282 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



WALKS AND TALKS IN THE' GAKDEN -No. V. 



" No want of rain now. Such a growing time, 

 especially for the weeds, we have not had for some 

 years. All succulent vegetation is rampant. You 

 can almost see the cabbage grow." 



" I was once in Mr. Sullivant's big corn field, 

 in the Sciota Valley, with M. B. Bateham, of the 

 Ohio Cultivator. The field had grown annual 

 crops of corn for over fifty years. The crop was 

 then rioting in luxuriance. * What a splendid soil 

 and climate this is,' I remarked. ' Yes,' said Mr. 

 B., ' all you have to do here is to keep out every- 

 thing that you do not want to grow. The rest 

 will take care of itself.' " 



"Standing there in that vast corn-field, with not 

 a weed to be seen, I could not but feel the force of 

 the remark. And it is equally true of a good gar- 

 den. Keep out everything that you do not want 

 to grow, and in nine cases out of ten you will have 

 good crops." 



" These laterals on the grape vines you do not 

 want. Out with them. They rob the vine, and 

 absorb sap which should go into the grapes." 



"These runners on the melon and cucumber vines 

 are not needed. Pinch them off. Shorten them in, 

 and let the whole strength of the vines go into the 

 fruit. Of course you must have leaves enough to 

 elaborate the sap, but if you leave two or three 

 ahead of the fruit it will be sufficient." 



" So of tomatoes : this immense growth of shoots 

 is not needed. Off with them. Keep out every- 

 thing that you do not want to grow, and the rest 

 will take care of themselves." 



" But in such showery weather that we have had 

 lately it is not easy to keep out the weeds. Out 

 them off, and the next morning they are as fresh 

 and vigorous as ever. Nothing for it in such a 

 case but to pull them up by the roots." 



"It has been a splendid time to set out strawberry 

 plants. Out of several hundred planted about the 1st 

 of August, I have scarcely lost a plant. This was 



last fall, and a crop of peas taken from it this 

 spring." 



"Amongst our old strawberry beds there was one 

 or two beds whese the plants had been allowed to 

 run together. Wishing to have them all in rows, 

 these were dug under and some new plants set out 

 about the middle of August. These have not done 

 so well ; perhaps because the weather has not been 

 so wet, and also because the old strawberries have 

 pumped out a good portion of the moisture from 

 the soil." 



" There are few plants that evaporate moisture 

 through their leaves more rapidly than the straw- 

 berry. I have known them suck out all the moist- 

 ure from the soil two feet deep." 



" It is not yet too late to set out strawberries. 

 If the weather is moist, they will do as well set 

 out this month as last, or even better." 



" « What would I do with the old beds ?' If in 

 rows, cut off all the runners and dig up the ground 

 between. Some cut off the leaves of the plants 

 that are left, but I think it is better to allow them 

 to remain. The Triomphe de Gand, which has a L 

 tendency to grow too much out of the ground, 

 should be earthed up a little. The one grand rule 

 in strawberry culture is to cut off the runners as 

 fast as they are formed. Allow nothing to grow 

 that you do not want." 



" So of raspberries and blackberries ; allowing so 

 many young shoots to remain is a waste of the 

 vital energy of the plant. I would cut out all 

 except the three or four that are needed to bear 

 fruit next year. The old shoots that have fruited 

 this year should also be cut out." 



"The Lawton Blackberry is immensely product- 

 ive and very large. But, unless it is very ripe, it 

 is by no means a superior fruit. It is hard inside, 

 seedy and sour. When fully ripe it is delicious." 



" Dr. Miner, of Honeoye Falls, has a new seed- 

 ling blackberry which is as much superior to the 

 Lawton in quality as a Seckel pear is to the Duchess 

 d'Angouleme. The Doctor raised it from the seed 

 of the Dewberry, or low blackberry. Hoohstein 

 is making a drawing of it, but it will not be ready 

 in time for the next [this] number of the Genesee 

 Farmer^ [We will give a full description of it 

 next month.] 



" I received a letter from my brother in the army 

 at Corinth, the other day, saying that he should 

 like a chance at those raspberries we seemed to be 

 at a loss how to dispose of. The thermometer was 

 110° in the shade, and a couple of quarts of rasp- 



on ground trenched and manured for the purpose ] berries a day would not go amiss. However, he 



