200 American Horticultural Society. 



which may be a little stronger than the first. They will soon harden and 

 may be kept a long while. 



Blackberry Plants from Eoot Cuttings. — If possible, blackberry roots 

 should be taken up in autumn, cut in pieces two and a half or three inches 

 in length, and planted at once, or intermingled with earth and placed in a 

 cellar until spring. If kept in a cellar, on account of their disposition to 

 sprout, they should be planted in the spring, as soon as the ground can be 

 worked, in broad drills, four feet apart, and at least four inches deep. To 

 insure strong plants, cuttings should be at least three inches from each other 

 in the row. Such plants do not bear earlier nor more satisfactorily than 

 sucker plants from established patches, but are more easily dug and packed, 

 and are therefore preferred by nurserymen. In favorable seasons root cut- 

 tings often succeed well when roots are dug and prepared early in spring 

 and planted where they are to grow. 



Evergreen or Oregon Blackberry. — A few years ago a friend in Oregon 

 sent me this blackberry, with the statement that it was a valuable variety in 

 that region. It proved to be a rampant grower, with a trailing habit like 

 the dewberry. Its foliage was elegantly cut and studded with the sharpest 

 spines; but the few small berries produced by it were hard and flavorless 

 and of no value whatever. For two years I have endeavored to destroy it, 

 but find that it sprouts most persistently from its roots. 



Healthfulne?s of Horticulture. — Perhaps there is no pursuit to which 

 man inclines that is more beneficent in its results than horticulture. To 

 those who take pleasure in it, it brings peace and the most pleasurable men- 

 tal enjoyment, while it builds up the physical frame wasted by disease or 

 rendered feeble by sedentary occupation. To it I doubtless owe a long ex- 

 tension of life. Twenty-eight years ago I was a wreck in health, and my 

 physician warned me that I might die at any moment, and at best could not 

 hope to live more than a few months. I was then thirty-four years of age; 

 had always longed to live in the midst of green fields and cultivate fruits and 

 flowers, but fortune had not allowed me to gratify that desire. Disease 

 caused me to leave the city and go to the country without delay. After 

 months of serious illness, I began to be able, with assistance, to visit my gar- 

 den and note its flowers and fruits, and soon I was able to assist a little in 

 their cultivation. I had many of the best flowers and small fruits, and as 

 manj' were new to me, while I derived strength from their cultivation, my 

 mind was kept in a state of most pleasurable excitement by their successive 

 exhibitions of flowers and fruits; and to them I have hardly a doubt that I 

 owe the term of existence I have since enjoyed. The fable of Antseus, who 

 renewed his strength whenever he touched the earth, and who could be 

 overcome by Hercules only when held in mid-air, conveys an idea that 

 needs no interpreter to a multitude of invalids engaged in horticultural 

 pursuits. Diocletian, one of the greatest of the Rcnnan emperors, voluntarily 

 resigned his throne and spent the remainder of his life in the enjoyment of 

 his garden. No doubt thousands have regarded him as an object of pity, but 



