THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



18» 



A GOOD PLACE FOR FOREST TREES. 



The Lancaster (Mass.) F.n-mer says, 

 in alluding to the use which may be 

 made of stony ground : 



" There is on many farms more or 

 less of ground so rocky that it will not 

 repay the expense of cultivation, and 

 all such spots should be planted with 

 trees. These may be got out of the 

 woods or farm nurseries ; or what 

 would be easier, cheaper and probably 

 much more effectual, the seeds of vari- 

 ous kinds of trees could be sown, imita- 

 ting as nearly as possible the natural 

 processes which have produced all the 

 forests of the country. The seeds of 

 the different trees should be gathered 

 in the woods just at the time they fall 

 naturally, and they should be immedi- 

 ately planted in little shallow holes 

 among the stones and covered with a 

 little earth. There the rains of autumn, 

 the snows of winter, and the sunshine 

 of spring would bring uj) a crop of 

 young trees, which should be fenced in 

 from cattle and left to themselves. They 

 would require no labor after the first 

 sowing and fencing except subsequent 

 thinning out from year to year of those 

 that were too crowded or most valuable 

 for economic purposes. If hickory nuts, 

 black walnuts, butternuts, chestnuts, 

 and the seeds of sugar maples, pines or 

 spruces were any of them sown every 

 here and there over the place intended 

 for a grove, the most valuable kinds, 

 and those that thrive best could be 

 ultimately left to become great trees. 

 After ten yeara the annual thinnings 

 of this grove for firewood, fencing, hop- 

 poles, railroad ties, etc., would probably 

 make it as valuable a part of the farm 

 as any other, and when the black wal- 

 nut and butternut trees become large 

 enough to be sold to cabinet-makers 

 the value of the grove would be very 

 great. The present race of farmers may 

 Bay they would not live to see the 

 trees become tit for the cabinet-makers, 



but none the less would the growth of 

 that grove increase the value of the 

 farm every year, and that whether the 

 owner sold it or left it to his children.^' 



SPARE THE TOADS. 

 There is no better abused, and pro- 

 bably no more useful creature in the 

 garden and upon the farm than the toad. 

 That apt simile, " like a toad under a 

 harrow," tells the story of his wrongs. 

 And now that our harrows are armed 

 with steel teeth, and are supplement-<Hi 

 with clod crushers and cultivators of 

 various types for comminuting the soil, 

 the sorrows of the toad are intensified, 

 and he is threatened with extinction in 

 all cultivated fields. Stay thy hand 

 from slaughter, tiller of the soil. The 

 toad is as useful in his place as the im- 

 plements of tillage you drive over his 

 back so thoughtlessly. " The jewel in 

 his head " is not there, but in his capa- 

 cious stomach, that always has room in 

 it for one more bug, one more worm, 

 that destroys the food of man. Watch 

 his habits for a day, and observe tht' 

 lightning thrusts of his tongue as he 

 scoops in your enemies, and you will 

 have a better appreciation of his work, 

 and of his place in good husbandry. 

 If your garden is withotit toads, you 

 can afford to purchase them for stock. 

 They will pay good dividends, as surely 

 as superphosphate. — American Agricul- 

 turist for August. 



THE TAYLOR BLACKBERRY. 



Mr. 0. B. Gralusha, President of the 

 Illinois State Horticultural Society, 

 says of this l)erry : 



'* I have had the Taylor since its first 

 introduction, paying \l each for the plants 

 first purchased, and have been more and 

 more impressed with the deliciousness of 

 its fruit each year. I know of no berry 

 of any species or variety whoso juices are 

 of a purer, more delicate sweet flavor. I 

 think it will bear a crop five seasons out 



