Vol. VlI.-^No. 45i 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNyVL. 



357 



" Tlia man of iimlei'standiiig " kiinws full well 

 ihat when liis garden is plaiiteii, altlioiigli it may 

 be done in iIjc nsnst skilfnl manner, iiis care and 

 labor is hnt lialf acconiplislicd. It is foliy in the 

 extreme, to plant a garden, without a full deter- 

 mination to protect it from weeds and insects. 



All horlicnitiiral plants are feeble in their ori- 

 gin, ami most of tliem continue so a length of 

 time. Care nmst be taken that they do not stand 

 too thick, and starve f)r want of food and air; 

 and it would be eipially improper to have their 

 ranks too thin, and any considerable portion of 

 the ground, with which you have taken so much 

 pains, lie waste and unproductive. Busiiles all 

 this, the health and vi^or of your plants require 

 that the ground arouuil them s'.njuld be often stir- 

 red and jiulvcrized. And licre ihe appearance of 

 weeds nniy be properly considered as timely mon- 

 itors, that your vegetable infants want the bosom 

 of their mother earth raised and opened for them. 

 Without them we nuLjht forget that plants, as well 

 as animals, must have their daily food, and that 

 in proportion to their wants or cravings, or they 

 must certainly become stinted, feeble, and un- 

 fruitful. 



If showers are frenuent, the earth settles and 



t 

 becomes firm and unyielding anumd their stalks, 



and requires as frequently to be moved and loosen- 

 ed ; if the weather is dry, stirring and making the 

 soil fine will do more to prevent the iiijnrious ef- 

 fects of drought, than the most copious artificial 

 watering. Indeed artificial watering is seldom 

 useful, and when applied injudiciously is always 

 hurtful ; but if your ground is not too wet, you 

 can never hoe or stir the surface without advan- 

 tage. Besides, frequent hoeing is the easiest and 

 cheapest mode of tillage. Wo had rather hoe 

 three times than once. 



If, previous to ])lanting, the ground has been 

 put in good m-dcr, and the roots of weeds are not 

 permitt^nl to gain strength with age, a very trifling 

 attention and labor will efiectually prevent them 

 from starving and injuring your garden. In a 

 particular manner do not permit weeds to stand in 

 the neighborhood of your plants in very dry 

 weather, for they are generally strong drinkers, 

 and will imbibe all the moisture within the reach 

 of their roots, while your tender plants are droop- 

 ing and sickening for want of it. 



PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL SO- 

 CIETy. 



At the meeting held on the evening of April 

 4th, the Society was favored with two bottles of 

 currant wine, made on Pont Reading Farm, in 

 1825, presented by Miss Humphreys. It was con- 

 Bidered a very good wine, but a little overcharged 

 with sugar. A valuable communication was re- 

 ceived from Edward H. Bonsall, of Germantown, 

 tjpon the best mode of ripening wine for use, in 

 which both from theory and experience, he shows 

 " that currant wine as strongly requires age, and 

 is as certainly benefited by it, as that made from 

 the grape ;" he adds, " In fact, as there is gener- 

 ally more saccharine matter in it, it nmst require 

 a still longer period to complete the vinous pro- 

 cess, which I con.sidcr is still going on until a v/ine 

 which was at first comparatively sweet, h;.s ar- 

 rived nearly at a state of dri/ness. Evaporation 

 and deposit will equally take place, and with the 

 same beneficial tendency as in othrr wines." Re- 

 garding wines in general, he nuiintairis the ]ms\- 

 tion, that there is a lunit to their improvement, 

 which is attained in much less time than is gen- 



erally si!p|]OS(!d, especially where wine has been 

 k(^pt in a suitable place fur ripening. 



A Parker produced 12 varieties of daisies, not 

 before exhibited. His collection of this llower is 

 very extensive. 



Messrs Landrcths brought forward : 



Azalea indico, two .sp : the flowers of the one 

 large and single, of a fine scarlet ; the other pro- 

 ducing clusters of compound floretsV\he color light 

 pur()Ie, assuming a darker shade by candle light. 



This Azalea is a native of China. Another 

 specimen is now in bloom at Mr Hibbert's, Thir- 

 teenth street, near Lombard, by whom it was in- 

 troduced. 



Pceonia moutan, v rosea (Chinese tree Poeonia,) 

 of this a beautiful S|)ecimen was exhibited, having 

 on it a number of buds and fidl blown flowers ; 

 this ])Iant withstands our winters unprotected, and 

 would form a valuable acquisition to our city gar- 

 dens. Messrs L. have twelve varieties of superb 

 PoEonias, in their collection, all hardy. A speci- 

 men of a beautiful Indigofera in full bloont — also, 

 Ixia, Eupatoriuni, elegans Amaryllis ^obtisonii, 

 large crimson flowers, with light colored longitu- 

 dinal stripes ; this sp. is considered one of the 

 most splendid of the Amaryllis tribe — also, Rhodo- 

 dendron arborca ulgida ; this is thought to be one 

 of the most magnificent plants yet introduced 

 into this country ; the flowers as in all Rhododen- 

 drons, are formed in clusters at the extremity of 

 its branches — those on this plant were about the 

 size of those of Rlio. maximum — color, most 

 brilliant crimson ; this ])lant flowered two years 

 since, with Messrs L., and was sujiposed to have 

 been the first blooming in this coimtry ; it is a na- 

 tive of the mountains of Nepaul, in Indostan, and 

 it is hoped may prove hardy enough to stand in 

 the open air, in which case its value will be much 

 enhanced to those who do not possess green- 

 houses. 



We also owe these elegant pla.ts to Mr Thom- 

 as Hibbert, who, in the year 1822, brought these 

 each two feet high, from London, in the viciinty 

 of which they grew from seeds sent from Nepaul. 

 The plants severally bear white, purple, and scar- 

 let flowers. The species now in bloom, flowered 

 in 1827, and 1828 ; the other two have not yet 

 flowered. 



An improved planting machine invented by A. 

 H. & Levi Robbins, Jr. Denmark, Lewis County, 

 New York, was examined and thought to be a 

 useful invention. It is highly recommended by 

 many farmers who have used it in the State of 

 New York. This machine, which is patented, is 

 left for examination at the store of D. & C. Lan- 

 dreth. No. 85 Chesnut street. 



A quantity of perennial cabbage seed, imported 

 from France, and presented to the Society by our 

 patriotic fellow citizen Elias Duraiid, was receiv- 

 ed, and a jtortion of it distributed. The remain- 

 der is placed with Messrs Landreths, by whom it 

 will be distributed to applicants. The seed should 

 he sown thin, and the plants set out in October, 

 20 inches apart, to remain out all winter. This is 

 the practice in Maine and Brittany, but in this 

 country a cover may be found necessary. The 

 leaves are to be used the following spring, as 

 wanted, always observing to leave fiv'e or si.x 

 leaves on the top. After November no more 

 leaves are to be pulled, but the young sprouts 

 used which appear in the place of those detached. 

 The cabbage stalks last 4 years in France, and 

 the leaves are extensively used for feeding cattle 



Aurora. 



The little reptile counnonly known by the name 

 of peeping fiog, which is now causing ourswampa 

 and meadows to resound with its spring proclaim- 

 ing melody, is not a frog according to modern nat- 

 uralists, but a nondescript species of Hyla, or tree 

 toad. Our common tree toad, the Hijla versicolor 

 of Le Compt, is much larger, and of habits entire- 

 ly diflerent from this. 



The peeping frog, improperly so called, is not 

 much larger than a common crii ket ; hut its 

 smallness of body is amply compensated for by its 

 loudness of voice, which is a shrill wbiiilc, and 

 may be distinctly heard at the distance of a mile. 

 Tliey ])ass the winter in the nuid of our swamps 

 and ponds ; deposit their eggs there i;i the S])ring, 

 and live on the trees and shrcdis during the sum- 

 mer months. The power of changing their color 

 at will, and in conformity to that of the substances 

 on which they happen to be situated, which is en- 

 joyed in couitnon by all the species of this genua, 

 is possessed by the pee;'ing frog in a degree e<pial- 

 ling, if not surpassing that of the chamelion.— 

 They are very expert insect catchers, and greatly 

 assist our feathered friends in clearing our fruit 

 trees of noxious insects. They are furnishe<l with 

 a mucous tubercle at the end of each toe, which 

 distinguishes them from the frogs and toads, and 

 gives them the power of climbing and adhering 

 to the most polished surfaces. They make their 

 appearance very early in the spring, generally 

 about the 20th of March, and have on this account 

 named the species, Hj/la vernalis. — JVorcesler Yeo- 

 man. 



Advice Gratis.— A few days ago, we heard a, 

 hearty and thrifty looking farmer inquiring, in a 

 store in State street, if the gentleman knew of a 

 place in a store, where he could put one of his 

 sons. At the risk of being thought impertinent, 

 we asked the farmer if he knew of any place in 

 the country where a boy was wanted to turn up 

 the sod. He said he did not then ; he himself 

 wanted a hand a while ago, but he had hired this 

 man, pointing to his companion, a hale, hearty man 

 of thirty-five. This led to some further conver- 

 sation, in which we learned that the farmer thought 

 it best to send his sons into the city, to learn to 

 trade, particidarly if they were not of stout con- 

 stitutions, and supply their places by hiring men 

 to work on his farm. 



In this opinion the honest farmer is by no 

 means singular, but we apprehend that the advo- 

 cates of his doctrine lie under a sad mistake. The 

 love of speculation and the hopes cf accunudat- 

 ing an independent fortune, or, at least, a compe- 

 tency, without active personal labor, are the curso 

 of New England. To coimtry boys at fifteen or 

 sixteen, the difliculties of trade and the dangerous 

 uncertainties of sliopkeeping, are inconceivable.— 

 They see nothing but ease and happiness in the 

 employment of the well-dressed clerks of the 

 counting house, and forthwith they must leave 

 the farm, where money is turned up in every fur- 

 row, and health sparkles on every blade of gra-^.-', 

 to throw away half a dozen years of the sprirg 

 of life behind a counter. Their minority is closeil ; 

 and they must then enter upon the world with lit 

 tie or no improvement in their moral, intellectual, 

 or ])hysical habits ; with no capital but their in- 

 tegrity and good name (if luckily they have be< n 

 able to pass through such a dangerous apprentic"- 

 ship without the loss of these qualities) where wrii 

 to commence business, and with the knowlei'fn 

 of no profession but one that is full of comp. ii- 



