THE GENESEE FARMER. 



163 



AN OHIO FARMERS GARDEN. 



t* Messrs Editors : — In the first ])lace I take one 

 acre ot' groiuul, lay it otY iu strips six to twelve feet 

 tvide one way ; Inick furrow each strip three or four 

 times until a diteh is formed between them some 

 eighteen inehes lower than the bed. Then I back 

 furrow a head-land at each end wide enough for two 

 or three rows of ])Otatoes. 



Now the garden is ready tor the manure. I fill 

 tlio ditch with any kind of rough maimre to the 

 depth of six inches, one or two ditciies at a time, as 

 needed. I begin and back furrow, plowing from 

 the center of the bed each way, aud ct)ver the man- 

 ure to the depth of twelve inehes, using a hoe and 

 ghovel a little, and make the ditch where the center 

 of the bed was. Then I mark out lengthwise two 

 feet, three feet, or any other width that I need, .ac- 

 cording to what I wish to sow or plant. I plant al- 

 most every thing in drills. I like a row or two of 

 beets, a row or two of parsneps, carrots, peppers, 

 cabbage, potatoes, corn, melons, cucumbers, &c., all 

 deep routed vegetables, over the center ; beans, &c., 

 in the side rows. When I wish any thing early, I 



fo to the horse stable and with two good loads of 

 orse manure fill a ditch, cover it as before, sow or 

 plant over the center. This is my hot-bed: take 

 two wide boards and set them along the rows, like 

 the roof of a house, using them only when the 

 weather is cold or during a cold rain. 



I back furrow the head-lands for potatoes. I 

 dress out a little with the hoe once, then with a 

 amall handy sbovel plow. I plow almost every 

 thing, even peppers. 



The second year I fill, at leisure, the ditches with 

 Sny kind of rough manure, except tliC one I wish 

 for a hot-bed, and alternately change the center of 

 the bed ever year. 



I liave uniformly had the earliest, largest and best 

 of every thing that grows in the garden. Onebc(^t 

 weighing (leaves trimmed ofi:' and washed clean) 

 eighteen pounds; a cabbage head (every green leaf 

 taken otf and stump cut otf close to the head) weigh- 

 ing fifteen pounds. "When I commence my garden 

 I deem 100 bushels of lime an indespensable reijui- 

 lyte to make cabbages head, and make turnips 

 sjveet. J. D. Chamberlain. 



Waterford^ Ohio. 



Cultivation of Peas. — Plow or dig the land 

 deep and mellow, and rake lightly; then plow or dig 

 a trench one foot deep and one foot wide; cover the 

 bottom of the trench with hog manure, two inches 

 deep; then cover the manure with dirt four inches 

 deep, and drop the peas lengthwise of the trench, 

 about four inches apart, having two rows in a trench. 

 Make the trenches about a foot and a half apart; 

 cover tlie peas till the trench is nearly full. Sow 

 about the last of April. 



When they are about four inches high, hoe and 

 laish them. At hoeing, fill the trench full. 



A little plaster on the manure will improve the 

 croj) in a dry season. 



Be careful to keep the weeds down between the 

 trenihes throughout the summer; it will take a good 

 deal of pains, but the crop will be so much improved 

 tixat it will pay. I prefer the Marrowfat. 



E. G. Rockwell. 



German, Chenango Co., JY. Y. 



CHERRY BIRDS. 



Messrs Kditors: — Your correspondent Bkmeni, 

 in the last number of the Farmer, makes a very elo- 

 quent plea in favor of the birds, to which I give my 

 hearty assent. But your corrspondent has lorgotlen 

 to name one, whose labors 1 have watched lor seve- 

 ral years. I refer to the Cedar bird, or as he is com- 

 monly called Cherry bird, or Currant eater. Al- 

 though he may not destroy as man) in.'iects as some 

 others, yet I assure you he is of vast help in gather- 

 ing cherries. A few years since when my Bauinann'a 

 May first came into bearing, I was fearful ihiit some 

 rogue might be tempted to steal them before I had 

 a chance to taste, and so I covered the tree with a 

 net. But one afternoon having occasion to leave 

 home, I found on my return that the birds had crept 

 under the net and taken every cherry; doubtless to 

 keep them from the ravenous worms. A friend of 

 mine had a fine large tree loaded with the same vari- 

 ety, and as soon as they begsn to turn red, the little 

 warblers began their benevolent work, and although 

 my friend would gladly have relieved them of a por- 

 tion of their labors, yet with all his efforts he was 

 hardly able to tell how a ripe cherry would taste. — 

 But enough; I wish some of your able correspond- 

 ents would give us a complete history of the li!e and 

 labors of this insect destroying specimen of natural 

 history. J. P. 

 -^«-«^ 



MY FIRST DAHLIA 



IMesses. Editors: — Thinking it may interest and 

 encourage some of your readers to persevere some- 

 times against hope, 1 will give a short history of my 

 success in raising my first dahlia. 1 had but one ti> 

 ber. After placing it in a box, only one sprout ap- 

 peared; this I had put in the ground, and also the 

 remaitjiug part of the tuber, which was without a 

 sprout, and apparently without an eye. In about six 

 weeks it germinated, producing a feeble plant which 

 struggled along for weeks. I concluded to atsist it in 

 its life struggles, and cut off all its under leaves and 

 branches, retaining only the upper ones, and con- 

 tinued to prune it for a month. In September it had 

 become — not a giant, neither was it a dwarl^ — but a 

 medmm sized plant, containing twenty- five blossoms 

 and three distinct varieties, and about sixty buds, all 

 on the stock at the same time. Many of the blos- 

 soms were quite circular, and so perfect were soma 

 of them that the eye. or disc, could not be seen; a 

 few of them would have measured as large around as 

 a common tea-saucer; but an untimely fiost prevented 

 many from blossoming. As this was my first eSort, 

 of course I was not capable of judging its compara- 

 tive excellence, but I would like very much to have 

 amateurs give their experience. H. 11. M, 



Liverpool, March, 1857. 



Black Pepper, dusted on cucumber, melon .and 

 other vines, when the dew is on, is said to drive 

 away the striped bug, r.nd will do no harm to the 



plants. 



"A Good TTotjsewife," s.ays Pliny, "will go 

 into her herb garden instead of a spice shop for her 

 seasoning, and thus preserve the health of her fam- 

 ily by saving her purse." 



