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126 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



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Before closing our brief chapter of hints, intended merely to refresh the memory, we 

 must say a word about liquid manure. This should be considered as an indispensable 

 article in every garden. The drainage of the stables may be saved, or the liquid may 

 be made in a barrel or tank with rain water and manure. All growing crops in the 

 kitchen garden should be freely supplied two or three times a week ; it forces their 

 growth, and makes them tender and succulent. Strawberries, just after the fruit is set 

 and until it begins to ripen, wiil be greatly benefitted by an application two or three 

 times a week. The great advantage of liquid manure, and what makes it act upon 

 plants like a " charm," is that it is in a fit state to be immediately appropriated by them. 

 Solid manures have to remain in the ground long enough to be dissolved. 



Insects require constant watching. Caterpillars on the apple trees ; the curculio on 

 the plums, apricots, and nectarines ; the ajyhis on the foliage of various kinds of trees ; 

 the peach worm, or borer, and the various other insects that prey upon trees and plants ; 

 come forth at their appointed time : and to repel them promptly must be as much the 

 business of the cultivator now, as to sow his seeds or plant his trees. 



THE CANDYTUFT. 



The Purple Candytuft, an engraving of which we give, is an annual plant, growing to 

 the height of about a foot, with spreading branches and large heads of purple flowers. 

 The species is a ii;itlve of Candia, and seeds were taken to England about the year 1590. 



From that time it has been a general favorite in 

 British gardens, and should be grown by all lovers 

 of flowers, for its beauty and easy culture. It 

 grows well on almost any rich soil, if not too 

 moist ; and as it will not bear transplanting well, 

 it should be sown where it is to remain. Sow 

 from the 1st to the 15th of May. Superior flow- 

 ers will be obtained by soaking the ground occa- 

 sionally with liquid manure, readily obtained by 

 placing the cleanings of the fowl-honse in a barrel 

 with water, and keeping on hand a constant 

 supply. When the plants are going into flower 

 the heads should be examined ; and if too numer- 

 ous, they sliould be removed. By this treatlnent, 

 and occasionally loosening the ground around the 

 plants, and keeping it free from \Veeds, flowers 

 have been grown three inches across, most beauti- 

 fully colored, being of a very dark purple on the 

 outside, and softening to nearly white in the center. 

 The great points are thinning the flowers grad- 

 ually as they increase in size, and supplying their 

 roots with abundance of rich food when they are 

 going into flower. By this mode of treatment 

 much finer flowers may be grown than those 

 usually seen in our gardens. 

 i'LKi'LK . ...NDVTUFT. jj^^ j^^^j^^^ Candytuft is a splendid variety, 



growing two feet high, branching widely, each plant producing three to five racemes of 

 flowers from six to ten inches long, and the center one even longer than this, if properly 

 cultivated. Cultivation the same as the Purple. 



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