U6 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



am, sir, respectfully yours, M. C. Newhurgh, 

 Aug., 1849. '.... 



A Beginnkr's Troubles. — I wrote an article, 

 which appeared in the February number of the 

 Horticulturist, giving an outline of a plan I Jiad 

 adopted for planting an orchard,-— -the result, as I 

 thought, of the collected wisdom of the various 

 chapters " on transplanting," and catalogue di- 

 rections; which plan was submitted rather inter- 

 rogatively, and with due deference to experience 

 everywhere; and fortunately, I concluded, re- 

 ceived the brief endorsement of the editor, —-that 

 " we (the editor,) are always glad to hear of 

 such thorough orchard planting." But lo ' a wise 

 man from Buffalo blows up the whole plan, in the 

 '• Genesee Farmer" for April, and declares, with 

 its editor for endorser, that our " deep holes" will 

 not do, and gives his plan. What are the igno- 

 rant to do when doctors disagree? Nevertheless, 

 I have not taken the trees up, but suhsoiled the 

 ground early in the spring; and they are all grow- 

 in<r finely. [You have not a hard-pan soil, and 

 vour Buffalo critic probably has; and what would 

 be best in your soil would be worst in his. Ed.] 



Received a quart of Osage Orange seed from 

 Cincinnati the winter of '47~8 ; submitted it to 

 the frost in an open box of damp quarry sand, 

 planted it the 7lh of April, and a portion of the 

 see J — sa y one-half— vegetated, and made a growth 

 of some two feet. I thought them too small to 

 transplant to where I wished the hedge, and now 

 they have made such a huge growth,— branching 

 out in every direction with new shoots, of more 

 than three feet in length,— that I now scarcely 

 know how to manage them. Can these shoots be 

 used as cuttings? And will they make good 

 plants? [They will make good plants if the cut- 

 tings will strike; but we doubt the latter. Ed.] 



I obtained a peck of seed from the same place 

 this spring, poured water, heated to a degree 

 scarcely to be borne by the hand, upon the seed, 

 agreeably to the counsel of western cultivators, 

 and allowed it to remain in the water some forty 

 hours, (a rain preventing me planting sooner,) 

 and then planted in good mellow soil ; but not one 

 seed ever germinated. All rotted in the ground. 

 Was the seed worthless; or was it immersed too 

 long; or was the water too hot? [The seed re- 

 ceived from Arkansas is often spoiled before it 

 arrives; but if not, forty hours soaking would be 

 likely to destroy its vitality. Ed.] 



I purchased a lot of line rooted plants, of the 

 large Red and White Dutch Currant, from one of 

 the New- York nurseries, desiring to have the best 

 in cultivation. They have grown well, and borne 

 fruit; and prove to be identical with those culti- 

 vated in my father's garden from my childhood. 

 Have also procured Knight's Large and Sweet 

 Red, Champagne, and May's Victoria, at high 

 prices; and doubt much, from the fruit they have 

 borne, whether they will prove at all superior to 

 the Dutch. [The true Dutch currants are very 

 much finer and larger than the common sorts. 



May's Victoria is also a distinct and excellent 

 sort. Ed.] 



As long as I can remember, there was a fine 

 bed of asparagus in my father's garden; but I 

 wanted better, and sent off to Flushing for that 

 " Giant''' kind, which now, if I were to name it, 

 would call "Lilliputian asparagus;" for it is tri- 

 lling, compared with our own old kind. 



I sent five hundred miles for Hovey's and other 

 strawberry plants. Black Prince, and some others, 

 proved true and done well. Hovey, no better 

 than the common scarlets of our hills ; and shall 

 dig them all under this fall. [We think it more 

 than probable that you really obtained neither 

 Giant asparagus or Hovey's strawberry. Ed.] 



At a high price, I procured twenty-four varie- 

 ties of imported gooseberry plants, of bearing age. 

 They are all more or less covered with mil- 

 dew, and large berries falling prematurely to the 

 ground, while a Variety considerably disseminated 

 here, and known as the " Cluster" gooseberry, is 

 loaded down with ropes of medium sized, light red 

 berries,— even plants numbering but a second 

 summer's growth; and never, so far as I know, 

 is it affected with mildew. This kind I think is 

 entirely identical with the prolific gooseberry 

 bush, described by Dr. Boswell, in the Horticul- 

 turist of January, 1848, — having received cut- 

 tings myself of that bush, from Dr. Harvey, its 

 proprietor, in the spring of 1848, which fruited 

 finely this season. 



I obtained the Ohio Everbearing raspberry from 

 Kentucky. It grew, and bore finely one crop, 

 but have seen nothing of its " Everbearing" pro- 

 pensities, but appears entirely similar to some of 

 our native kinds. [It is precisely like the com- 

 mon " black-cap;" but in a cool, deep, clay soil, 

 it bears abundant crops in October. Ed.] 



I have had the true Red Antwerp, Franconia, 

 and Fastolff, in bearing this seasou. The two 

 former are larger, but not superior in flavor to 

 some of our native sorts, cultivated in our gar- 

 den; but the last is decidedly first rate in all re- 

 spects. Doubtful whether they will withstand 

 our cold winters. We have covered ours slight- 

 ly with earth, bending down the canes, which 

 proved ample protection. 



To finish off, allow me to propound a query or 

 two. Should the Early Richmond, or common 

 Kentish cherry, be propagated from seed, suckers, 

 or worked upon the Mazzard stock? With others, 

 some time back, I had some doubts whether the 

 seed of the Kentish would grow, as it is never 

 seen growing wild, only as a sucker from others; 

 and having failed several times in efforts to get 

 the seed to grow. But this spring I planted 

 some, which had been boxed in sand from the day 

 they were taken from the tree, and they have 

 come up and grown quite well. Will the size 

 and quality of the fruit be improved by raising 

 from seed? [Raise by seed, by all means; but 

 as you cannot be sure that they will always be 



