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editor's table. 



StrawhisRKIks may lie plni)to<l yot. Pr<»paro the ground by thorough manuring and troiich- 

 inu. If i)lai)ted in rows, let tliom he at least three feet apart. Strong growing kinds — as 

 Longworth's Prolific and Hoston Pine — should bo at least eigliteen inches from plant to 

 plant in the rows, and the plants or hills kei)t distinct. When they are too niucli crowded, 

 the plants may produce abundance of flower, but no fruit. Select young plants from healthy 

 vines that are in a good bearing condition. Also see to planting a due ]>roi>ortion of stami- 

 nate along with the pistillate varieties. After jtlanting, spread a mulching of rotted manure 

 between the rows, to keep the soil moist, an<l juotcct from frost wlien it arrives. Spent tan- 

 bark is often useful for this purpose, and may be used as a substitute when it can be 

 obtained. Old plantations sliould be well thinned out, that the buds for next year's crop 

 may be well developed before the season's growth terminates. 



RAsrr.EuuiES. — The old canes that have fruited should be pruned out at once. The young 

 canes should also be thinned out where they are too much crowded. Allow six canes to 

 remain for the present, and next April cut two of them down to within six incites of the 

 root ; these will then throw out fruiting branches, which will be a few weeks later in making 

 the fruit, and prolong the fruiting season to that extent. 



Peaks. — To have superior winter fruit on tlie dwai f trees, give them a thorough soaking of 

 weak guano-water once a week, unless the weatlnu- should prove very wet ; if so. sprinkle a 

 handful or two of guano over the roots, and cover it by hoeing or slight forking of the soil. 

 'J'liin the fruit, also, where the crop is heavy. Heavy cropping has tended much to throw 

 discredit on dwarf trees, retarding their growth, and inducing weakness and disease. Pre- 

 pare for planting by trenching, and see that the compost heap is amjjle and thoroughly 

 decomposed for use. 



Gkapery. — Air may now be more freely admitted than at any other period of the year, 

 the better to mature the wood for next crop. Heavy rains should be excluded from the 

 border if the fruit is well ripened. Another cause of badly colored fruit, not previously 

 mentioned, arises from a too rigid summer pruning, checking the growth of the plant and 

 hardening the wood before the fruit has derived sufficient nourishment for proper develop- 

 ment. Where this is the case, no treatment now will remedy it. 



Greenhouse. — Seedlings of calceolarias, ciunerarias, &c., should be transplanted as early 

 as they can conveniently be handled. Cuttings of most flower-garden plants will form roots 

 readily at this season ; but by lifting and potting a few old plants of the different sorts of 

 verbenas, heliotropes, petunias, salvias, &c., and keeping them over winter, they will afford 

 sufficient ciittings to propagate from in the spring. Cuttings rooted then make better and 

 healthier plants, grow more freely, and produce larger flowers ; besides the saving of time 

 and labor required in attending to a quantity of young plants in small pots, and the economy 

 of space which they would demand, which can be turned to better account. 



Hyacinths and other bulbs should be potted as early as received. Plunge the pots in 

 ashes, sand, or sawdust, covering them a foot deep at least ; they will here form a mass of 

 roots with little or no elongation of stem. When taken into the greenhouse (a few at a 

 time), they will flower in a few days after this treatment. Many hardy plants afford bloom 

 in winter, if potted now. Pre-eminent is the Deutzia gracilis ; Weigela rosea, spireas, pruni- 

 folia pleno, and Reevsii, jasrainum nudiflorum, Forsythia viridissima, and small bushes of 

 the Persian lilac, are all well worth potting for early greenhouse flowering. Secure a good 

 stock of monthly flowering carnations. All the greenhouse plants should be gradually 

 hardened, and treated in a manner to perfect their growth. Guard them from wet and ex- 

 citement at this season, that they may be prepared for the winter. 



pLEASUKE-GKor>D. — The time has again arrived when alterations of all kinds connected 

 with ground-work are to be effected with the greatest advantage. If imi:)rovements are con- 

 templated, the present is the proper time to consider and determine what these shall be. 

 Now is the best time to study the composition of landscape scenery, the individual and 

 collective beauty of trees, as they are clad in the beauty and variety of the " sere and 

 yellow leaf." The garden scenery is constantly changing, however imperceptible it may be ; 

 and if this progressive change has extended over several years without interruption, it may 

 now be i)roper to reflect whether or not time is producing effects that demand immediate 

 attention. Certain trees may have overgrown their intended limits, and be producing effects 

 the opposite to what was intended. Roads and walks which, a few years ago, seemed to 

 have " ample room and verge enough," are now encroached upon so far as to call for imme- 

 diate alteration, either by removal of the trees or altering the form or direction of the walk; 

 the latter being the most advisable, if at all practicable. No mechanical rules can be per- 

 mitted to guide us in these and similar matters of taste ; yet there are principles which 

 must -be adhered to, and which no person of refined and cultivated taste will depart from. 



