Vol. X.-No. 41. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



823 



make no inrttiitioiis to skill in llie art, all tlie little 

 knowloiliri' 1 piissc-ss liaviiig been acquired within 

 a few years past, by personal attention to a small 

 piece of ground attached to niy dwelling-house, 

 and to the variety of useful information which has 

 appeared in publications devoted to such objects, 

 ftud especially to the New England Farmer, 

 which, by the way, I think should be taken and 

 read by every man who has a rod of ground which 

 can be cultivated ; and I have no doubt he would 

 obtain that irdurmation, which would enable bini 

 not only to turn his rod of ground to good account, 

 but moreover, by leading his attention to contem- 

 plations and employments which are so well cal- 

 culated to benefit society, would be likely to make 

 him a more useful, and it certainly would a hap- 

 pier man. 



I speak now experimentally, for uj) to the period 

 above mentioned, I had as little taste for a garden 

 as I had knowledge on the subject ; and if I ever 

 entered one, I scarcely knew a bin-dock from a 

 cabbage plant, or a grape vine from a thorn-apple. 

 But as it happened to be my lot to be possessed 

 of a very small garden spot, as before mentioned, 

 I set about cultivating it, though in such a rude 

 manner as for the first year to bring little or noth- 

 ing to pass. My trees and vines nearly all died 

 for want of proper attention, as well as care in 

 preparing the ground previous to plantiug them ; 

 so that the next year I had a great part o^ my 

 work to do over again, and all this for want of ne- 

 cessary information. However, having profited 

 by experience, I set about my work anew and 

 proceeded to replace the trees, &c, I had lost; 

 but as I soon found that, for myself at least, much 

 greater jirolit as well as ])leasure was to be derived 

 from the cultivation of the vine, I have turned my 

 attention principally to that, and thus far I have 

 had the satisfaction of being abundantly rewarded 

 for my labor, not only in partaking of its fruit, but 

 still more, I may^say, in its cultivation. 



And who that knows the luxury of habitually 

 rising with the dawn, and feasting his eyes and 

 regaling his senses with the beauties and varieties 

 of nature, brought into existence by means of his 

 own labor, would envy him who is wasting bis 

 health and his time in unnecessary sleep ? The 

 former, while engaged in his wonted occupation, 

 enjoys a real happiness ; while the latter is perhaps 

 dreaming of it and wakes but to feel disappointed. 



The employment of gardening had its origin 

 with innocence, and it has in every age occupied 

 the attention of the wisest and best of men. Who 

 does not know that our Washington was a suc- 

 cessful and practical cultivator of the soil .' And 

 history associates the names of many other emi- 

 nent individuals with his ; it is then one of the 

 most honorable as well as useful and pleasing em- 

 ployments, and to bring into practice what I here 

 recommend, requires but little, if any, of that time 

 which is usually allotted to business. The me- 

 chanic, the merchant, or the professional man, 

 may find ample opportunity, if he will, in those 

 odd hours and tnoinents which are too generally 

 spent to little purpose; and he would soon be as- 

 tonished at tlie amount which might be accom- 

 plished, as well as the enjoyment to be derived 

 from such labor. Neither does it require any 

 considerable extent of ground for the purpose ; al- 

 most every individual has attached to his dwelling 

 a few fi:et, at least, that he can spare, and even 

 this should not be neglected. Instead of this, 

 there are undoubtedly many acres of land included 



in house lots, within the city and vicinity, that are 

 lying altogether waste. 



A man will purchase an ample lot of ground, 

 and erect a spacious house and its appendages, all 

 which will be finished off iUja style of convenience 

 and taste, with spacious sidewalks and gravelled 

 yanls; but look into what should be his garden, 

 and you see it perhaps covered with thistles 

 and bramble bushes, or, if lie has attempted 

 at all to alter nature's course, you may possibly 

 see a few cabbage plants here and a few cucum- 

 ber vines there, and these almost lost among the 

 twitch grass and weeds, which are disputing with 

 them their right to the soil. How much to be 

 lamented is it, that a spot which might, by proper 

 cultiu-e, be made to look almost like a second 

 Eden, should be suffered to remain a constant 

 monument of that sentence which was pronounc- 

 ed to the first pair, " Cursed is the ground for thy 

 sake — thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth 

 to thee." 



I am sensible we must depend upon our mar- 

 kets for the necessary supply of vegetables and the 

 more hardy fruits, which will always be brought 

 from the neighborhood in sufficient abundance. — 

 15ut, besides all the variety of flowers, there are 

 many delicate and very delicious fruits, which 

 may be more advantageously raised in our shel- 

 tered inclosures, in and near the city ; among 

 these, the grape stands ])re-eminent. This delight- 

 ful fruit has of late claimed much of the attention 

 of cultivators in this region ; and I believe it has 

 been clearly ascertained that our climate, though 

 a more northern one, is more suited to this fruit 

 than that of New York and other southern places ; 

 this may, however, be Jiartly owing to the nature 

 of the soil ; but whatever may be the cause, the 

 fact is certainly a very iuterestiug one ; and may 

 we not hope that the time is not far distant, when 

 the grajjc will become as common a fruit upon 

 our table, as the apple is at the present day ? — 

 Haifa century ago this would probably have been 

 thought a visionary idea ; but such has been 

 the progress within a very few years, in the cidti- 

 vation of this fruit, that such a supposition will not 

 now be deemed extravagant ; indeed, inany men 

 of good judgment anticipate with certainty, that 

 our tables will soon be abundantly supplied with 

 wine from our own presses. 



There is no fruit, probably, of which so great 

 an amount may be raised at so little expense and 

 in so small a space, as that of the grape. The for- 

 eign varieties, particularly the White Muscadine, 

 Sweet-water, &c, have till very recently, been the 

 only ones which have been cultivated to any con- 

 siderable extent in our country ; because it has 

 been the general opinion, that our own native 

 grapes were too far inferior to the foreign ever to 

 come into competition with them, but this idea is 

 behoved to be erroneous. Many varieties of na- 

 tive grapes have been found of excellent quality, 

 both for the table and the wine press ; which, 

 when brought under good cultivation, do not suf- 

 fer in comparison with the best of the foreign, and 

 by some are even considered superior ; of these, 

 the Isabella and the Catawba stand in the highest 

 estimation, and truly these arc worthy of an Amer- 

 ican soil ; and it may yet be found that our moun- 

 tains and our valleys abound with others still, 

 which will ere long be sought out and transplant- 

 ed to our vineyards, till we shall no longer need to 

 seek in other climes for what has been abundantly 

 bestowed upon us in our own. But still I think 



the delicate foreign varieties ought by no means 

 to be neglected as table grapes, nor will they be 

 by those who have had that experience in the 

 management of them, which enables them to over- 

 come the difficulties which attend their culture ; 

 these, to be siu'c, are great, especially from mildew 

 and the cold of our winters, but modern improve- 

 ments have nearly overcome these formidable ob- 

 stacles. 



Having heeli for a few years past somewhat suc- 

 cessful in the cidtivation of the kinds last men- 

 tioned, I propose in your next ntindier to submit 

 somethings in relation to their management, which 

 my short experience has taught me. 



Yours, &c, D. FOSDICK. 



Charlestown, April, 1832. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



DIRECTIONS FOR THE CULTURE OF 

 THE STRAWBERRY. 



Dig your ground well ; if not rich, put on some 

 well rotted manure before digging and mix it well 

 with the soil. Set the plants in rows, distance 

 from row to row two feet, and the plants a foot 

 apart in the row. Let the roots be firndy put in 

 the earth but not too deep ; do not water them 

 unless it is very dry ; keep the ground clear from 

 weeds and loose, that the young runners may strike 

 freely. D. H. 



Cvre of Fever by Holly leaves. — M. Majendie 

 has made a very favorable report of the use of 

 powder of holly leaves, recommended by Dr Rous- 

 seau as a Clue for fever, it having been tried at the 

 hospitals in thirteen different cases. The doses 

 administered were from one to five gros per day, 

 and in every case the patients were cured after 

 about twenty days' treatment. The eflect of the 

 holly is not so quick as that of quinia and silicine, 

 but is a sure and excellent febrifuge. The only 

 thing necessary to make it thoroughly useful, was 

 to extract its essential properties, so as to avoid 

 the necessity of administering it in large quanti- 

 ties. — London Register of .firis. 



Radishes. — To raise good early radishes, first 

 obtain good seed ; to do this, sow radish seed the 

 latter part of July, late in the fall take them up, 

 l)ack them in dry sand and put them in the cellar ; 

 mext spring set them out and gather the seed as 

 soon as ripe ; this seed, if properly managed, will 

 |)roduce fine radishes. But seed obtained the 

 same season they are sown will not give good 

 ones ; they will be hard, woody and wormy, and 

 immediately run to seed ; and the seed good for 

 nothing but to sell with wooden pumpkin seed. — 

 Genesee Farmer. 



Maple Sugar. — A correspondent has transmitted 

 to us the following account of an improvement in 

 making maple sugar, first observed by Mr Orlando 

 Brunson of Dundee. He extracts the sap from 

 the i*ot of the tree, instead of the usual way by 

 cutting notches into the body of the tree. The 

 root- should be bored with a half inch auger and 

 a crooked tube introduced, by which the sap may 

 be extracted ; the end of the tube entering the 

 root, should be round. Mr Brunson thinks that 

 trees tapped in tliis way, yield more than double 

 the sugar to what they do if tapped two or three 

 feet high ; and he also thinks the tree is not in- 

 jured by this method. — jYew York Farmer. 



