152 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



*' Tomatoes are. perhaps an exception. It is quite 

 easy to get the ground too rich, especially if you 

 ■wish them early. But for melons, squash, cucum- 

 bers, beets, parsneps, «&c., you need plenty of 

 manure." 



" Tiie hoe 13 a great fertilizer. We use it to kill 

 weeds, but it enriches the soil at the same time. 

 Tlie same may be said of the spade and the fork. 

 But do not dig or hoe when the ground is wet, it 

 does more harm than good. I have a border where 

 early plants have been raised for some years, but 

 the soil is now so hard that it is difficult to get it into 

 good working order, and the only reason I can as- 

 sign for this is that it has been dug in the spring for 

 some years, before the ground was dry enough to 

 work properly. Land worked when wet bakes and 

 packs, and does not recover from it during the 

 whole season." 



"Last spring I set out fifty or sixty peach tree?, 

 and design to train them so low that the branches 

 can be bent down and pegged to the ground so that 

 the snow will protect them. When I set them out 

 I cut several of them back to within five or six 

 inchea of the> ground. I was a little fearful that 

 they would not grow, but all except one threw out 

 nice, vigorous shoots and made a good growth. 

 This morningl have been thinning out all the wood 

 that is not wanted, and shortening-in the shoots to 

 a few inches. "While I was doing it, a Scotch gar- 

 dener passed by and said that in Scotland they train 

 peaches on a kind of slanting trellis and cover them 

 with straw in the winter." 



" It won't pay in tliis country." 



"For general culture, certainly not ; but when 

 you want to be sure of a few peaches for your 

 own use, it pays to take a little extra pains." 



" I have just been sowing some peas, and after 

 covering them commenced to rake the surface 

 smooth and nice, with never a stone or a foot mark 

 visible, but soon gave it np! It takes too much 

 time. It looks very pretty, but then it is only for 

 a few days. The [peas will soon be np, and need 

 hoeing, and then the ground not raked will look 

 nearly or quite as well as the other." 



" Raking is all very well if you can afford the 

 time, and do not neglect the more important opera- 

 tions of digging and hoeing. Let these be thorough- 

 ly done, and then you may rake if you wish. In 

 sowing small seeds it is necessary to make the sur- 

 face fine and smooth, especially if you sow broad- 

 oast: but for such crops as peas, beans, potatoes, 

 corn, &c., it is not essential." 



A BOWEB BOUND A TEEE STUMP. 



A correspondent of tlie London Journal of Hor- 

 ticulture says , " It sometimes happens, when trees 

 are cut down a few inches from the ground, that 





'^^S'^t^i 





FlO. 1. — TREK STTTMP PREPARINO FOR A JSDWEE 



they send up shoots all around the stumps. On* 

 mode of overcoming this evil, or rather of con vertint 

 an object of annoyance into an object of utility anc 

 ornament, is illustrated by the following sketches 

 Fig. 1 shows the stump of a tree (Ash) with thi 

 young branches grown up round it; and ,;^. 2 

 illustrates the fashion in which these branches msj 

 be made to form an elegant canopy to one of th( 

 most natural of rustic seats — the stump of the tree 

 which may, however, be provided with a soft cush- 

 ion if required. The branches need simply to b( 

 tied together by means ot wire ; and if a few plants 

 of Ivy and Brier, with one or two of the more 

 choice climing Roses are planted around the base 

 the whole would soon become very compact anc 

 beautiful. The wires should not be tied tightly, 

 lest they should cut the branches in the course ol 

 time ; and perhaps, for this reason, ordinary string 



FlO. 2.— TUB BAMK MORE ADVANCED. 



ties would be preferable." Instead of the English 

 ivy, which does not stand our winters, the Vir- 

 ginia Creeper, {Ampelopsis hederacea,) may be 

 planted. It grows with great rapidity and is very 

 beautiful in the summer and autumn. 



