174 



TEE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[JUNl, 



is injurious only in the West. It was the other 

 species we referred to, and which, so far as we 

 know, enters only at the ground. We have to 

 thank our correspondent for his timely sug- 

 gestions, and we hope to hear from him again. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



HUCKLEBERRIES. 



BY WnXIAM JOHNSTON, QUITMAN, MO. 



I will try to write a few lines on the subject of 

 huckleberries. I think there is no doubt but it 

 can be domesticated and raised so as to pay in a 

 majority of gardens, especially when the fruit can- 

 not be picked on the wild bushes or bought in the 

 market, which is the case in the western prairies. 



Mr. Hammond, in the August number of the 

 Horticulturist, speaks of the different varieties 

 of huckleberries, that no one liad given a de- 

 scription of the different kinds. 



Professor Gray, in his Field Botany, describes 

 ten varieties Vaccinium corybosum. The blue- 

 berry of New England States, growing from 3 

 feet to 10 feet in height, answers the description 

 of the kind described by INIr. Hammond. That 

 there is a great difference in the quality of the 

 berries of tliis same variety there is no doubt, 

 and if we go into tlie cultivation of the berry let 

 us begin with the best, and by a course of repro- 

 duction the fruit will be very much improved. 

 Of the different native fruits of our country the 

 grape has had the most attention, and the result 

 has been very satisfactory. The same may be done 

 with the native plum, persimmon and the native 

 berries, all better fruits in their wild state than 

 the apple or pear was. 



All fruits and fiowei'S that have been brought 

 into cultivation have been much improved. All 

 flowers in tlieir wild state are single. Cultivation 

 and reproduction makes them double; equally as 

 great changes can be made in the quality of our 

 wild fruits. 



ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 



BY W. D. M., FAYETTE CO., TENN. 



Your correspondent. Gen. W. H. Noble, in 

 the April number, wishes to hear more on what 

 he calls " the new culture for asparagus." It is 

 not new to me — my father planted a bed about 

 thirty years ago, and his culture was nearly like 

 the gentleman's referred to by Gen. N., with 

 this diflference : hen and stable manure, mixed 



with good garden soil, were used freely, and the 

 bed dug as deep as the asparagus roots would al- 

 low every spring. For fourteen years I have 

 kept up my father's mode of culture, and the old 

 bed continues to yield, from year to year, a good 

 crop of fine large asparagus. I also grow rad- 

 ishes, &c., on the bed, as my father did, which 

 does not seem to injure the asparagus. 



Having changed the plan and size of my gar- 

 den, I wish to start a new bed, as the old one is 

 now out of place, and looks odd with no walk 

 leading to it. Please tell the best time and 

 method of doing it. 



The peach crop here is nearly a failure — none 

 worth talking about. Apples, pears and small 

 fruits look promising. 



ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 



BY A. T. L, WHITE HALL, MICH. 



The manner in which cultivates asparagus 



by annually adding a layer of fresh dirt is a suc- 

 cess. If these layers are made alternately of clay 

 loam and sand loam, I suggest that it would be 

 an improvement. Tliere is a mulching power in 

 clay on sand and in sand on clay that is not half 

 understood nor but very little practiced to what 

 it should be on our light sandy soils where clay 

 knolls abound so plentifully. Fruit prospects 

 here are good without exception. 



PEAR TREES— FROZEN-SAP-BLIGHT. 



BY MYSTIC, MEDFOED, MASS. 



Late, rapid growth of the pear tree, when the 

 vitality of the leaf is not sufficient to effect a per- 

 fect assimilation of the sap, produces immature 

 wood, which is very apt to be injured, if not 

 killed, by freezing, and especially by freezing and 

 thawing, in the winter. The next spi'ing, "the 

 bark of the trunk and principal limbs exhibit 

 black spots, and, on cutting into them, the bark 

 and wood, for some distance beneath, are found 

 quite dead and black. The only remedy is to 

 cut away at once all of the tree that is affected — 

 cutting below the lowest spot." 



The winter of 187-Jr-5 was a trying one to the 

 pear trees in this region. The frozen-sap-blight 

 showed itself in many gardens. I had two Bart- 

 letts (standards) six yeai-s old, strong, vigorous 

 and beautifully shaped — the result of deep, 

 thorough cultivation and careful training. The 

 branches on one side of one showed the blight 



