.52° 



FARM, ORCHARD, DAIRY AND GARDEN. 



to cover the soil with a heavy coating of 

 old hay, straw, fodder, leaves, or other 

 suitable mulching material, which will re- 

 tain the moisture, and preserve the fruit 

 a long while in fine condition. 



Gooseberries. — Fashion has wonderfully 

 affected the production of this fruit. The 

 fine, large, English varieties were gener- 

 ally so badly affected with a mildew, that 

 their culture was abandoned, except by a 

 few fortunate persons. The introduction 

 of the Houghton, and American red va- 

 rieties, worked a revolution— everybody 

 planted them, and everybody purchased 

 them at high prices for several years; 

 when lo! the cost of sugar caused a 

 change, and the demand fell off to such 

 an extent that the plantations were rooted 

 up, and there was no longer any sale for 

 the plants, and nurserymen discontinued 

 their propagation. Gooseberries are just 

 as valuable, nevertheless, to the farmer's 

 family as ever they were, and their culti- 

 vation is so simple that they may and 

 should be grown in every household gar- 

 den, and by every cottager. 



FRUIT, Preparing for Market. —The 

 truth can hardly be too often or too 

 strongly impressed upon the minds of 

 fruit-growers, and especially on those 

 commencing the business, that on nothing 

 does success so much depend in market- 

 ing fruit as in having it in good order. 

 Superior fruits always sell quickest, and 

 often at extravagant prices. Assorting 

 and grading fruit, putting all uniformly 

 fine together, and the inferior and dam- 

 aged by themselves, selling each class on 

 its merits, has always paid us well, and we 

 have reason to believe, given good satis- 

 faction to the customers. Many persons 

 who appreciate first-class fruit will pay 

 more for that only which is choice and 

 neatly arranged than the producer can get 

 for both superior and inferior packed and 

 marketed together. Our mode is to have 

 each picker carry in her hand two quart 

 baskets, into one putting the large straw- 

 berries, and into the other the smaller 

 ones ; and a moment's care in arranging 

 the berries on top, with the stems down- 

 ward, gives a luscious beauty to this un- 

 surpassable fruit, and compensates in 

 quickness of sales. We think square 

 •quart baskets preferable where the market 

 is several hundred miles distant. Rasp- 



berries and blackberries, having no stems 

 or hulls, press more closely together, and 

 therefore do better, when sent long distanc- 

 es, if put into square pint baskets. The ber- 

 ries will generally keep better on the vines, 

 or, if well aired, under the packing-shed, 

 than in close cellars or store-rooms in the 

 city. Everywhere " honesty is the best 

 policy," and dealers are by no means slow 

 in learning to discriminate in favor of the 

 brands of honest packers. 



GRUBS, White, Remedies for.— An 



authority says : A good coat of unrotted 

 manure, plowed in six or eight inches 

 deep, is almost a specific against white 

 grubs in corn or potatoes. We suppose 

 the grubs work in the manure and leave 

 the corn plants alone. Plowing under 

 clover, immediately before planting, often 

 has the same effect. 



HAY, (Clover), Management of. — Clo- 

 ver should be mowed as soon as it is well 

 in blossom. There is no necessity to 

 wait for a brown head; there will be 

 plenty to be seen before the crop is well 

 down. Cut when the dew is off, and 

 allow to dry until the afternoon, when it 

 should be shaken up and turned before 

 the dew falls. If a tedder is employed, 

 its constant use will fit the clover to be 

 put in cocks the same day. If turned 

 by hand, it may lie until the noon of next 

 day, when it may be put in cocks, made 

 as high and narrow as possible; they will 

 shed rain better in this shape, and, if 

 caps are to be used, a yard square will be 

 sufficiently large to cover them. Caps 

 are to be strongly recommended, and the 

 above size is sufficient, as the top only 

 needs protection. Put up, and thus pro- 

 tected, the hay may stay in the field until 

 it is all made, when it may be hauled 

 together. If any cock should be damp 

 inside, spread for a few minutes ; it will 

 dry rapidly. Clover cured in the cock is 

 much more valuable than that dried in 

 the sun, and wastes less in hauling. Put 

 away the first cut hay by itself, in a place 

 convenient for use in the spring. Cows 

 coming in early in the spring will thrive 

 well on this hay; the milk will be largely 

 increased in quantity, and be richer in 

 quality, while the butter will come easily,, 

 be free from white curdy specks, and in 

 color wiH not be far behind that made 

 from June grass. 



