i88s.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



49 



know, and will do well trained up to the north side 

 of a fence or building. Under proper treatment, 

 it will grow and bear many years. 



It is increased by nearly all the known modes 

 of propagation, but the readiest and quickest is 

 by pieces of its own roots. Any old bushes, ap- 

 parently worthless, may be dug up in the spring, 

 their roots chopped in pieces three or four inches 

 in length, planted in a nursery row in good ground, 

 three or four inches deep, according as the soil is 

 light or heavy ; these will grow more in one year 

 than a cutting will in two or three ; besides, any 

 one can do this, even the most ine.xperienced in 

 the art of propagation. 



Circumstances must dictate the mode of shading, 

 but I found bast matting to answer very well, and 

 had no more trouble with insects than if they had 

 been covered with mosquito netting. 



The best way of mulching is to remove the top 

 soil down to the roots, in a circle of three or four 

 feet in diameter; they will be stripped of course, 

 but must be covered up again with about a quarter 

 of an inch of earth, so as not to let the manure 

 come in contact with the roots ; then four or 

 five inches of good rotten manure laid on and 

 well trodden down ; then replace the earth on 

 top, level or sloping inwards to catch the water, 

 when good luck sends if. Rake off nicely, and 

 the manure will scarcely be noticed. 



The American sorts may be managed the same 

 way, but I prefer the English gooseberry, and 

 have always thought it amply paid for the labor 

 and trouble bestowed upon it. 



Chambersburg, Trenton, N. J. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Columbia Grape. — This is a white variety 

 raised by J. T. Clark, of Washington, said to be 

 from the White Frontignac, a foreign grape, 

 crossed with the Catawba. It is said to have been 

 in successful out-door culture in the vicinity of 

 Washington for several years. 



Eugenia Gr.^pe. — This is a red grape, said to 

 have been raised from seed of the same berry that 

 produced the Columbia. 



Planting Peas. — There is a belief common 

 among gardeners that peas planted four inches 

 deep will do better than if set but two inches. But 

 it is probable that the cases where the deep planted 

 peas did better depended for success on some other 

 incident that was overlooked. We do not think that 

 the benefit of deep planting peas is beyond dispute. 



Potato Sets. — Disputes continue as ever be- 

 fore about the relative advantages of large or 

 small potatoes for seed, or of whole or cut potatoes. 

 At the outset it is apparent that a very small 

 potato — the size of a pea for instance — would pro- 

 duce so weak a plant that it would take all sum- 

 mer to get strong enough to make a plant fit to 

 bear tubers. Therefore, the strength of the eye 

 that is to produce the plant must be a matter of 

 some consideration. The good, strong eye will 

 surely make the strongest plant in the shortest 

 space of time ; and one good sprout will as surely 

 be better than a dozen poor ones. All this is in 

 favor of a moderately large potato, or at least a 

 potato with strong eyes and cut sets. The soil, 

 manner of treatment and other conditions, how- 

 ever, have often much to do with success. A 

 weak sprout well treated will do better than a 

 strong one badly treated. But the sprout, not the 

 size of the potato, is certainly of some consequence. 

 As soon as it begins to grow the sprout sends out 

 roots of its own. The potato is not of much ac- 

 count. We know one who grows as fine potatoes 

 as any one needs, from sprouts alone. 



Li.viA Beans without Poles.— It is not always 

 possible or convenient to get poles to have Lima 

 beans run on. Some have recommended that 

 they run over brushwood ; but even brushwood 

 is not always to hand. Again, some have pro- 

 posed that the runners be kept clipped, and the 

 plants then become bushes. But either the bean 

 does not like the treatment— the beans are incon- 

 venient to gather, or some other serious objection 

 occurs. No one seems to continue the make- 

 shift over a year or two, and the poles are again 

 sighed after or sought for. Last year we saw a 

 plan which, so far, seemed as good a substitute as 

 we have heard of. Posts were put at each side of 

 the garden plot, a wire stretched along the top 

 from each, and another near the ground, up and 

 down were strings. The beans on such a trellis 

 were planted only about eighteen inches apart, 

 and gave a magnificent crop. Of course, this is 

 for garden work. Where horse-culture to keep 

 down weeds and stir the soil is essential, the culti- 

 vator must work both ways, and then we do not 

 see how there can be any substitute for poles. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Big Fruits.— " Excelsior" desires to know 

 " what there is in the big pears or big apples, that 

 the Gardeners' Monthly loves to record their 



