AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 285 



all the roots, by a ditch three feet deep and three feet wide, which I fill 

 with good soil and manure. It will almost always renovate them. If 

 trees are mossy, scrape it off with a hoe. 



Thomas W. Field. — I agree with Mr, Fuller in this recommendation. 



WHORTLEBERRIES. 



Wm. T. Morse, of Lanawa, Chautauque county, New York, wants to 

 know if the seed of whortleberries will grow after being dried, and if so, 

 how sliould it be prepared and planted ? Can the bushes be transplanted 

 and made to grow successfully ? 



Mr. Fuller, Mr. Field, Mr. Pell and others, gave answers to this ques- 

 tion, the gist of which is, that the seed will grow best planted fresh from 

 the berries. If that cannot be done, wash it out from the pulp and put it 

 in earth, not moist enough to vegetate the seed, nor yet very dry. Trans- 

 port the mass as soon as possible, and plant the seeds in rows in nursery 

 beds, from which the bushes can be transplanted. They do not live well 

 when transplanted from the woods to other localities. 



Solon Robinson. — Here is another letter of inquiry : 



THE POULTRY BUSINESS. 



C. Upson, of West Meriden, Connecticut, wants information about estab- 

 lishing a great poultry and egg-producing business, to supply city markets ; 

 also, what breed of hens are the best for eggs. 



R. G. Pardee. — I have tried almost all varieties of hens, and have set- 

 tled upon the Black Spanish, or crosses of them upon the old stock, such as 

 I can pick up in market at fifty cents a piece, I have also tried the ex- 

 periment of keeping hens in the city and the cost of eggs. I keep them in 

 a house at the back of the yard, letting them out for exercise just before 

 roosting time, feeding them on scraps from the kitchen — potatoes, meat, 

 &c., and corn, and find my eggs cost just three cents a dozen on an average 

 through the year. 



Solon Robinson. — I recommend to the inquirer the account of the busi- 

 ness in France, where dead horses are converted into eggs and chickens. 



Thomas W. Field.— The less hens I keep, I think the better for me. I 

 have fed them with dead horses and all sorts of food, but I can't make it 

 profitable to myself or neighbors either. 



Solon Robinson. — I have one more letter, a part of which I will read, 



CANADA THISTLES. 



A Vermont boy writes a feeling letter about Canada thistles ; for, as he 

 says, " I was once a barefooted Vermont boy, and suffered so much from 

 this same Carduus arvensis, that I can feel them to this day. About sub- 

 duing them, he says : 



" The hoe will not discommode it, only preventing its. going to seed, and 

 I make no doubt that the roots are stronger in the fall, after a hoed crop, 

 than they were in the spring before ; for the hoe can reach only the top of 

 the upright rhizoma, thereby heading it back, to its advantage, as any gar- 



