60 



THE GENESES FAKMER. 



apart, and tied to a stake. The suckers must be all 

 'jarttf'uUy cut away. 



Prepare for planting trees by dis^ging the holes 

 whenever it can be done. Let ths holes be large 

 and ample for whatever sized trees you int-end to 

 plant. If the subsoil is hard, let it be loosened up, 

 as daep as a pick can be sent into the bottom of the 

 hole, and left loose and rough to become mellowed, 

 and pulverised by the action of the weather. Hare 

 a good quantity of compost prepa.«d, ready for uee 

 in planting. Perhaps the best that can be fomaed for 

 fruit trees generally, is one-third thoroughly decom- 

 posed barn yard manure, w\\h about two-thirds turfy, 

 loomy sods, and a litth; leaf mould from ths woods, 

 all thoroughly incorperated together. 



Underdraiaing should be proceed with whsn the 

 frost will admit. You will find the benefit of it when 

 planting time comes. Ground will be in working 

 condition a week or two earlier. The root action of 

 plants will coromeatie earlier. They will root deeper 

 into the soil and will be enabled to withstand the 

 drought of summer better. Frait treea will ripen 

 their wood earlier, and more perfectly in the fall, and 

 consequently will lie better enabled to withstand the 

 inclemency of the winter. Josiah Salttjb. 



A aUESTION FOE EORTICHLTUBISTS. 



Mr. Editor: — For one, I am fond of gaod melons 

 and I try more or less to raise them, every year, with 

 but quite indifferent success. One year, however, I 

 had better luck as some would terra it — with melons, 

 cucumbers, squashes and radishes, than I ever had 

 before or since. Now I am not a believer in luck, if 

 by luck we are to understand blind chance, without 

 any sequence of effect following a cause. No sir. I 

 don't believe we live in a chance world. We are 

 placed in this world to labor and to till the soil, and 

 scheme as we may to be sharp ajid smart, we have 

 got to work, if mother earth is to reward our labor. 



Now about that otie year. I purchased a lot in 

 the northern part of this city, which was a part of the 

 commons, and ha/J lain in pasturage for more than 20 

 years. The soil was a sandy loam about three feet 

 in depth, underlaid by reddisli clay hardpan. On the 

 2:")th of May, I plowed it with a two horse plow, as 

 deep as possible, (it was not very deep, however;) 

 then harrowed it lengthwiee of the furrow, being 

 careful not to disturb it. I planted it the next day, 

 and it verily seemed as if every Idnd of seed put into 

 the ground was running a race to outstrip its neigh- 

 bor. Nicer radishes I never rai8«d; swester nutmeg 

 melons, I never tasted; more thrifty and prolific cu- 

 cumber vines, I would not wish to 8C«; and so on to 

 the end of the chapter, not forgetting the delicious 

 sweet corn, and succotash. By the way Mr. Editoe, 

 let iTie recommend the horticultural bean as the best 

 pole bean, that can be raised by people generally. — 

 Lima beans are good, but unless started in a hot-bed 

 very uncertain — not so with the horticultural. They 

 are good for snapg, and can't be beat for succotoeh. 



Well the next fall I spread on agoodcoat of horse 

 manure, and the next spriug turned it under as before, 

 but now the cut worm ate my cabbage plants and 

 corn, the little striped l)ug ate up my melon and cu- 

 cumber vines, my radLshee were full of worms, and 

 tough and stringy, and when at last I succeeded by 

 thumb and finger practice, morning and evening, in 



getting my vines in tolerable trim, it was all vine and 

 little fruit. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I want to know from yourself, 

 or some of your correspondents, what caused so great 

 a contrast between the fruit producing tendencies of 

 the first and second years. It could not have been 

 exhaustion, for a better growth of leaf and stalk, I 

 never saw, and, also, better celery I never tasted, than 

 I raised the second. How much may I suggest waa 

 the flavor owing to my having covered the bottom of 

 the trench with burnt bones, about two inches iti 

 depth ; then, over that, about three inches in depth 

 of well rotted manure, and then thoroughly spaded 

 in, and pulverized, leaving the trench, when ready, 

 for transplanting, just a foot in depth, and sixteen 

 inches wide. 



But about melons; what is there in decomposing 

 tnrf, that is so much superior to our beat compost in 

 promotrag a fi'uitjng tendency? 



Will some of your correspondents favor me v/lth 

 the reasons, therefore? A Loter of Good Fruit. 

 Roehester, JY. Y., January, 1857. 



A SIMPLE IKSTETJEIENT FOK LAYING OXTT CTrR"7ES. 



Much difficulty is always experienced in laying out 

 curved walks or roads in gardens, parks, lawns, &cr, 

 this is because the curves are constantly changing not 

 only in direction but in size; of course nothing is 

 easier than to mark the arcs of two parallel circles, 

 but when the radii of the arcs vary as frequently aa 

 they do in walks winding about trees, shrubbery, 

 rocks, and other natural obstructions, it becomes a 

 very nice matter to determine these curves with 

 The instrument which we here lepresent, 

 by the figure A B D, will be found 

 to be useful in this work, and is SD 

 simple that it can be manufactured 

 in a rough manner in a few micutes; 

 it consists of three rods of equal 

 length, united by hinges at one end 

 so that they may be movable. Tp 

 make a good instrument of this 

 kind, the rods should be raadp 

 double — having one part to elid3, 

 over the others, so that they may 

 be lengthened, or shortened, at pleasure. An arm a, 

 b. c, upon which the rods can slide, should be fastened 

 to one of the outside ones, and thumbscrews attached 

 to the two others. To use the instrument let it be 

 opened so that the distances between the points B. D. 

 and D. C. shall be equal, and laying it down on the 

 ground where the curve is to commence, drive stakes 

 at the points A. B. D. C; now reverse it so that the 

 point C. shall fall on A., and the point I), will then 

 fall at A', where another stake must be placed ; again 



reverse it, and place 

 A at A', and I) will 

 fall at I)', and U at U' 

 where other stakes 

 must be placed ; now 

 reverse again and 

 proceed in the sam.e 

 manner, as far as 

 desired. To change 

 the arc to that of a 

 greater or less radius 

 close or open the 

 instrument; the length of the radii, bein^ in the 



accuracy. 



