Vol. X No. 51. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



405 



a few seeds of tlie Sea Kale. They came up, but 

 the cut worm made sad work with them, and a 

 part only lived. In autumn I cut some crowns 

 and pieces of root from the living ones to fill the 

 missing places, and tliey are now pushing out witli 

 great vigor. I liave cut some fine blanched shoots 

 this spring from the large ones. It is equal to 

 asparagus, and afibrds a pleasant variety for the 

 table. Another sjiring they will be in perfection. 

 Last spring I piuchased a dozen roots of the 

 Pie Plant, for two dollars. I divided every root 

 into as many pieces as I had crowns, and i)lanted 

 them. I had fortyfour fine plants from them, and 

 furnished njy family with all they wanted for tarts 

 and pies, and had [)lenty to give away besides.— 

 These were planted on the same piece of ground 

 with the sea kale, two feet apart, and grew in great 

 luxuriance. Both pie plant and kale were covered 

 in the fall with fresh horse manure. It has not 

 been removed, and their large thrifty crowns are 

 pushing through, rank and green as ever I saw 

 it. All the ground for these plants was tilled only 

 in the usual way of making garden beds. 



From Ihe Barnstable Journal. 



CULTIVATION OF CRANBERRY. 



The cranberry is a native of New Holland, Eu- 

 rope and America; it grows spontaneously in the 

 flat, sandy, and in some of the mossy hogs in this 

 country. At sandy neck, on the north side of 

 Barnstable harbor, are quite extensive tracts cov- 

 ered with the wiry vines of the cranberry, and are 

 estimated to produce in favorable seasons one 

 thousand bushels of fruit. The cranberry grows 

 most luxuriantly in soils composed almost wholly 

 of beach sand, where water, at all seasons of the 

 year, can be obtained a few inches below the sur- 

 face. It can be profitably cultivated. A particu- 

 lar account of the method pursued by Mr Henry 

 Hall, of Dennis, was some time since given in this 

 paper. He has been engaged in the cultivation of 

 this fruit upwards of twenty years, and his grounds 

 Lave averaged about seventy bushels per acre, an- 

 nually. Mr Hall practised taking the plants from 

 their natural situations in autumn, with halls of 

 earth about their roots, and setting them three or 

 four feet distant from each other. In the course 

 of a few years, they spread out and cover the 

 whole sttrface of the ground, requiring no other 

 care thereafter, except keeping the ground so well 

 drained as to prevent water from standing over 

 the vines. The cranberry may also be propagated 

 from the seed. It shoidd be planted in autiunn, 

 as soon as the fruit is ripe, and a year afterwards 

 the young plants may be transplanted to the situ- 

 ations where it is intended for them to grow. — 

 There are many situations in this country, and we 

 doubt not ill every |»art of England, well adapted 

 to the profitable cultivation of the cranberry. 

 Grounds that are overgrown with fine rushes or 

 moss, may be rendered suitable by spreading over 

 a thick dressing of beach sand, previous to trans- 

 planting the vines. 



From the Geiiusee Farmer. 



BUGS IN PEAS. 



Mr Editor — 1 would mention, that I have 

 been in the habit of raising several acres of peas 

 yearly, for some years past. I selected my seed 

 in the fall, and put it up in barrels. The spring 

 following, after my ground was fitted, on exan'iin- 

 ing my seed peas I found that quite a portion had 



heated, moulded and spoiled, and the balance ap- 

 peared to be much inhabited with bugs, it being 

 all I had of the last season's crop. But on reflec- 

 tion, I went to the rack-barn and found ten bush- 

 els of old peas, that had laid over one year in con- 

 sequence of their being buggy. I had bought new 

 seed and let them lay. I examined the peas, and 

 found them, to a pea, light shells and the bugs 

 gone or decayed. I had little faith in their sprout- 

 inff, but sowed the ten bushels on about three 

 acres, beside the others. They came up well, and 

 produced a fine^crop perfectly clear of bugs, while 

 the others along side were very huggy. I sowed 

 the same kind last season, and raised probably 

 three hundred bushels ; this spring they appear to 

 be a little buggy. I am calculating to keep over 

 a few bushels to change them again next season. 

 This proves a certain cure with me. 



Respectfully, yours, JOHN SPICER. 

 East Barringtun, Yates Co., May, 1832. 



— « 



SPLITTING OF TREES. 

 Many valuable fruit and shade trees are every 

 year lost by the splitting of their trunks, at the 

 branching of the limbs. Many kinds of trees are 

 prone thus to split, and they are seldom preserved 

 when this happens. Hooping, absurd as it is, has 

 often been tried, and as often failed. I have now 

 growing a thrifty locust that was split in thisway 

 by the wind, ^wo years since. I secured it in, this 

 manner: with a bit, suited in size to the tree, I 

 bored a hole through the centre of the trunk, a 

 little below the top of the split. Through this 

 hole I put an iron bolt which filled it, having a 

 head upon one end and a screw cut upon the oth- 

 er. The head rested upon the bark, and a nut 

 being screwed on at the other end, the gaping 

 wound in the tree was closed. To draw it more 

 closely, I pressed the limbs towards each other 

 above, while one turned the nut until all was tight. 

 The protruding end of the bolt I then filed oft', 

 and the growth of the tree in ninety days covered 

 every part of the bolt and nut from sight. The 

 tree is now as sound as any I have, and certainly 

 is not in danger of failing again in the same place. 

 Should this hint be deemed worth recording, it 

 may be the means of saving many trees that would 

 otherwise be lost, from splitting as I have men- 

 tioned. H. 



INSECTS OF APPLE TREES. 



This is the very tiine when the small insects, 

 called lice, upon apple trees are hatching. As 

 they come forth from under the small shell where 

 the eggs have remained during winter, they ap- 

 pear a small downy speck, travel a small distance 

 upon the tree and locate themselves, and produce 

 a covering similar to the one from which they 

 emerged. While they are unprotected with the 

 shell, the application of strong soap suds to the 

 branches where they are, proves at once their de- 

 struction ; besides, it gives the tree a healthy ap- 

 pearance and destroys most of the small fungus 

 growing upon the bark. We hope those who 

 have fruit orchards will not forget to make the ap- 

 plication. 



lowing extract of a letter, from a late Senator of 

 the Unite<l States, will show that the afiirmative 

 may be safely taken in this case : — • 



" I lemeniber to have conversed with the late 

 Col. Forrest, who was a sagacious and exjierienc- 

 ed gardener He suggested, that what Dr Tilton 

 had communicated to ihe public in regard to the 

 curciilio, had been mostly obtained from him. He 

 had closely studied its manner, and was led to 

 plant his nectarine trees slanting over his fish 

 pond. The insect avoided depositing its eggs in 

 so dangerous a situation, where its young could 

 liave no chance of escape. — American Farmer. 



Tlie leaves of the vine are greedily devoured by 

 all cattle, especially the cow, sheep, and hog, 

 which are excessively fond of them. They are a 

 great resource during a dearth of fodder. But it 

 should not be forgotten, that the wood will not 

 ripen without the leaves ; and that they are a great 

 protection against the frost, as well as essential to- 

 wards a mature and plentiful crop. They should 

 not be plucked ; but, as they fall, should be gath- 

 ered, heaped in a dry place, or salted and packed 

 hard in barrels. They may be packed alternately 

 with straw or hay, which soaks the taste of the 

 leaves and becomes a new delicacy to the cattle 

 — Vine Dresser's Manual. 



Keep cool and temperate. — This caution was nev- 

 er more needed than now. The happy medium 

 between indifference and apprehension, should 

 govern the jiublic action in the present circum- 

 stances, which may happily pass off" without a se- 

 vere visitation, but which, should it come, ought 

 to be met with calmness, energy, and above all a 

 firm reliance on the goodness of an Almighty 

 Providence. The measures proposed by the City 

 Council, are not to be received as indications of 

 alarm, but as a determination to do all in the pow- 

 er of the authorities to avert an evil that may 

 come upon the city. — Boston Press. 



THE CURCULIO. 



It has been a question, whether the curculio 

 which destroys our plums and nectarines, has sa- 

 gacity enough to abstain from depositing its eggs 

 in fruit wliich hangs over a pavement, or other 

 places where its larvae must perish. And the fol- 



Locusts. — For a week past, large swarms of 

 locusts could be seen and heard upon the trees in 

 a grove near this village ; since which, the old story 

 is current, that exactly seventeen years ago these 

 insects in considerable quantities were in the same 

 place. One thing is certain : the earth is perfor- 

 ated with holes, from which they have emerged. 

 The letter W is also to be seen upon their wings, 

 which those who deal in the marvellous interpret 

 as denoting War; but in our opinion it denotes 

 large crops of Wheat, such being altogether the 

 most probable from present indications. — Fredonia 

 Censor. 



Slocking Factory. — The stocking factory in this 

 town has gone into operation. We examined the 

 first pair of cotton stockings made at the factory, 

 which we found to be handsomely executed, equal 

 in our opinion to imported. We hope the propri- 

 etor will meet with sufiicient encouragement, so 

 as to enable him to continue the establishment and 

 to make it a profitable concern. — Portsmouth 

 (M". H.) Journal. 



CoiD Cahbase. — At a meeting of the Sterlingshire 

 Horticultural Society, a tree, or cow cabbage, five 

 feet high and eighteen inches in circumference, was 

 exhibited. " This giant succulent being stationed 

 on the terrace of the adjoining bowling-green, and 

 surrounded by enormous competing savoys, form- 

 ed a most imposing group." 



