THE GE^TESEE FAEMER. 



249 



" Come and see my melons ; I have mulched a 

 part and left others without any, and, as you see, 

 those that are mulched are at least one third het- 

 ter than the hills that are not mulched." 



"That is so; but you use queer materials to 

 mulch with." 



" I generally use grass, but in this case I hap- 

 pened to have more lettuce than we needed, so I 

 pulled them up, and laid them round the hills of 

 melons. Anything that will check evaporation 

 will answer for a mulch." 



" If it does not exekide the air. The roots need 

 air just as much as they need water." 



" Last year, I carelessly left a label on the main 

 stem of a young pear tree, and the wire has cut 

 into the bark, and, I fear, has injured the tree." 



."Tlie better way is to put the label loosely on a 

 Bide branch ; or, better still, keep a record in your 

 garden book of the exact location of each tree set 

 out, the time of planting, what variety, when pur- 

 chased, and any other particulars that may be in- 

 teresting in future years. In this wa}', you will 

 not need labels." 



"Black beans make excellent soup — especially 

 rfyou use plenty of other materials, familiar to all 

 good cooks, in connection with them ! It is my 

 favorite soup, and I recommended our friend the 

 Doctor, to plant a few, giving him some seed. I 

 saw him the other day, and he was quite indig- 

 nant. 'Those beans of yours,' he said, 'need pol- 

 ing, and there is no other bean in the world worth 

 poling except Limas!" 



" The Doctor has a good garden, and takes great 

 pleasure in it. He believes most fully in his theory 

 of hoeing cabbages at five o'clock in the morning 

 — or earlier! His cabbages and cauliflowers are 

 really excellent. Exposing the cool earth in the 

 morning to the air, condenses the dew from the 

 atmosphere, and makes the soil moist." 



"There is one thing he wants me to tell the 

 readers of the Genesee Farmer — the wonderful 

 effect of a dead horse that he cut up and buried, three 

 years ago, a few feet distant from some grape vines 

 just set out. They have made a great growth, and 

 are now bearing fruit. One vine, of Delaware, has 

 made a remarkable growth, and is bearing finely." 



"It is coming to be quite a common opinion in 

 this section that it is not desirable to make land 

 very rich for grapes ; they are apt to run too much 

 to vine." 



"There is a worm on the leaves of the potatoes 

 that is making sad havoc. I do not know what it 



is, or whether there is any remedy. This plot of 

 Six Weeks, which bid fair to be a magnificent crop, 

 are literally stripped. Tliey look as though a fire 

 had passed over them." 



" The enemies of our crops seem to multiply. 

 The last number of the Oermantown Telegraph has 

 a description of a 'new rose enemy.' Poor Rose! 

 She had enemies enough before. The aphides and 

 rose bugs despoiled her of much of her beauty, and 

 now this new pest, in the shape of a green worm 

 feasts on her leaves. 



" The double Zinnia, for a new flower, is really 

 very beautiful. I know of few things handsomer 

 than a fine bed of them. They are easily raised, 

 and require no special care. I got the seed from 

 Mr. ViOK, and the plants are nearly all double." 



" We sowed over sixty varieties of flower seeds 

 this spring, and had very fair success. In one 

 thing, however, we made a mistake. We sowed 

 the seed in drills in a cold frame. I think it would 

 liave been much better to have sown them in boxes 

 in a hot-bed. They could be sown very thick, and , 

 would occupy but little space. They could easily 

 be watered and taken care of, till they were large 

 enough to transplant. When sown in rows, they 

 occupy 80 much space that it is no little labor to 

 water them — and they do not come up as well as 

 in a hot-bed. Or if they must be sown in a cold 

 frame, instead of sowing them in drills in the ground 

 it would be better to put them in boxes, the same 

 as in a hot-bed." 



" Dr. LiXDLEY calls annuals the ' flowers of the 

 million.' A good collection of them adds greatly 

 to the beauty of a garden. What is more beautiful 

 than a bed of Phlox Drummondii ? What more 

 delicious than mignonnette? And the Verbena 

 can be raised from seed. I w^as recently in a farm 

 liousp, and found a vase filled with flowers on the 

 table, and did not need any other evidence that 

 this was the abode of taste and refinement" 



"We have met with people wJio objected to 

 have their flowers cut — saying that they looked 

 better in the garden than anywhere else. It is a 

 foolish idea. Nothing adds so much to the appear- 

 ance of a room as flowers, and it should be remem- 

 bered that cutting off the flowers is />.t advantage 

 to the plants. No seed should be allowed to form. 

 It weakens the plant." 



"Peas have done well this season. There is no 

 early variety superior to the Daniel O'Rourke. I 

 did not pole them, and yet they produced an abun- 

 dant crop. Champion of England is magnificent, 



