1856.] A Little Ecperience in Gardening. 175 



as I have never yet found a sweet one in this country. Perhaps by 

 transplanting its seeds to a land of liberty its character may be redeemed. 

 I would like much to send you some cuttings of the better sorts 

 of our Syrian grape vines — but they should be cut in the winter, just 

 the time we never travel unless compelled to. Bhamdom is one of the 

 best places I know of for good grapes. Yours, 



D. M. Wilson. 



A LITTLE EXPERIENCE IN GARDENING. 



Th=: following ' experience,' given by a correspondent of the Rural American, 

 demonstrates the advantages that may be secured by the application of the com 

 mon principles of science to agriculture. 



•* In the summer of 1853, I occupied a little cottage in one of the 

 villages of Central New York. There was about half an acre of thin, 

 shaded, and worn-out ground attached to it, notorious for never pro- 

 ducing any thing but yellow dock and tory burs. The earth was hard 

 and baked, not having been cultivated the previous season, for its sterility 

 was such that the former occupant declared that the proceeds would not 

 pay the cost of plowing. When I moved there in February, and intimated 

 to a neighbor that I intended to fix up my little garden, he laughed 

 merrily at my "greenness," and advised me to buy a tun of guano and a 

 hundred loads of manure before I began my enterprise. 



I commenced my horticultural operations by throwing together the 

 family urine and the house ashes, daily, into good barrels ; the ashes 

 being an absorbent and preventing the escape of ammonia from the urine, 

 and also neutralizing the odor of fermentation. In this way I filled two 

 barrels with well saturated ashes before gardening time came round. 

 When spring opened, I had this material spread upon the ground, and 

 immediately plowed in. The plow was run eleven inches deep. After 

 duly harrowing the plat, it was, in due time, planted with potatoes, peas, 

 c;irrots. beans, tomatoes, beets, and other usual garden stuffs. No barn- 

 yard manure was put upon it, for I had none, and no other dressing than 

 the urine and ashes was used at this time. 



I tlien sank a tight barrel half way into the ground, at a distance of 

 twenty feet from the kitchen, and built a gutter from iU door to the 

 barrel. Into this gutter, and thence to the barrel, all the dish-wash- 

 ings, soap-suds, and other liquid slops of the house were thrown. The 



