482 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



stretched on frames, instead of glass, lor the lin^lits. 

 It makes liirhts quite iis fjooii as irlass for moM I'ur- 

 cinsr piirpii^e.-.. ami cusits not a lil'tli as iiiucli. AlUT 

 the cotloii is strcti'liecl (III till- frames I make it Iranis- 

 parciit and ilurable l)y irivin-j: it a eont ol'the I'ollow- 

 ms eomposition : three pints best old boiled linseed 

 oil, four ounces white resin, and one ounce sugar of 

 lead. The oil and resin must be a little heated to 

 make them mix, and the suixar of lead must ho lirst 

 pround with a little of the oil, and then mixed with 

 the remainder. I usually brush a coat of this over 

 my canvas ligrhts every season before u.sin<^ them. 



I place my troufrlis of peas in rouirh board frames, 

 covered with these canvas lights, iibout from the 

 middle of February to the middle of March, which 

 is about three weeks belore they will come up out 

 of doors here. Some of those sown earliest, I <rive a 

 little hot-bed start to, by placinfr about two leet of 

 stable manure at the bottom before puttiu<r down 

 the frames. On this I place my troutrhs, and this 

 gives them a good start in the commencement. I 

 do not take the trouble to renew any linings of 

 litter. 



But for ray main crop of early peas, which I start 

 about the 1st of March, I use nothing but the frame 

 and the canvas lights, which cover it. This gives 

 warmth and shelter enough for peas ; for my crop 

 in the troughs is growing every day with little or no 

 attention, while in the open ground they have 

 scarcely ve-'etated. 



As soon as the weather becomes mild and fine — 

 say, by the 1st of April — I prepare a spot in the 

 kitchen garden, in which to transplant my early 

 peas. This is very easily done by making a slight 

 trench, just large enough to take in the whole trough 

 — fill the earth up to the sides of the box, knock 

 away the ends, and then, carei'iilly drawing out the 

 sides, press the laellow soil up to the earth in the 

 trough, as the sides are drawn away. By water- 

 ing the earth in the trouirhs beforehand, and doing 

 the work nicely, the peas '" will never know thev 

 have been transplanted." Now stick them and 

 earth them up, and you will be able to gather an 

 excellent crop of early jie^s at least two weeks be- 

 fore the most industrious of your neighbors who have 

 trusted to the open air oidy, and three weeks earlier 

 if the weather is mild, and you have started your 

 troughs early with some manure in the hot-btd. 

 Kitchen Gardener. 



The best Early Pea. — Pray which is the best 

 early pea, taking carliness, excellence of flavor, and 

 productiveness into the account ? I tiiul many new 

 n.ames in the seed-shops, and am in doubt if an)' of 

 them are better than the old Early Frame. A Que- 

 rist. New-York, March, 1847. 



Answer. — Prince ..Slbert is the very be.st early 

 pea we have ever cultivated. It is a week earlier 

 than the best old varieties ; excellent, and yields 

 good crops. — Ed. 



Pruning Apple-Trees. — The experience of C. 

 Springer, of Ohio, in cultivating apples without 

 pruning the trees, (see last No.,) affords an inter- 

 esting instance of success ; and I should have been 

 pleased had he urged another point, as a main cause 

 of the great superiority of his fruit, besides the omis- 



sion of pruning. The ground, it appears, was ma- 

 nured annually for several years ; and the great I'er- 

 tilitv thus induced was kept up by nsinfj the orchard 

 as a lio;_'-vard. This trcatnicnt, ajijilicd to a natu- 

 rally line soil, made it too rich for the Klmdc-lsland 

 Greening ; and would, perhajis, have been a sulli- 

 cient ex|)lanation of his extraordinary success with 

 trees only sixteen years old, without taking pruning 

 at all into consideration. 



Had his orchard not received this excellent man- 

 agcuient, and the trees stood till tilt)' years old, he 

 would ])robably have found that a moderate and 

 judicious thinning would have alforded better fruit, 

 than to have permitted a dense mass of crooked and 

 stunted branches. His experiment, however, proves 

 most conclusively the superior importance ol a fer- 

 tile soil at the roots of tlic trees, to the attemjit at 

 a complete substitute by lopping the limbs ; and 

 these suggestions are merely made to direct atten- 

 tion to this point, while the disgraceful mutilation, 

 so freciuently practiced under the name of pruning, 

 cannot be too strongly discouraged. J.J.T. Ma- 

 cedon, ^mo. 8, 1847. 



Apples from Rochester. — Dear Sir : As the 

 subject of Fruit is now receivin? something like 

 due consideration, and as you hold a high place in 

 the minds of those who cultivate it, your opinion, 

 when fully expressed (with specimens before you,) 

 will give a character to a variety which I am in- 

 clined to believe will find a response in the opi- 

 nions of all persons. 



I herewith send you, by express, specimens of 

 varieties which have been (in part) kindly contri- 

 buted by gentlemen of our city and county. 



You will find the Northern Spy, Baldwin, lied 

 Canada, Newtown Pippin, Lacquier, and Yellow 

 Bell-Flower. In this region they are generally 

 prized as amongst the very best apples ever pro- 

 duced. One object 1 have in sending the fruit is, 

 to have you test the difference between the North- 

 ern .Si)y and the Canada Red. As with other things, 

 both apples hnve their warm friends ; and discus- 

 sions are going on touching the Northern Spy, as 

 regards its merit as a fruit, and of the tree as a 

 productive or non-productive one. 



You have already published a statement respect- 

 ing its origin ; but the simple mention ef the fact, 

 that the seeds were brought from Connecticut 

 some forty years since, and planted in Bloomheld, 

 in our state, may not be uninteresting. 



I inclose you the certificate of Mr. Hand, of 

 Mendon, who has raised the Spy in the great- 

 est perfection known in this region. In addi- 

 tion, he has verbally communicated the following 

 facts : That from twenty-four young trees he 

 raised eighty barrels of apples in the year 1846, 

 sixtj'-five of which he brought and sold me at two 

 dollars per barrel, and the fifteen he kept being 

 good, but not such as I now send you. 



Mr. Hand probably takes more care of his trees 

 than any other cultivator in this region ; and the 

 specimen of Swaars marked with his name, I wish 

 you to compare with the others in the box. Pru- 

 ning is important with the Northern Spy, as the 

 eflfect of the sun is to give them their beautiful 

 coloring, and, many times, pine-apple flavor. 



