung of their sta- 
 bles an offensive nuisance, and at this season 
 of the year, rode it out upon the river, that 
 it might be effectually carried away with the 
 
22 FEBRUARY. 
 
 ice. That abundance of straw, which then 
 crops afforded, was usually heaped at a pro- 
 per distance from their buildings, and con- 
 sumed by fire ; then our river annually over- 
 flowed, and fertilized its banks ; and the up- 
 land, enriched with the foliage of a thousand 
 years, would bear constant ploughing, and 
 yield luxuriant crops. But contrary to our 
 expectation, we have outlived those prolific 
 days, and must now change our practice, or 
 be content with poverty. If you expect your 
 fields or your garden to be productive, this it 
 the season to make and bring home as much 
 of this valuable substance as possible ; when 
 the winter is past, other things will claim 
 your attention, nor can you procure this ar- 
 ticle when it may be needed for use. You 
 must now lay it up, or lament the want of it 
 when too late. This is also the season of the 
 year to improve your Mind in the science 
 of your profession. Let that be well manur- 
 ed and enriched by reading, and conversa- 
 tion with practical men. 
 
 On the subject of manures, you may pro- 
 fitably read many of the English writers. — 
 They contain much information, and here 
 will not lead you astray. Here their great 
 experience entitles them to attention, and 
 you may look up to them as the best instruct- 
 ors. They will tell you that manure is of 
 the first importance to the farmer ; and that 
 according to the quantity which he collects, 
 
FEBRUARY. 23 
 
 and judgment which guide? the appropria- 
 tion, his success will assuredly be regulated. 
 Their directions for the collection, prepara- 
 tion, and application of this substance, claim 
 particular notice. They enjoin that great 
 care be taken in cutting the crops, so that 
 the greatest possible quantity of the raw ma- 
 terial may be procured : that you never sell 
 any hay or straw, unless the price is unusual- 
 ly high ; that you keep no more beasts upon 
 your premises than you can feed well ; — 
 that during the winter months, you lay up 
 your dung in a regular and careful way ; and 
 during the exhausting winds of the spring, 
 and parching heat of summer, it should not 
 be suffered to remain in its rough state, ex- 
 posed to the weather; but let all be heaped, 
 if not housed, until wanted for use, and when 
 applied to the soil, let it be immediately co- 
 vered with the spade or plough. 
 
 If you have found from actual experiment, 
 that gypsum or plaster is useful upon your 
 land, now is the time to make the purchase, 
 bring it home, have it ground and ready for 
 use. If you have not given it a thorough 
 trial, neglect it no longer. It is a very cheap 
 and valuable manure upon some lands, and 
 quite useless and inert upon others. But it 
 is not so with barn or vegetable manure ; this 
 is beneficial to all lands which have been 
 long under cultivation, and ought every sea- 
 son to claim particular attention. Although 
 
24 * EBRUARY. 
 
 I mention the collection and preservation of 
 manure, as an important item in the busi- 
 ness of this month, you will be quite defi- 
 cient, as a good farmer, if you do not every 
 month in the year, lay up more or less. — 
 You may sometimes, for ? small price, pur- 
 chase your neighbour's straw, or the dung 
 from his stables. Let no such offers be ne- 
 glected, for be assured, this is a ticket in 
 the agricultural lottery, where there are no 
 blanks. 
 
 In the application of the various substan- 
 ces which are called manures, take care to 
 use them as reason and experience may di* 
 rect. All dungs are designed to repair the 
 decays of exhausted or worn out lands, or to 
 cure the defects of others. These defects 
 are as various as the dungs are which should 
 be used for their amendment. Some lands 
 are too heavy, moist and cold, here use the 
 dung of horses, sheep and poultry ; others 
 again are too light and dry, and may be great- 
 ly improved by the addition of the dung of 
 neat cattle, hogs, &c. 
 
 Always bear in mind that there are too 
 peculiar properties in animal dung, or stable 
 manure. The one is, to produce a sensible 
 degree of heat. This property is found most 
 abundantly in the dung of horses, newly 
 made, and a little moist ; the other property 
 of dung is, to fatten and fertilize the earth. 
 
 Some recommend the dung of pigeons and 
 
FEBRUARY. 25 
 
 •other fowls, as (he best manure for aspara- 
 gus, peppers, &c. and His certain, this dun^ 
 being hot and full of salts, tends very much 
 to promote vegetation, and is abundantly 
 quicker in its operation than the dung of 
 animals which feed on herbs. But there is 
 no manure equal to the cleansing of the 
 streets of large towns, for all stubborn clayey 
 soils, the parts of which will be better sepa- 
 rated, and in a much less lime, with ihis ma- 
 nure, than any other compost whatever; and 
 where it can be obtained, is extremely well 
 worth procuring either for farm or garden. 
 
 Take care that your stable manure does 
 not suffer by too great fermentation, to which 
 that from your horse stable is most liable. 
 You will perceive its approach by the great 
 heat which the heap assumes, and by the ash- 
 coloured appearance of its centre. To cure 
 this disorder, you must lay open the heap with- 
 out delay to the very bottom, or the quality 
 of your manure will be much depreciated. 
 The fertilizing qualities of manure are de- 
 stroyed by this process, as effectually as by 
 drenching rains. To prevent any danger 
 from this rire-fangine;. as it is called, let dry 
 »traw be mixed with the dung as it is thrown 
 from the stable ; or, what is still belter, lay 
 up in the fall a few loads of dry alluvial earth, 
 or turf from the highways, and every week, 
 during the winter, while your manure is 
 making and collecting, add two or three 
 
 C 
 
26 FEBRUARY. 
 
 bushels to the heap. This will never fail to 
 prevent the accident, and at the same time 
 increase the quantity, and improve the quali- 
 ty, of your manure. 
 
 Now look over your garden seeds, and see 
 that you have those that are good, and with- 
 out delay purchase all that may be wanting. 
 As a general rule, you ought to raise your 
 own seed, but as you are now beginning, you 
 must buy for this year. And here let me 
 caution against impositions which are com- 
 mon in the sale of garden seeds. In order 
 to avoid them all, 1 would advise you to call 
 upon the Shakers, and obtain directly from 
 them such as you may need ; for they have 
 very justly acquired the character of skilful 
 and honest seedsmen, and you should not in- 
 cur the risk of disappointment and loss by 
 purchasing elsewhere. Take care also that 
 you are not deficient in quantity. Let your 
 seed be ever so good, you ought to sow at 
 lenst double what you would wish to have 
 grow. Insects, and various other causes, 
 may destroy many of your small and tender 
 plants. Sow liberally, if you intend to reap 
 abundantly, — for it will be found much easier 
 to thin out the surplus, than to supply any 
 deficiency. 
 
 Now examine your tools. Have you all 
 that may be wanted, and are they in good 
 repair. Shall we call over the list, and see 
 if they arc in their proper places, secure from 
 
FEBRUARY. 2? 
 
 the weather. First, the most important instru- 
 ment in the farmers garden 1 , is the plough. 
 Of late we have had various patterns of ihis 
 instrument presented to our notice, but I am 
 quite certain, none will answer better in the 
 garden than the short iron plough, invented 
 by Jethro Wood. Simplicity and durability 
 are here united ; nor will any other plough 
 raise and pulverize the soil more effectually. 
 The spade is the next instrument. This 
 may be thin and sharp, and if used only in 
 the garden, will last many years. The hoe 
 is an indispensable tool, and of this you will 
 want three varieties. The large, the small, 
 and the narrow hoe ; all of which should 
 be sharp, and kept exclusively for the gar- 
 den. Two iron rakes, a coarse and a fine 
 one, will often be wanted, together with a 
 transplanter or hollow trowel, and a strong 
 line or cord, at least forty feet in length. 
 With these few and simple tools, all the work 
 of a garden may be done, and well done ; 
 and if to these you add the wheel-barrow, 
 you have every thing necessary for a gar- 
 den. 
 
 / m, (£*<:. 
 
 P. AGRICOLA. 
 
 
 

march; 
 
 My Dear Sox, 
 
 Whenever I find any thing bettek 
 calculated for your instruction than I can 
 write myself. I shall not fail to lay it before 
 you. Of this kind is the following extract 
 from the Plough Boy, No. 38, vol. 2. 
 
 " As the spring will now soon open, and 
 call us to commence making provision for 
 another winter, it may not be amiss to invite 
 the attention of the plough boys especially, 
 to a subject of importance, both in a 
 useful and economical sense. I mean the 
 cultivation of a kitchen-garden. There is 
 no need of inviting the attention of such as 
 cultivate a garden, either for ornament or 
 profit; their pleasure or their gain will not 
 permit them to be negligent. But the great 
 mass of citizens do certainly deprive them- 
 selves of much convenience, saving, and 
 perhaps health, by not possessing a liberal 
 supply of vegetables from their own gardens. 
 To a farmer or mechanic in the country, the 
 expense of cultivation is trifling ; the conve- 
 nience and saving, especially during the long 
 winters of our climate, are great. 
 
30 MARCH. 
 
 "Many persons, sensible of the utility, are 
 often dissuaded from constant attempts in 
 cultivating a kitchen-garden, because they 
 have experienced some failures in particular 
 plants. But there will never be a failure of 
 vegetables enough for a family's use, if the 
 following requisites be well regarded : — 
 Richness of soil; due care in the selection 
 of seeds ; proper cultivation ; and a sufficient 
 variety of vegetables, that if one kind fails, 
 another may be a substitute. 
 
 " It is a general complaint among persons 
 who pay only little attention to their garden, 
 that the seed often fail. This usually hap- 
 pens because due care is not taken in dis- 
 criminating between ripe and unripe seed ; 
 between blighted and sound seed. Or in 
 Borne cases it happens by using old seed in- 
 stead of fresh. Onion seed is often useless 
 after the first year; and parsnip seed is so 
 delicate that I believe we can place no con* 
 fidence in its vegetating principle after having 
 been kept a year. Having generally purcha- 
 sed these more delicate seeds annually, of 
 professed seedsmen, I have rarely failed in 
 any planting* The expense is indeed some- 
 thing* but it is over-balanced by the certain- 
 ty of a growth. 
 
 " But our gardens do not generally pre- 
 sent variety enough to be profitable and con- 
 venient to the owner, throughout the whole 
 year, even if all the planting succeeds. There 
 
MARCH* SI 
 
 is frequently no provision for the winter, and 
 many a long month, when the vegetable king- 
 dom is locked in frost, is passed with no va- 
 riety on our tables, to excite the languid ap- 
 petite, or satisfy that which is pleased with 
 rotation. But surely it is as easy to store 
 our cellars with the beet, the carrot, the 
 onion, the parsnip, and vegetable oyster, as 
 with the dull monotony of the potatoe ; and 
 however nutritious the potatoe may be, still 
 its utility cannot be hostile to the claims of 
 other productions of the garden. 
 
 " We do not invite the plough boy from 
 the utility of his farm, to the pleasures of a 
 garden ; we do not wish him to sacrifice his 
 grain fields to the culture of a tulip bed ; but 
 we wish to call his attention to the utility, 
 convenience, and economy that can be found 
 in the cultivation of a substantial kitchen- 
 garden, from which his healthful family can 
 draw many of those really innocent luxuries, 
 which a bountiful providence has, with so lav- 
 ish a hand, spread around him." 
 
 These remarks well deserve your atten- 
 tion. Let them be impressed upon the tab- 
 lets of your memory, and form your horti* 
 cultural text-book. 
 
 Before the end of this month, your inclo- 
 sures should be completed. Have you 
 brought home the materials? If your fence 
 is to be made of wood, now make ready the 
 posts ; they should be large, if you wish them 
 
32 MARCH. 
 
 to stand firm and durable. They must be 
 seven feet long, and placed two feet into the 
 earth. If they are set only ten fe t apart, 
 the girts or rails may be an inch and a half 
 thick, and if they are well framed into the 
 posts, will make a strong inclosure. The 
 lowermost girt must be placed sixteen inches 
 from the surface of the ground, and a bank 
 should be thrown up upon each side, to fill 
 the space. Or, if you have stone upon the 
 farm, make a wall three feet high ; let the 
 foundation be laid six inches below the sur- 
 face ; and in the centre of this wall put small 
 posts, into which the girts must be framed. 
 The posts for a fence of this sort, should be 
 five and a half feet long, and sawed an inch 
 and a half thick, six inches wide at the foot, 
 and four at the top. About a foot and a 
 half from the bottom, make a two inch hole, 
 which should be filled with a piece of good 
 timber, two feet long. This will greatly 
 strengthen the position of the posts, without 
 weakening the wall. Above the wall, two 
 girts, the one eight, and the other six inches 
 wide, will be amply sufficient. Take care 
 that your wall is laid with art, and that the 
 timber is well fitted to it, and I will insure 
 safety to whatever you may plant in the gar- 
 den. Or, if you fear depredation from hens, 
 let the girts be perforated with inch holes, 
 and place in them turned pickets, two feet 
 long. 
 
MARCH* S3 
 
 Yotf will need two gates, one of ten (eei 
 wide, to admit the cart, and another of three 
 feet, for daily use. This should turn with 
 ease, and must be effectually secured by a 
 weight, or you will be liable to much vexa- 
 tion and loss, from carelessness. 
 
 Your fence finished, select a proper place 
 for the small kind of fruit-shrubs, as goose- 
 berries, currants, and raspberries ; for al- 
 though you admit no trees within this inclo- 
 sure, these useful shrubs must have a place. 
 They should not be planted around the fen- 
 ces, nor through the centre of the garden, as is 
 too commonly the practice, but in a continued 
 plantation, that they may have suitable at- 
 tention, and yet not obstruct the plough. • 
 
 Gooseberries require a deep and rich soil. 
 The ground between the rows must be well 
 manured, and kept free from weeds, and you 
 should be careful to plant none but those 
 that are of a good kind. 
 
 The best mode of propagating gooseber- 
 ries, is by cuttings or layers. For cuttings, 
 take shoots of the last year's growth, from 
 shrubs that are known to bear choice fruit. 
 Let them be at least ten inches long ; cut off 
 all the buds, except three or four at the tops, 
 and insert the stem six or eight inches into 
 the earth; tread the ground firmly around, 
 and keep them free from weeds. When they 
 have grown here a year or two, they should 
 be removed to the plantation as soon as the 
 
34 MARCH, 
 
 frost is out of the ground in the spring, or in 
 the autumn, which is, particularly for the 
 gooseberry, the best season. 
 
 Currants may be propagated in the same 
 way. They are, however, more hardy, and 
 do not require so rich a soil. They should 
 be placed in rows, six or eight feet apart, and 
 kept free from weeds. Between these rows, 
 you may raise a crop of dwarf or bush beans, 
 (taking care that there are no runners, or 
 vines among them) without the least injury 
 to the shrub, for several years. 
 
 There is great choice in currants, as well 
 as in other fruit ; select only the large red 
 and white currant, for no art will change the 
 original nature of the fruit, although by skil- 
 ful cultivation, the quality may be improved. 
 
 The gooseberry and the currant both claim 
 the farmer's attention, and are much wanted 
 in every family. They furnish a cheap and 
 early sauce, and the latter a wine equal to 
 the best Lisbon or Teneriffe. 
 
 As you will doubtless wish to plant other 
 trees, and be desirous to know the best sea- 
 son for that work, I would observe as a gen- 
 eral rule, that all kind of trees or shrubs, 
 should be moved or set in the spring, as soon, 
 at least, as the buds begin to swell. The 
 apple-tree, the cherry, and plumb, will 
 grow, if set with art, when the leaves begin 
 to open, but not with health and vigour. The 
 Lombardy poplar will grow, if set with care ; 
 
MARCH. So 
 
 any time. But even this hardy tree, which 
 is so very tenacious of life, flourishes best, 
 when removed immediately after the frost is 
 out of the ground. 
 
 No farm is complete without an orchard : 
 for this purpose select a good piece of ground, 
 as much defended from the north-west wind 
 as possible. Let this be well summer-fal- 
 lowed the year before the trees are set, that 
 the sward and weeds may rot, and the soil, 
 by frequent and deep ploughing, may become 
 pulverized and invigorated. Apple-trees 
 should be planted forty feet apart each way, 
 and in exact rows, that you may cultivate 
 with care between them. 
 
 In the autumn, before you intend to set 
 your trees, let circular holes be dug for eve- 
 ry tree, as large as the small wheel of a wag- 
 gon, but by no means of a greater depth than 
 the natural good soil ; for if you make a deep 
 hole into the clay bottom, or unfriendly soil, 
 it will not do well, although you may fill it 
 with the best of earth ; for as soon as the 
 tree pushes its roots beyond the latter, they 
 must come into contact with this unfriendly 
 soil,which will never fail to bring on a decay of 
 the most healthy tree. Should the earth be 
 so very shallow that you cannot cover the 
 roots a sufficient depth with good soil, you 
 must draw some for that purpose, and bank 
 up the roots therewith, or all your labour is 
 in vain ; your trees will become sickly, over- 
 
56 ilARCH. 
 
 run with moss, and full of canker. In taking 
 up the trees from the nursery, let no pains 
 be spared to preserve uninjured as many of 
 the roots as possible. Prune off the broken 
 and bruised parts, and top the long and strag- 
 gling roots. Do not let your desire to have 
 bearing trees prompt you to choose larger 
 trees than six feet from the surface to the 
 spreading of the branches; for those that are 
 larger seldom thrive, and are more liable to 
 injury from wind. 
 
 Every young tree that you take the pains 
 to set, should be clean, smooth, and fresh 
 looking, and free from defects of any kind. 
 Observe that they have been raised at pro- 
 per distances, and not drawn up weak and 
 spindling ; that their heads are well formed, 
 and well furnished ; and that their stems are 
 stout, and proportionate to their head. These 
 are important items, and such as you ought 
 never to neglect or overlook. 
 
 Besides these remarks, which are applica- 
 ble to the transplanting of all trees in every 
 situation, if the subsoil is hard and clayey, the 
 downright or tap root must be sawed off. and 
 then smoothed with a knife ; and as it is im- 
 possible to place the fibrous roots as they 
 naturally grew, it is generally best to cut a 
 great part of them away, or they are apt to 
 mould, and, rotting, create an incurable dis- 
 ease. 
 
 If the roots have been out of the ground 
 
MARCH. 
 
 more than one day, it is advisable to place 
 them in water a few hours before they are 
 set, observing to place them in such a man- 
 ner that their heads may be erect, and their 
 roots only immersed therein. This will 
 swell the dried vessels of the roots, and pre- 
 pare them to imbibe food from the earth. 
 
 In planting all the large kind of fruit trees, 
 as apples, pears, &c. great attention should 
 be paid to the nature of the soil, and the sit- 
 uation as it respects the prevailing winds. 
 If the soil be cold and moist, or if the sub- 
 stratum be rock or hard gravel, the trees 
 should be planted very shallow r : it will be 
 much better to raise a hill of earth where 
 each tree is to stand, than to dig into the 
 rock or gravel, and fill it up with the best of 
 ground ; for after a few years their roots will 
 extend to the sides of the holes, and there 
 being stopped, and unable to perforate the 
 rock or gravel, they will decline, and in a 
 few years more will perish, notwithstanding 
 all the care you may bestow upon them. But 
 when they are raised above the surface of 
 the ground, their roots will extend, and find 
 nourishment, though the earth upon the rock 
 or gravel be not three inches thick, as you 
 may often notice, when trees are thus pla- 
 ced. 
 
 Having prepared the roots as above direct- 
 ed, vou must next prune the heads in such a 
 
 D 
 
38 MARCH. 
 
 manner as may be most serviceable in pro- 
 moting the future growth of the trees. 
 
 As your trees are not intended for walls, or 
 espaliers, but for standards in the open field, 
 you should prune off all the small branches 
 close to the places where they are produ- 
 ced, as also irregular branches which cross 
 each other, and all such limbs as have, by 
 any accident, been broken or wounded. But 
 you should by no means cut off the main 
 leading shoots, as is by too many practised, be- 
 cause those are necessary to attract the sap 
 from the roots, and thereby promote the 
 growth of the tree ; for if these middle or 
 leading branches are ever to be removed, it 
 should not be done until the next season, 
 when the roots have taken hold of the soil, 
 and the tree appears to flourish. 
 
 Previous to planting, make ready a strong 
 stake for every tree ; let it be sharpened 
 at the largest end ; then with an iron bar 
 make a hole eight or ten inches deep, a small 
 distance from the centre of the place already 
 prepared to set your tree ; here drive down 
 or put in the stakes ; by the side of these 
 stakes place your trees ; one person holding 
 the stems upright, while another casts in the 
 €arth. Let the tree be gently shook a little 
 up and down, that the mould may set- 
 tle close about the small roots ; and let them 
 be raised gradually up, so that the top of the 
 Koots may not be more than three or four 
 
MARCH. 39 
 
 inches below the general surface, even in the 
 best of soils. 
 
 When the hole is filled, tread it gently 
 down, first around the outside, then near 
 the stem of the tree, forming the surface 
 a little hollow, that the rain may not run off; 
 then cover all with some inverted turf or 
 mulch, that the roots may be defended from 
 summer heats, droughts, and parching winds. 
 Then tie the tree to the top of the stake, 
 with some secure bandage, first wrapping a 
 cloth or some coarse tow about the stem, to 
 prevent injury from the stakes, or from tying, 
 
 These precautions are all more necessary 
 at this time, than when our country was new. 
 Then the neighbouring forests kept off (he 
 violence of the winds, and the luxuriance of 
 the soil caused the trees to flourish, although 
 little or no art was displayed in planting 
 them. 
 
 Around your young orchard, a substantial 
 fence must be erected, which must be care- 
 fully kept up throughout the year. No beasts 
 of any kind must be permitted to graze in it : 
 they will bark the trees, break down the 
 limbs, or loosen the roots in the earth. 
 
 u When a defect in an old orchard is to be 
 supplied, it will be necessary to take away 
 the earth where the old tree stood, to a pro- 
 per depth, and to the extent of a circle of 
 ten feet in diameter, which fill with fresh 
 earth, previous to planting : for it seldom 
 
40 MARCH. 
 
 happens without this management, that young 
 trees thrive, when planted where old disor- 
 dered ones stood. 
 
 "Some persons direct the placing of the 
 same side of the tree to the south, which, be- 
 fore removing, had that position, as a mate- 
 rial circumstance, to be strictly regarded ; 
 but, from several trials which I have made, 
 I could not observe the least difference in 
 tbe growth of those trees which were so pla- 
 ced, and others which were reversed ; so 
 that I conclude it is not of any consequence 
 to observe this method." 
 
 The vernal equinox past, and the reign of 
 the Lamb begun, you may soon expect an 
 invitation into the garden. Let us, there- 
 fore, " take time by the forelock" and have 
 all things in readiness for that event. And 
 I hope you will not permit what some peo- 
 ple call unlucky days, or any phase, or po- 
 sition of the moon, to delay any necessary 
 business throughout the season. If the plan- 
 ets have any influence upon vegetation, it is 
 too remote and feeble for human calculation ; 
 and your own observation, if you had read 
 nothing upon the subject, would teach you 
 that the moon changes every day alike, and 
 that, in common language, when we say the 
 moon will change upon a certain day, we 
 mean no more than that at such a time, the 
 enlightend part of that planet will begin to 
 appear or disappear to us. We know astron- 
 
MARCH. 'il 
 
 mners can tell with the greatest accuracy, 
 the relative position of the heavenly bodies, 
 but they never were able to foretel the state 
 of the weather. Nor has the most careful 
 observer of the moon been able to predict 
 when we should want, or have a shower, or 
 describe the progress of vegetation at any 
 particular period. And yet, these persons 
 assert that we can have no success without 
 a due observance of the moon. 
 
 Of the same nature were the occult scien- 
 ces taught by ancient astrologers. Thej 
 maintained, and unthinking men believed, 
 that animals, as well as vegetables, were in- 
 fluenced and controlled by the stars. They di- 
 vided the body into twelve parts, and over each 
 made one of the constellations of the zodiac 
 preside ; and it is still thought, by many, ex- 
 tremely hazardous to perform any surgical op- 
 eration, however trifling, while the sign or ru- 
 ling power is operating upon the part affected. 
 In conformity with this opinion, our almanac 
 makers always preface their calendar with a 
 naked figure of the human body, marked with 
 references, shewing their successive influence. 
 
 Although these absurdities -ire wearing a- 
 way from the minds of reflecting men, they 
 still prevail, and influence thousands, inso- 
 much that I fancy no prudent bookseller 
 would risk the publishing of an almanac with- 
 out this appendage. 
 
 1 would not press this subject so much upon 
 D2 
 
42 MARCH. 
 
 your attention, but here an error in prinei 
 pie may, and often does, lead to much error 
 in practice. The gardener will have no 
 success who does not commit his seed to the 
 earth in the proper season. When his land 
 is sufficiently warm and dry, and the neces- 
 sary tillagp performed, he must plant with- 
 out consulting the moon or stars. The ne- 
 glect of a single day or hour, may blast all 
 his prospects, and in the autumn he may be 
 unable to account for the failure. There 
 are, perhaps, few countries where the right 
 seed time is so short as in ours. 
 
 Europeans who have travelled among us, 
 say that we have only two seasons,the winter 
 and summer. And it is certainly true, that 
 the intermediate space between severe frost 
 and rapid vegetation, is usually not many 
 days. Hence it is a matter of great impor- 
 tance that we should understand and care- 
 fully attend to the suitable time for seeding 
 our land, for no subsequent care can atone 
 for an error in this particular. 
 
 Upon this and every other subject, think 
 for yourself; bring every doubtful opinion 
 to the test of experiment. 
 
 / am, fyc. 
 
 P, AGIUCOLA. 
 
APRIL. 
 
 My Dear Son, 
 
 Gardening, like every other art, has 
 its mysteries, which none but the initiated 
 can understand, and which none but a prac- 
 titioner can teach. Books cannot explain 
 all the technical terms, or point out every 
 requisite in the manner of tillage. If you 
 would understand this useful art, make your 
 hands familiar with the tools, and, from some 
 experienced workman, learn how, when, and 
 where to use them. Every village should 
 annually employ a master of this kind, who 
 should have the superintendance of the gar- 
 dens, and teach the young farmers the art. 
 He should instruct his pupils in their own 
 gardens, show them the proper form of culti- 
 vating the several kinds of soil, the best mode 
 of applying manures, and how to make rea- 
 dy the seed bed for all kinds of plants, and 
 how to prune and propagate the small fruit- 
 bearing shrubs. 
 
 They should learn of him when the pro- 
 per season has arrived, and when the soil is 
 sufficiently dry, to commence the business of 
 gardening ; for without this knowledge there 
 
44 AP&IL. 
 
 can be no success, and without success, n& ' 
 pleasure in gardening. Frequent disap- 
 pointments will dishearten and disgust the 
 young practitioner, and he will soon despise 
 the art which he would otherwise love, and 
 practise with delight. As such teachers, 
 however, are not always to be had, it shall 
 be the business of these letters to supply their 
 place as much as possible. The first lesson 
 I shall attempt to teach, will be to show 
 when the work of making garden, as it is 
 called, should begin. Our seasons are so 
 various, that no particular period can be as- 
 signed. Some years we may commence ten 
 or twenty days earlier than others. As soon, 
 however, as the frost is out of the ground, 
 there is something necessary to be done in 
 the garden ; and you must begin to wC dress 
 
 Your garden, I conclude, is already sub- 
 stantially inclosed. Let us then survey the 
 premises, stake off the several apartments, 
 and lay out the necessary walks or alleys. 
 
 The alleys should never be broad or nu- 
 merous, but just sufficient to divide the al- 
 lotments, and enable you to pass conveni- 
 ently from one to another. Three or four 
 feet wide is amply sufficient for the main or 
 principal walks. If laid out broader than 
 this, they occasion much labour, or will soon 
 be overgrown with grass or weeds. 
 
 In all your horticultural plans and opera- 
 
APRIL. 45 
 
 lions, let neatness and utility preside. In 
 the gardens of the opulent, expense may be 
 disregarded ; but a farmer's success depends 
 upon economy in all things. Our gardens, as 
 well as our farms, must yield a profit, and 
 there is nothing more easy than to make 
 them do so. 
 
 Let your walks be few ; let them be par- 
 allel, and let all their turns be at right angle. 
 Stretch a line upon each side, and throw out 
 the surface of the ground, to the depth of five 
 or six inches ; fill this with fine gravel, or 
 rather coarse sand, if there is any in your 
 neighbourhood. This done, smooth the sur- 
 face with a rake, and finish the walk a little 
 higher in the middle than at the sides, that 
 the rain may run gently off, and stand no 
 where in the path. This work well done, 
 you may, throughout the season, keep them 
 clean at a small expense, and save all the la- 
 bour of rolling and sweeping. 
 
 As to grass walks, I advise you never to 
 give one a place in your garden ; for without 
 constant attention, they are inconvenient 
 every where, and form a safe retreat and 
 nursery for insects. 
 
 The gooseberry should claim your next 
 attention. If you have an old plantation of 
 these shrubs, now carefully spade around 
 the roots, turn over the soil, and pull out all 
 the grass that may grow near them. Then 
 take your strong knife, and begin the neceg* 
 
46 APRIL. 
 
 sary operation of pruning. First cut out 
 every worn out, decayed, or irregular branch. 
 Let none be permitted to grow across each 
 other, but let all be pruned to some regular 
 order. Cut out all the superabundant lateral 
 shoots of the last summer, close to the ground, 
 or old wood, only retaining here and there a 
 good one, to supply the place of casual, worn 
 out bearers. Never permit the extremities 
 of the branches to stand nearer than six or 
 eight inches of each other. 
 
 This is also a proper season to plant out 
 the gooseberry. They should stand so far 
 apart, that you may have ample room to cul- 
 tivate and manure the earth around them. 
 
 The best method of propagating this shrub 
 is by cuttings or layers ; for those plants 
 which are produced from suckers are always 
 more disposed to send out a great number of 
 shoots from their roots, than such as are rai- 
 sed from cuttings or layers. 
 
 The only season for planting these cut- 
 tings is sometime in this month, as soon as 
 the frost is fully out of the ground, and before 
 the buds begin to open. Observe always to take 
 the fairest shoots, and from such branches as 
 generally produce the greatest quantity of 
 fruit ; for if you take those which are pro- 
 duced from the stems of the old plants, they 
 will never bear so well as those taken from 
 fruitful branches. These cuttings must be 
 df the last summer's growth, Cut them with 
 
APRIL. 47 
 
 a sharp knife ; let them be about ten inches 
 long ; plant them in rows, a foot apart ; in- 
 sert them two-thirds of their length into the 
 ground; and if the weather should prove 
 dry, you must not neglect to water them fre- 
 quently and freely, to facilitate their taking 
 root. 
 
 In the summer, when they have put out, 
 you should rub offall the under shoots, leav- 
 ing only the uppermost or strongest, which 
 should be trained upright, to form a regular 
 stem. 
 
 In the autumn, as soon as the leaves have 
 fallen, take up these plants : trim offall the la- 
 teral branches, and replant them in rows two 
 feet apart each way, observing to place a 
 small stake to every plant, to train their stems 
 upright and regular. Here they may remain 
 two or three years, being careful to keep 
 them clean from weeds, and also to spade up 
 the ground between the rows, every spring: 
 likewise to trim offall shoots which are pro- 
 duced below the head of the tree, so that 
 the trunk may be clean about a foot above 
 the surface of the earth; and as the branch- 
 es commonly grow very irregular, you must 
 not neglect to cut away such of them as 
 crowd or cross each other, that the head of 
 the plant may be open, and capable of ad- 
 mitting the light and air freely into the mid- 
 dle, which is of great use to this kind of 
 fruit. While these plants are young, they 
 
48 APRIL. 
 
 should be transplanted to the places where 
 they are intended to remain, for it is not good 
 to have them grow in the nursery too long. 
 
 The soil in which these shrubs thrive to 
 the best advantage, is a rich, light, sandy loam, 
 although they will grow well upon any good 
 land. 
 
 If you expect this fruit in the greatest per- 
 fection, let them not stand in the shade of 
 other trees ; let them have a free, open ex- 
 posure, and be planted six feet asunder. With 
 this management, your fruit will be twice as 
 large as those produced upon bushes which 
 grow among the grass, encumbered with all 
 their shade and branches, and the shrubs will 
 continue in vigour much longer. But you 
 must keep the ground clean, and dig it well 
 over at least once a year; and as often be- 
 stow a little rotten dung upon it, which will 
 greatly improve the fruit. 
 
 These rules faithfully observed, you will 
 not fail to have every year an abundance of 
 fine fruit, and to be amply rewarded for all 
 the time you may bestow upon them. 
 
 CURRANTS, 
 
 Should also be kept thin and regular. The 
 branches should not run across each other, 
 and the old and superabundant stems should 
 be sawed off close to the ground, and a large, 
 proportion of the annual shoots should be 
 thinned out : for when they are permitted tf> 
 
APRIL. 49 
 
 grow irregularly and crowding, they produce 
 but small fruit ; and the great thicket of 
 branches excluding the rays of the sun, the 
 berries will not ripen freely, and with a good 
 flavour. Both gooseberries and currants 
 must have an annual pruning, that the young 
 bearers may have room, and the benefit of the 
 sun and air. 
 
 THE RASPBERRY 
 
 is another valuable shrub, which should be 
 allowed a place in the farmer's garden. — 
 There are several varieties of this plant, na- 
 tives of this country, which, if judiciously 
 cultivated, are equal in flavour and usefulness 
 to any brought from Europe. 
 
 Our black and red raspberry are both ex- 
 cellent, and have many admirers. 
 
 " In forming a new plantation, observe that 
 it is the young shoots or suckers which arise 
 every summer from the old roots, that are to 
 be chosen for this purpose. These should be 
 planted in good ground, and in an open situ- 
 ation. If you dig in some rotten manure, it 
 will be of considerable service to the plants, 
 and promote a production of large fruit." 
 
 " In choosing the plants fortius plantation, 
 select the outward young suckers of strong 
 and robust growth, all of last summer's pro- 
 duction : dig them up with full roots ; and as 
 sometimes one, two, or more buds appear 
 formed on the roots, near the bottom of the 
 
 E 
 
50 APRIL. 
 
 stem, for next summer's shoots, such plants 
 are to be particularly chosen, if to be had," 
 
 " Previous to planting, shorten the shoots, 
 cutting offabout one fourth of their length. 
 Trim the roots, and cut away any old stumps, 
 or hard, woody parts, annexed thereto ; then 
 plant them in rows, four feet and a half asun- 
 der, and from two to three feet distant in the 
 rows. They will produce some fruit next 
 summer, and more abundantly the second 
 year." 
 
 " Every spring, the raspberry must be 
 carefully pruned, before the buds begin to 
 swell ; in doing of which observe to clear 
 away all the old decayed stems, which bore 
 fruit last year, and to leave three, four or 
 five of the strongest of last year's shoots stan- 
 ding on each root, to bear next summer. All * 
 above that number on every root, must be ' 
 cut offclose to the surface of the ground, and 
 all straggling shoots between the main plants 
 must also be taken away. Each of the shoots 
 which are left, should be shortened by cutting 
 offabout a fourth of their original length." 
 
 When you have finished pruning, or as soon 
 after as possible, dig the ground between the 
 plants, observing, as you dig, to clear away 
 all stragggling roots in the intervals, leaving 
 none but such as belong to the shoots which 
 are left to bear ; but the buds which are 
 placed at a small distance from the stems, 
 must not be cut or injured, because those 
 
APRIL. ol 
 
 produce the new shoots the following sum- 
 mer. 
 
 THE BLACKBERRY, 
 
 or Bramble, another of our native shrubs, well 
 deserves a place in the farmer's garden, and 
 will liberally repay the expense of cultivation. 
 It should be propagated and pruned in every 
 respect like the raspberry, but being some- 
 what larger, requires more room. It is very 
 much disposed to throw off young shoots 
 from the roots, and unless great care is taken 
 to destroy them, they will spread, and fill the 
 ground, and soon make an impenetrable wild. 
 But this is no difficult task, if the space be- 
 tween the rows is well wrought, and kept, as 
 it ought to be, quite free from grass or weeds. 
 
 The bramble, as well as the several kinds 
 of raspberries, do not ripen their fruit at 
 once, but in succession, for several weeks, as 
 if designed to court our notice, and bounti- 
 fully to reward the care we may bestow upon 
 their cultivation, by a frequent offer of their 
 bounties. The fruit should be regularly gath- 
 ered as it comes to perfection, and be direct- 
 ly used after being picked ; for although 
 they may remain good on the bush a few days 
 after being ripe, if kept in the house a single 
 day, they will be found to have lost much of 
 their delicious flavour. 
 
 A plantation of these shrubs will come to 
 perfection in three or four years, and if nun* 
 
52 APRIL. 
 
 ed as above directed, will continue fruitful 
 for eight or ten years. It should then be 
 grubbed up, and entirely renewed. Two 
 ye*rs, however, before this, a new quarter 
 for this fruit should be prepared. 
 
 The ground upon which the old shrubs 
 have stood will be found to be greatly impro- 
 ved, and should now be employed for some 
 other use. 
 
 THE ORCHARD 
 
 will also at this season, claim a share of your 
 attention. As soon as the frost is quite out 
 of the ground, the buds will begin to swell. 
 Th^n, without delay, cut your scions for 
 grafting. Select them from smooth, healthy, 
 full-bearing trees ; they should be shoots of 
 the last summer's growth, and taken from 
 the lateral, or horizontal branches. If you 
 cut a small piece of the older wood with the 
 scion, so much the better. Tie them in small 
 bunches, and place them with the large end 
 down, halfway in the earth, and cover them 
 with straw, to prevent drying. If you bring 
 grafts from any considerable distance, pack 
 them in light earth, and inclose them in moss 
 or damp straw. 
 
 The best time for putting in grafts, is usu- 
 ally the last of this month, or the first of next, 
 according to the season. Watch the pro- 
 gress of vegetation in the stocks you intend 
 to graft ; mark when their buds are swelled, 
 
APRIL. 63 
 
 so as to be nearly ready to burst into leaf ; 
 this is the time for the operation, and if skil- 
 fully performed, you may expect the greatest 
 success. 
 
 When you would change the fruit of an old 
 tree, be sure to graft on smooth, healthy 
 branches, and as near the trunk as possible. 
 In order to perform this operation neatly ? 
 you must be provided with a sirong knife, 
 and fine hand-saw, for cutting off the heads 
 of the stocks ; with a grafting-chisel, which 
 may be made of wood, and a sharp pen-knife 
 for shaping the grafts, and smoothing the 
 stocks for their reception. You should also 
 make ready, several days before hand, a 
 quantity of grafting clay, prepared in this 
 manner : — Take two parts of good loam, free 
 from stones, and one part of fresh cow-dung ; 
 mix them well together with a hoe, and add 
 a handful or two of fine salt, to prevent 
 cracking, or drying too fast. Work this well 
 together, and add as much water as will make 
 the whole into mortar ; and several times 
 before you want it for use, re-work it, and 
 effectually incorporate it together, for the 
 more and oftener it is worked over the 
 better. 
 
 I have tried various methods of grafting, 
 and recommend to your notice that which is 
 commonly called cleft-grafting,as being quite 
 simple, and easily learned. When the prop- 
 er season has come, and you are suitably pre- 
 E<2 
 
$4 APRIL. 
 
 pared with all things necessary, begin the* 
 operation in this manner : first with your 
 knife cut off the head of the stock, or if the 
 stock is large, use the fine saw ; this done, 
 fix upon a smooth part, just below where 
 headed, and on the opposite side to that, cut 
 away part of the stock, about an inch and a 
 half in a sloping manner upward, so that the 
 crown of the stock may not be more than 
 half an inch broad, which slope and crown ? 
 cut smooth and neat. 
 
 Then prepare your grafts in the following 
 manner : Cut them four or five inches long 5 
 with two or three buds to each : then take 
 your sharpest knife and cut away the bark, 
 and some of the wood, at the large end of 
 the graft in a sloping manner, about an inch 
 in length, on opposite sides, making it have a 
 wedge-like shape, but let that edge which is 
 to be placed outwards in the stocks, be left 
 thicker than the other, with the bark conti- 
 nued thereon. 
 
 The graft being prepared, take your strong 
 knife or chisel, and place it on the middle of 
 the stock, not across, but contrarywise to the 
 sloped part, and with a small mallet, strike 
 the knife or chisel into the stock, observing 
 to cleave it no farther than is necessary to 
 admit the graft freely : then place the wedge 
 a little way into the cleft, at the sloped part 
 of the stock, to keep it open for the recep- 
 tion of the graft, which directly introduce in- 
 
APRIL. ijj 
 
 to the cleft, on the top of the stock, at the 
 back of the slope, inserting it with great ex- 
 actness, as far as it is cut, with the thickest 
 edge outward, and so that the rind may meet 
 exactly, every way, with that of the stock. 
 The graft being placed, remove the wedge ; 
 take care not to displace the scion. This 
 done, clay the whole over, an inch thick, on 
 every side, closing it effectually, and tapering 
 it up to the scion, to prevent the air, sun, or 
 rain reaching the grafted part, until the union 
 is complete. Then finish the operation by 
 applying a bandage of rags or coarse tow, to 
 prevent cracking and falling off. 
 
 Your shrubbery and orchard having recei- 
 ved their due attention, be ready to move 
 the soil in your garden ; but do not let a de- 
 sire to have early fruit induce you to work 
 the ground while wet, especially if the soil is 
 of a loamy or clayey quality ; nor should you 
 delay the business until it binds, and becomes 
 hard : a middle course is best. As soon as 
 the earth works freely, and neither shines 
 or adheres to the spado, spread all over the 
 surface, a coat of well rotted manure, and 
 immediately introduce the plough. Take 
 small furrows, into which rake the dung eve- 
 ry 'bout, and plough as deeply as possible. 
 The corners and those parts where the plough 
 cannot come, must be carefully turned up 
 with the spade, and made fine ; for the more 
 minutely the soil is pulverized, and the con- 
 
56 APRIL. 
 
 stituent parts mixed and blended together, 
 the greater will be your success. Before 
 planting every kind of seed, let this indispen- 
 sable operation be nicely executed, for it is 
 much easier and better to till the ground be- 
 fore seeding than afterwards. When your 
 land is well prepared, the seeds not only ger- 
 minate more freely, but the plants are more 
 luxuriant, and less liable to be injured by 
 insects. It is quite a mistaken and slovenly 
 practice to plant before the ground is in good 
 order, well mixt and fine, with a view of 
 mending the tillage afterwards. No subse- 
 quent labour can make up for this neglect ; 
 for vegetables, like animals, require careful 
 nursing in their infancy, or they never will 
 grow large and flourish. Keeping these pri- 
 mary principles always in view, proceed now 
 to make your garden, and unless prevented 
 by bad weather, or some other untoward cir- 
 cumstances, let it be done in the following 
 order : 
 
 Dress and propagate perennial plants. 
 
 HORSE-RADISH. 
 
 This is a valuable plant, and merits much 
 more attention than is usually given to it. In 
 some families the roots are much esteemed, 
 and upon every table, the tops are prized as 
 an early and pleasant green. As soon as the 
 frost is gone, it shoots up, and in a few days 
 is fit for cutting. The flower-stalks are the 
 
APRIL. ol 
 
 first that rise ; when these are five or six 
 inches above the i^round, cut them smooth 
 off, with all the leaves that accompany them, 
 and in a few days fresh fine leaves will spring 
 up ; these in their turn should be cut close 
 and smooth to the ground, and in this way a 
 successioual crop of fine pot-herbs may be 
 had all summer. Remember to cut them off 
 while young, and of a suitable size for boiling, 
 although they may not be wanted for use^ 
 or they will soon grow too large, and become 
 bitter. The best way of propagating this 
 plant is by cuttings of the roots, or from the 
 offsets that rise from the sides of the main 
 root. Select a border of your garden, where 
 the plough will not interfere, and ha 
 broke up the ground the depth of the spade, 
 plant these sets in rows, about two feet apart. 
 Then level the ground, and keep it free from 
 weeds, until the plants are so far advanced 
 as to do that business for themselves, At 
 this season of the year, th«y will always re- 
 quire one dressing and spading about the 
 roots. When the roots are wanted, take 
 care to leave some of the offsets remaining, 
 and they will grow anew, and flourish for 
 many years. 
 
 ASPARAGUS. 
 
 You will do well to plant out immediately, 
 a bed of this fine vegetable ; for it will be 
 three yean from the time of planting, before 
 
SB APRIL. 
 
 you can cut any considerable quantity for 
 use. A few of the strongest shoots may per- 
 haps be taken the second year, but it must 
 be done with a sparing hand. 
 
 The ground intended for an asparagus bed 
 should be situated so as to enjoy the full ben- 
 efit of the sun, and should have a bountiful 
 supply of manure, and then be regularly 
 trenched two spades deep, and the dung bu- 
 ried equally in each trench, a foot below the 
 surface. This done, lay over the bed sever- 
 al inches of well rotted manure, and work 
 the ground over again one spade deep, care- 
 fully mixing this top-dressing with the earth. 
 A bed four feet wide, and thirty long, will 
 yield a supply of this article sufficient for your 
 family. In planting, stretch your line along 
 the bed, eight inches from the edge. Then 
 with a spade, cut out a small drill, close to 
 the line, about six inches deep ; here place 
 your plants, ten or twelve inches apart in the 
 rows, and two or three inches below the sur- 
 face of the ground ; draw the earth with your 
 hand against the roots, so as to fix the plants 
 in their proper place. This done, in the 
 same manner plant three other rows in the 
 bed, at equal distances. When the plants 
 make their appearance above the ground, 
 hoe them with care, and by no means permit 
 weeds, or any other thing to grow near them. 
 
 This is the quickest mode of raising a pro- 
 ductive bed of asparagus. But Mr. Arm- 
 
AFRIL.. 59 
 
 strong says, " if you can postpone the use of 
 this plant for a year or two, sowing is to be 
 preferred, because the crop it gives (other 
 things being equal) though later in coming, is 
 more abundant, of better quality, and of 
 longer duration ;" and he directs the bed to 
 be made in the following manner, 
 
 " In the summer or autumn preceding your 
 sowing, lay out the bed four feet wide, mark- 
 ing the angles by stakes. Excavate the bed 
 to the depth of twenty-six inches, and if you 
 find the bottom cold and clayey, and reten- 
 tive of moisture, sink it half a foot deeper. 
 Lay on this, six inches of coarse gravel, or 
 stones, or both, and on these place a layer of 
 equal depth of tanners' bark, or chips, brush- 
 wood, weeds, horns, hoofs, or any other slow- 
 ly decomposing matter, vegetable or animal. 
 Over this, spread another layer, composed 
 of cow-dung mixed, to the depth of twelve 
 inches ; and on the top of all, replace the 
 surface-soil you have thrown out, adding 
 to it as much well rotted dung as will 
 entirely fill up the excavation. Then rake 
 it level, and remove the poor soil thrown out 
 in trenching. As early in the spring as the 
 temperature of the weather, and the state of 
 the ground will permit, dig the bed ten or 
 twelve inches deep, and work into it as much 
 well rotted dung as will bring it to the level 
 of the alley. Then rake it smooth, and trace 
 out with the spade or the hoe, four small 
 
60 . APRIL. 
 
 trenches, lengthwise of the bed, and at equal 
 distances, ab6ut an inch deep, and in these 
 sow fresh, large, and well ripened seed, and 
 so sparsely that when the plants rise,they will 
 not be found nearer together (in the rows) 
 than fourteen inches. Draw an inch of 
 mould over the seeds, and then roll or tread 
 the rows, so as to press the seeds and the 
 earth every where into contact.' 5 
 
 When the young plants have got a few in- 
 ches above the ground, if they stand too 
 thick, or within ten inches of each other 7 
 thin out the weakest of them, and take 
 care that the remainder are not stifled with 
 weeds. Every spring, as soon as the frost is 
 gone, work the ground between the rows 
 with a strong dung-fork, and carefully loosen 
 the whole bed to a moderate depth; but take 
 care not to go so deep as to wound the top of 
 the plants, now on their way coming up. 
 
 The shoots are fit for use when about three 
 or four inches high, and should be cut off 
 slanting, three or four inches- within the 
 ground, taking care not to wound any young 
 buds coming up from the same root, for there 
 are always several shoots advancing in differ- 
 ent stages of growth. 
 
 Upon good ground a considerable crop of 
 Asparagus may be raised without this extra- 
 ordinary labor, but the abundance which a 
 well prepared bed will produce for ten or 
 more years, largely compensates the ex-r 
 pence of cultivation. 
 
APRIL. 61 
 
 THE RHUBARB, or PIE-PLANT. 
 
 At this season of the year there is nothing 
 more pleasant, and physicians tell us there 
 is nothing more healthy, than a frequent use 
 of thrifty green vegetables. And as variety 
 alone can please, this plant should have a 
 place in every kitchen-garden. The majes- 
 ty and beauty of the rhubarb is not r surpass- 
 ed by any tenant of the garden. When plan- 
 ted upon rich ground, the leaves are often 
 two feet long, and as much in breadth ; and 
 their foot-stalks half a yard long, and nearly 
 an inch in diameter. The flower-stalks 
 sometimes grow five or six feet high, and are 
 terminated by thick, close spikes of white 
 flowers. Every part of this plant is valuable : 
 the wide spreading leaves make a fine pot- 
 herb ; their foot-stalks a good pie or tart, and 
 the roots a useful medicine. The foot-stalks 
 are dressed by paring off the rind with a 
 sharp knife, then cutting them into small 
 pieces, and stewing with sugar, like goose- 
 berries. 
 
 When the roots have three or four years 
 growth, some of them may be taken up for 
 use. This should be done in the autumn, 
 when the leaves and stalks are quite decay- 
 ed. When taken up, wash them clean, trim 
 ofFall the small branches, and lay them in an 
 airy place to dry for four or five days ; then 
 rasp off the outward skin ; which greatly c-b- 
 
62 APRIL. 
 
 structs the quickness of drying. The mere 
 stripping off the bark will not be sufficient ; 
 the rasping it off, and the lacerating of the 
 outward part of the root will be necessary ; 
 for the lateral pores must be opened, to per- 
 mit the confined watery fluid to exude free- 
 ly. Then cut them in slices, which string on 
 pack thread, so as not to touch, and hang 
 them up in a stove room, to be kept constant- 
 ly warm, till they are effectually dry. The 
 drying of the roots without suffering them to 
 get mouldy, is an essential point, and is con- 
 sidered a difficult task. 
 
 The marks of the goodness of rhubarb, 
 are the liveliness of its colour when cut, its 
 being firm and solid, but not flinty or hard, its 
 being easily pulverable, and appearing when 
 pow r dered of a bright yellow colour ; on be- 
 ing chewed, its imparting to the spittle a deep 
 saffron tinge, and not proving slimy, or mu- 
 eilaginous in the mouth. 
 
 The ground for this plant should be good, 
 and prepared by deep spading and pulveriza- 
 tion. The seed should be sown in the spring 
 as early as possible, in hills two feet apart 
 each way. When the young plants appear, 
 keep them free from weeds, and for several 
 weeks of their infancy, protect them from 
 the scorching rays of the sun ; they will then 
 become more hardy. Or, what some think 
 less trouble, sow the seed in beds, and the 
 spring following, transplant the roots into 
 
APRtt,. $3 
 
 such borders or places as you may wish to have 
 them stand. In moving these roots, take 
 care not to break or injure them. Let them 
 be immediately replaced in the eartl], and 
 many of them will bear seed the same year, 
 and will grow stronger and better for ten 
 years. 
 
 HOPS. 
 
 Every farmer's family has occasion for a 
 few pounds of hops, and you should assign 
 them a place in your garden. 
 
 A few hills, properly attended to, will sup* 
 ply your kitchen with this necessary article. 
 This plant will grow upon almost any soil, 
 but unless the land is fine and rich, it will 
 produce but little. 
 
 Hops should stand in hills, six or eight feet 
 apart. For making these hills, dig round 
 holes, two or three feet in diameter, and a 
 foot in depth ; fill up these with the earth 
 thrown out, well mixed with rotten dung. 
 
 In the spring, when the plants begin to 
 shoot, take cuttings from branches which grow 
 from the main root; if of the la>t year's 
 growth the better, and these are known by 
 their white appearance ; let each have three 
 or four buds ; bury them lightly in the bills, 
 with the buds uppermost. Give two or three 
 sets to a pole, and three poles to a hill. 
 
 The first year, the vines will not require 
 poles, but the ground, in this, as in all succeed-. 
 
64 APRIL. 
 
 ing years, should be kept free from weeds* 
 As the vines rise, let them twist themselves 
 together, and let the hills be raised a little a- 
 roun4 the plants* Early in the spring of the 
 second year, and annually afterwards, the 
 ground should be dug around the hills, and 
 some old manure mixt with the soil ; then 
 with an iron bar make deep holes, and set 
 three poles to every hill. Set them so as to 
 form a triangle, with one point towards the 
 prevailing wind, and incline them so that they 
 nearly meet at the top. Poles often feet 
 are iong enough for the first ye*ar ; after that 
 they are to be fifteen or twenty feet long, ac- 
 cording to the strength of the ground ; but 
 th<>y should never be so long that the vines 
 ot go beyond the tops, for they seldom 
 b"ar much before they get to the ends of the 
 poles. 
 
 The spring ploughing and spading of your 
 garden performed, and the perennial plants 
 dressed out, let all things rest here for a few 
 days. Let the loosened earth have time to 
 dry, and imbibe the genial rays of the sun, 
 and it will then work more freely, and will 
 not be so liable to bake and become hard af- 
 terwards, when your seeds are planted. Or 
 if the weather has become tolerably mild, 
 first plant out such cabbages, beets, carrots, 
 turnips, parsnips, &c. as you intend for seed. 
 The first should be planted in rows three feet 
 apart, and about half that distance from each 
 
APRIL. i>j 
 
 other in the rows, up to their heads in the 
 earth. The rest may all be planted in sepa- 
 rate rows two feet asunder, at the distance oi 
 twelve inches root from root. The holes to 
 receive them should be made sufficiently 
 deep to admit the entire root, with the crown 
 at least six inches below the surface of the. 
 ground. Press the earth firmly around the 
 roots with the hand, and cover an inch or 
 two of loose soil over the tops ; but the cavi- 
 ty in which they are placed must not be filled 
 until the plants vegetate, and their seed-stalks 
 have risen above the ground ; then draw the 
 adjoining earth around their stems as they 
 progress. This will give them effectual sup- 
 port against the winds or rain, and save the 
 necessity of stakes and cords. 
 
 F am, fyc. 
 
 P. AGRICOLA. 
 
 F3 
 
MAY. 
 
 Mv Dear Sox, 
 
 The sluggard is known by the neglect 
 of his garden. Inattentive to the proper sea- 
 son of planting, and too idle to perform the 
 necessary tillage, he but lightly stirs the sur- 
 face of the ground, and without art, sows his 
 seed u by the way side" His plants, as might 
 be expected, are immediately impoverished 
 with weeds, or devoured by hungry insects, 
 if they escape the depredation of larger ani- 
 mals. And there is another class of men, 
 who take much pains to manure and make 
 their garden, and then desert it altogether, 
 seeming to expect a crop without any further 
 attention. These men will never derive 
 either pleasure or profit from a garden. 
 
 " The man of understanding" knows full 
 well, that when his garden is planted, although 
 it may be done in the most skilful manner, his 
 care and labour is but half accomplished. It 
 is folly in the extreme, to plant a garden, 
 without a full determination to defend it from 
 weeds and insects. 
 
 All horticultural plants are feeble in theis 
 
£& MAY. 
 
 origin, and most of them continue so a length 
 of time. Care must be taken that they do 
 not stand too thick, and starve for want of 
 food and air ; and it would be equally im- 
 proper to have their ranks too thin, and any 
 considerable portion of the ground, with 
 which you have taken so much pains, lie 
 waste and unproductive. Besides all this, 
 the health and vigor of your plants require 
 that the ground around them should be often 
 stirred and pulverized. And here the ap- 
 pearance of weeds may be properly consid- 
 ered as timely monitors, that your vegeta- 
 ble infants want the bosom of their mother 
 earth raised and opened for them. Without 
 them we might forget that plants, as well as 
 animals, must have their daily food, and that 
 in proportion to their wants or cravings, or 
 they must certainly become stinted, feeble, 
 and unfruitful. 
 
 If showers are frequent, the earth settles 
 and becomes firm and unyielding around their 
 stalks, and requires as frequently to be moved 
 and loosened ; if the weather is dry, stirring 
 and making the soil fine will do more to pre- 
 vent the injurious effects of drought, than 
 the most copious artificial watering. Indeed 
 artificial watering is seldom useful, and when 
 applied injudiciously is always hurtful ; but 
 if your ground is not too wet, you can never 
 hoe or stir the surface without advantage. 
 Besides, frequent hoeing is the easiest and 
 
MAY. 69 
 
 cheapest mode of tillage. I had rather hoe 
 three times than once. 
 
 If, previous to planting, the ground has 
 been put in good order, and the roots of weeds 
 are not permitted to gain strength with age, 
 a very trifling attention and labour will ef- 
 fectually prevent them from starving and in- 
 juring your garden. In a particular mai 
 do not permit weeds to stand in the neigh- 
 bourhood of your plants in very dry weather, 
 for they are generally strong drinkers, and 
 will imbibe all the moisture within the reach 
 of their roots, while your tender plants are 
 drooping and sickening for want of it. 
 
 With these previous remarks, let us go a- 
 gain into the garden, and put what they teach 
 into practice. 
 
 ONIONS. 
 
 By the first of this month, or before if the 
 ground works freely, without adhering to the 
 spade or rake, make ready your onion plan- 
 tation ; for the earlier you can ^,et in your 
 seed, provided the ground is in ^«>od order, 
 the larger and better onions you will lime. 
 Onions flourish best, and are cultivated 
 the least expense, upon a rich sand 
 but ma v be raised upon a >il, pro- 
 
 perly wrought and rightly manur 
 
 If yourground was not plentifully enriched 
 \k-i fall, now spread over a coat of fine, w.U 
 Totted dung, aad dig it a full spade deep, in- 
 
70 UAY. 
 
 corporating the dung therewith, and pulveri- 
 zing the earth as you proceed in digging. 
 This done, take the coarse rake, and draw 
 off, or pulverize all the lumps within reach 
 of the teeth. Then take the fine rake and 
 continue raking the surface, until the whole 
 becomes firm and compact ; observing to 
 keep the whole plantation level, or rather a 
 little crowning, that water may never stand 
 upon any part of it. This done, stretch a 
 line eight inches from the alley, and with 
 your small hoe make a drill an inch deep a- 
 long the line ; here scatter the seed even, 
 and with a liberal hand, immediately cover- 
 ing it with a fine rake, and completing the 
 process by pressing down the earth over the 
 seed with the broad hoe. This done, move 
 your line ten or twelve inches back, and re- 
 peat every part of the operation already de- 
 scribed, until all is planted. Over this plan- 
 tation you may sprinkle a little lettuce and 
 cabbage seed, for many of these plants may 
 grow here until wanted, without the least 
 injury to the onion crop. 
 
 In planting onions, art is more requisite, 
 perhaps, than in any other part of gardening. 
 They must be planted early, so as to begin 
 to bottom before our scorching dog-days. 
 The ground must be rich, it must be made 
 fine, yet must not be left loose and spongy. 
 With very little skill, you may raise the long- 
 necked scuilion ; they will grow if late plan- 
 
ted, and slovenly attended. But if you arc 
 pleased with large, swelling, bulbous bot- 
 toms, observe the above directions, and take 
 care that they suffer no neglect afterwards. 
 
 There are several varieties of the onion, 
 principally distinguished by their colour ; as, 
 the red, the yellow, the white, and silver- 
 skinned, all requiring the same method of 
 cultivation. And there is a separate species of 
 this plant — 
 
 THE MAGIC ONION, 
 
 sometimes called the Canada, sometimes 
 the tree, or top onion. This is a singular 
 plant, and deserves cultivation, not only 
 for its domestic use, but as a curiosity. All 
 other plants raised in the garden are ovi- 
 parous, or in other words, re-produce their 
 species from seeds or eggs ; but this alone is 
 viviparous, and brings forth its young aln 
 in clusters of four or five, around the parent 
 stalk. These continue to enlarge, until their 
 weight brings them to the earth, where, if not 
 prevented, they take root, and the maternal 
 stalk now becomes useless, dries off, and the 
 next season, these in their turn become pa- 
 rents, and re-produce a numerous progeny . 
 
 This species of onion is raised with le^s art 
 than the other. If you would have them in 
 perfection, make your ground ready as for 
 the other kind ; then stretch a line ten inches 
 from the alley, and with a small hoe make a 
 furrow two inches deep ; in the bottom oft 1 
 
72 MAY. 
 
 place the top bulbs, or infant onions, fire or 
 nches apart, with their points or heads 
 uppermost ; then fill up the drill with light 
 ea rth, which sh :>uld be pressed down with the 
 hand or broad hoe. This done, remove the 
 line back a foot, and in the same manner, 
 plant as many as you please. In setting out 
 these bulbs, you should not place the large 
 and small ones promiscuously together, but 
 separate the large from the small, and plant 
 them in different rows ; for the largest will 
 generally become breeders this season, while 
 the small ones will enlarge, and swell into 
 beautiful onions, fit for any use in the 
 kitchen. 
 
 The magic onions intended for seed, Or 
 breeders, should be two years old, and the 
 largest and best of their kind. They must on 
 no account stand near the other species of 
 seed onions, or they will degenerate, and a 
 mongrel race ensue. 
 
 SEED ONIONS, 
 
 if not set out in the autumn, must now be 
 planted as soon as the ground is sufficiently 
 dry. For this purpose, make choice of a 
 good piece of ground, which dig a full spade 
 deep, breaking it fine as you proceed. Then 
 select the firmest, largest, and best shaped 
 onions of the most desirable kind, with no 
 growth from their tops ; observing that each 
 variety is to be placed separately, and re- 
 mote from any other. 
 
 
MAi. 73 
 
 Having your ground dug, and your roots in 
 readiness, strain a line ten inches from the 
 alley, and with a spade throw out an opening 
 or drill, six inches deep along the line ; here 
 place the onions upon their bottoms, about 
 eight or ten inches apart ; then with a rake 
 draw the earth into the furrow, so as to cover 
 the bulbs two or three inches ; then remove 
 the line fourteen inches further back, and 
 plant another row as before, and so proceed 
 until all are planted. 
 
 By planting the seed onions thus deep in 
 the furrow, you will afterwards be able to 
 support the stalks by drawing the earth about 
 them, and the wind will neither loosen or 
 throw them down. 
 
 LETTUCE. 
 
 This in some families is distinguished by 
 the name ofSallad ; and it is truly a valuable 
 one. Let it be your ambition to have it ear- 
 ly r and of a fine quality. 
 
 There are many varieties of this plant. 
 Take care to be provided with a good kind 
 of seed ; such as will form a large head, and 
 will not run to seed before they attain full 
 growth. 
 
 The place selected for a lettuce bed should 
 be defended from the northwest winds. Make 
 the ground rich with well rotted manure, in- 
 timately incorporated therewith. Let the 
 surface be raked fine, and lie a little sloping 
 
 G 
 
74 MAY. 
 
 to the south. Sow the seed sparingly, broad- 
 cast or in rows, as you may choose ; then 
 lightly, with the fine rake, cover the seed. 
 Here you may also sprinkle a little cabbage 
 seed, and perhaps draw a number of fine 
 plants, without injury to the lettuce. 
 
 When the lettuce comes up, take care that 
 it does not stand too thick. While small it 
 should be pulled out, before the plants crowd 
 and oppress each other. These may be 
 transplanted into good ground, at the distance 
 often inches apart, and before they grow 
 large, every other one should be drawn for 
 the use of the table. 
 
 Lettuce, while small, will bear transplan- 
 ting extremely well, though the plants will 
 never be so large as those which were left 
 upon the spot where they were sown ; but 
 they will cabbage finely, and come somewhat 
 later, and save the necessity of sowing every 
 month ; for lettuce sown after the weather 
 becomes warm, soon runs up to seed, without 
 heading, and is good for nothing. 
 
 PARSLEY, 
 
 for an early crop, should now be sown in sin- 
 gle rows, along the edge of the quarters, or 
 borders of the garden. It will make an use- 
 ful and neat edging, if not suffered to grow 
 too large, and as it bears transplanting very 
 well, aftiy blanks may be easily filled up in 
 rainy weather. 
 
MAY. 75 
 
 The seed will remain a long time in the 
 ground before it comes up, but there is no 
 danger of its perishing. 
 
 It may be right here to notice, that the poi- 
 sonous plant, called fool's parsley, or wild 
 parsnip, a common weed upon the banks of 
 the Mohawk and elsewhere, has sometimes 
 been mistaken for the garden parsley. They 
 are very easily distinguished. The leaves 
 of the poisonous plant are of a darker green, 
 of a different shape, and instead of the pecu- 
 liar parsley smell, have, when bruised, a sick- 
 ish, disagreeable odour. The timid may 
 shun all risk of mistake by cultivating only 
 the curled variety, which is in every respect 
 as useful, and a more beautiful plant than the 
 common kind. 
 
 A few of the strongest plants should not be 
 cut, but suffered to run to flower, and they 
 will produce an abundance of seed. 
 
 CABBAGE. 
 
 There is no vegetable grown in the gar- 
 den, of more value than this. There are 
 many varieties, but all those which are com- 
 monly called cabbage, require nearly the 
 same treatment. The seeds should be sown 
 as soon as the weather becomes warm, and 
 vegetation begins : for the earlier you can 
 get plants, the larger will your cabbage grow, 
 and the heavier Iheir heads will be. 
 
 Cabbage seed may be planted where the 
 
76 MAV. 
 
 crop is intended to stand, or may be sown in 
 beds, and afterwards transplanted. The 
 first method is more liable to injury from in- 
 sects, arid will sooner run to seed ; the latter 
 is therefore generally preferred ; and a small 
 spot will produce abundance for your fami- 
 ly. For this purpose, take a large box or 
 tub, and set it in some open exposure, fair to 
 the sun ; fill it with horse-dung within six 
 inches of the top,when trod firmly down \ then 
 fill the vessel with rich garden mould, and 
 immediately sow the seed quite thick, cover- 
 ing it half an inch deep with fine earth, which 
 press down firmly and evenly with your hand, 
 and finish by sifting a coat of fine soot or ash- 
 es over all. 
 
 In a few days the plants will appear, and 
 if at this time they stand so thick as to touch 
 each other, let some of them be pulled up. 
 
 If the weather should prove dry, sprinkle 
 them every evening, with water warmed in 
 the sun. Plants raised in this way, will not 
 be injured by the turnip fly. and will grow 
 strong and vigorous when removed. 
 
 There is another method of raising cabbage 
 plants, which is preferred by some farmers. 
 They go into the field, and dig up a spot of 
 good earth, then heap upon it a large quanti- 
 ty of chips, brush, or other old wood ; this 
 they burn, and as soon as the fire is out, they 
 rake over the bed, and carefully mix the soil 
 and ashes together ; here they sow the seed. 
 
MAY. 77 
 
 and immediately cover it with the rake. A 
 temporary fence is erected to defend them 
 from the cattle, and in this way an abundance 
 of fine plants are produced with ease and 
 certainty. 
 
 The several kinds of cabbage seed should 
 not be sown promiscuously in the same bed ; 
 but in separate beds, or marked allotments. 
 
 Every variety of the cabbage has its pecu- 
 liar excellence, and each in its proper season 
 successively contributes to our wants. 
 
 In the spring, as soon as vegetation com 
 mences, the Brussels' sprouts appear, and 
 present the first fruits of the garden. This, 
 and Jerusalem Kale, are very hardy plants. 
 They never head, but the leaves, after being 
 pinched with the frost, make most delicious 
 pot-herbs, and boil greener than any other 
 of the cabbage tribe. They will survive a 
 very severe winter, and afford a grateful 
 repast, when most other plants perish. They 
 should be planted where the northwest winds 
 cannot approach, and where the snows of 
 winter may lie undisturbed upon them ; or 
 they may be taken up before the winter 
 frosts set in with much severity, planted in 
 trenches up to the leaves, and covered occa- 
 sionally with straw or other light covering. 
 The heads may be cut off as wanted, and in 
 spring, the stems, if taken up and planted out, 
 will produce an abundance of most delicious 
 sprouts. 
 
 G2 
 
78 MAY* 
 
 In the summer and autumn, the early 
 Yorkshire and small Smyrna cabbage present 
 a ripened head, and is welcomed at every 
 table. The seeds of this cabbage should be 
 sown in a hot bed, about the middle of A- 
 pril, and the plants will be fit for removal by 
 the middle of this month. When they have 
 attained leaves as large as a cent, let them 
 be transplanted into a nursery bed, prepared 
 of rich earth, and in an open and warm situ- 
 ation ; here they should stand six inches apart, 
 and if the weather is dry, be frequently wa- 
 tered. 
 
 At the commencement of winter, the Sa- 
 voy is in its glory, and this is followed by the 
 drum-head and sugar-loaf — noble plants ! 
 and the largest of the cabbage family, some 
 of them weighing more than twenty pounds. 
 These, if laid away with art, will bountifully 
 supply the table until the Brussels' sprout 
 is sufficiently growrt to take their place. 
 
 Besides all these, there are many sub-vari- 
 eties, some of which are preferable for a 
 summer crop, others for an autumn crop, and 
 a third set for winter supply. 
 
 The cauliflower is indeed a fine plant, and 
 justly considered to be the flower of the cab- 
 bage family. It grows sometimes to the 
 height of four or five feet, with its leaves 
 loose, and in the natural way, and forms its 
 stalk, or flower-buds, into a head, which is 
 very tender and delicate. 
 
MAY. 79 
 
 It you would grow this plant in perfection, 
 take care to procure seed that is genuine, or 
 free from adulteration. In March, let it be 
 sown in a hot bed ; when the plants are two 
 or three inches high, they should be moved 
 to another hot bed, of lower temperature, and 
 larger dimensions ; here they should be set 
 four inches apart, and remain until transfer- 
 red to the open air, where they are to 
 stand. The time for doing this is when 
 the earth, by its spontaneous productions, 
 shows the internal heat necessary for vege- 
 tation. 
 
 The cabbage-turnip, and the turnip-rooted 
 cabbage, are both extremely hardy, and mer- 
 it attention from every farmer. They are 
 frequently used for culinary purposes in the 
 same manner as turnips, and in the spring, 
 the sprouts make delicious green?. 
 
 Well might Dr. Johnson, in his " Journey. " 
 remark, that before the Scottish peasantry 
 acquired cabbage, they must have had no- 
 thing. 
 
 Every variety of the cabbage requires a 
 strong rich soil, inclining rather to clay than 
 to sand ; but will grow in any soil, if it be 
 well worked, and liberally manured with com- 
 post, or well rotted dung. 
 
 In selecting your cabbage ground, be par- 
 ticular to avoid the place where any thing of 
 the kind has grown for at least two years past. 
 This precaution is of the utmost importance : 
 
BO MAY. 
 
 and although some instances may occur where 
 cabbage or turnips are raised well for two or 
 three years in succession on the same land, 
 yet experience shows it to be generally a bad 
 practice. There is no crop that exhausts 
 and impoverishes ground more effectually ; 
 besides, they are the favourite food of many 
 insects, which deposite their eggs in the earth, 
 so that if you continue for only a few years to 
 set cabbage in or near the same place, no care 
 or skill will overcome their united attacks. 
 
 When your plants in the open ground are 
 three or four inches high, they should be trans- 
 planted the first moist or cloudy weather. 
 You must not, however, wait too long for this 
 favourable state of the atmosphere. If your 
 plants are sufficiently grown, they should be 
 set, whatever may be the state of the weath- 
 er. If the earth is quite dry, the proper time 
 forgetting cabbage is just before sunset, and 
 they will require water in proportion to the 
 dryness of the earth ; and this should be giv- 
 en moderately after, not before, the plants are 
 set in their place. 
 
 Take them up with the hollow trowel, with 
 as much dirt about their roots as possible jj 
 place them upright in the ground, and gently 
 press the fine earth about their roots. The 
 large kind of cabbage should stand three feet 
 apart when left for heading ; but the small 
 kind may stand nearer. 
 
 In bringing plants from a distance, be care- 
 
MAY. • 31 
 
 ful to preserve the lateral fibrous roots ; lay 
 them gently in a basket upon some moist 
 grass, and cover them lightly with green 
 leaves, and immediately before setting, dip 
 their roots into water, and afterwards, unless 
 the ground is quite wet, give them a sprink- 
 ling from the watering-pot. You should be 
 provided with covers made of two boards, 
 each a foot long, and nailed together at right 
 angles, to shade immediately every plant. 
 These covers must be taken offat sunset, that 
 the plants may have the benefit of the even- 
 ing dews, and again returned in the morning, 
 if the day is likely to prove clear and warm. 
 Although you may have observed all these 
 directions with the nicest precision, do not 
 conclude that your crop is certain, without 
 further attention. Every week the plants 
 must now be hoed, and the dirt made fine and 
 brought about their roots, while the space be- 
 tween the rows is kept smooth and clean. If 
 this work is done in the morning, while the 
 dew is on, so much the better, and if the wea- 
 ther is very dry, it cannot be repeated too 
 often, for otherwise they will become stinted, 
 and infested with insects. 
 
 PARSNIPS 
 
 are a highly nutritious esculent, and merit 
 much more attention than is commonly giv- 
 en to them in this state. They make a rich 
 and healthy sauce, and are relished by almost 
 
82 MAY. 
 
 every person ; yet, with all these excellen- 
 cies, very few families bring them often upon 
 the table. 
 
 The parsnip is a very hardy plant, as is 
 evident by its growing upon any good land, 
 wherever the seed is scattered, without culti- 
 vation, but will thrive best, and grow the lar- 
 gest, upon a rich sandy loam. The seed should 
 never be more than a year old, and as it re- 
 mains a long time in the ground before it ger- 
 minates, should be sown as early in this 
 month as the earth can be got in proper con- 
 dition to receive it, which ought always to be 
 a principal consideration, for nothing can be 
 worse than to work land whilst too wet. 
 
 The ground should be spaded at least a 
 foot deep. Take but thin spits, and break 
 all the lumps, that the roots may have full 
 liberty to run down long and strait ; for if 
 the earth is not well pulverized, they will 
 grow short and forked. Rake the ground 
 well after you as you proceed in digging; then 
 stretch a line eight inches from the alley, 
 and make a drill an inch deep ; here sow 
 the seed, and cover it by filling the drill with 
 loose earth ; press down the ground with the 
 broad hoe, and your work is finished. Then 
 move back your line fourteen inches, and 
 plant, as directed, another row, &c. 
 
 Early radishes or lettuce may be planted 
 in the intervals, and, drawn in season, will 
 do no injury to the main crop. Or a few car- 
 
MAY, 83 
 
 rots maybe sown promiscuously among them, 
 and if pulled up while young, will not mate- 
 rially hinder the growth of the parsnips, 
 which spread and swell chiefly in the latter 
 part of the summer. 
 
 CARROTS, 
 
 are a very productive crop, and will abun- 
 dantly repay the expense of cultivation, in 
 the field or garden. If the soil is good, and 
 the management judicious, eight hundred 
 bushels of these valuable roots may grow up- 
 on an acre, and the milch cows shall pay a 
 liberal premium for the surplus quantity not 
 wanted in the kitchen. 
 
 Carrots delight in a warm, sandy soil ; it 
 should be ploughed deep, and afterwards well 
 broken and mixt with the spade. 
 
 When manure is given to carrot ground, it 
 should be deep buried, beyond the reach of 
 the roots, else they are apt to become forked 
 and diseased. In general, it is best to plant 
 corrots upon dry land, that was well manu- 
 red the preceding year. There are several 
 varieties of this root ; the orange-coloured is 
 the one usually preferred. 
 
 The seed, if well laid up, will be good for 
 several years : new seed, however, is always 
 to be chosen. The seeds, when taken from 
 the stalk, adhere together like burrs, and 
 should be rubbed between the hands with 
 considerable force, so as to separate them. 
 
84 MAY. 
 
 On account of their lightness, a calm time 
 should be taken for sowing. They should 
 be planted in drills, fifteen inches apart, and 
 covered about an inch deep with fine earth ; 
 pressed firmly down with the broad hoe. 
 
 If small carrots are wanted late in the sea- 
 son, plant a row or two more, a month hence. 
 
 When the plants are come up, you should 
 hoe the ground with a small hoe, about three 
 inches wide, cutting down all weeds, and se- 
 parating the plants four inches apart, that 
 they may have room and acquire strength ; 
 and in eight or ten days, when the weeds a- 
 gain begin to appear, hoe the ground over a 
 second time, and be careful not to leave two 
 carrots close to each other, cutting down all 
 weeds, and slightly stirring the ground in ev- 
 ery place, the better to prevent the growth 
 of weeds, and to facilitate the progress of the 
 carrots. 
 
 In about a fortnight after, you must hoe 
 them a third time, when you must clear the 
 weeds as before, and now you should cut out 
 the carrots to the distance they are to re- 
 main, which must be proportioned to the size 
 you intend to have them grow. If they are 
 to be drawn while young, four or five inches 
 asunder will be sufficient ; but if they are to 
 grow large, they should be separated at least 
 ten inches. You must yet keep them clear 
 from weeds, which, if permitted to grow a- 
 mongst the carrots, will greatly injure them. 
 
MAY. 85 
 
 Besides the common use to which carrots 
 are applied in every family, they are found to 
 make an excellent pie. For this purpose 
 they should be well boiled, then mashed tine, 
 and afterwaads prepared and baked like 
 pumpkin. 
 
 Besides this, they make the best substitute 
 for coffee yet discovered. For this purpose 
 the roots are washed, and their external rind 
 rubbed off. They are then cut transversely 
 into slices, and thoroughly dried in a warm, 
 not hot oven : next they should be coarsely 
 broken in a mortar ; then slowly roasted in 
 an iron vessel, until quite brown ; then 
 pulverized, and drawn and served up like 
 coffee. 
 
 BEETS, 
 
 like the two preceding articles, are biennial, 
 and as they have all long tap roots, require 
 nearly the same method of cultivation. — 
 There are several varieties of this plant, which 
 take their name from the colour, or form of 
 the root, viz : — the red, the yellow, the white, 
 and the turnip-shaped. They all grow best 
 upon a light, but rich soil, of considerable 
 depth, and which has not been recently ma- 
 nured. Or, if any manure is added, let it be 
 buried at least a foot beneath the surface, so 
 that the roots cannot reach it. Let the 
 ground be deep spaded, and made fine as you 
 
 H 
 
86 MAY. 
 
 proceed, then levelled, and smoothed with 
 the rake. 
 
 If beets are wanted early, or are intended 
 to be used as greens, the seed should be 
 planted by the middle of this month, but if 
 intended for winter consumption, the first of 
 June is a better time. 
 
 Draw a line a foot and a half from the i*st 
 carrot row, and wilh a small hoe make a 
 drill about an inch deep ; here place the 
 seeds, one every two or three inches, and 
 draw over them a light covering of the sur- 
 face-soil. The earth immediatelv over the 
 seed should be pressed firmly down, as in 
 all other planting. 
 
 If the seeds were good, there will be too 
 many plants ; for a single seed will often bring 
 forth a number. The supernumeraries must 
 be early pulled up, or they wind themselves 
 around each other, and it becomes difficult 
 to separate them. 
 
 When the plants are tw r o or three inches 
 high, you will begin to pull, and use them as 
 spinach ; taking care to do it so as to leave 
 the plants eight or ten inches asunder; of, if 
 you wish them to grow as large as possible, a 
 foot, or fourteen inches will not be too much. 
 If there be chasms in the rows, as will some- 
 times happen from bad seed, or unskilful 
 sowing, take a wet time, and fill them up 
 with the surplus plants. But you will find 
 these roots of less value than those which 
 
)i.\\. 87 
 
 were left undisturbed ; for tap-rooted plants 
 of all kinds are never transplanted without 
 considerable injury. The intervals between 
 the rows should at the same time be thorough- 
 ly cleansed from w r eeds. The oftener this 
 operation is performed, and the ground stir- 
 red during the course of vegetation, the larg- 
 er will be the product, and the better its 
 quality. While the plants are young, this 
 process is indispensable, and will entirely 
 save the necessity of watering, let the wea- 
 ther be ever so dry. 
 
 SALSAFY. 
 
 This root is much esteemed by some per- 
 sons, and when boiled or stewed, is ceiled 
 the vegetable oyster. The young shoots 
 which rise in the spring, from the plants of 
 1 last year, if cut while green and tender, are 
 good to use in the manner of asparagus. 
 
 The roots are long and tapering, of a 
 fleshy, white substance : the herb smooth, sky- 
 coloured, rising sometimes three or four feet 
 high : the leaves resemble those of the leek : 
 the flowers are of a dull purple hue, and 
 close about noon. 
 
 This plant requires the same soil and cul- 
 tivation as the carrot, and should remain 
 where sown, for when the extreme parts oi 
 the roots are broken by transplanting, they 
 seldom thrive well afterwards ; therefore it 
 is far the better way to make shallow 
 
83 MAY. 
 
 drills, about a foot apart, and scatter the seeds 
 therein ; and if the plants should come up 
 too thick, hoe them out with the weeds, for 
 tney should not stand nearer than four or 
 five inches of each other in the rows. 
 
 SKIRRET. 
 
 The root of this plant is composed of small 
 fleshy tubers, joined together in one head, 
 and are the only eatable part. They are 
 considered wholesome and nutritive, but are 
 too sweet for some palates. They are gene- 
 rally boiled and served with butter, like pars- 
 nips. 
 
 Skirrets should have the same manage- 
 ment as salsafy. The seed should not be 
 sown before the middle of this month, lest 
 the plants flower the first season, when the 
 roots would become harsh and woody. Re- 
 peated thinning and hoeing are necessary, as 
 in the case of similar crops. When the 
 leaves begin to decay in autumn, the tubers 
 are fit for use, but they should not be taken 
 up faster than they are wanted, for left out 
 of the ground a few days, they become good 
 for nothing. 
 
 Both skirrets and salsafy are cultivated as 
 an agreeable variety, rather than for any pe-? 
 culiar excellence which they possess ; there- 
 fore are seldom found in the farmer's garden, 
 where utility is principally consulted* 
 
THE RADISH 
 
 is a tap-rooted annual, and the only one oi 
 the species, used as sallad. There is no root 
 in our garden which is so difficult to cultivate 
 and bring to perfection, as the radish : and 
 without perfection they are quite useless. A 
 good radish is transparent and crisp ; and to 
 possess these qualities, they must grow rapid, 
 without let or annoyance of any kind; and 
 they are peculiarly exposed to casualties. 
 The turnip beedle is their first enemy, always 
 ready to wound and devour them while yet 
 in the cotyledon leaf. If they escape these 
 nimble marauders, unless the ground is quite 
 to their liking, they become wirey and good 
 for nothing ; and if their bed has been pre- 
 pared in the nicest manner, our favourite 
 roots frequently become the birth-place and 
 food of innumerable worms, which no art oi 
 ours can prevent or remove. 
 
 Upon new ground of a suitable quality, 
 none of these difficulties occur, and they 
 may be grown with great facility ; but upon 
 old ground, no method of cultivation has 
 been yet devised, that will always insure a 
 good crop. Here, however, with proper at* 
 tention, we may generally succeed so as to 
 have some fine roots. 
 
 The radish delights in a warm, sandy soil. 
 In selecting a place for this plant, avoid the 
 ground where anv of the cabbage or turnip 
 
 H2 
 
90 MAY. 
 
 family grew the preceding year. Let the 
 bed be bountifully manured with compost of 
 at least a year old Let this be intimately 
 mixed and incorporated with the soil ; rake 
 the whole fine, and sift over the surface a coat 
 of slacked lime or ashes, one-fourth of an 
 inch thick ; then cover the whole two inches 
 more with virgin earth from the woods. Rake 
 this smooth and level, and immediately sow 
 your seed broadcast ; rake it lightly, and 
 tread down every part. 
 
 Besides this radish plantation, sprinkle 
 radish seed among your other crops, where 
 they will often grow freely, and being detach- 
 ed, will form fine, tender roots. As soon as 
 your plants appear, take care that they do 
 not stand too thick. When the central rough 
 leaf is fairly formed, thin them to two or three 
 inches apart ; for when young plants stand 
 too near each other, they contract habits of 
 running to leaf, and never afterwards bottom 
 well. 
 
 RED PEPPERS 
 
 are much wanted for pickling. The large 
 heart-shaped kind is most generally prefer- 
 red for that purpose. The seeds germinate 
 slowly, and should therefore be committed to 
 the ground without delay. For this purpose 
 make a seed bed in some warm exposure ; 
 enrich it with the best of manure ; that taken 
 from the hog-sty is the best ; rake the ground 
 fine, and sow the seed plentifully. Or you 
 
maw yi 
 
 may sow the seed in drills, eighteen inches 
 apart, and cover them about half an inch 
 deep ; but as they bear transplanting ex- 
 tremely well, it will be attended with less 
 trouble to raise them in the seed bed, and, 
 when they are two or three inches high, plant 
 them out in some rich border, and take care 
 that they are not injured by the neighbour- 
 hood of weeds. 
 
 PURSLAIN. 
 
 There are two species of this plant : the 
 narrow-leaved wild purslain, which lies with 
 its stalks upon the ground, and the broad-lea- 
 ved garden purslain which crows erect, some- 
 times to the height of two feet, with diffused 
 branches. The latter is a valuable pot-herb. 
 by many esteemed before beans or peas ; 
 the young shoots and succulent leaves are tin 
 parts used, and they are boiled sufficiently in a 
 minute. When cut off. it directly sprouts a- 
 gain, and may be recut several times. 
 
 It requires a rich and light soil, and as the 
 seed is very small, attention is necessary, or 
 you will sow too much. There is no other 
 culture which this plant requires, but to keep 
 it free from weeds, and if the weather is fa- 
 vourable, it will be tit for use in six weeks af- 
 ter sowing. 
 
 SORREL, 
 
 The broad-leaved garden sorrel is an earh 
 and pleasant sallad, and as it has considera- 
 
9:2 maw 
 
 ble virtues as a medicine, and is succesfully 
 used for taking stains out of linen, should 
 have a place in every garden ; particularly 
 as it will flourish in almost any situation or 
 soil. 
 
 It should be sown early in the spring, and 
 afterwards transplanted into shady borders, 
 four or five inches apart. Or it may be al- 
 lowed a separate allotment, where it will 
 grow with very little attention for many 
 years. 
 
 BEANS. 
 There are two species of this plant culti- 
 vated in our gardens : the English horse-bean, 
 and the kidney-bean. The former has seve- 
 ral varieties, as the Windsor, Tokar, Maza- 
 gan, &c. ; and the latter has varieties with- 
 out number. The several kinds of English 
 bean require a strong, rich, loamy soil, and 
 should be planted as early in this month as 
 it is possible to get them into the ground. 
 Otherwise these beans will produce but little 
 in our climate, for if the hot weather of our 
 summers come on while they are in bloom, 
 very few pods will set, and the crop will be 
 poor and scanty. 
 
 As soon as the weather will permit, and 
 the ground is sufficiently dry, make ready an 
 open allotment, and plant the early Mazagan, 
 Tokar, and other varieties of this bean. By 
 planting these different sorts at the same sea- 
 
>IAY. S3 
 
 son, you will secure a regular succession of 
 fruit, according to their different degrees of 
 earliness. You need be under no apprehen- 
 sion that the weather will injure them, as they 
 are of a hardy nature, and will not suffer by 
 any frost which may happen after this time 
 of year. 
 
 Plant the small early kinds in drills, two 
 feet apart, and four or five inches distant in 
 the rows ; and the larger kinds three feet a- 
 sunder, row from row\ and about six inches 
 from each other along the drills. 
 
 KIDNEY BEANS 
 
 are so called from their resembling in shape 
 the kidney of an animal. They are much 
 more sensible of cold and wet than the pre- 
 ceding species, and should therefore be plant- 
 ed later, for if they are drenched with cold 
 rain for only a few days, they turn yellow, and 
 are stunted irreparably, and the slightest frost 
 destroys them. The practical gardener un- 
 derstands this, and never commits them to 
 the earth until the weather becomes settled 
 and warm, and if afterwards an unexpected 
 cool evening should happen, he covers his 
 favourite plants with light boards. 
 
 They are divided by nature into two class- 
 es : those which are called dwarf or bush 
 beans, and those which run to vine, and re- 
 quire poles for their support. Some of them 
 grow best upon a sandy, others upon a loamy 
 
1)4 MAV. 
 
 soil. Select for cultivation the kind which 
 experience shows best suited to our climate 
 and soil, and which best supply the wants of 
 your family. 
 
 It is not necessary to plant every variety 
 you can hear of. Choose the best of each 
 class, and let the over curious take care of 
 the rest. For magnitude and show, 
 
 THE LIMA BEAN 
 
 stands at the head of the family. It is a na- 
 tiv e of a more southern latitude than ours, and 
 although many of the pods become dry and 
 fully ripe, yet the autumnal frosts which suc- 
 ceed our longest seasons always destroy the 
 vines in the midst of their bearing. It re- 
 quires a strong and rich soil, and is then a 
 luxuriant plant, and copious bearer. The 
 beans are large, and the pods, to the number 
 of ten or twelve, are produced one after ano- 
 ther, upon lateral spikes, like grapes. There 
 is of this bean a red and white variety. The 
 flowers are gay, and in colour resemble the 
 fruit, so that when intermixed, their deep 
 red and white flowers make a beautiful ap- 
 pearance. They should be put into the 
 ground as early as the season wilJ permit. 
 Previous to planting, provide strong poles, 
 eight feet long ; stretch a line, and with an 
 iron bar make holes a foot deep to receive 
 them. The poles along the line should 
 stand two feet from each other, and the rdlfrs 
 
four feet apart. "When the poles are firmly 
 fixed, place four or rive beans in a circle a- 
 bout each, and cover them two inches deep, 
 with light earth. 
 
 These beans are frequently cultivated as 
 an ornamental flower, particularly in form- 
 ing fancy hedges, and when trained near a 
 wall or over an arch, and led up with lines 
 of pack thread, they unite both characters, 
 and are at once both ornamental and useful. 
 During the month of August, they render a 
 walk in the kitchen-garden extremely delight- 
 ful ; for the flowers have a powerful fragrance. 
 
 The red and white 
 
 CRANBERRY BEANS 
 
 may be planted in the same w r ay. The roi 
 may be somewhat nearer together, and the 
 poles need not be so long; if they are full 
 of branches, so much the better. All bean- 
 that run to vine, should have suitable sup- 
 porters fixed in the ground before plantii 
 that no injury may happen to their infant 
 roots by placing them afterwards. 
 
 From the numerous variety of bush 
 select the best bearers, and thes< 
 ted to your soil. 
 
 THE CHINA BEAN, 
 
 for its many good qualities, merits particu- 
 lar notice. Upon the richest land il will 
 never run to vine, and is always more or l< 
 
?)6 MAY. 
 
 prolific, as the soil and tillage are good. It is 
 earlier in the pod, and sooner ripe than any 
 other of the species, and for every use in the 
 kitchen, is in great esteem. Let your land 
 be bountifully manured and well wrought, 
 and plant these beans in hills, eighteen inch- 
 es apart each way. 
 
 In general, all dwarf beans are sown in 
 drills, about two feet asunder, three or four 
 inches distant from each other in the lines, 
 and covered with two inches of light soil ; 
 press down the ground lightly with the hoe, 
 and take care that no stone or clod prevent 
 their egress. 
 
 Beans are an important article in every 
 family, and should abound in your garden, 
 successively presenting their bounties. — 
 There is perhaps no climate in the world, 
 where the kidney-bean, with all its varieties, 
 flourishes better or arrives to greater perfec- 
 tion, than in our own. It was one of the few 
 native grains which fed the aborigines of this 
 country before the arrival of Europeans, and 
 to this day furnishes a moiety of their vege- 
 table food. 
 
 SPINACH 
 
 is the only plant cultivated for culinary use, 
 which produces the male and female flowers 
 on different plants. There are two principal 
 varieties, the prickly seeded, with triangular, 
 oblong, sagittate leaves, and the smooth 
 
MAY. 97 
 
 seeded, with round or blunt leaves. The 
 latter has the most succulent leaves, and is 
 preferred for summer crops. Spinach should 
 be sown in shallow drills, about a foot apart, 
 upon a light, dry, but rich soil. This mode 
 is a little more labour at first, but is compen- 
 sated by the ease with which the thinning, 
 cleaning, and gathering are afterwards ac- 
 complished. When the plants are come up, 
 the ground should be hoed to destroy the 
 weeds, and cut out the plants where they are 
 too close, leaving the remaining about three 
 inches ^sunder ; and when they are grown 
 so large as to meet, you may then cut out a 
 part of it to use, thinning them that they may 
 have room to spread, until the plants stand 
 eight or ten inches apart. Then hoe the 
 ground again, and carefully destroy every ris- 
 ing weed. Let this be done in dry weather, 
 and your spinach will flourish, and often pro- 
 duce foliage as large as the broad-leaved 
 dock, and be extremely fine, making a pot- 
 herb universally admired. 
 
 Spinach is an annual, which soon runs to 
 seed in our hot and dry summers. Sow, 
 therefore, as soon as possible, in this month, 
 and again about the middle, and you will not 
 want for this article, until the growth of young 
 beets supplies their place. . 
 
 PEAS 
 will grow well upon almost any good soil that 
 
98 max- 
 
 is sufficiently dry, and has not lately been 
 manured. Of this pulse the varieties are 
 endless. The farmer should not cultivate 
 many of them in his garden; his principal 
 crops will grow in the field, where, aided by 
 the plough and harrow, the pea will flourish 
 and produce abundantly ; and much room 
 and labour in the garden be saved for other 
 purposes. 
 
 Like the bean they are naturally divided 
 into two classes : the climbers and the dwarfs. 
 
 Do not permit your desire of having peas 
 early upon the table, to prompt the.planting 
 before the ground is suitably dry. They will 
 certainly bear considerable frost and not be 
 destroyed, yet if the earth is wet as well as 
 cold, they frequently perish. As soon, how- 
 ever, as the ground works freely, and vege- 
 tation commences, you may prepare for an 
 early crop of peas. For this purpose choose 
 a south border, of dry, light earth ; raise the 
 soil into narrow sloping ridges, about a foot 
 broad at the bottom, and nine inches high, 
 and at the distance of three feet from each 
 other, ranging these in a north and south di- 
 rection ; then on the easterly sides of these 
 ridges, three or four inches from the top, 
 make your drills, and plant the early Charl- 
 ton, or other dwarfs, and cover them two 
 inches with line earth. In this situation they 
 will have the advantage of the morning and 
 mid-day sun. lie dry, and will consequently 
 
MAY. $9 
 
 advance in vegetation much more rapidly 
 than if sown in the ordinary way. 
 
 The climbers, as the Marrowfat, &c. may 
 be planted somewhat later. When the al- 
 lotment for these has been well dug over, 
 rake the whole smooth and level ; then 
 stretch a line, and make a drill two inches 
 deep 5 here scatter the seed, and immediate- 
 ly cover them with the rake. Then take 
 some brush wood previously prepared, and 
 stick it in the ground eight inches from the 
 line, so as to form a double row, with the 
 tops resting against each other. To these 
 their tendrils will extend, and in this way 
 they will be prevented from falling upon the 
 ground, and the light and air having free ac- 
 cess to all their branches, will cause them to 
 be much more fruitful. 
 
 Seed peas are very often full of living bugs. 
 Never plant such if to be avoided. They 
 will propagate their kind, and most certainly 
 infest your future crop. If, however, no oth- 
 er seed is to be had, immerse them in boiling 
 water while you can leisurely count six; then 
 instantly throw them into a basket, that the 
 hot water may drain off. This will effectu- 
 ally destroy the animal, and cause no injury 
 to the pea. 
 
 When the plants have attained the height 
 of two or three inches, hoe the space be- 
 tween the rows, and draw earth about their 
 stems ; this will strengthen them much, and 
 forward them greatly in their growth. 
 
100 **«* 
 
 BROOM CORN. 
 
 Although this can scarcely be called a 
 kitchen vegetable, yet surely there is none 
 more or oftener wanted there ; and as it re- 
 quires the best of land and tillage, it should 
 never be absent from the farmer's garden. 
 
 The border, or whatever place you may 
 assign for broom corn, should without delay 
 be laid up into small ridges, that it may dry and 
 become warm by the middle of this month ; 
 then, or as soon afterwards as possible, level 
 down the ridges, pulverize the soil, and inti- 
 mately mix the manure. Then stretch the 
 line, and with the small hoe make a furrow 
 two inches deep ; along this strew the seed 
 with a liberal hand, and with a fine rake, 
 cover it with light earth. Then move back 
 your line three feet, and in this way plant 
 whatever quantity you please. 
 
 Broom corn seed of a good quality is some- 
 times procured with difficulty. That only 
 which is heavy, and of a bright shining colour, 
 is worth planting. That which is pale and 
 light may sometimes grow, but will never 
 produce strong plants ; and the best of seed 
 will lose its vitality in four or five years. The 
 seed of last year is always to be preferred, 
 for it will come up with broader leaves, and 
 grow much faster. Good seed will certainly 
 come up quite too thick ; but the labour of 
 pulling out the surplus plants is trifling, and 
 
MAY. 101 
 
 tally compensated by being able to reserve 
 those onlv which appear stout and healthy, 
 
 "When the plants are three inches above 
 the ground, destroy the most feeble, and 
 leave the best to stand four or five inches a- 
 part along the rows. At the same time hoe 
 away all weeds that may have sprung up. 
 and stir the soil around them. Broom corn, 
 in its infancy, is a very feeble plant, and re- 
 quires frequent and careful nursing. 
 
 GUINEA CORN 
 
 is a plant, in size and appearance very much 
 like broom corn, and requires the same me- 
 thod of cultivation. The seed is fine food for 
 poultry, and when hulled as barley, is by ma- 
 ny esteemed superior to rice. The grain 
 also makes an excellent substitute for choco- 
 late. For this purpose it is first roasted and 
 pulverized like coffee, then prepared and 
 served up like chocolate, which it very much 
 resembles. 
 
 SWEET CORN. 
 
 Maize or Indian corn is a grain of great 
 value, and among the numerous and useful 
 varieties of this plant, there is none that more 
 deserves the farmer's notice than that which 
 is usually called sweet corn. All the other 
 kinds seem intended by nature for storage 
 and winter consumption ; for in a few days 
 after the grains are fully formed, they begin 
 
 12 
 
102 MAY, 
 
 to glaze, as it is termed, and then become 
 unfit for human food, until it has passed 
 through the mill. But the excellence of 
 sweet corn consists in the kernels remain- 
 ing so long in milk, and being at the same 
 time extremely rich and saccharine. For 
 several weeks it is good for boiling. It is 
 later than many other kinds of Indian com, 
 and is just fit for the table when the field corn 
 has become too hard. It should never be 
 planted until the weather becomes settled 
 and warm, and the land dry. Before the 20th 
 of this month, your land intended for this 
 grain should be made ready, and be planted 
 in hills three feet apart. Put eight or ten 
 grains in every hill, and place a shovel full of 
 well rotted manure around each, and cover 
 the whole two inches deep with fine earth. 
 
 The seed of sweet corn is more liable to 
 injury than almost any other grain. The 
 best kernels when dry are flat and shrivelled, 
 and look as if they would never germinate ; 
 and should therefore always be tried before 
 planting. For this purpose take a handful of 
 seed, and place it in a dung-hill or hot-bed, 
 and in a few days, if it has been well preserv- 
 ed, it will sprout. Never use seed more 
 than a year if you can avoid it, for if it should 
 grow, the plants will not be strong and vigo- 
 rous. 
 
 Take particular care that no grains of any 
 other kind are planted with your sweet corn. 
 
MAY. 103 
 
 for a very few plants of the field corn, grow* 
 ing with or near it, would adulterate and 
 spoil your crop. 
 
 Indian corn produces the male flower or 
 farina upon the very pinnacle of the plant, 
 and this is frequently wafted by the wind to a 
 considerable distance, so that if you would 
 keep any of the varieties pure and distinct, 
 never plant them within four or five rods of 
 each other. 
 
 As all kinds of maize require the same 
 mode of cultivation, you cannot do better 
 than to pursue the practice above recommen- 
 ded, upon your farm. The saving of manure 
 from this mode of applying it, is a very con- 
 siderable item in farming economy. Six 
 times the quantity spread over the ground 
 and ploughed in, will not produce the same 
 benefit. If you would make the most of 
 your manure, let it be piled and prepared 
 the year before it is wanted ; at the time of 
 planting, put a shovel full around, and in con- 
 tactwiththe seed,butneitherabove norbelow 
 it. If you place the dung above the corn, 
 the young sprouts will find it difficult to pass 
 through ; if below, and the first part of the 
 season should be dry, it will greatly increase 
 the injurious effects of the drought. 
 
 Indian corn differs materially from any 
 other grain we cultivate. It will grow ad- 
 vantageously, indeed it will improve, if plan- 
 ted several years successively upon the same 
 
104 MAY. 
 
 land. The aborigines of this country plant- 
 ed it every year upon the same spot, yet their 
 crops were good, and the same land, now un- 
 der our cultivation, continues to produce 
 corn abundantly. 
 
 Although I would not be understood as ad- 
 vising you never to change your corn-field, 
 yet if you will practice as above, you will as- 
 suredly find the quality of the soil improve, 
 the weight of the crop increase, and the ex- 
 pense of tillage lessen, for at least four or 
 five years in succession. 
 
 Indian corn requires a soil naturally rich, 
 or artificially made so. The alluvial soil, 
 upon the banks of our streams is, of all others, 
 the best suited to this plant ; but sandy or 
 gravelly soil will every where, if properly 
 cultivated and bountifully manured, produce 
 a heavy crop — sometimes more than an hun- 
 dred bushels per acre. In some places upon 
 land of this kind, gypsum is a cheap and valu- 
 able manure. Experience alone can deter- 
 mine its utility. 
 
 It is folly in the extreme to plant Indian 
 corn upon clay or wet land, or upon any- 
 other, so situate as to retain the copious 
 showers that frequently fall at this season of 
 the year. If your land is not sufficiently dry 
 before the end of this month, plant not at all. 
 Better sow your land to oats, or convert it to 
 a fallow. 
 
MAY. 10i 
 
 POTATOES 
 
 are a perennial native plant of America, and 
 the most valuable esculent with which we 
 are acquainted. If we take into considera- 
 tion the facility with which they are propaga- 
 ted, and their extensive use, there is no crop 
 that makes a better return. 
 
 " As an article of human food," says a very 
 eminent British writer, " potatoes are, next 
 to wheat, of the greatest importance in the 
 eye of a political economist. From no other 
 crop that can be cultivated will the public 
 derive so much food, and it admits of demon- 
 stration, that an acre of potatoes will feed 
 double the number of people that can be fed 
 from an acre of wheat. Potatoes are also a 
 nourishing and healthy food, and relished by 
 almost every palate." 
 
 Besides this, their extensive use in feeding 
 and fattening all kinds of domestic animals, 
 renders them peculiarly deserving the far- 
 mer's notice. The raising the principal crop 
 of potatoes is therefore very properly con- 
 signed to the farm, while a small quarter of 
 earlles alone are to be found in the garden. 
 
 As potatoes are so generally esteemed, and 
 wanted as they are upon the table almost 
 every day in the year, it is a laudable ambi- 
 tion in gardeners to have them ripe as soon 
 as possible in the season. For this purpose 
 many experiments have been made, the most 
 
106 MAY* 
 
 successful of which I will detail to you : — 
 Take an open box, and spread the bottom an 
 inch thick with sand : take some of the best 
 and fairest, of the earliest kind you can 
 procure ; cut them in two, leaving not 
 more than three eyes upon each set ; wet 
 these with brine, and lay a single course of 
 them over the sand ; then cover the whole 
 three or four inches deep with chaff : set the 
 box upon a hot-bed or dung-hill, until they 
 have sprung four or five inches ; then take 
 them out with the utmost care, and transplant 
 them into some warm border of light earth. 
 By this means the plants are forwarded twen- 
 ty days in their growth. The young potatoes 
 are fit for use in June and July, and in August 
 the tops of the parent plants change to a yel- 
 low colour, indicating maturity. Only a few 
 plants are taken up at once, for the young 
 and immature tubers do not keep good be- 
 yond a day or two. It is found better, there- 
 fore, to let them remain in the ground till 
 wanted, and in this way may be made 
 to meet the later sort. 
 
 The best and earliest kind we have for this 
 kind of forcing, is the Florida whites. Thej r 
 are a dwarfish variety, yet considerably pro- 
 ductive, and a fine, mealy potatoe. The 
 English whites will answer well for this pur- 
 pose when no earlier kind can be found. 
 
 The later and common potatoes should be 
 grown in the field ; and I know of no me- 
 
MAY. 107 
 
 thodofcultivatingthem which better deserves 
 your attention, than the following : 
 
 " Choose a suitable piece of ground, green 
 sward if you please, neither too moist nor too 
 dry ; plough it in the fall, or early in the 
 spring, harrow down the furrows, spread on 
 a bountiful dressing of stable or barn-yard 
 manure, cross-plough and cover the manure 
 before it suffers an evaporation by the influ- 
 ence of the sun and wind, or an exhaustion 
 by rain ; harrow and cross-plough again ; 
 prepare your ground by furrowing one way 
 for drill planting, or both ways for hills, as 
 the surface of your field shall require. If it 
 be clear from large stones and stumps, the 
 drill planting is far the most profitable, be- 
 cause the horse-plough will be sufficient 
 for tilling the ground, w r ith but little use of 
 the hand-hoe. 
 
 Let your furrows be about four feet asun- 
 der for drill planting, in order to let in a suf- 
 ficiency of sunshine. Plant about the middle 
 of May ; ?t the same time remember that 
 the largest potatoe will yield the greatest 
 product, and support the stem in time of 
 drought. Drop your potatoes at about every 
 twelve or fourteen inches. When the weeds 
 appear, give the ground a harrowing in the 
 same direction with the furrows ; if the weeds 
 re-appear, harrow again, and with a single 
 horse-plough, turn the dirt into ridges be- 
 tween the rows. When the stalks are of 
 
108 MAY. 
 
 sufficient height for hilling, a short time be- 
 fore the potatoes set on the roots, turn the 
 ridges to the rows, and model them suitably 
 with the hand hoe, remembering that a flat 
 top for the ridges is preferable, and that four 
 inches in depth of earth is sufficient for a po- 
 tatoe. After hilling, or ridging, keep down 
 all weeds, and suffer none to gain seed." 
 
 Two or three days before planting, pre- 
 pare your sets. Reject all the small and un- 
 ripe tubers, and cut the others into two, 
 three, or at most, four pieces. Those that 
 are less than a hen's egg should not be cut 
 at all, for you had better err in giving over 
 large seed, than in making it too small. When 
 the seed is properly cut, fifteen bushels will 
 plant an acre, but this depends greatly upon 
 the size of the potatoes used. If they are 
 large, a greater quantity may be required, 
 but the extra quantity will be abundantly re- 
 paid by the superiority of crop which large 
 seed usually produces. 
 
 Although seed for an acre of potatoes costs 
 more than for any other crop, we often see 
 too much used. The consequence is, the 
 tubers are small, and the quality inferior to 
 what it otherwise would be. 
 
 If you would raise new varieties, or im- 
 prove the breed of potatoes, take potatoe 
 balls when fully ripe, separate the seed from 
 the pulp, dry it and keep it in paper bags over 
 winter. Early in the season sow it in drills. 
 
MAY. 109 
 
 about a foot asunder. When the plants rise, 
 thin them out to four or five inches apart ; 
 keep them clear of weeds, and draw the 
 earth about the stems. In the autumn, when 
 the tops decay, take up the small tubers, and 
 preserve them carefully from frost. These 
 are to be planted the next year, and their 
 product the year after, when the potatoe will 
 be in its perfection. They should be care- 
 fully assorted, boiled separately, their re- 
 spective qualities examined, and the best pre- 
 served for seed. In this way new varieties 
 of this valuable root are always to be procur- 
 ed, to supply the place of old ones degene- 
 rated by age. 
 
 THE GOURD. 
 
 This is a very numerous and important fa- 
 mily. They are all natives of a more south- 
 ern latitude than ours, but with proper man- 
 agement, will flourish in the open grounds of 
 our gardens. 
 
 All-bounteous nature has divided them in- 
 to several species, and these again are subdi- 
 vided into a great number of varieties. 
 
 They all require a warm, rich soil, and the 
 whole length of our summers, or they do 
 not ripen to perfection. Yet they must not 
 be planted before the weather has become 
 steadily warm, otherwise the seeds will per- 
 ish in the ground, or if they germinate, the 
 plants are sallow, and with the greatest car* 
 
 K 
 
iio ma\. 
 
 can seldom be made to bear fruit so soon as 
 those which are later planted. The almost 
 daily use of the 
 
 CUCUMBER, 
 
 at our tables, places it very justly at the head 
 of the gourd genera, and there is no other 
 that will thrive so well by artificial heat ; so 
 that if you are ambitious of having them very 
 early, you have only to prepare a hot-bed, 
 give them suitable attention, and they will 
 come at any season you please. The simple 
 method directed by Mr. Armstrong for this 
 purpose, well deserves imitation. He says — 
 " scoop as many large turnips as you propose 
 to have hills ; fill these with good garden 
 mould ; sow in each three or four seeds, and 
 plunge them into a hot-bed ; here they should 
 remain until about the middle of May ; then 
 transfer them to the beds where they are to 
 stand. The advantage of the hollow turnip 
 as a seed bed, over pots or vases, will be evi- 
 dent ; for instead of the ordinary difficulty 
 of separating the mass of earth and the plants 
 from the pot which contained Ihem, without 
 injury to either, you re-enter both pot and 
 plant, and even find in the one an addition 
 of nutriment for the other. The subsequent 
 treatment does not differ at all from that of 
 plants sown and cultivated in the open air. 
 There are many varieties of the cucumber, 
 varying in size, shape, and colour of their 
 
MAY 
 
 111 
 
 Mut. The dwarf Bouquet is the earliest 
 with which we are acquainted, and is well 
 suited for the frame or hot-bed cultivation. 
 Your general plantation of cucumbers should 
 not be made till next month, when we will 
 furnish directions for that work. 
 
 THE MELON. 
 
 This genus of the gourd has two distinct 
 varieties, the musk and water melon ; and 
 <3ach of these several sub-varieties. The 
 ground intended for this plant should have a 
 free exposure to the east and to the south. 
 The soil should be sandy, and highly manu- 
 red wtih compost, prepared a year, at least, 
 before it is used. It should be early dug 
 over, made fine, and laid up in small ridges, 
 that it may warm, and become fertilized with 
 the sun and air. About the middle of this 
 month, let the whole plantation be levelled. 
 Then open parallel furrows, a spade deep, 
 and six feet apart ; fill these with old com- 
 post ; cover this with earth taken from be- 
 tween the rows, so as to form ridglets six 
 inches high; make the tops of these a little 
 ilat, and here immediately cov r the seeds 
 two inches deep. Remember, as in all other 
 planting, to press down the dirt above the seed. 
 
 The method recommended by the Ameri- 
 can Gardener is certainly a good one. He says, 
 " Prepare a piece of rich sandy ground, well 
 exposed to the sun : manure it and give it a 
 
\n may. 
 
 good digging ; then mark it out into squares 
 of six feet every way ; at the angle of every 
 square, dig a hole twelve inches deep, and 
 eighteen over, into which put seven or tight 
 inches deep of old hot-bed dung, or very rot- 
 ten manure ; throw thereon about four inch- 
 es of earth, and mix the dung and earth well 
 with the spade ; after which draw the remain- 
 der of the earth over the mixture, so as to- 
 form a round hill, about a toot broad at the 
 top. 
 
 14 When you rhills are all prepared as above, 
 plant in each, towards the centre, eight or 
 nine grains of good melon seed, distant twa 
 inches from one another, and cover them a* 
 bout half an inch deep. 
 
 " When the plants are up, and in a state of 
 forwardness, producing their rough leaves, 
 they must be thinned to two or three in each 
 hill ; the extra number in some may serve to 
 fill up defrciences in others. Draw earth 
 from time to time around the bills, and as 
 high about the roots of the plants as the seed 
 leaves ; after which, keep the ground, by 
 frequent hoeings, perfectly free from weeds. n 
 
 It sometimes happens, after we have taken 
 the utmost pains, and our vines for a while 
 look flourishing and healthy, that they cease 
 to grow, then droop, turn yellow, and die. 
 Upon pulling up the diseased plant, we find 
 the root, and often the lower part of the 
 stalk, perforated with a number of white 
 
MAY. IIS 
 
 worms, similar to those which infest and de- 
 stroy the radish. To prevent this misfor- 
 tune, for there is no cure, take the rubbish 
 of old buildings — I mean the lime mortar 
 found between the bricks and stones when 
 old houses are taken down — let this be inti- 
 mately mixed with the earth in which the 
 seeds are sown, and sow the whole planta- 
 tion broadcast with sea salt, at the rate of a 
 pint to every rod square. Or, what is per^ 
 haps a more effectual preventive against these 
 subterraneous enemies, take a bushel of dry 
 virgin earth from the woods ; lay it upon the 
 surface of the ground, in the place intended 
 for a hill ; then with a hoe draw the neigh- 
 bouring dirt around, not over it ; make the 
 top of the hill flat, or a little dishing, and here 
 in the new ground, plant the seed as above 
 directed. 
 
 In the choice of melon seed be extremely 
 careful ; for the whole success of your labour 
 depends upon it. You should annually ex- 
 change your seeds, and not continue to save 
 and plant the same for several years in the 
 same ground, for they will certainly degene- 
 rate. Purchase your seed, therefore, from a 
 distance, and if possible, from the south. As 
 a general rule, the largest variety of melons 
 are the least valuable ; select your seed, 
 therefore, from the smallest kinds ; for these* 
 other things equal- are the highest flavoured 
 
 K2 
 
114 MAY. 
 
 and will best reward the extraordinary care 
 necessary in their cultivation. 
 
 The dwarf water melon has seeds resem- 
 bling those of an apple, will ripen in any 
 part of this state, and is a most delicious fruit ; 
 and among the many varieties of the musk* 
 melon, the small Canteloup, and round Nut* 
 meg, merit particular notice. 
 
 If the weather should be dry before the 
 vines have covered the ground, pulverize the 
 earth, and repeat trie hoeings ; but never at- 
 tempt to water them, for although you might 
 augment the quantity, it would be certain to 
 deteriorate the quality of the fruit. 
 
 THE SQUASH 
 
 is another valuable branch of the gourd fami- 
 ly, and has many ramifications. 
 
 They are usually divided into summer and 
 winter squashes. The former are used only 
 in the unripe state, and should be plucked 
 from the vine every day, as wanted, before, 
 or soon after they have attained their full 
 size, and while the thumb nail will easily en- 
 ter the rind ; otherwise they soon become 
 hard, dry, and useless. 
 
 The golden squash is an excellent variety 
 of this kind, and is welcomed in every kitch- 
 en. If the fruit is carefully picked offin sea- 
 son, the vines will flourish, and continue to 
 bear, until destroyed by frost. A few only 
 of the first should be preserved for seed ; for; 
 
mav* 1 1 5 
 
 if you permit many to ripen, the plants are 
 soon exhausted, and the golden shower 
 ceases. 
 
 The winter squashes should never be gath- 
 ered until some time after the frost has killed 
 the vines. Before winter, however, a supply 
 for the family, of the ripest and fairest should 
 be selected and stowed away with chaff, or 
 fine straw, and kept in some dry place, as cold 
 as possible and not freeze ; while the remain- 
 der are fed to the cows. 
 
 To this class belongs the small Dutch 
 squash. It is a great bearer, yet never runs 
 to vine. The fruit is solid and rich, and 
 will keep well till new-year. 
 
 The acorn-squash is another of the winter 
 variety, and the most rampant of the tribe. 
 From a single plant, more than five hundred 
 feet of vine will sometimes proceed. The 
 fruit is large, has a fine yellow meat, and is 
 remarkably heavy, and fuil of seeds. It may 
 be kept a long time, and makes the best of 
 pies. 
 
 THE PUMPKIN 
 
 is a near relative of the squash, and from it*, 
 great propensity to intermarry with all the 
 varieties of that tribe, must never be planted 
 in the garden ; but should be consigned to the 
 field, where, between the ranks of Indian corn, 
 it will often produce an abundant harvest 
 with little expense ; for both the pumpkin 
 
118 MAY. 
 
 and squash are less niee with regard to soil, 
 than the cucumber and melon, and will flou- 
 rish in any good ground , well wrought. 
 
 THE CALABASH, or GOURD, 
 
 is another variety of the cucurbata family. 
 There are several large and small kinds of 
 this plant ; all cultivated for their shells alone, 
 which are much used in the kitchen, for dip- 
 pers, &c. The plants should be forwarded 
 like the early cucumber, and afterwards re- 
 moved to a warm, rich border, where they 
 can be furnished with a grate, or other suita- 
 ble support, 
 
 MUSTARD 
 
 will grow in any good soil, and with little la- 
 bour. When the ground is well ploughed, 
 level the surface, and sow the seed broad- 
 cast, and rake it in. When the plants are a 
 few inches high, thin them so as to stand about 
 six inches apart, and destroy the weeds with 
 a hoe ; for, like every thing else, if they are 
 left too thick, they draw up weak, and the 
 seeds are never so large or good. If the 
 weeds should grow again before the plants 
 have strength to bear them down, they must 
 be hoed a second time ; after which they will 
 require no further care, until the seeds are 
 ripe. 
 
 In many gardens mustard is raised as a 
 substitute for spinach. The tops of the plant* 
 
MAY. 117 
 
 are then cut off, before they flower or run to 
 seed, and make an excellent green. 
 
 I am, fyc. 
 
 P. AGR1COLA. 
 
JUNE. 
 
 My Dear Son, 
 
 In* the philosophic schools of antiquity, 
 some of the great masters assembled their 
 pupils in a garden, and there unfolded to 
 them the arcana of nature. And where 
 could they have selected a spot, better cal- 
 culated for the purpose of impressing upon 
 the youthful mind the lessons of wisdom, while 
 their bodies were invigorated by exercise, 
 and their senses regaled with beauty and 
 with fragrance. It is not only the laws of 
 vegetable life, which are here successfully 
 taught, but entomology, or the science of in- 
 sects, is a study no where pursued with more 
 advantage, than in the umbrageous walks of a 
 garden. Many tribes of these creatures here 
 have their birth-place and their food. Their 
 wants and appetites are like our own ; they 
 grow, and delight to feed upon those very 
 plants we cultivate for our own food ; and 
 unless wc can destroy them, or divert their at- 
 tention, the whole crop is often devoured. 
 
 It is therefore the peculiar interest of the 
 farmer to study attentively the nature of 
 these animals. He should learn, if possible. 
 
120 JUNE. 
 
 the time and place of their hatching ; know 
 at what season they are most voracious, and 
 when they usually retire, or change their 
 state, 
 
 I shall not detain you with a technical clas- 
 sification of these insects, for I know of no 
 practical benefit you couid derive from it : nor 
 shall I turn over the pages of Linnaeus, to dis- 
 cover by what appellation he has distinguish- 
 ed European insects, that bear some resem- 
 blance to ours. Their common name, with 
 such description as may enable you to know 
 them at sight, is all that a gardener requires. 
 
 Insects are usually divided, by naturalists, 
 into two kinds : those which are immediately 
 or remotely beneficial or injurious to man- 
 kind. But I can see no justice or propriety 
 in this distinction. Like all other classes of 
 animals, there may be some among them that 
 are occasionally hurtful to some of us ; but I 
 cannot think of a single tribe which do not, 
 directly or indirectly, contribute to the wants 
 or luxuries of man. 
 
 It is true, the depredation of insects upon 
 vegetable bodies are often detrimental ; but 
 it should be remembered that in these rava- 
 ges, they usually repay the injuries they 
 commit. 
 
 The locusts, the most destructive of all in- 
 sects, are not unproductive of advantage. Al- 
 though, like the ox, they deprive man of a 
 certain portion of his vegetable food, yet, in 
 
JUXL. 121 
 
 return, their bodies afford nutriment of a salu- 
 tary and palatable kind. Travellers affirm, 
 that the various species of locusts are the 
 common food on which the inhabitants of 
 many parts of the world subsist at particular 
 seasons, and that in all the towns upon the 
 Levant, they are salted, and constantly expo- 
 sed to sale as provisions, like Scotch herring 
 in our groceries. 
 
 The grasshoppers, by far the most vora- 
 cious of all the insects of this country, are 
 seldom so numerous as to injure our crops. 
 In many years we should rejoice if they were 
 more plenty, for although we do not feed di- 
 rectly upon them, as the inhabitants of the 
 east do upon the locusts, yet our poultry do. 
 The grasshopper, and other insects, appear 
 to be their natural and favourite food ; they 
 hunt them without intermission, seize them 
 with avidity, and riot and fatten upon their 
 flesh. And in this indirect way, are brought 
 upon our tables, and furnish a luxurious feast. 
 
 The Hessian fly, which, thirty years ago, 
 despoiled our wheat fields, and threatened to 
 be the u minister of famine" has, in the event, 
 added much to the produce and riches of the 
 state. By them we were taught the great 
 advantage of changing seed, and the benefits 
 of an improved method of. tillage. And in 
 addition to this, during the scarcity, or tempo- 
 rary absence of the wheaten loaf, we have 
 discovered in the buckwheat cake, more than 
 
 L 
 
122 JUNE. 
 
 a substitute ; for it still continues to keep its 
 place upon our tables for several months in 
 the year, although the cause that introduced 
 it has long since disappeared. And those 
 parasitical insects that fret and goad the hu- 
 man skin, are evidently intended by the wise 
 Author of our nature, to teach the salutary 
 virtues of care and cleanliness, or punish us 
 for the neglect. And if we divest ourselves 
 of prejudice, and go into the garden, we shalL 
 find very few of the insects which inhabit 
 there, which were not designed by Him who 
 "planted" the first garden, for beneficial pur- 
 poses. The common earth-worm stirs up 
 and loosens the soil, and thus enables the fee- 
 ble roots of young plants to pass freely in 
 their quest of food. The various species of 
 grubs teach us the advantage of ridging, and 
 exposing our lands to the winter's frost ; — 
 while a thousand other insects are constant- 
 ly employed in the business of fructification. 
 Some carefully watch the opening of the flow- 
 er buds, that they may convey the fertilizing 
 pollen of one to the other ; some move inces- 
 santly their silken fingers across the swelling 
 stigma, excite their loves, and " replenish the 
 earth," while others collect the wax, and su- 
 perfluous nectar, and store them for our use. 
 
 Great and numerous as the benefits are 
 which we derive from this class of animals, it 
 will not be contended but that their number 
 sometimes exceeds their usual bounds, whef; 
 
JUNE. 1*3 
 
 we feel more or less inconvenience. But it 
 more frequently happens that the evils we 
 experience trom insects, originate from oui 
 own folly or negligence ; evils which skill and 
 vigilance would most certainly prevent ; for 
 instance, the various grubs and wire worms 
 are the offspring of grasshoppers, and othei 
 winged parents. These deposit their larvae 
 in grass ground, where the young ones feed 
 upon the roots, as the old ones had done upon 
 the blades. Whenever, therefore, you break 
 up sward land for a spring crop, remember 
 these subterraneous feeders. As you have 
 destroyed their natural stores, they must now 
 feed upon your plants or perish. Fall plough- 
 ing will do much towards lessening their num- 
 bers 5 but h some instances, enough will es- 
 cape to injure materially, the sprouts of In- 
 dian corn and many other plants in your gar- 
 den ; but 1 never knew them hurt potatoes, 
 beets or carrots, or do much damage to a crop 
 of oats. Whenever you have reason to fear 
 these insects in your flax ground or garden, 
 sow the land with fine salt, broadcast, at the 
 rate of two bushels to the acre. This will 
 effectually destroy them, and as a manure, 
 will more than repay the cost. 
 
 The melon-bug is another insect with which 
 I would wish you to be particularly acquain- 
 ted ; for the intelligent gardener never suf- 
 fers the least inconvenience from them. This 
 bug is about the size and shape of a grain of 
 
124 JUNE. 
 
 wheat. From the neck backward, it is neatly 
 covered with an oval shining case or shell ; 
 this is divided longitudinally into two parts, 
 and the same way, alternately striped with 
 black and yellow, and are fastened with a 
 hinge, near the lower part of the neck, just so 
 as to shade the thorax. When the insect 
 attempts to fly, this shell divides, and stands 
 erect at right angles with the body. Imme- 
 diately under, there is a pair of large, dark 
 gauze wings, which are expanded with reluc- 
 tance, and never used but in cases of absolute 
 necessity. These wings are three times as 
 large as the external tunic, yet when the ani- 
 mal alights, they are instantly folded, and 
 nicely secured from injury, and from sight. 
 
 The head of this insect is short and black ; 
 the antennae, which originate between the 
 eyes, are of the same colour, long and curv- 
 ed at the extremities. The neck is yellow. 
 It has three pair of legs, or rather two pair of 
 legs, and one of arms. The thighs, or upper 
 extremities, with the legs, are of a light yel- 
 low, while the knees and feet are of a shining ' 
 black, like the thorax and abdomen. The 
 back, or upper part of the body, is transverse- 
 ly striped with black and yellow. 
 
 The gourd family, with all its varieties, is 
 the peculiar food of these animals. Melons, 
 pumpkins, cucumbers, &c. all alike suffer 
 from their attack. They seldom make their 
 appearance until the middle of May, when 
 
JUNfc. 1-25 
 
 they ate extremely voracious. Their hunger 
 sometimes continues until the solstice, when 
 their appetites and numbers decline. From 
 this time all their injury ceases, and they even 
 seem desirous of repaying any damage they 
 may have occasioned, by assiduously passing 
 from one flower to another, conveying at eve- 
 ry visit, the prolific pollen. All this class of 
 plants, (cucurbita) produce the male and fe- 
 male flowers distinct, and on different parts 
 of the vine, and as they secrete no honey, 
 bees and other insects might neglect to per- 
 form this necessary work ; for honey is evi- 
 dently a vegetable secretion, of little or no 
 use to the plant from whence it is formed ; 
 but being emitted by flowers at this time, 
 serves to allure, and to reward insects for this 
 important service. The gaudy painting, and 
 odoriferous fragrance of flowers, are also the 
 means of promoting and securing the com- 
 pletion of the same indispensable object. 
 
 The sagacity of the melon-bug in provid- 
 ing foi its own personal safety, is exceeded 
 by no other animal. While feeding upon 
 our young and favorite plants, they even 
 seem to foresee and expect danger ; for in 
 the morning, when the watchful gardener is 
 seen coming to punish their depredations, they 
 instantly quit their repast, and with all possi- 
 ble haste bury themselves in the earth, or 
 hide beneath some clod or stone. If they 
 have not time for this, they throw themselves 
 
 L2 
 
126 JUNE. 
 
 upon their backs, and in this way conceal their 
 shining envelope, and endeavour to deceive 
 or evade our sight, by appearing like the 
 ground upon which they lie. Here they con- 
 tinue without motion, and apparently lifeless, 
 until all danger is past, But if they are dis- 
 turbed after the sun has dried up the dew, 
 and gave pliancy to their limbs, it is only the 
 most feeble that have recourse to this strata- 
 gem. The strongest amongst them unfold 
 their armour, expand their wings, and in a 
 moment are out of sight. 
 
 They always deposit their larvae in the vi- 
 cinity of their favorite plants. Of course 
 their numbers multiply annually, while you 
 continue to plant their vines upon the same 
 ground. Their destructive teeth are confined 
 to the seed leaf only. As soon as the centre 
 or rough leaf expands, their injury ceases, and 
 they seek to supply their wants with younger 
 plants. 
 
 From this account of the insect, I think you 
 will easily suggest effectual means to prevent 
 all the mischief in their power to do. The 
 numerous recipes which are every day pub- 
 lished for this object, only serve to mislead 
 and deceive. One extols the virtues of el- 
 der leaves, another affirms that snuff or sul- 
 phur will affright them all from the garden, 
 while a third advises to catch them with a 
 woollen net. But this is all mere quackery, 
 and mu8t end in disappointment. If you 
 
JUNE* 127 
 
 have it in your power to select for these 
 plants a new spot of ground every year, that 
 alone will save them from the ravages of this 
 insect, and they will come only as friends at 
 the time of flowering. Or, if you plant after 
 the 20th of this month, the feeding season of 
 the insect will be past before your plants are 
 Xjp, and they will not interrupt you any where. 
 But if you are desirous of having fruit from 
 these plants as early as the weather will per- 
 mit, and yet cannot conveniently change the 
 situation, you may certainly avoid all injury 
 from these insects, by sowing the adjoining 
 ground with seed in abundance. This 
 profuse seeding should be done at the 
 time of planting, and at later periods, that 
 the insect may always find young and juicy 
 leaves whereon to feed. It matters but lit- 
 tle what kind of seed you make use of for this 
 purpose. They are indifferently fond of the 
 whole gourd family ; or if they have any pre- 
 ference, it is for the acorn squash, which has 
 a very large and succulent seed leaf. If you 
 plant liberally of these seeds, near your cu- 
 cumbers and melons, the insect will accept 
 the bribe, and spare the choicer plants. But 
 if these precautions are neglected, and your 
 plants are attacked by the insects as soon as 
 they appear above ground, take dry ashes, and 
 bury them half an inch deep ; this will not 
 impede their growth, but will effectually pro- 
 tect them for several day*. 
 
128 JUNE. 
 
 Of all the insegt tribes that infest or frequent 
 our fields or gardens, the turnip-fly is the most 
 mischievous. This is a small animal, of a 
 dark colour, and much resembles the common 
 flea, and like them, hops or jumps, whenever 
 it moves. This insect delights to feed upon 
 all the varieties of the cabbage family. It is 
 best pleased with this plant when in its coty- 
 ledon leaf; but in the absence of other food, 
 will devour the plant at any age. It appears 
 very early in the spring, which has led some 
 persons to suppose that it is the same insect 
 which we often see hopping upon the snow, 
 in the coldest part of the winter. They usu- 
 ally continue to feed with avidity, until Au- 
 gust, and during all this time their gluttony 
 is without bounds ; for they require daily, of 
 green vegetables, a quantity much greater 
 than that of their whole body. But notwith- 
 standing their insatiable appetites, there are 
 not many years when their numbers are so 
 great as to be materially injurious to the vi- 
 gilant and skilful gardener ; and it is equally 
 true, there are not many years when they are 
 not injurious to the garden where these vir- 
 tues are wanting. The young farmer who 
 has not been suitably instructed, early in the 
 spring finds all his cabbage plants destroyed ; 
 with much inconvenience he then procures 
 some from his more skilful neighbour, and sets 
 them out, elate with hope ; but the fell de- 
 stroyer is always near ; the hungry insect 
 
JtJKE. 129 
 
 marks them for his own, and while the plants 
 are suffering under the injury of removal, the 
 leaves are bored through with a thousand 
 holes, and straightway all their health and 
 beauty fades. It is in vain he sprinkles them 
 with lime or ashes, or drives them off with 
 elder leaves ; they prey upon the under side 
 of the leaf, where the ashes do not come, and 
 although frequently disturbed and affrighted 
 with the elder bush, they as often return, un- 
 til the plants, exhausted with their wounds, 
 shrivel and perish altogether. 
 
 These are incidents which the experienced 
 gardener expects ; he is prepared for them, 
 and meets them with success. First, his cab- 
 bage seed is sown upon new ground, just 
 burnt over, or in some vessel, raised from 
 the earth, above the flight of these insects; 
 in either of these ways he is sure to have 
 plants in abundance. In the next place he 
 takes care that his cabbage plantation is rich, 
 that the soil is intimately mixed with the ma- 
 nure, and at the time of setting the plants, he 
 sows the whole, broadcast and thick, with 
 cabbage, turnip, radish, or any other seed of 
 that family. When they come up and show 
 their seed leaf, they are more sweet, tender 
 and palatable to these feeders, and the larger 
 plants obtain, by that means, a respite. Be- 
 sides all this, you ought so set in every hill, 
 one or two extra plants, and if they are not 
 destroyed after three or four weeks, and be- 
 
130 JUNE. 
 
 fore they crowd each other, take out those 
 that appear the least promising. 
 
 Sometimes the roots of cabbage swell into 
 numerous knotty tubercles, which impoverish 
 the tops of the plants, and prevent their head- 
 ing. This is caused by worms, hatched in 
 those places ; and there is no mode of de- 
 stroying them without destroying the plants, 
 which you had better do, for they can never 
 be good for any thing. But although this 
 misfortune can never be cured, it may very 
 certainly be prevented, by changing annually 
 your cabbage plantation ; for these stubborn, 
 foes never appear where some of the cabbage 
 family have not grown the preceding year. 
 
 Sometimes a myriad of green parasites or 
 lice, spread over many of your plants while 
 the heads are forming. This is occasioned 
 by their slow growth, and is to be prevented 
 by every thing that accelerates or hastens 
 their progress. If, notwithstanding, some of 
 your plants should be over-run with these 
 vermin, pull them up. It is better to lose 
 them entirely, than to run the risk of their 
 spreading over your whole plantation. 
 
 The grub and cut worm are also very de- 
 structive enemies to the cabbage plant when 
 first removed from the seed bed. They com- 
 mit all their depredations in the night, when 
 they creep out of their subterraneous lodg- 
 ings, and having found your plants, cut them 
 off as with a scythe. In the morning they 
 
JUNE. 131 
 
 may be found, nfcar where the plant stood, 
 just buried beneath the surface of the ground. 
 They suould be early pursued, and every one 
 put to death ; and as their number is never 
 great, this and frequent hoeing will soon put 
 an end to their ravages. 
 
 The pea-bug is another troublesome insect, 
 with which you ought to be intimately ac- 
 quainted. It is the progeny of a small fly, 
 metamorphosed from the bug, planted in the 
 pea. These flies are astonishingly prolific, 
 and carefully deposit their eggs in the young 
 globules, by perforations through the green 
 and tender pods. The wounds occasioned 
 by these punctures arc visible after the pods 
 have attained their full size. Before the 
 pea ripens, the insect hatches and acquires 
 its crysal slate ; it is then converted into a 
 dirt-coloured, active bug, and in that and its 
 previous state, feeds upon the cotyledon, or 
 substance of the grain. Here they are en- 
 tombed, unable to remove the hard external 
 covering of the pea, until planted, or other- 
 wise warmed and moistened ; they then burst 
 their natal prison, and become an aerial in- 
 habitant. Here they find their mates, and 
 by the time the pods and young peas are form- 
 ed, they have become pregnant, and are now 
 waiting for their only place of deposit ; for it 
 is not known that their larvae will hatch, or 
 that they can propagate in any other place ; 
 for they are never seen in anv district of 
 
1 32 JUNE. 
 
 country newly cleared, or in any other where- 
 the pea is not cultivated. Although a very 
 large portion of the pea is destroyed and oc- 
 cupied by these bugs, yet many of them will 
 germinate, and produce healthy stalks. But 
 you should be extremely cautious never to 
 plant or sow any that contain this internal 
 enemy ; and indeed if your unwise neigh- 
 bours do so, you will be sure to share with 
 them the misfortune. 
 
 The true method to avoid their depreda- 
 tions is to plant none but the best of seed, 
 and let that be done as early as the season 
 will permit. Peas always succeed best when 
 sown early ; but if you plant good seed as 
 late as June, before the pods are grown, the 
 parent fly will be extinct, and the small crop 
 you may raise will not contain the insect. 
 
 It is natural for these insects, like many 
 others, to remain dormant through the win- 
 ter. At the returning warmth of spring, they 
 wake, and must be liberated, or they perish. 
 This fact may suggest to you an effectual me- 
 thod of destroying the whole race. Let us 
 agree never to use peas for seed until they 
 are at least two years old, and this bug must 
 disappear; for in truth we plant and raise 
 them from the seed, and then complain of the 
 crop. So Cadmus sowed his field with ser- 
 pents' teeth, and raised from thence a host of 
 armed foes. 
 
 There is another insect resembling the 
 
JUNEc 133 
 
 pea-bug in several particulars, to which I 
 would wish to draw your attention. It is not 
 many years since the plum trees in this 
 country were healthy and flourishing, and 
 the fruit universally rich and delicate. The 
 best of peaches we never could raise, but the 
 variety and excellence of our plums were 
 unrivalled, and we fondly imagined that our 
 climate and soil were peculiarly suited to this 
 species of fruit. But of late our plum trees 
 have declined ; the canker, as it is called, 
 has overspread, and nearly destroyed the 
 whole. 
 
 This misfortune gradually approached us 
 from the south, where we heard of its de- 
 structive effects long before we saw it in our 
 own trees. At the period above referred to, 
 this country produced the pea in the greatest 
 abundance, and of a superior quality, and it 
 has been remarked, that the bug so fatal to 
 them migrated to us from the same quarter, 
 and about the same time with the disorder in 
 our plum trees ; and if the knotty excre- 
 scences of the latter are examined while in 
 their green and recent state, they will each 
 of them be found to inclose an embryo chry- 
 salis, in every respect similar to that which 
 the impregnated pea contains. This insect 
 wounds, and feeds upon the alburnum of the 
 tree, and by a spontaneous effort of nature, 
 an extra quantity of woody matter is then 
 thrown out. to heal the injury ; so when ani- 
 
 M 
 
134 JUNE, 
 
 mal bodies are wounded, new vessels are di- 
 iectly formed, and fungus flesh springs up to 
 heal, and restore the continuity of the parts. 
 As the insect grows, the nibbling and irrita- 
 tion increases, until at length all the energies 
 of the tree are here expended. And when 
 the feeding state of the animalcula is past, it 
 makes a hole through this spongy matter, 
 takes to itself wings, and escapes. The irri- 
 tation then ceases, and the cankerous secre- 
 tion dies, and hardens with the sun 5 but so 
 numerous are these attacks, that the vitality 
 of the tree is enfeebled, and all its energies 
 wasted. Many of the branches are quite 
 surrounded with these dry excrescences, and 
 all communication from the trunk to the ex- 
 tremities entirely cut off. Meanwhile the 
 insect, having arrived to its ultimate state, 
 prepares for the continuation of its species, 
 and again deposits its eggs, through the ten- 
 der bark of the remaining live shoots; where 
 they rest until the warmth of the next spring 
 calls them into life. These places then begin 
 to swell, and new warts are produced ; so 
 that in this way, two or three years only are 
 sufficient to destroy every tree in the neigh- 
 bourhood. 
 
 All the varieties of the plum are more or 
 less affected by them, and the black cherries 
 are equally liable to their attack ; but the 
 red cherry, although standing near the other, 
 escapes unhurt. So beans, of all kinds, and 
 
june. 13a 
 
 some of the large varieties of the pea, are ex- 
 empt from the bug. 
 
 It may be difficult to assign a satisfactory 
 reason for this discrimination. Our progress 
 in the science of insects is yet too limited *, 
 but, being apprised of the fact, we should re- 
 gilate our concerns accordingly. The cause 
 may lie in the special appetency or organi- 
 zation of the parent, or perhaps other trees 
 will not give life to their eggs, although de- 
 posited in them. We know every vegetable 
 has its local and appropriate insect, to which 
 it gives food or nidus, and that those diminu- 
 tive beings, guided by the unerring laws of 
 instinct, perform operations truly surprising. 
 
 The study of entomology is principally 
 useful, as it discovers the habits of insects, 
 and leads to a practical method of avoiding 
 the injuries which they so often occasion ; 
 and in the case before us, experience has 
 furnished ample means of defence. It is only 
 necessary that its precautions should be every 
 where attended to, and those troublesome 
 visitors would disappear at once. 
 
 First, examine with the utmost care all 
 your plum and black cherry trees. If you 
 tind only a few of these protuberances scat- 
 tered about the limbs, dissect them off. Am- 
 putation is the only possible remedy to save 
 the residue, and this should be done before 
 the warts become blackened, for then the flv 
 
136 JUNE. 
 
 has escaped, and will most certainly puncture 
 your trees again. 
 
 But if you find the affection has become 
 general, and that the animal has got posses- 
 sion of the important branches, cut down the 
 tree without delay, and supply its place with 
 another. Let no hope of having a little 
 more fruit prompt you to spare a tree thus 
 circumstanced, or to save a limb upon which 
 one of these knots are fastened ; for remember 
 that each of them contains a worm, which in 
 a few days will change into a fly, and in that 
 state may sting your trees in a thousand pla- 
 ces, from whence, in another year, will issue 
 as many enemies, armed with the power of 
 inflicting a mortal wound upon ail your fa- 
 vourite trees. In this warfare you must en- 
 list your neighbours ; explain to them your 
 mutual danger, and show them the necessity 
 of uniting against the common foe ; this done, 
 your means of defence are easy, and your 
 triumph certain. 
 
 There is another insect, equally fatal to the 
 plum, and all the varieties of smooth skinned 
 stone fruit. This insect resembles the one 
 last noticed, in several particulars. It injures 
 and destroys the fruit, as the other does the 
 tree, by its mode of propagation ; and like 
 them is found only in districts which have 
 been long cultivated. Early in the spring, 
 as soon as the returning warmth gives life to 
 the trees, these destroyers creep from the 
 
JUNE. 137 
 
 ground about their roots, crawl up their 
 trunks, and spread themselves about the 
 branches, ready for the work of destruction. 
 As the fruit advances, they puncture the rind 
 with their pointed rostra, and deposit their 
 eggs in the wounds thus made. This nit soon 
 becomes a worm, and begins to feed upon 
 the recent pulp, until, in most cases, the fruit 
 dies and falls off. The insect then, no lon- 
 ger in want of food, gnaws its way through 
 the skin, and migrates to the earth, where it 
 remains in the form of a grub during winter, 
 ready to be changed into a bug, as the season 
 advances. Thus every tree furnishes tenants 
 sufficient to devour its own fruit. Fortunate- 
 ly, however, the devastation of this enemy is 
 prevented by a practice, in itself greatly use- 
 ful to the trees. Remove the earth to the 
 depth of three or four inches around every 
 tree, and as far from the trunks as the branch- 
 es extend ; cover the ground thus excava- 
 ted with house ashes op slacked lime, and fill 
 the cavity with pounded slate, or coarse gra- 
 vel. Let the whole be beat down smooth 
 and level, or rather a little dishing, that the 
 rain may descend towards the trees. 
 
 Dr. Hilton, in a very judicious treatise up- 
 on this subject, remarks, 
 
 " There is no surer protection against this 
 insect, (curculio) than a pavement; this how- 
 ever is only applicable to a few trees. It 
 may serve in town, but will not answer m 
 
 M2 
 
13* JONE. 
 
 the country : flat stones may however be pla- 
 ced round the tree, and where lime is at 
 hand, they may be cemented." 
 
 " Many other expedients, such as smoak- 
 ing, brushing, watering, &c. may be success- 
 fully employed for the protection of a favour- 
 ite tree or two, but it is manifest, from the 
 preceding history, that a right disposition of 
 stock, especially hogs, among the fruit trees, 
 can only be relied upon by a farmer with 
 orchards of considerable extent. And that 
 the stock, poultry, &c. may perform the task 
 assigned them, it is evident that a proper dis- 
 position of fruit trees is essentially, necessa- 
 iy.» 
 
 As the smooth stone fruits are the grand 
 nurseries of the curculio, special care should 
 be taken to have them effectually protected. 
 Unless this can be done, a farmer should not 
 suifer them to grow on his plantation. He 
 will derive no benefit from them, and they 
 will furnish a destructive vermin that will 
 ruin his other fruit. Cherry trees, necta- 
 rines, plumbs, apricots, &c. should therefore 
 be planted in lanes and hard beaten yards, or 
 paved yards, the common highway of all the 
 stuck of the farm, and not beyond the range 
 of the ordinary domestic fowls. Orchards of 
 Apple trees, pear trees, peach trees, &c. 
 should all be in one enclosure. The pear 
 trees and peach trees, may occupy corners 
 of the whole design, so as occasionally to be 
 
JUNE. J 39 
 
 fenced off. In large orchards, care should 
 be taken that the stock of hogs is sufficient 
 to eat up all the early fruit which fall, from 
 May until August. This precaution will be 
 more especially necessary in large peach or- 
 chards, for otherwise, when the hogs become 
 cloyed with the pulp of the peach, they will let 
 it fall out of their mouths, and content them- 
 selves with the kernel, which they like bet- 
 ter ; and thus the curculio escaping from 
 their jaws, may hide under ground until next 
 spring. Solitary trees of one fruit or anoth- 
 er remote from the orchard, should be re- 
 garded as nurseries of the curculio, and ought 
 to be cut down or removed to the common 
 enclosure. A young orchard should not be 
 planted in the place of, or adjacent to, an 
 old one, that it may not be immediately in- 
 fested with the curculio. 
 
 It is also apparent from what has been said, 
 that great advantages might result from an 
 association or combination of the whole neigh- 
 borhood against the common enemy. Al- 
 though an intelligent farmer may accomplish 
 much, by due care within his own territory, 
 the total extermination of the curculio can 
 hardly be expected, but by the concurrent 
 efForts of whole districts. 
 
 In addition to this, the peach tree of late 
 has been attacked by another of the insect 
 tribe, which seems to threaten universal ruin. 
 
 In the transactions of the American Philo 
 
140 JUNE. 
 
 sophical Society, Mr. Ellis, of New-Jersey t 
 with great judgment, has explained the na- 
 ture of the insect, and pointed out a cheap 
 and effectual preventive against their rava- 
 ges. His remarks merit attention, and I shall 
 extract them for your use. 
 
 " The decay of peach trees is owing to a 
 worm, which originates from a large fly, that 
 resembles the common wasp ; this fly perfo- 
 rates the bark, and deposits an egg in the 
 moist or sappy part of it. The most com- 
 mon place of perforation is at the surface of 
 the earth ; and as soon as the worm is able 
 to move, it descends into the earth, probably 
 from an instinctive effort to avoid the winter's 
 frost. This may be ascertained by observa- 
 tion; the tract of the worm from the seat of 
 the egg being visible at its beginning, and 
 gradually increasing in correspondence with 
 the increasing size of the worm, its course is 
 always downward. The progress of the 
 young worm is extremely slow ; and if the 
 egg is deposited at any considerable distance 
 above the surface of the earth, it is long be- 
 fore the worm reaches the ground. The 
 worms are unable to bear the cold of winter, 
 unless covered by the earth, and all that are 
 above ground after frost are killed. 
 
 " By this history of the origin, progress 
 and nature of the insect, we can explain the 
 effects of my method, which is as follows : — 
 Jn the spring, when the blossoms are out, 
 
JUNE. 141 
 
 olear away the dirt so as to expose the roots 
 of the tree, to the depth of three inches; 
 surround the tree with straw, about three feet 
 long, applied lengthwise, so that it may have a 
 covering one inch thick, which extends to 
 the bottom of the hole, the but-ends of the 
 straw resting upon the ground at the bottom. 
 Bind this straw round the tree with three 
 bands, one near the top, one at the middle, 
 and the third at the surface of the earth ; 
 then till up the hole at the root with earth, 
 and press it closely round the straw. When 
 the white frosts appear, the straw should be 
 removed, and the tree should remain uncov- 
 ered until the blossoms put out in the spring. 
 
 " By this process the fly is prevented from 
 depositing its egg within three feet of the root, 
 and although it may place the egg above that 
 distance, the worm travels so slow that it 
 cannot reach the ground before frost, and 
 therefore is killed before it is able to injure 
 the tree." (For it is in the second year of 
 its existence that it performs its deadly ope- 
 rations.) 
 
 "The truth of the principle is proved by 
 the following fact : I practiced this method 
 with a large number of peach trees, and they 
 flourished remarkably, without any appear- 
 ance of injury from .the worm, for several 
 years. I was then induced to discontinue 
 the straw with about twenty of them. All 
 (hose which are zoithoiit the straw have declin. 
 
142 JUNE. 
 
 ed ; while the others which have had the straw, 
 continue as vigorous as ever." 
 
 Thus you see every species of insects may 
 be considered as subservient to our use, either 
 by directly contributing to our wants, or in- 
 directly, by the advantageous lesson which 
 they teach. 
 
 1 have detained you among the " creeping 
 things" longer, I fear, than you will think it 
 agreeable ; but the importance, if not the 
 magnitude of the subject, seemed to require 
 it. We will now return to our vegetable 
 tenants, and see what more we can do for 
 their prosperity. 
 
 CUCUMBERS 
 
 are the natives of a much warmer climate 
 than ours, yet with a skillful attention may 
 here be cultivated with success. The ground 
 designed for this plant should be warm, and 
 rich, and fully exposed to the sun. The 
 plantation should be made ready as soon as 
 the ground is sufficiently dry. First lay a 
 ridge of old dun^ a foot high, and as long as 
 you please, then with the spade cover it with 
 the adjoining earth ; when it has laid a few 
 days to warm and dry, mix the whole well 
 together, and lay it up again in the same 
 manner. In this way the oftener you can 
 move and mix it, the better. 
 
 The first week in th>s month is as soon as 
 you can plant cucumbers in the open ground 
 
JUNE. 143 
 
 to advantage; and you should continue to 
 plant more or less every two or three days, 
 until the same time in July, 
 
 When the weather appears steadily warm, 
 work over the ridglels, and let the tops be a 
 little flatened. Here strew your seeds with 
 a liberal hand, and cover them with light 
 earth, an inch or more deep ; press down the 
 dirt with your hoe, and the work of planting 
 is done. Let the ridges be six feet apart. 
 When the plants are up and have produced 
 their rough leaves, take out the weakest 
 of them, and draw fine earth from time to 
 time around the stem of the remainder, as 
 high as the seed leaves. 
 
 The superfluous plants must on no account 
 be permitted to crowd, or even to touch each 
 other, before they lie down for vining. It is 
 a common error to spare too man) plants. 
 One good plant for every yard square, is 
 amply sufficient, two or three may be left 
 until they begin to cover the ground, when 
 the poorest should be removed. If your 
 vines are too thick, they will not bear well, 
 and the little they do produce, will be watery 
 and insipid. Great care must be taken that 
 weeds live no where in the vicinity of cu- 
 cumbers, for they want all the air, all the 
 sun, and all the moisture and enriching quali- 
 ties of the soil, exclusively to themselves. 
 
 When the plants have got the second 
 rough leaf they should be topped, as it is 
 
144 JUNE. 
 
 technically called. This operation consists 
 in pinching off the runner bud or eye, when 
 the end of the shoot is not larger than a pea. 
 By this simple process a stronger and more 
 compact growth is promoted, and the emis- 
 sion of fruitful lateral runners is increased. 
 When your first vines are very luxuriant, 
 and have already obtained several joints, 
 without shewing the embryo iruit, let them 
 be again topped; by this means you will 
 cause them to bear earlier, and more abun- 
 dantly. 
 
 Take care to use good seed; that which is 
 three or four years old, should be preferred, 
 for the vines will run less, and bear more. 
 
 There are many varieties of this plant, and 
 if you would raise them unmixed, they must 
 not grow near together. The bees, the me- 
 lon bug, and other insects, will convey the 
 pollen, and you will have a bastard progeny. 
 I would advise, when you have a kind that 
 you approve, to preserve the seed, and af- 
 terwards plant no other. The small, prickly 
 green cucumber, is on the whole, the best 
 for kitchen use ; it bears plentifully, and if 
 planted at different times, will furnish your 
 table with a succession of green fruit from 
 the middle of July, until the autumnal frost, 
 and if taken off when small, they make the 
 best of pickles. 
 
 N. B. Cucumbers never require watering ; 
 If the ground and weather is dry, hoe fre- 
 
JUNE. H£ 
 
 quently and make the earth fine about the 
 hills. 
 
 ONIONS, 
 
 yet in their infancy, require repeated nurs- 
 ing. Take your small sharp hoe, and stir the 
 ground between the rows, as near the plants 
 as possible. Then with a table fork, loosen 
 the remainder of the soil, and with the hand 
 pull out every weed. if the onions stand 
 too thick, reduce the number without delay, 
 before they crowd and embarrass each other. 
 Too many plants are as fatal to a good crop 
 as weeds, and the skilful gardener will de- 
 stroy them in season, and without regret. One 
 plant every two inches along the row is quite 
 °nougb, 
 
 BEETS. 
 
 Weed your early sown beets; stir all the 
 ground between the rows ; pull up the super* 
 numerary plants, of which there will be a 
 great many if your seed was good ; spare the 
 strongest. One every six inches along the 
 drill is sufficient. The extra plants make 
 very fine greens, and at this season should 
 be liberally drawn, before they injure the 
 crop. Continue to sow more seed, if you 
 wish a full and abundant supply of this £$> 
 .client vegetable. 
 
146 JUNE* 
 
 " CARROTS and PARSNIPS 
 
 will now be advancing fast in their growth, 
 and should be properly encouraged. Clear 
 them from weeds, and thin them out to due 
 distances. 
 
 " This work may be done either by the 
 hand or hoe ; but, for extensive crops particu- 
 larly, small hoeing is the preferable method, 
 as being the most expeditious, and by loosening 
 the surface of the ground with the hoe, it will 
 greatly promote the free growth of the plants. 
 
 "Whatever method is pur»ued, it will be 
 necessary to free the plants from weeds, and 
 to thin them to proper distances, that they 
 may have full liberty to grow and enlarge 
 their roots. The general crop of carrots 
 should be thinned to about six or seven inch- 
 es, plant from plant, and the parsnips to from 
 eight to ten, in order that each kind should at- 
 tain its utmost perfection. 
 
 u Such crops of carrots, however, as are 
 intended to be drawn gradually for the table 
 while young, need not be thinned at first to 
 more than four or five inches distance, as the 
 frequent pulling up of some for table use, 
 will in a little time afford the others sufficient 
 room to grow large. But the main crop 
 should be thinned at once to the proper dis- 
 tances." 
 
JUNE. 147 
 
 BROOM CORN 
 
 now wants weeding. Take the large hoe, 
 and loosen the ground around the plants ; pull 
 out the small and feeble stalks, until the num- 
 ber does not exceed one in every ten inches 
 along the row. If you have a greater num- 
 ber, the broom will be short and useless in 
 proportion. Draw a little tine dirt around 
 the stalks, and set them upright. This ope- 
 ration should be performed every ten days 
 during the month. 
 
 CABBAGE 
 
 requires frequent hoeing and stirring the 
 ground. If drought prevails, nothing can do 
 away its impoverishing effects like repeated 
 moving and pulverizing the soil, and if show- 
 ers are frequent, the hoe must be used to keep 
 the ground light and yielding. Continue to 
 set out new plants whenever the weather will 
 permit. 
 
 BEANS 
 
 that were planted early, have already four or 
 five leaves. The ground around them should 
 be stirred with the broad hoe, and a little 
 tine earth brought up about the roots ; but 
 remember never to work among beans when 
 wet with dew or rain. 
 
148 jurffi. 
 
 PEPPERS 
 
 demand your notice. Take care that they 
 are not shaded with weeds, and that they do 
 not stand too near, and in that way injure 
 each other. When they attain maturity they 
 have considerable branches. The plants 
 should not stand within ten inches of each 
 other, if you would have large and handsome 
 fruit. 
 
 SWEET CORN 
 
 Wants assistance. When quite small, let all 
 the ground be stirred with the plough or hoe* 
 Eradicate every weed ; turn over every turf, 
 and bring up a little fine earth about the roots 
 of the plants. If the seed planted was all 
 good, you will have too many stalks ; remove 
 the smallest without delay ; four or five are 
 sufficient for each hill. 
 
 LETTUCE 
 
 should be it ansplanted in moist or rainy wea- 
 ther. If done in a dry time, the plants wil! 
 not succeed well. The ground should be 
 fully exposed, not incumbered with trees, or 
 near any kind of shade whatever ; for these 
 plants never form good heads in such situa- 
 tions, but start to seed immediately. 
 
 Dig the ground neatly, and rake the sur- 
 face smooth ; then dibble in the plants in 
 
JUNE. 149 
 
 rows, ten or twelve inches asunder, and the 
 same distance from one another in the rows. 
 
 Such as are intended to remain for heading 
 where sown, should now be thinned to about 
 ten inches distance every way ; and those 
 growing among other crops should not be 
 permitted to stand nearer to each other than 
 three feet, 
 
 GOOSEBERRIES. 
 
 Take care that no grass springs up around 
 them, and let their branches be supported 
 with forked sticks, that the air may have free 
 circulation beneath them ; or the fruit on 
 those limbs will be insipid and good for no- 
 thing. 
 
 POTATOES 
 
 should now be ploughed, and as they advance 
 in growth, the hills should be enlarged, by 
 drawing the earth up around them with the 
 broad hoe. 
 
 / am, fyc. 
 
 P. AGRICOLA. 
 
 N 2 
 
JULY. 
 
 Mtf Dear Son, 
 
 Your garden does not, like your farm* 
 require unremitting labour and attention. At 
 this season, the business of the latter is every 
 day becoming more and more pressing, while 
 that of the former is almost finished, and out 
 of the way. The farm, for some time to 
 come, will need the diligent exertions of all 
 the hands you may have at command ; while 
 the garden will offer its refreshments to cheer 
 and invigorate the family, all engaged in their 
 several important tasks, peculiar to this pe- 
 riod of the year. If you have faithfully at- 
 tended to my previous directions, you will 
 now, without much additional care, feast up- 
 on its bounties. 
 
 Your plants are all advancing with g;reat 
 rapidity ; mind that they do not crowd each 
 other ; destroy the superfluous ones in due 
 season. Better have too few than too many 
 plants. 
 
 SWEET CORN 
 3 hould now be dressed for the last time. The 
 atalks should be set upright, the suckers care- 
 
152 JULY* 
 
 fully l visted off, and the hills raised and fin- 
 ished with the large hoe. 
 
 MELONS and CUCUMBERS 
 
 should now be kept very clean, and the spa- 
 ces between the hills must be carefully hoed 
 in dry weather ; move the vines with care, 
 train them in a proper direction, and stop the 
 ends of those which appear over rampant. 
 Frequently draw tine dirt about their stems, 
 and you will have no use for the watering pot. 
 These plants, to an unskilful observer, often 
 seem to want rain, when in fact all they re- 
 quire is stirring and pulverizing the mould 
 around them. 
 
 If you expect a numerous production of 
 good fruit, you must anticipate their necessi- 
 ties ; for let it be remembered they will bear 
 no neglect. In the " sluggard's garden," the 
 delicious cucumber, and rich flavoured melon 
 are never to be found. Their sweets are re- 
 served exclusively for those who nurse their 
 infancy ; and their bounties are in exact pro- 
 portion to the skill and attention of the gar- 
 dener. 
 
 " Discharge but these kind offices, (and who 
 
 " Would spare, that loves them, offices like these) 
 
 " Well they reward the toil." 
 
 CELERY. 
 
 ■• The plants that have arrived to a sufficient 
 
JULY. 153 
 
 size, should now be finally planted out into 
 trenches. 
 
 " Choose for this purpose a piece of rich 
 ground, in an open exposure ; mark out the 
 trenches by line, ten or twelve inches wide, 
 and allow the space of three feet between 
 trench and trench, which will be sufficient for 
 the early plantation. 
 
 " Dig each trench a moderate spade deep, 
 laying the dug out earth equally on each side 
 between the trenches* Lay three inches 
 deep of very rotten dung in the bottom of each 
 trench ; then pare the sides, and dig the dung 
 and parings with an inch or two of the loose 
 mould at bottom, incorporating all well to- 
 gether, and put in the plants. 
 
 " Previous to planting, trim the tops of the 
 plants, by cutting offthe long stiaggling leaves, 
 and also the ends of the roots, leaving the for- 
 mer about six inches long, and the latter two. 
 
 " Let them be planted with a dibble, in 
 single rows along the middle of each trench, 
 allowing the distance of four or five inches 
 between plant and plant. As soon as plant- 
 ed, give them a plentiful watering, and let 
 them be shaded until they strike root and be- 
 gin to grow. 
 
 " Small sticks may be placed across the 
 trenches, and on these, boards or pine planks 
 laid lengthwise, or pine or cedar boughs 
 may be laid over the plants, which are to be 
 taken off as soon as they begin to grow. 
 
154 JULY. 
 
 " The plants, when grown to the height 
 of eight or ten inches, should have their tirst 
 landing. This must be done in a dry day ; 
 the earth should be broken small, and laid in 
 gently to both sides of the plants, always ta- 
 king care to leave the hearts and tops free ; 
 repeating it every ten or twelve days, till 
 they are blanched of a sufficient length for 
 use. 
 
 " The objects to be attained by this ope* 
 ration are two : — first, to alter the colour of 
 the plant from green to white ; and second, to 
 render it more tender, sweet and succulent, 
 by shutting out light and heat, and prevent- 
 ing dryness, which give it an acrid tart, and 
 render its fibres tough and hard, and even 
 woody." 
 
 TURNIPS. 
 
 Unless your garden contains more than an 
 acre, there will be no room for this plant. 
 The field, for several reasons, is the best 
 place for the growing of turnips. You may 
 occasionally sprinkle some seed upon vacant 
 spaces, or where you have already taken off 
 an early crop, as peas, or magic onions ; but 
 you should look to the field for a general sup- 
 ply of this valuable root. 
 
 In cultivating the turnip upon old ground, 
 you require the assistance of all those farm- 
 ing implements, which can most effectually 
 mix and pulverize the soil. Upon new land, 
 
JULY. 155 
 
 well burned, if good seed is properly sown 
 and harrowed in, a good crop may be expect- 
 ed without further trouble. But upon old 
 land, however rich, it is far otherwise. To say 
 nothing about their extensive use for culina- 
 ry purposes, every farmer should raise these 
 roots in abundance, for his stock of cattle and 
 sheep. 
 
 The field cultivation of turnips has intro- 
 duced into Great-Britain an important revo- 
 lution in the art of husbandrv. Before the 
 introduction of this root, it was, they say, 
 impossible to cultivate their light soils suc- 
 cessfully, or to devise suitable rotation for 
 cropping them with advantage. It was also 
 a difficult task to support live stock through 
 the winter and spring months ; and a3 for 
 feeding, and preparing catttle and sheep for 
 market during these inclement seasons, the 
 practice was hardly thought of. The benefit 
 derived from turnip husbandry to the English 
 farmer is therefore very great. 
 
 Although the scorching sun of our sum- 
 mers may prevent our deriving as much profit 
 from the cultivation of this plant as the more 
 temperate and moist climate of England fur- 
 nishes to the agriculturists of that country, 
 yet experience warrants the assertion, that 
 with the same skill and labour which they 
 bestow, we should seldom miss a crop. 
 
 Fortunately for us, necessity does not de- 
 mand that we should ever cultivate the tur- 
 
156 JULY. 
 
 nip so extensively as they do ; for in this 
 country, no good farmer finds it difficult to 
 keep his land free from weeds. Assisted by 
 our arid sun, one or two ploughings never fail 
 to destroy all vegetation. Besides, we can 
 raise grass for our stock in any quantity, and 
 make it into hay with the greatest facility ; 
 and in addition to this we have the advantage 
 of Indian corn, a grain peculiarly suited to 
 our wants, and entirely denied to the English 
 farmer. But in their turnip crop they have, 
 perhaps, a full compensation. Their mild 
 and open winters make them more valuable 
 there than they ever can be here. 
 
 The turnip flourishes best in a light, sandy 
 loam, but will, with proper treatment, grow 
 well in any dry, arable soil. But where clay 
 predominates, it would be a waste of time to 
 attempt their cultivation. 
 
 There are several varieties of this plant 
 all requiring nearly the same preparation of 
 the ground. The ground intended for tur- 
 nips should first be deeply ploughed in the 
 autumn, and in that rough state should be left 
 to receive the benefit of the winter's frost. 
 In the spring, when it is sufficiently dry, level 
 the furrows with a heavy harrow, and so lei 
 it remain until after corn planting. Then 
 take a dry time and cross-plough. After ten 
 or twelve days, harrow it down again, and 
 spread over the surface a good coat of stable 
 manure : for turnip land cannot be made too 
 
JULY. 157 
 
 rich ; in fact the weight of the crop depends 
 in a great measure upon its condition in this 
 respect. 
 
 Let the dung be carefully broken and sepa- 
 rated into small pieces, that it may afterwards 
 mix intimately with all parts of the soil ; then 
 immediately, before it has time to dry with 
 the sun and wind, plough it under, and smooth 
 it down with the roller. 
 
 After this, the oftener you can plough, 
 harrow, and roll the ground, so much the 
 better: provided it is always dry when un- 
 dergoing either of these operations. 
 
 The proper season for sowing the flat white 
 or red turnip, is any time in this month after 
 the tenth. Vvhen that period lias arrived. 
 if the earth is parched with drought, as it fre- 
 quently is, wait a while for a shower. Then 
 plough again lightly, and directly harrow 
 down the furrows, and sow the seed immedi- 
 ately, broadcast upon the fresh surface ; then 
 cover the seed with a light harrow, and finish 
 the process by levelling the surface with a 
 heavy roller. 
 
 Rolling is a very important point, and 
 must on no account be neglected ; for by 
 this means all the lumps and clods are bro- 
 ken, much of the seed that would otherwise 
 be exposed to birds, ccc. will be covered, the 
 surface rendered smooth and compact, and 
 consequently more retentive of moisture. 
 which will very much promote the germina- 
 
158 JULY. 
 
 tion of the seed, and growth of the plants* 
 Besides, rolling the ground is experimentally 
 found to be the most effectual method yet 
 discovered for the preservation of the rising 
 crop from the depredations of the fly. 
 
 By rolling the ground, you not only bury 
 up and destroy vast numbers of these little 
 vermin, but you deprive those that remain of 
 the harbour and retreat they would otherwise 
 have, under the small lumps of earth, to which 
 they usually resort for shelter from birds, and 
 such changes of weather as are destructive to 
 them. 
 
 Try this method, and you will find it more 
 effectual than soaking the seed in any pre- 
 paration, or dusting the plants with any com- 
 position whatever. 
 
 The drill method of raising turnips is the 
 one generally practised in England, and from 
 long experience is found to be much prefer- 
 able to the other. 
 
 The mode of preparing the ground is the 
 same as already described. 
 
 As soon after the tenth of this month as 
 the weather will permit, plough, harrow and 
 roll down your land ; then with a large plough 
 run a furrow every three feet ; then bring on 
 your manure with a cart; take your stand 
 behind it, and fill three or four of these fur- 
 rows with a shovel, as your team moves slow- 
 ly on. When this work is sufficiently ahead, 
 run a small plough on each side of the dung, 
 
JULY. 159 
 
 just so as to cover it effectually. Then 
 scatter the seed immediately over the ma- 
 nure along the ridglets. If you do this work 
 with the hand, take care that the seed is 
 spread even along the rows. But if you 
 would raise large quantities of these roots, 
 the turnip drill is a very necessary implement. 
 An iron rake should now be drawn lengthwise 
 on the top of all the ridges, that the seed 
 may be slightly covered, and the work finish- 
 ed by passing the roller the same way over 
 the whole plantation. 
 
 If the grasshopper or fly should destroy 
 your young plants, harrow up the ground 
 thoroughly, and sow again, any time before 
 the tenth of August. By this time these 
 maurauders usually disappear, and your crop, 
 for kitchen use, will be better than if planted 
 earlier. 
 
 Two pounds of seed will plant an acre. 
 Let this work be done as I have directed, and 
 you will seldom be troubled with the fly, 
 which is the most mischievous enemy you 
 have to fear. But as an additional security, 
 you should sow half as much more seed 
 broadcast over all the ground. The ex- 
 pense of this will be trifling, and the plough 
 and faoe will instantly sweep away all the su- 
 pernumeraries between the rows, should these 
 escape the flies ; to which, however, they 
 will be principally attracted, for it is always 
 
160 
 
 JULY. 
 
 found that these insects prefer turnips grow- 
 ing in poor ground to those in rich. 
 
 The ruta baga, or Swedish turnip, requires 
 the same method of cultivation, with this 
 difference : the seed should be sown at least 
 a month earlier. Some recommend sowing 
 the seed in beds the latter part of May, like 
 cabbage, and in the month of June transplant- 
 ing, so as to stand in rows upon the tops of 
 ridges. It is certain this plant will bear re- 
 moval much better than the flat turnip, and 
 if the expense of transplanting is not counted, 
 it may undoubtedly be considered as the best 
 method. 
 
 CABBAGE and TURNIP SEEDS, 
 require attention. Cut off the branches that 
 are first ripe, and lay them up, or the wind 
 and birds will destroy the best part of it. 
 
 Some other of your early crops will soon 
 be ripe. Let the stalks be pulled up without 
 delay, that they may not look unsightly, or 
 afford shelter for insects. Clean, and pre- 
 pare the ground to receive such seeds or 
 plants as are wanted in autumn. 
 
 CABBAGE, BEANS, &c. 
 
 as they advance, should have the earth drawn, 
 about their roots. This will greatly refresh 
 them, and prevent injury from the scorching 
 rays of the sun. 
 
JULY. 161 
 
 ONION SEED 
 
 begins to ripen. You should daily examine 
 the state of this crop ; see if the capsules 
 which contain the seed, begin to open, and 
 show the black grains. Every head thus ad- 
 vanced should be cut off without delay, or 
 the wind will scatter the seed, or the birds 
 carry it away, long before the whole is ripe. 
 These heads will still contain considerable 
 moisture, and must be spread upon a cloth, in 
 some dry place. When all are thus collect- 
 ed, and have become sufficiently dry, rub out 
 the seed, separate the coarse chaff with a 
 riddle, and throw the residue into cold water. 
 The good seed will sink directly to the bot- 
 tom of the vessel. The water should then 
 be gently poured off, with whatever may float 
 upon it. The seed thus proved should be 
 put into a seive, and thoroughly dried, then 
 put away into paper bags, for use. 
 
 I am. fyc. 
 
 P. AGRICOLA. 
 
 02 
 
AUGUST. 
 
 My Dear Soar, 
 
 The analogy between plants and ani- 
 mals, in most parts of their organization, jus- 
 tifies the belief, that the former, like the lat- 
 ter, have their peculiar wants and appeten- 
 ces ; and in order to be a successful agricul- 
 turist, or gardener, you must make yourself 
 intimately acquainted with every thing rela- 
 tive to the vegetable economy. Their phy- 
 tology and general structure, are studies of 
 great importance; their peculiar 'and varied 
 habits, must not be neglected ; and to learn 
 their appetences and their loves is not only a 
 curious, but a very useful inquiry. But most 
 of all, it should be your aim to find out the 
 method of supplying your cultivated plants 
 with an abundance of suitable food, at the 
 least possible expense. 
 
 These vegetables are organized bodies 
 perfect in the soil, from whence they derive 
 nutrition, and where all their various prop- 
 erties are developed and their numerous 
 species propagated. Plants resemble ani- 
 mals in many respects, and are truly consid- 
 ered as only an inferior grade of animated 
 
164 AUGUST. 
 
 nature ; yet in one particular they differ ma- 
 terially. 
 
 All animals with which we are acquainted, 
 have a stomach or alimentary canal, where 
 their food is digested, and prepared for nutri- 
 tion, before it is absorbed into the circulation 
 and becomes a part of the animal ; but veg- 
 etables have no such organ. Their food is 
 elaborated for them in the earth, and their 
 roots are so formed as to take it up and trans- 
 mit it with the sap, through all their system 
 of arteries and veins; like the lacteal vessels 
 in animal bodies, the radical mouths absorb 
 with different degrees of vital energy. As 
 in the animal kingdom, so in the vegetable T 
 some are very strong feeders, and surprising- 
 ly voracious, and by means of this facul- 
 ty, do absolutely starve all other plants in, 
 their vicinity. Besides, every vegetable, 
 like every animal, has its peculiar appetence 
 or liking, and is nourished and supported in 
 health by different qualities to be found in 
 the earth. 
 
 If you want evidence of this fact, place a 
 young tree where an old one of the same kind 
 has lately stood, and you will invariably find, 
 that it will not thrive ; if it lives the first and 
 second year, it will perish soon afterwards, 
 and evidently for want of food. The old tree 
 having exhausted the earth of all nutriment 
 suitable for that kind of tree, and as the rooti 
 of the young tree are short, it can draw no 
 
AUGUST. 165 
 
 supply from a distance, and notwithstanding 
 all the care you may bestow upon it, it dies 
 with hunger. But if the transplanted tree 
 be of a species quite distinct from the old 
 one, it will flourish as well as if none had 
 grown there before. 
 
 It would perhaps be a waste of time to ex- 
 amine the various and contradictory theories 
 respecting the food of plants ; a subject 
 which will, perhaps, be forever involved in 
 mystery, nor could you derive the smallest 
 benefit from such discussions. 
 
 Although you may never be able to ascer- 
 tain which of the elements contributes most 
 to the food of plants, yet small experience 
 and trifling observation will satisfy you, that 
 if your land is drained of all superfluous 
 moisture, if it is suitably manured, and suffi- 
 ciently cultivated, the productive powers of 
 the earth will furnish an abundant supply of 
 food for all your vegetable family. 
 
 In all your operations, keep these funda- 
 mental principles in view, for with one or 
 other of them, every part of rural economy 
 is more or less connected. 
 
 BEANS AND PEAS 
 
 of an early kind, are now ripe. Whenever 
 any of your plants during the warmth of sum- 
 mer, arrive at maturity, let them be removed 
 as soon as possible, and immediately put the 
 ground into a complete state of summer fal- 
 
166 AUGUST. 
 
 low ; let every part be turned over with the 
 plough or spade ; make it fine, and give it 
 every benefit from the sun and air. At this 
 season weeds are destroyed with the great- 
 est ease, and the earth at the same time ren- 
 dered fertile by the tillage. 
 
 CUCUMBERS 
 
 now yield abundance of fruit. Select a few 
 of the fairest for seed, and take off the others 
 as they advance. They should be cut, not 
 pulled off. Every third day the vines should 
 be examined by some careful hand, who 
 should be charged not to tread upon the run- 
 ners or displace the leaves. 
 
 TURNIPS. 
 
 It is a great misfortune that the cultivation 
 of this root, upon old ground, should be so 
 little practiced or understood by farmers in 
 general. Their excellence for culinary use 
 is admitted by every one ; yet most men are 
 discouraged, and give up all attempts to raise 
 them, as a fruitless waste of time and expense. 
 I have tried (says one) several times, and 
 failed as often ; ' My land will not produce 
 turnips,' says another; a third asserts, 'that 
 turnips are good for nothing, unless grown 
 upon new ground.' 
 
 Now all these farmers are quite mistaken, 
 and I hope you will convince them of their 
 error by your success. 
 
AUGUST. 167 
 
 Turnips can be raised upon any land which 
 would produce Indian corn ; but then you 
 must understand their wants, and the nature 
 of those enemies with which you will have 
 to contend. And here experience and ob- 
 servation will furnish the most useful les- 
 sons. 
 
 " The turnip system," in all its details, re- 
 quires practical knowledge, as much at least, 
 as any other branch of husbandry, and to 
 obtain information from this unerring source, 
 it is not necessary that you should risk much, 
 or go to great expense. 
 
 Select a small spot, say only one fourth of 
 an acre, let it be near the dwelling house, 
 that you may have it every day under your 
 eye. If the land is poor, no matter, let it 
 be free from stumps or stones, and make it 
 rich with the treasures of the barn yard, and 
 with tillage, agreeable to my former direc- 
 tions. 
 
 In two or three days after the seed is skil- 
 fully sown, if the weather is favourable, you 
 will see the plants begin to emerge from the 
 soil. Observe now if the flea pounces upon 
 them, for this is the time when they are in 
 the greatest danger from that hungry insect, 
 which frequently destroys every plant, be- 
 fore the inattentive farmer knows they are 
 out of the ground. If their numbers are 
 great, and you see- them briskly hopping 
 from plant to plant, I know of no means in 
 
168 AUGUST, 
 
 your power to employ, that will prevent 
 their ravage. A seasonable and copious 
 shower will sometimes destroy these vermin, 
 and save your crop. However, if this for- 
 tunate occurrence should not happen, and 
 your plants are swept away, wait until the 
 first week in August, then break up your 
 ground anew and sow again as before. By 
 this time you may expect a plentiful rain, 
 which of all things is the most fatal to these 
 insects ; and as the nights are lengthening, 
 they have less time to feed, for they make 
 their destructive repast only in the day time. 
 Without strong light they move but little, 
 and seem unable to find the object of their 
 desire. Your plants will thus escape from 
 wounds, and grow rapidly. As soon as the 
 rough leaf is fairly formed, examine the whole 
 plantation, and if in any place, they stand in 
 clusters, puil up and destroy the superfluous 
 plants; then, or soon after, take them row 
 by row, and extirpate every weed that may 
 have sprung up; at the same time thin the 
 plants, sparing the most vigorous, so that all 
 stand eight or ten inches apart. 
 
 When these have fixed themselves well in 
 the soil, and the leaves begin to spread over 
 the surface, if your crop was planted in drills, 
 introduce a tight one horse plough, and take 
 a slice from each side of the row and throw 
 it from the turnips ; after a few days when 
 the weeds have perished, again introduce 
 
AUGUST. lG9 
 
 the plough, and turn the soil towards them. 
 The oftener this operation is repeated, the 
 more thrifty your plants will grow ; for fre- 
 quent stirring the ground is the life of tur- 
 nips. It not only destroys all weeds that 
 might spring up to star\e and impoverish 
 them, but it disturbs and prevents the rava- 
 ges of slugs and other insects ; and by break- 
 ing, mixing, and pulverising the soil, the 
 young roots are enabled to spread with ease, 
 and to imbibe and store up abundantly. If 
 your crop was sown broadcast, you must stir 
 the soil and kill the weeds with the hoe ; 
 taking care to separate the plants a foot apart, 
 for if they are permitted to stand thicker 
 than this, the tops may be large, standing up- 
 right, but the bulbs will be proportionably 
 small. 
 
 CELERY. 
 
 " Earth up celery, as it advances in growth, 
 but be careful to avoid covering the hearts 
 of the plants ; this work should always be 
 done in a dry day. Lay up the stalks neatly, 
 without injuring them, for if bruised they 
 will become mouldy, and be subject to rot." 
 
 CURRANT WINE. 
 
 A kind and beneficent providence has fit- 
 ted our soil and climate for the production 
 of all the necessaries, and many of the luxuries 
 of life, and it will be your own fault if von 
 
 P 
 
170 AUGUST. 
 
 do not enjoy them in abundance. Your or 
 chard should produce the daily beverage up- 
 on your table, while the shrubs of your gar- 
 den supply the friendly treat, or furnish the 
 cordial draught in cases of sickness or debil- 
 
 Foreign wines not only drain the pocket, 
 but are invariably hurtful to the health of 
 those who use them. As usually sold by our 
 merchants, they are a base admixture, and 
 should never be allowed a place upon your 
 board; but to currant and gooseberry wine, 
 there is no such objection. It is pure and 
 and pleasant as Madeira, and may be made 
 of the best quality for less than forty cents 
 per gallon. 
 
 There are several modes of making cur- 
 rant wine. I will give you three of them. 
 
 First, when your currants are fully ripe, 
 let them be picked in fair weather, and with 
 as much expedition as possible. To every 
 gallon of berries add as much cold water, 
 bruise and break them well in the water, 
 then strain out the liquor and measure it with 
 accuracy, and to each gallon put two pound 
 and three fourths of good brown sugar, stir 
 and carefully unite the whole together ; then 
 fill your cask nearly full, and put a piece of 
 leather with a small weight upon it, over the 
 bung. When the wine has settled and ceas- 
 ed to ferment, close the cask as tight as pos- 
 sible* 
 
AUGUST, 171 
 
 The following recipe is preferred by some 
 persons. 
 
 Collect your currants as above, mash them 
 effectually, and strain the juice through a 
 woollen cloth ; measure it, and to every gal- 
 lon of pure currant juice, add two gallons of 
 cold water, then to every gallon of this mix- 
 ture immediately put three pounds of good 
 brown sugar; and when the whole is well 
 united, fill up the cask, but it should not be 
 so full as to work over; this would injure 
 the liquor. Then cover the bung, and close 
 the cask as in the former receipt. If your 
 cask is new and strong, the wine may remain 
 upon the lees, and be drawn when wanted. 
 But it is usually thought best, early in the 
 spring to draw it carefully from the sediment, 
 and put it into bottles. These should be 
 well corked, and laid away upon their sides, 
 in some cool and secure part of the cellar. 
 Here it should rest until wanted, and like all 
 other wines, will be found to improve with age. 
 Remember every part of this process must 
 be done with neatness. The cask must be 
 good and clean, or the flavour of > our liquor 
 will be spoiled. If you purpose to make 
 thirty gallons agreeable to this recipe, you 
 will require eight gallons of juice, sixteen of 
 water, and seventy-two pounds of sugar. 
 
 A large proportion of the wine used in 
 Great Britain, is what they call made wine. 
 By the following recipe they make a liquos 
 
172 AUGUST, 
 
 which is fashionable and much relished, ?nd 
 is retailed by the name of English Cham 
 paign. 
 
 To three gallons of water, put nine pounds 
 of brown sugar of the best quality ; boil the 
 water and sugar half an hour, skim it clean, 
 then take a gallon of ripe currants, clean 
 picked, but not bruised ; pour the liquor 
 boiling hot upon them ; and when cold, add 
 half a pint of yeast ; let it ferment two days, 
 then strain it through flannel and put it away 
 into a clean cask, with half an ounce of ich- 
 thy ocolla shreded fine ; when the fermenta- 
 tion subsides, cork it close for a month, then 
 decant it from the lees and put it into bottles, 
 and in every bottle put a small lump of re- 
 fined sugar. Lay them carefully away, and 
 in a year they will be found to contain an ex- 
 cellent wine, and of a beautiful colour. 
 
 Gooseberries flourish extremely w T ell in this 
 state. The fruit is fine, and you may with 
 the utmost facility have any quantity you 
 please. By the following recipe you will 
 make an excellent white wine. 
 
 GOOSEBERRY WINE. 
 
 " Take gooseberries when they are just 
 beginning to turn ripe, bruise them well, but 
 not so as to break their seeds, pour to every 
 eight pounds of pulp a gallon of water, and 
 let them stand in the vessel covered, in a cool 
 place, twenty-four hours, then put them into 
 
AUGUSl 1 . 17.3 
 
 a. strong canvass or hair bag, press out all the 
 juice that will run from them, and to every 
 quart of it put twelve ounces of loaf sugar, 
 stirring it about till it be melted ; then put it 
 up in a well seasoned cask, and set it in a 
 cool place ; when it has purged and settled 
 about twenty or thirty days, fill the vessel 
 full, and bung it down close." 
 
 " When it is well worked and settled, draw 
 it off into bottles, and keep them in a cool 
 place. " 
 
 N. B. Currants or gooseberries should be 
 pressed out if possible, the same day they are 
 gathered. This will add much to the fine- 
 ness, and give flavour to the wine. In pick- 
 ing the berries, take none that lie upon the 
 ground, or that have grown in the shade an 1 
 become sour. 
 
 I am ? <&c. 
 
 P. AGRICOLA. 
 
 P2 
 
SEPTEMBER. 
 
 My Dear Son, 
 
 That animals and vegetables possess 
 many properties in common, we have alrea- 
 dy noticed. The living principle is a phe- 
 nomenon evident in both ; both have the 
 power of re-production ; both have the ener- 
 gy to heal their own wounds ; both are great- 
 ly influenced by habit, and hence both ace 
 enabled to accommodate themselves to a 
 certain extent, to the climate or soil in 
 which they are placed. Contractibility, elas- 
 ticity, and irritability, are also faculties which 
 they possess in common. No characteristic 
 line can therefore be drawn between these 
 two great classes of organized matter; for 
 the transition of the one to the other, is to u« 
 quite imperceptible. 
 
 Animated nature is divided into two dis- 
 tinct classes, the viviparous, and oviparous : 
 but the vegetable world, as far as our ac- 
 quaintance extends, with a very few excep- 
 tions, is oviparous, or in other words, they 
 propagate their species through the medium 
 of eggs ; and these bear great analogy to the 
 eggs of animals. Those who have best s(n 
 
I 16 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 died Hie physiology of vegetables, with the 
 assistance of large magnifying glasses, inform 
 us that " soon after the formation of the ex- 
 ternal membrane, the albumen and vitellus 
 are formed ; in some cases both are deposi- 
 ted, in others only one. In the midst of this 
 albuminous matter is the small rudiment of 
 the plant, called the corcle, with which it 
 freely communicates, by means of vessels 
 which support and nourish it. The inner 
 structure of this corcle differs at different 
 stages. At first it consists of a thin glary flu- 
 id ; afterwards becomes more concrete, re- 
 gularly organized ; and at last displays the 
 rudiments of the radicle, and of the plumule. 
 
 " The albumen constitutes the bulk of 
 some seeds, as in grasses, grain, &c. The vi- 
 tellus is always situated between the albumen 
 and embryo. The sole office of both is to 
 nourish the young plant, until the root is 
 formed." 
 
 The perfect seed thus formed, is retained 
 in its proper situation by an umbilical cord, 
 which dries up and disappears when the seed 
 is fully ripe. 
 
 The seeds of vegetables are the ultimate 
 production of the plant. In all annuals and 
 biennials, this important work is no sooner 
 finished than the whole plant instantly shows 
 signs of decay, and gradually dies of age. 
 
 In the other departments of vegetable life, 
 when the seeds are completely formed, the 
 
SEPTEMBER. 17? 
 
 enlargement or growth of the plant is ended 
 for that season ; a state of exhaustion is evi- 
 dent, and a complete torpor easues, which 
 the coming spring, charged with new life and 
 powers, alone can remove. 
 
 All practical gardeners should know, and 
 constantly bear in mind the nature and pecu- 
 liar habits of seeds. Some are much longer 
 than others before they germinate. As a 
 general rule, new seeds sprout quicker than 
 old ones of the same species. So some seeds 
 retain their vitality much longer than others ; 
 some, when suitably dry, and properly laid 
 up, retain their vital principle for many 
 years, as all the gourd family ; while others 
 part with it very soon, as onions, parsnips, &c. 
 
 All seeds which are liable to lose their 
 germinating power before they are wanted 
 for use, should be mixed with a due propor- 
 tion of dry sugar. This, repeated experi- 
 ment has proved, will long preserve their 
 vitality. 
 
 If the seeds of plants are in so many par- 
 ticulars like bird's eggs, you will see the ne- 
 cessity and importance of always selecting 
 the best and most perfect of their kind for 
 seeding. As you would certainly choose the 
 finest animals for breeders, so let your vege- 
 table stock spring from the soundest and best 
 seed ; for it is not sufficient that your seeds 
 come up ,• they should come strong and vig- 
 
178 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 orous, if you would have them grow with 
 luxuriance. 
 
 Every year endeavour to improve your 
 seed. Most of our cultivated plants are found 
 to degenerate, notwithstanding all the care 
 we can bestow upon them, unless their seeds 
 are frequently changed. This fact has been 
 long noticed, although the true cause may 
 not yet be known. 
 
 And we are also unable to say from what 
 part of the world they should be brought, to 
 produce the greatest crop. It is, however, 
 generally found, that in all cases where you 
 desire a great weight of roots or foliage, as 
 beets, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, &c. it is 
 best to procure seed from a southerly climate. 
 
 Whenever you use seed brought from a 
 distance, let it be planted separate Irom any 
 other of the kind, and note down all the par- 
 ticulars relative to it, that you may learn 
 whether it is truly an improvement or other- 
 wise. Much care is also requisite to prevent 
 a deterioration of your seeds. Whenever 
 you would raise seed from plants of which 
 there are different species, do not set them 
 within fifty feet of each other. 
 
 This precaution is particularly necessarv, 
 whenever you would raise seed from any of 
 the brassica tribe. This family has more 
 branches, or varieties, than almost any other. 
 From the great drum-head cabbage to the 
 humble turnip, there are many grades, all of 
 
SEPTEMBER. 179 
 
 which have such seminal relation, that if per- 
 mitted to flower in the neighbourhood of each 
 other, an admixture of pollen, and consequent 
 adulteration, is certain to ensue. 
 
 The varieties of the gourd family are also 
 very numerous, and when you intend to pre- 
 serve the seed of any of them in purity, or 
 aim at improvement, plant them in separate 
 and distant sections of the garden. In par- 
 ticular, the cucumber and melon should never 
 grow together. They have each their pecu- 
 liar excellence, which is materially injured 
 by an union. So all the varieties of pumpkins 
 and squashes are spoiled by an intermar- 
 riage. 
 
 And in like manner, all the kinds of Indian 
 corn will mix their qualities, if they grow- 
 within four or five rods of each other. Your 
 sweet corn will be quite ruined, if only a few 
 stalks of the hard kind are permitted to grow 
 near it, and what is singular, the sweet corn 
 alone will suffer from the adulteration, the 
 grains of which immediately lose their soft, 
 rich and saccharine quality, while the other 
 appears not in the least affected. Your seed 
 corn should always be gathered before the 
 frost. Search for such stalks as bear two or 
 more ears, and take the largest of them fox- 
 seed. Let them immediately be trussed up ? 
 and suspended in some dry place, secure from 
 rats and mice. Here it should remain until 
 
180 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 wanted for use. When shelled from the cob, 
 reject the grains that grow upon each end. 
 These hints should never be neglected, nor 
 should you plant seed corn that is more than 
 a year old, if new can be obtained. 
 
 ONIONS 
 
 grow but little after the tops shrivel, and fall 
 spontaneously, and may then be pulled up 
 and laid on the ground, to dry and harden. 
 If the weather should prove moist, they must 
 be turned, or they will strike new roots and 
 grow. When sufficiently dry, cut olf the 
 tops, carry them in, and spread them over 
 the floor. Here let them remain, until the 
 commencement of cold weather; then put 
 them into a box or cask, with alternate layers 
 of dry chaff, or fine straw, and set them in a 
 place where they will not freeze. A little 
 frost, however, will not essentially injure 
 them ; but it is better to keep them in a tem- 
 perature a little above the freezing point. 
 
 Those which have thick necks, and the 
 bulbous parts small, and are commonly called 
 scullions, may as well be left in ths ground 
 during the winter. They will stand the frost, 
 and the next spring will grow in their places 
 to be good onions ; or they may be taken up 
 and set in a bed made for that purpose. At 
 all events, they are good for nothing without 
 a second year's growth. 
 
SEPTEMBER. 181 
 
 BROOM CORN 
 
 should be attended to before the arrival of 
 frost. Cut off the brush, and hetchel or 
 scrape off the seed. Take a few of the 
 brightest and heaviest heads, and hang them 
 securely up for seed. Then let the stalks 
 be pulled up by the roots, and carried from 
 the garden, and the ground thrown into ridges* 
 to remain through winter. 
 
 HOPS 
 
 should now be carefully gathered, before the 
 autumnal storms, or frost. When their col* 
 our begins to change, and they emit a fragrant 
 smell, pick them without delay. The seed, 
 or flower, as it is generally called, is the 
 strongest and most valuable part. The hop. 
 therefore, should be collected so early that 
 these will not fall, and be lost in picking. 
 They should be thoroughly dried, under cov- 
 er, and then packed firmly away in a bag or 
 <;ask. 
 
 When hops are raised in large quantities, 
 the best way to dry them is on kilns, erected 
 for that purpose ; but you will easily dry 
 what your family may want upon a clean 
 floor. 
 
 Move the vines from the garden, and set 
 up the poles securely for another year* 
 
 Q 
 
182 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 CELERY 
 
 must be earthed up, as it advances in height, 
 observing to do it in dry weather, and be 
 careful not to bury it above the hearts of the 
 plants ; for that would stop its growing, and 
 cause it to rot. 
 
 " 77/ weeds grow apace," y 
 
 at this season, and should now be destroyed, 
 root and branch, before the autumnal rains ; 
 for you will find it difficult and useless to at- 
 tempt it afterwards. As your summer crops 
 ripen, clear off the ground, hoe deep, and 
 level every part. This is all the summer- 
 fallowing your garden requires, and this must 
 never be denied. 
 
 ASPARAGUS 
 
 beds should now be cleared off, and covered 
 with dung, and some earth, taken from the 
 alley, spread over the whole. By this means 
 the crowns of the asparagus will be protect- 
 ed from severe frost, and early in the spring, 
 will rise with renewed vigour. 
 
 J am, fyc. 
 
 ?< AGRICOLA, 
 
OCTOBER. 
 
 My Dear Sox, 
 
 The judicious farmer will always socul* 
 tivate his land as to improve its productive 
 powers. He will manure, plough and sow, 
 with that object in view. No immediate pro- 
 tit will ever tempt him to a practice injurious 
 to the fertility of his soil. 
 
 At certain periods, and under certain cir- 
 cumstances, he may very properly have re- 
 course to the expensive method of summer- 
 fallowing,. The stubborn nature of some 
 soils imperiously demands it. Wherever the 
 roots of quick-grass abound, there is no 
 means more, certain to destroy them. In the 
 spring, our lands are never sufficiently dry to 
 be materially benefited by ploughing ; indeed 
 it not unfrequently happens, that in order to 
 procure in season a &eed bed for our spring 
 crops, we are compelled with the plough and 
 harrow to injure the productive qualities of 
 clay or loamy soils. In this country, where 
 land is plenty and cheap, and labour compa- 
 ratively high, it may be good farming to sum- 
 mer-fallow such land every sixth or seventh 
 year, and not oftener, if you will observe a 
 proper rotation of crops. In this you should be 
 
J 84 OCTOBER. 
 
 directed by local circumstances, and the 
 market demand for the several kinds of grain* 
 
 Free the surface of your land from every 
 impediment to good tillage, and let your crops 
 succeed each other in the following order : — 
 Beginning with a complete summer-fallow, 
 to be sown to wheat or rye ; as soon after 
 harvest as possible, plough in the stubble ; in 
 the spring of the thud year, cross-plough, and 
 plant to Indian corn ; this must be succeeded 
 the fourth year, with barley or oats, and 
 stocked down with clover, 15lbs. to the acre. 
 The grass may be mowed, or pastured two 
 or three jears, and again have recourse to 
 summer-fallow. 
 
 A practice of this kind will improve your 
 land without the expense of manure ; but it 
 would be well if you could afford a coat of 
 stable manure, once, at least, in this course ; 
 and let that be put on just previous to the 
 corn or barley, and immediately covered with 
 the furrow. 
 
 In cultivating your garden, keep the same 
 principles in view ; but here a naked sum- 
 mer-fallow is never necessary. The crops 
 in your garden are taken off at so many dif- 
 ferent periods, and some of them so early in 
 the season, that opportunity is always gained 
 for working the ground in the completest 
 manner. 
 
 It is a mistaken idea, that land ever re- 
 quires absolute rest. Let the tillage be well 
 
OCTOBER, 185 
 
 performed ; let its productions be judiciously 
 varsed ; let suitable manure be properly ap- 
 plied ; and your soil will every year improve. 
 
 Good tillage is indispensable, upon farm 
 or garden ; and here you will have exercise 
 for observation and judgment. The same 
 depth and number of ploughings which would 
 be proper upon some land, you will find quite 
 insufficient, or improper upon others. All 
 clay or loamy soils are greatly benefited by 
 fall ploughing. The winter frost will more 
 effectually pulverize such land than all the 
 labour you can bestow ; besides, there is no 
 practice more destructive of grub-worms, nor 
 can land be made fit for spring grain in any 
 other way so cheap. 
 
 A sandy soil may be wrought in a different 
 manner. Here spring ploughing can be per- 
 formed without injury, nor does this kind of 
 soil require the aid of frost to make it fine 
 and light. A skilful agriculturist is fully sat- 
 isfied of these truths, and directs his business 
 accordingly. 
 
 POTATOES, BEETS, and CARROTS, 
 
 should now be raised from the ground. — 
 Choose a dry time for this business, and let 
 the roots intended for family consumption, 
 be stored away with neatness. A propor- 
 tion for winter use, should be put into the 
 cellar, and completely covered with dry 
 sand. This will greatly protect them from 
 Q2 
 
186 OCTOBER. 
 
 frost, if the cellar should he cold, and retard 
 their vegetating, if warm. Besides, all these 
 roots lose much of their excellence, if expo- 
 sed only a few days to the air, in any tempe- 
 rature. 
 
 The residue of your crop may be buried 
 Upon the surface of a dry spot of ground; 
 pile them with regularity, and give the whole 
 on every side, a roof-like slope 5 then cover 
 this heap with dry sand, an inch or two deep, 
 over which lay a good coat of drawn straw. 
 up and down, as if thatching a house, in order 
 to carry off the water ; then dig a trench a- 
 round the heap, and cover the straw with the 
 earth so dug up, in a depth sufficient to se~ 
 cure the roots from frost. 
 
 N. B* Better make this covering unneces- 
 sarily deep, than one inch too shallow ; for 
 the least frost will entirely spoil this kind of 
 sauce for table use. 
 
 PARSNIPS. 
 
 "In the management, or rather neglect of 
 One of our finest vegetables, than which our 
 gardens produce no richer, we see the tyran- 
 ny of custom. 
 
 " From time immemorial, our fathers in 
 the country have raised the parsnip only as a 
 rarity, to be sought for a few days in the 
 spring. And few farmers think it possible to 
 deviate from this ancient rule, and by digging 
 that vegetable in the fall, provide their tables 
 
OCTOBER. 187 
 
 with a very pleasant and useful winter varie- 
 ty. By taking it up in the fall, we not only 
 gain a lone; use of the plant, but we have it in 
 greater perfection ; for rarely can it be taken 
 up in the spring, before it has sprouted, and 
 the inside of it become ligneous. Indeed all 
 roots should be dug in the fall, and if packed 
 in a box, with earth from the beds from which 
 they were taken, that the same moisture may 
 be preserved, they can be kept until quite 
 the beginning of summer, possessing all their 
 richness of juice, and nutritious qualities." 
 
 SEED CUCUMBERS 
 
 should be picked from the vines directly after 
 the first frost. Lay them in the sun a few 
 days, then cut them open, and scrape out 
 their contents into a pail ; there let them re- 
 main for a week or more, until the surround- 
 ing pulp ferments and rots, that it may easily 
 be Separated from the seeds ; then put water 
 into the pail, and stir it well about. If this 
 is repeated two or three times, the seeds will 
 settle to the bottom, and become perfectly 
 clean. Then spread them upon a seive, and 
 expose them to the sun until quite dry, when 
 they should be put into paper bags, labelled 
 with the year, and securely laid by. 
 
 Cucumber seed will keep good a long 
 time ; but that of four or five years old is 
 generally preferred, as producing less vigor- 
 ous, but more fertile plants. 
 
18B OCTOBER. 
 
 COMPOST MANURE. 
 
 The skilful gardener is always distinguished 
 by the preparation and application of his ma- 
 nure. He never carts out this powerful sub- 
 stance, and throws it at random about his 
 garden ; tor he knows full well, that instead 
 of a blessing, in the hands of the ignorant, it 
 frequently becomes a misfortune, and the im- 
 mediate parent of sterility. 
 
 Your various plants will not all require 
 the same kind and quantity of manure. Sta- 
 ble manure, in its recent state, for potatoes, 
 turnips, &c. is as good, if not better than any 
 other. But for a large proportion of garden 
 vegetables, the first summer, it will do 
 more hurt than benefit. For these, you 
 should annually make ready a composition, 
 and apply it when and where it may be want- 
 ed. Now, for this purpose, clean out your 
 hog-sty and hen-roost, and every other de- 
 pository of animal excrements. If these do 
 not furnish a supply, the barn-yard must con- 
 tribute the deficiency. With this, when 
 carted out, mix an equal quantity of alluvial 
 earth, or turf-parings, taken from an old pas- 
 ture, or highway, and in some convenient 
 spot in the garden, make a heap three feet 
 high, four feet wide, and as long as you please. 
 Upon every load of this mixture, spread a 
 bushel or two of lime, or house ashes. 
 
 Let the top of this pile be flat, or a little 
 
eCTOBER. J 89 
 
 dishing, that the rain may wet it through, and 
 to prevent loss by evaporation, cover the 
 whole a few inches deep with mould from 
 the garden. 
 
 From a compost of this kind, most of your 
 tender plants will derive an early supply of 
 food, and start with strong appetites and vi- 
 gorous habits. 
 
 For cucumbers and melons, however, the 
 following is to be preferred : 
 
 Take rotten cow-dung, or the remains of 
 old hot-beds, one part ; coarse sand, two 
 parts ; and new vegetable mould, from de- 
 cayed tree leaves, three parts. This should 
 be prepared at least a year before it is used, 
 and like other composts, be frequently turned 
 over, and thoroughly mixed. 
 
 If your soil and tillage are good, and the 
 succession of your crops judicious, a small 
 dressing every year from heaps like these, 
 will accomplish much, and render your plants 
 strong and healthy throughout the season. 
 But when large quantities of manure of any 
 kind are given at once, the drought and heat 
 of our summers frequently make it destruc- 
 tive to your favorite nurslings. Their short 
 and feeble roots can find no moisture ; of 
 course the whole plant droops and sickens 
 in the sun, and is thus absolutely starved in 
 the midst of plenty. 
 
 /am, (Jr. 
 
 P. AGRICOLA. 
 
NOVEMBER. 
 
 My Dear Son, 
 
 In the course of the past season. I hare 
 several times drawn vour attention to the 
 great analogy between plants a:id animals, 
 and now, upon the approach of winter, you 
 may see them alike preparing for that dreary 
 period of their existence. Without this eco- 
 nomy, a large proportion of the vegetable 
 race, which here flourishes annually with so 
 much utility and beauty, must inevitably pe- 
 rish, never to re-bloom. All our numerous 
 and charming catalogue of biennials and pe- 
 rennials, without this faculty, must fall lifeless 
 at the touch of frost. But such is the provi- 
 dent law of nature, that this hybernation of 
 plants should be considered as nothing more 
 than their annual sleep. Unable successfully 
 to con-end with the frigid blasts of winter, 
 they prudently retire, like the dormouse, 
 house-fly, &c. and in a torpid security, ac- 
 quire new exertability, indispensable for theii 
 further progress towards perfection, when 
 the returning warmth of spring shall awaken 
 their dormant energies. Most of these plants 
 have their winter lodge in their roots, which 
 are buried in the soil, where they find their 
 
*92 NOVEMBER. 
 
 necessary food in the warm seasons, and their 
 necessary protection in the cold. Into these 
 reservoirs, some plants lay up or accumulate 
 largely, as the onion, potatoe, &c. And the 
 turnip is a remarkable instance of this kind. 
 This plant is the production of a seed which 
 will not weigh the fortieth part of a grain ; 
 yet, in the short space of one hundred days 
 after it begins to vegetate, it very frequent- 
 ly stores away in the root alone, more than 
 ten pounds of a pleasant and nutritious food. 
 
 Deciduous shrubs and trees hybernate in 
 their buds, and evergreens by a renovation 
 of their foliage; and this is to them, what 
 moulting is to birds. 
 
 Nor is this preparation delayed until the 
 approach of necessity. Soon after the au- 
 tumnal equinox, while all is yet mild and se- 
 rene, one vegetable tribe after another, as if 
 conscious of the coming storm, retires, and 
 here, in nature's ark, finds refuge. See — 
 your rich and wide-spreading asparagus has 
 lost its verdure — your luxuriant rhubarb has 
 withered and fallen to the ground — and the so- 
 ber gooseberry, which awakes so early in the 
 spring, has long since covered the ground 
 with leaves, and retired to rest. 
 
 And have you, my son, made equal prepar- 
 ation for the coming winter ? Who would 
 not blush to be outdone by vegetable instinct ! 
 
 In this month there is but little to be done 
 
NOVEMBER, l9o 
 
 in the farmers garden, but that little can on 
 no account be dispensed with. 
 
 CABBAGE. 
 
 The great value of this esculent will amply 
 recompense every care bestowed upon it. 
 
 The broccoli and Savoys may yet remain 
 undisturbed in their beds, and will be found 
 excellent if drawn any time before new-year. 
 Indeed, they improve, until the cold becomes 
 very severe, and if covered, as they some- 
 times are, with early snow, will remain un- 
 hurt throughout the winter. But the weath- 
 er will soon destroy your large drum-heads 
 and sugar-loaves, and if you would preserve 
 them for spring use, they must be skilfully 
 laid away. It will not be sufficient that they 
 are secured from frost ; in a place warm and 
 dry, they will shrivel, perish, and become 
 good for nothing, and if buried deep with 
 earth, they mould and rot. 
 
 From the trial of various methods, and the 
 experience of many years, I am convinced 
 that the mode recommended by Mr. M'Mahan 
 is the best yet devised. He says — 
 
 " Immediately previous to the setting in of 
 hard frost, take up your cabbage, observing 
 to do it in a dry day ; turn their tops down- 
 wards, and let them remain so for a few hours 
 to drain off any water that may be lodged be- 
 tween the leaves. Then make choice of a 
 ridge of dry earth, in a well sheltered, warm 
 
 R 
 
194 NOVEMBER. 
 
 exposure, and plant them down to their heads 
 therein, close to one another. Immediately 
 erect over them a low temporary shed, of any 
 kind that will keep them perfectly free from 
 wet, which is to be open at both ends, to ad- 
 mit a current of air in mild weather. These 
 ends are to be closed with straw, when the 
 weather is very severe. In this situation your 
 cabbage will keep in a high state of preserva- 
 tion till spring ; for being kept perfectly free 
 from wet, as well as from the action of the 
 sun, the frost will have little or no effect upon 
 them. In such a place, the heads may be 
 cut off as wanted, and if frozen, soak them 
 in cold water a few hours previous to their 
 being cooked, which dissolves the frost, and 
 extracts any disagreeable taste occasioned 
 thereby." 
 
 TURNIPS and PARSNIPS 
 
 should now be raised from the ground. Cut 
 off their tops, and expose the roots for a few 
 hours, till sufficiently dry. On the surface 
 of a dry spot of ground, well defended from 
 the northwest wind, lay a stratum of sand, 
 two inches thick, and on this a layer of roots, 
 of either sort, covering them with another 
 layer of sand, (the drier the better) and so 
 continue till all are laid in, giving the whole, 
 on every side, a roof like slope. Then covf r 
 the heap all over with sand, over which place 
 a good coat of rye straw, in order to carry off 
 
X0VLM13EK. 195 
 
 the wet, and cover the straw with earth suf 
 ficiently to preserve the roots from frost. An 
 opening may be made on the south side of this 
 heap, and completely covered with straw, 
 so as to have access to the roots at all times, 
 when wanted. 
 
 In the same manner all these roots may be 
 preserved in a cellar, but there they are 
 more liable to grow, and become stringey 
 earlier in the spring. 
 
 Remember sand is preferable to common 
 earth for the preservation of all roots. You 
 should be provided with a sufficient quantity 
 laid up under cover, that it may be ready 
 and dry for use. 
 
 CELERY, 
 
 in the early part of this month, should be 
 earthed up to within six inches of the tops of 
 the plants, and on the approach of hard frost, 
 additionally earthed to the very extremity of 
 their leaves. Then laj a covering of dry 
 sandy earth on the top of the bed, the whole 
 length, so as to give it a rounding. On 
 this, place a coat of dry straw, to cast off 
 the wet, and of a sufficient thickness to resist 
 the frost. After this, cut a trench around the 
 bed, to carry off and prevent the lodgement 
 of water. Here you can have access to your 
 celery, and it will continue in a high state of 
 preservation during the winter : provided the 
 
196 NOVEMBER. 
 
 plants are perfectly dry when this work is 
 done. 
 
 GOOSEBERRIES 
 
 may be planted any time before the ground 
 is frozen. The best time to plant them out 
 finally is when they have had one or two 
 years' growth from cuttings ; for old bushes 
 never bear large fruit after being transplant- 
 ed. 
 
 / am, fyc 
 
 V. AGRICOLA, 
 
DECEMBER. 
 
 My Dear Sox, 
 
 With the year, my communications to 
 vou upon the subject of horticulture are 
 drawing to a close. 
 
 This i umber will complete all that I pur- 
 pose to say upon that subject, and it is cer* 
 tainly not a subject of minor importance, ei- 
 ther as it respects your interest, or rational 
 amusement ; for when pursued in the man* 
 ner 1 have inculcated, it will never fail to 
 contribute its full share towards the happiness 
 and prosperity of the farmer. 
 
 Here let me caution you against despon- 
 dency, although you may not succeed in all 
 your attempts in the garden. Various causes 
 may conspire, as upon the farm, to produce 
 frequent failures. Over some of these, man 
 has no controul, but the skilful and provident 
 gardener will never want an abundant supply 
 of good vegetables for every season of the 
 year. He plants a great variety, of course has 
 always many things that flourish, let the wea- 
 ther be as it may. 
 
 But you will soon find that a large propor- 
 tion of your failures have originated from the 
 
 112 
 
198. t>LCEMBER« 
 
 want of skill or attention, consequently might 
 be entirely avoided by observing the lessons 
 of experience. 
 
 At your age, I had no other instructor ; 
 was frequently disappointed, and made many 
 mistakes, which I am in hope these letters 
 will enable you to avoid. 
 
 And that nothing here may be wanting of 
 amiss, let us attentively review what I have 
 already compiled for your use, and make such 
 amendments and additions as further reflec- 
 tions may suggest. 
 
 JANUARY. 
 
 Soil and Situation for a Kitchen- 
 Garden. — Although labour and skill may 
 overcome every disadvantage of soil, yet in 
 some cases, it may take a number of years, 
 and be quite an expensive operation ; there* 
 fore, if in your power, choose a situation 
 where the mould is naturally of a dark ches- 
 nut colour, which does not adhere firmly, but 
 is short, moderately light, breaking easily in- 
 to small pieces, without crusling in dry wea- 
 ther, or turning to mortar when wet, and 
 when broke up with the plough or spade, 
 emitting a fragrant and agreeable smell. 
 
 It is desirable to have soils of different 
 qualities in the garden. The one most gene- 
 rally wanted is that in which vegetable earth 
 predominates. For some plants, however, a 
 sandy soil is best ; but as it is probable that 
 
DECEMBER, 1 9t> 
 
 you will not tie so fortunate as to tind both 
 these qualities in the spot selected for your 
 garden, you must without delay, endeavor to 
 remedy every natural defect, and bring the 
 soil as soon, and a3 near as possible to per- 
 fection. This you may very certainly ac- 
 complish, by the judicious application of ma- 
 nures, and frequent aeration of the soil. 
 
 By manures I mean any substance which, 
 added to, or mixed with the soil, renders it 
 more productive of strong and healthy vege- 
 tables. Some soils abound in alumin or clay, 
 and of course are too retentive of moisture, 
 and too firm and adhesive to permit the ten- 
 der roots of plants to enter. ^This defect you 
 may convert into a'blessing, by the admixture 
 of sand and litter from the stable. This uni- 
 on will form a loam, the best of all soils for 
 the greatest part of garden vegetables, 
 
 In some soi!s, silex or sand predominates, 
 and whatever moisture it may receive is not 
 retained a sufficient time to benefit the grow- 
 ing vegetable. Here you must add argilla- 
 ceous marls or earth, with the scouring of 
 ditches, and the dung of neat cattle. 
 
 Besides this, nothing contributes more to 
 meliorate the soil of a garden, than exposing 
 it as often as possible to the influence of the 
 air and sun. It is a good rule, therefore, that 
 garden ground, when not in crop, should re- 
 gularly be dug rough, or if possible, be ridged 
 up, and left in that state to the influence of 
 
£00 DECEMBER* 
 
 Hie atmosphere ; for when the ground is suf- 
 ficiently dry, the oftener a new surface is ex- 
 posed, the better. 
 
 For a very great number of plants, an ex- 
 cellent soil is to be found in the turf of high- 
 ways, or old pastures, and the earth which 
 adheres to the turf to the depth of four or 
 five inches, mixed with a portion of cow or 
 horse dung in a rotten state, laid together in 
 a heap, for at least a year, and frequently 
 turned over. It is now an established fact in 
 practical gardening, that for the greater part 
 of culinary plants, and for all fruit trees, com- 
 posts or compound manures are far preferable 
 to simple dungs, and that till the latter be 
 completely rotted, they should not in any 
 case be suffered to touch the roots of the 
 plants. Even composts should not be too 
 rich. Cabbage, especially, and trees of all 
 kinds, are very frequently injured by the inju- 
 dicious and excessive use of manure. 
 
 The English gardeners recommend, for 
 cold clayey land, a compost made up in the 
 following proportion : three parts of light 
 mould ; one part rotten stable dung ; one part 
 sharp sand ; and one part old ashes, with a 
 small proportion of hog or sheep dung. These 
 several ingredients to be intimately blended, 
 and several times turned over, the season be- 
 fore they are used. 
 
 For a light sandy soil, the following are the 
 ingredients and proportions : to two parts of 
 
DECEMBER. 201 
 
 the natural soil add three parts of pond earth, 
 or the scouring of ditches, and three of strong 
 loamy earth ; one part of clay, or rather clay 
 marl, if it can be got, and two parts of stable 
 or cow-house dung. 
 
 In some seasons, and to some plants, vege- 
 table matter, in its recent and organized 
 state, may be employed as a manure with 
 more advantage than when it has been de- 
 composed. 
 
 When there is a sufficient degree of mois- 
 ture, and the weather is warm, the putrefac- 
 tive fermentation goes on beneath the soil, 
 and the gasseous particles escaping, are im- 
 bibed by the roots, and stimulate the plants 
 to a rapid growth. Potatoes and turnips 
 evince the truth of these remarks, when the 
 summer is not unusually dry. 
 
 FEBRUARY. 
 
 Garden Seeds. — I have said that you 
 ought to raise your own garden seeds. This, 
 however, should be understood with the ex- 
 press condition, that your garden contains at 
 least an acre. With less room, you cannot 
 ripen the numerous varieties of seed, without 
 danger of adulteration. The vegetable king- 
 dom in all its departments, contains so many 
 affinities, which, if permitted to bloom in the 
 neighbourhood of each other, never fail to 
 mix their pollen, and become degenerate. 
 
 If you have not sufficient space to guard 
 
202 DECEMBER. 
 
 against this misfortune, better buy what you 
 may want, of some honest and skilful seeds- 
 man. Besides, you will sometimes reap con- 
 siderable benefit from planting seeds that 
 grew upon soils dissimilar to your own. 
 
 Every variety of the gourd and brassica 
 families are extremely liable to be destroyed 
 by insects. Remember this, and lay in a 
 quantity of seed, proportioned to their wants, 
 as well as your own. Without this precau- 
 tion, you will frequently be disappointed, and 
 suffer irreparable loss. 
 
 MARCH. 
 
 Poui try. — If your garden is located in the 
 vicinity of the barn yard, you may reasonably 
 fear that the dung- hill fowls will be trouble- 
 some. In a large garden, however, they are 
 far less injurious than in a small one ; indeed 
 they are often materially useful, for the pur- 
 pose of protecting our plants from the depre- 
 dations of insects, which so frequently render 
 abortive the utmost skill of the gardener. If 
 hens, with their chickens, are quietly permit- 
 ted to roam at large about the garden, they 
 will greatly assist in destroying these mis- 
 chievous vermin, and in this way make full 
 atonement for any little disorder which they 
 may occasion. But then you must take care 
 never to keep old hens. No consideration should 
 tempt you to permit a single domestic fowl to 
 Jive more than one winter. Yearling hens 
 
DECEMBER. 203 
 
 are best on every account ; they are more 
 prolific, and much less injurious to the farmer. 
 There is also in this respect, great difference 
 in the variety or kind of fowls. The smaller 
 the breed, the more they are disposed to hunt 
 the surface of the earth for insects, their fa- 
 vourite food ; while the larger species em- 
 ploy their strength in digging up the soil, and 
 seeking their prey below the surface. 
 
 The fruit of your shrubbery will, however, 
 be sought after by every kind of domestic 
 fowl, and unless you exclude them from that 
 part of the garden, they will most certainly 
 pick for themselves those delicious morsels 
 which hang tempting within their reach. 
 
 Hot-Bed. — Although you may grow an 
 abundance of fine vegetables without the aid 
 of hot-beds, yet it is certain you may have 
 them earlier, and some of them cheaper, in 
 this way, than in the open ground. 1 would 
 therefore advise you to construct a small hot- 
 bed, in which to sow the seeds of lettuce, cab 
 bage, &c. A bed amply sufficient for all your 
 purposes can be made with trifling expense, 
 in the following manner : 
 
 Near the south side of a wall or building, 
 dig a pit, (if the ground be dry) three feet 
 deep, four feet wide, and ten feet long. Let 
 the sides be masoned. up, and the wall raised 
 a foot above the surface of the ground, and if 
 the top is defended with a plank, it will last 
 many years. 
 
204 ©ECExMBER. 
 
 Soon after the equinox, or when the frost 
 is generally out of the ground, fill this pit with 
 new dung from the horse-stable, in which 
 there should be part of the straw or litter 
 commonly used in the stable. Stir every 
 part of it with the fork, and lay it smooth and 
 even. Frequently, or every time a load is 
 put in, tread it down firmly, particularly 
 around the edges, until the pit is filled to 
 within five or six inches df the top. Then 
 cover the bed with the best of garden mould, 
 sufficient to fill the pit, and make it a little 
 crowning. 
 
 Here sow your sallad, radish, and cabbage 
 seed promiscuously. They will be up in a 
 few days, and when fit for i&kj, may be drawn 
 without injury to each other. 
 
 If weeds intrude, take care that they are 
 removed in time. 
 
 If the weather proves dry, sprinkle over 
 the whole a pail-full of water, warmed in the 
 sun, every evening. 
 
 If there should happen some nights when 
 you fear a hard frost, cover with boards, which 
 remove in the morning. 
 
 From this bed you may transplant lettuce, 
 which will head finely, without running to 
 seed until August. 
 
 As the internal heat of your bed diminishes, 
 the warmth of the sun will increase, and the 
 plants will flourish with luxuriance. By the 
 middle of June you will draw, or remove them 
 
DECEMBER. 
 
 206 
 
 all. Ther« work over the top of the bed, 
 make it fine, and plant it to cucumbers. With 
 this management you may make this spot 
 produce four good crops in one season. 
 
 APRIL. 
 
 The Blackberry and Raspberry are 
 found growing wild about our fields, and some- 
 times they creep into the %i sluggard's gar- 
 den," and drive him from one half of it. Yet 
 this should not prevent you from bringing 
 them into yours, where suitable cultivation 
 will greatly enlarge their fruit, and augment 
 their bounties. In forming a plantation for 
 these shrubs, let the ground be first well 
 wrought and levelled down, then cover the 
 whole with sand, four inches deep. This will 
 enable you ever after to keep down the weeds 
 and other intruders with ease ; for it will riot 
 be necessary here annually to dig up and mix 
 the soil, as in the gooseberry plantation. 
 
 MAY. 
 
 Stone fruit trees. — In this month you 
 should frequently examine the branches, of 
 your plum and cherry trees. See if a green 
 fungus begins to form upon any part of them. 
 These knobs are the birth-place of insects, 
 which, as the weather becomes warm, will 
 grow rapidly, and in a few weeks gnaw their 
 way out. In this state they will do infinite 
 mischief among these trees, by puncturing, 
 
206 
 
 DECEMBER, 
 
 with their pointed rostra, the remaining 
 branches. 
 
 Every one of these knots should be cut oflf 
 as soon as discovered, before they exhaust 
 the tree by their irritation, before a diseased 
 habit of throwing out this fungus matter is 
 formed, and before the insect arrives at ma- 
 turity, so as to propagate its species. 
 
 If they appear upon branches that may be 
 removed without material injury to the parent 
 tree, cut them off without delay, and with a 
 brush cover the wounds with thick paint. 
 
 If they appear, as they sometimes do, upon 
 the leading and important branches, now is 
 the only time to save those branches, and the 
 tree itself, from inevitable destruction. Im- 
 mediately take a sharp knife, or what is bet- 
 ter, a sharp gouge, and remove every vestige 
 of the evil, and if you spread the wounded 
 part with paint, so as to exclude the external 
 air, it will directly heal, like any other injury. 
 At this season you should also examine 
 your peach and plum trees, to see ii they are 
 not growing with too much luxuriance, and 
 beginning to form too many branches. 
 
 These trees, you will bear in mind, pro- 
 duce their fruit upon the young wood of the 
 preceding year, and should be so pruned as 
 to cause them to produce new shoots annu- 
 ally. This may now be done by pinching off 
 the extremities of the most luxuriant shoots 2 
 and stopping the neighbouring branches. 
 
DECEMBER. 207 
 
 The shoots of this month will have time to 
 ripen before autumn, while those that are 
 produced late in June will be crude and pithy t 
 and although they may sometimes produce a 
 few blossomi, yet those will rarely bring fruit. 
 It will, therefore well pay the expense to go 
 over all your peach and plum trees two or 
 three times, before the solstice, and rub off 
 carefully all superabundant and irregular 
 shoots. This done, you will have no occa* 
 sion for so much cutting as is often practised 
 on these trees, to their gre^at injury ; for 
 their wood is generally soft and tender, and 
 when wounded, a gum oozes out between the 
 bark and wood, which prevents their healing 
 as soon as many other trees, and the rain 
 water getting into the wounded parts often 
 causes them to canker and rot. This mis- 
 chief, so certainly fatal to the tree, may be 
 entirely avoided by the gentle, easy method 
 of pinching and rubbing off the superfluous 
 buds in the spring season, which never wounds 
 or injures the tree. 
 
 A gardener should always bear in mind that 
 he is to act as the handmaid of nature, and in 
 all his operations carefully aid and assist in 
 bringing her productions to maturity. 
 
 JUNE. 
 
 Inoculation. — I forgot to instruct you in 
 the art of budding, or inoculating, as it is 
 sometimes called. ~ By this operation all the 
 
208 DECEMBER. 
 
 varieties of stone-fruit are more easily pro- 
 pagated than by grafting. The process is 
 very simple, and generally attended with 
 success. 
 
 Stocks for budding upon, are raised from 
 the seeds or stones of any of this kind of fruit. 
 The most vigorous and strong growing kinds 
 are the best. 
 
 When these stocks are two or three years 
 old, they are large enough for this opera- 
 tion. None but those which are smooth and 
 healthy should J>e worked ; for if the stock is 
 knotty or full of canker, all the labor and art 
 you may bestow upon it, will be entirely 
 thrown away ; for the future tree will inevi- 
 tably partake of the disease. 
 
 Although you may make buds from the 
 plum or cherry, grow upon the peach or 
 apricot stocks, and vice versa, yet the trees 
 will never be durable. After a few years 
 the irregularity of their growth causes them 
 to perish, and it is seldom they bear fruit. 
 
 The proper time for budding is soon after 
 the summer solstice, according to the state 
 of the season, and the particular kind of trees, 
 which may always be known by trying the 
 buds, whether they will come off freely from 
 the wood. Observe also, if the buds begin 
 to form at the ends of the shoots ; for then 
 the spring growth is finished, and inoculation 
 should be done without delav. 
 
 "This operation should be performed in the 
 
DEOfcMBER. 20S 
 
 Alter part of the day, or in cloudy weather, 
 for the great power of the mid-day sun is apt 
 to dry the cuttings and buds, and prevent the 
 union that might otherways be expected ; and 
 for the same reason it is thought best to make 
 the incision on the norlh side of the stocks. 
 
 The cuttings should not be taken off the 
 trees until they are wanted for use; and if 
 you are compelled to bring them from a dis- 
 tance, take a basket and spread the bottom 
 with fresh cut grass, upon this lay your cut- 
 tings immediately after they are severed from 
 the parent stocks, and cover them lightly with 
 grass or leaves. 
 
 A sharp penknife is the only instrument 
 wanted for this operation ; and if you are 
 provided with some bass strings or soft wool- 
 len yarn, proceed as follows : 
 
 i; Fix upon a smooth part on the side of 
 the stock, at whatever height you intend to 
 bud it, with your knife make a horizontal cut 
 across the bark of the stock, quite through to 
 the firm wood, then from the middle of this 
 cut, make a slit downwards perpendicularly, 
 about an inch and a half long, going, also, 
 quite through to the wood, so that the two 
 cuts together may be in the form of the let- 
 ter T. Then with the point of your knife, 
 raise the bark a little on each side of the per- 
 pendicular cut. 
 
 u This done, proceed with all expedition, 
 to take off a bud, having immediately previ* 
 $ 2 
 
'J10 DECEMBER. 
 
 ous to the commencement, cut off* all the 
 leaves, leaving about an inch of the footstalk 
 to each bud, and holding the cutting in one 
 hand, with the thickest end outward, then 
 enter the knife about half an inch below a 
 bud, cutting nearly halfway into the wood of 
 the shoot, continuing it with one clean slant- 
 ing cut about as much more, above the bud, 
 so deep as to take off part of the wood along 
 with it; directly take out the woody part re- 
 maining in the bud, by placing the point of 
 the knife between the bark and wood, at 
 either end, and pull off the wood from the 
 bark, which ought, if in good condition to 
 part freely ; then quickly examine the inside, 
 to see if the root of the bud be left, and if 
 there appears a small hole, the rudiments of 
 the young tree is gone with the wood, the 
 bud is rendered useless, and another must be 
 prepared ; but if there be no hole, the bud is 
 good, then place the footstalk or back part of 
 the bud between your lips, and carefully 
 separate the bark from the stalk on each side 
 of the perpendicular cut, for the admission of 
 the bud, which directly slip down close be- 
 tween the wood and bark, till the whole is 
 inserted within the eighth of an inch; let this 
 part be cut through into the first transverse 
 incision made in the stock, and the bud will 
 fall neatly into its place, then draw the bud 
 up gently so as to join the upper or cut end 
 
DECEMBER. 21t 
 
 of it to the bark of the stock, where it will 
 most generally first unite. 
 
 *.' Let the parts be then bound with a liga- 
 ture of bass, previously immersed in water 
 to render it pliable and tough, or with wool- 
 len yarn, beginning below the bottom of the 
 perpendicular slit, and proceeding upwards 
 close around every part, except over the eye 
 or bud, which is to be carefully preserved, and 
 continue it a little above the horizontal cut, 
 not binding it too tight, but just sufficient to 
 keep the parts close, exclude the air, sun, 
 and wet, and thereby to promote the junction 
 of the stock and bud, finish by making the 
 ligature fast. 
 
 " In three weeks or a month after inocula- 
 tion, you will see which of them have taken, 
 by their fresh and plump appearance. At 
 that time you should loosen the bandages, 
 for if kept on too long they would pinch the 
 stocks, and greatly injure if not destroy the 
 buds. Those that appear shrivelled, black, 
 or decayed, are good for nothing. 
 
 "In this dormant state the buds should re- 
 main until the spring following, when the 
 stocks are to be headed down that the whole 
 nourishment may go to the inoculations, which 
 will soon begin to advance their first shoots. 
 
 " In proceeding to this, cut the heads of 
 the stocks off sloping, behind the inoculate^ 
 bud, either almost close thereto, or about a 
 hand's breadth above it, which part of the 
 
21 % DECEMBER* 
 
 stock remaining above, will serve for tying 
 thereto the first shoot from the bud in sum- 
 mer, to secure it from the wind, but must be 
 cut down close next spring/' 
 
 JULY. 
 
 Rhubarb. — A few of the best stalks only, 
 should be permitted to ripen their seed ; for 
 it exhausts the plant, and diminishes the pro- 
 duction of foliage, the only part wanted for 
 kitchen use. 
 
 As soon as the flowers begin to fall off, cut 
 the whole plant, close to the ground, and re- 
 move all the rubbish. Then hoe up every 
 weed, and pulverize the surface. In a few 
 weeks, new leaves will grow, and another 
 crop of foot-stalks be produced, of a quality 
 superior to the first. 
 
 I have now brought to a period my instruc* 
 lions for every month in the year. And to 
 avoid mistakes which might arise from the 
 variety of names in common use, shall here 
 annex a catalogue of the plants usually culti- 
 vated in our kitchen-gardens, with their bo- 
 tanic names set directly opposite. 
 
 Asparagus • . . Asparagus, or 
 
 fimproperly called Sparrow- ^aratimus officinalis. 
 
 grass.] 
 
DECEMBER. 213 
 
 Artichoke, garden . Cynara scolymus. 
 Artichoke, Jerusalem Helianthustuberosus. 
 Bean Faba. 
 
 We cultivate two distinct 
 species of this plant, the 
 
 Horse-bean . . . Vicia faba. 
 
 and the Kidney-bean . Phaseolus vulgaris. 
 
 [of each of these there are 
 many varieties.] 
 
 Beet Beta vulgaris. 
 
 [We have five varieties, call- 
 ed by different names, as 
 they differ in colour and 
 shape.] 
 
 Borecole .... Brassica fimbriata. 
 Black-berry . . . Rubus major. 
 Cabbage . . • . Brassica capitata. 
 
 [Some gardeners enumerate 
 thirteen varieties of this 
 plant, cultivated for culi- 
 nary use.] 
 
 Carrot .... Daucus carota. 
 Celeri Apium duke. 
 
 commonly called 
 
 Salary Celeri Italorum. 
 
 Corn, sweet . . . Zea mays dulce. 
 
 Corn, broom . . . Holcus saccharatus. 
 
 Corn, Guinea . . . Holcus Sorghum. 
 
 Cucumber . . . Cucumi sativus, 
 
 Currants, red Ribes rubrum. 
 
 Egg-plant .... Solanum melongena. 
 
 Garlic AUium sativum. 
 
 Gourd-squash . . . Cucurbita melopepo. 
 
 Gooseberry . . . Ribes glossularia. 
 
 Lettuce, or sallad . Lactuca sativa. 
 
214 DECEMBER. 
 
 Melon, musk • . . Cucumis melo. 
 
 Melon, water . . . Cucurbita oitrullus. 
 
 Mustard, white . . Sinapis alba. 
 
 Onion Allium cepa. 
 
 Onion, magic . . . Allium canadense. 
 
 Parsley Apium sativum. 
 
 Pea Pisum sativum. 
 
 Pepper Capsicum. 
 
 Potatoe . . . . Solanum tuberosum. 
 
 Pumpkin .... Cucurbita pepo. 
 
 Radish .... Raphanus sativus. 
 
 Radish, horse . . • Cochlearia armoracia 
 
 Rhubarb .... Rheum palmatum. 
 
 Raspberry .... Rubus Idaeus. 
 
 Salsafy .... Tragopogon porrifo- 
 J hum. 
 
 Skirret Sium sisarum. 
 
 Sorrel Rumex acetosa. 
 
 Spinach Spinacia oleracea. 
 
 Squash, warted . . Cucurbita verrucosa. 
 
 Turnip Brassica Rupa. 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 9, line 9, read but, for put. 
 
 Page 10, line 12, for means y read manure ; and in the 
 next line obliterate manure. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Agriculture learned in the 
 
 garden, 13. 
 Alleys in the garden, 44. 
 Apple trees planted, 35. 
 Asparagus, 57, 182. 
 
 B. 
 
 Beet, 64, 85, 145, 185. 
 Beans, 92. 147, 160, 165. 
 Black-berry, 51. 205. 
 Broom Corn, 100, 147, 181. 
 
 C. 
 
 Cabbage, 64, 75, 123, 130, 
 
 147, 160, 193. 
 Carrots, 64, 83, 146, 185. 
 Clover should grow in the 
 
 garden, 13, 
 China Beans, 95. 
 Calabash, 116. 
 Celery, 152, 169, 182, 195. 
 Currants, 34, 48. 
 Currant Wine, 169. 
 Compost manure, 188, 200. 
 Cramberry Beans, 95. 
 Cucumber, 110, 142, 152, 
 
 166, 187. 
 Cut-warm, 130. 
 Curculio, 136. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dimension of the garden. 
 
 Fence around the garden* 
 
 G. 
 
 Garden seed, 26, 30, 201. 
 Garden tools. 27. 
 Gooseberry, 33, 45, 149, 196 
 Gooseberry wine, 172. 
 Gourd, 109. 116. 
 Grafting, 53. 
 Grub-worm, 130. 
 Grasshopper, 121. 
 Guinea Corn, 101. 
 
 II. 
 
 Hessian fly, 121. 
 Horse-radish, 56. 
 Heps, 65. 
 Hot-bed, 203. 
 
 I. 
 
 Inocculation,207. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kidney-beans, 93. 
 
 Lettuce, 73, 148. 
 Lima beans, 94. 
 
 M. 
 Manure, 19, 24, 25, 199. 
 Moon and stars not to be ob- 
 served, 40. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Magic onions, 71. 
 Melons, 111, 152. 
 Melon bug, 123. 
 Mustard, 116. 
 
 Orchard, 52. 
 
 Onions, 69, 145, 161, 180. 
 
 P. 
 
 Parsnips, 64, 81, 146, 186, 
 
 194. 
 Peach trees, 146, 206. 
 Peas, 97, 165. 
 Pea-bug, 131. 
 Parsley, 74. 
 Peppers, 90, 148. 
 Planting trees and shrubs, 34, 
 
 196. 
 Potatoes, 105, 149, 185. 
 Plums, 138, 205. 
 Plum trees, 135, 206. 
 Poultry, 202. 
 Pumpkin, 115. 
 Purslain, 91. 
 Pye-plant, 61. 
 
 R. 
 
 Rotation of crops, 12. 
 Raspberry, 49. 
 
 Radish, 82, 89. 
 Radish, horse, 56r 
 Red peppers, 90. 
 Rhubarb, 61, 212, 
 Ruta baga, 160. 
 
 S. 
 Salsafy, 87. 
 Seeds of vegetables, 175, 176. 
 
 179. 
 Seed onions, 72. 
 Scions for grafting, 52. 
 Situation for the garden, 10. 
 Skirret, 88. 
 Sorrel, 91. 
 Spinach, 96. 
 Squash, 114. 
 Stone fruit trees, 205. 
 Swedish turnip, 160. 
 Sweet Corn, 101, 148, 150. 
 Shrubs, 33. 
 
 Turnip, 64, 154, 160 166. 
 Turnip fly, 128, 154, 158, 167, 
 194. 
 
 W. 
 
 Walks in the garden, 44 
 Weed, 69, 182. 
 


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