282 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



wood-houso, and the other does not. The watered 

 row is fully four times as large in growth as the 

 other. Again — the berries on the bushes of a 

 Fastolph and Franconia raspl^erries were^ at least 

 twice as large when tlie soil was kept moistened, 

 as afterwards when allowed to become dry ; a rep- 

 etition of the watering again doubled their size. 

 Again — a near neighbor, who cultivates strawber- 

 ries for market, and uses a water cart for irrigat- 

 ing the row3, raised at the rate of one hundred 

 and twenty bushels to the acre, on common good 

 soil by this means ; and he noticed that where 

 the cart was left standing over night, so that the 

 water gradually dripped from it, for some hours, 

 upon a portion of the plants, the fruit had grown 

 to double the size of the rest in twenty-four hours. 

 It should be observed that these advantages of a 

 copious supply of water pertain chiefly to small 

 or annual plants. The roots of fruit trees, being 

 larger and deeper, are to be supplied with mois- 

 ture in a different way ; that is, by a deep, rich, 

 mellow soil, kept moist by cultivation, or by cov- 

 ering thickly with litter. "Water applied to the 

 surface rarely descends so low as the roots,and only 

 hardens the soil to a crust. — Albany Cultivator. 



For the New England Farmer. 



WHAT A GARDEN SHOULD BE. 



Ab the end of the first article upon the garden, 

 it was expected that the next would consider the 

 flower gai'den in its beauties and varieties, but it 

 has been neglected until now. As the warm 

 sprisig hastens its steps, and the golden summer 

 re-approaches our cold hills and valleys, the love 

 for flowers revives ; when the sap first starts, and 

 the l>uds swell, even the dullest laborer gladly 

 greets the saxifrage and violet, whilst the refined 

 welcome them with an enthusiasm, not again awak- 

 ened by any after-comers of the floral year ; but, 

 happily enough, each season has its own set ol 

 pleaoures, and human sympathies, and as month 

 succeeds month, new interests arise, till the yel- 

 low and rosy harvest ; then the cold winter blasts, 

 once more drive back into mother earth each loi- 

 tering straggler of the spring's darlings. 



Wc have seen that varied gardens have marked 

 the world's progress, but they have ever been the 

 peculiar luxuries of the rich and great. Not so 

 with us ; in our prosperous country, every pru- 

 dent man can own a house and plot of land, and 

 may there collect comforts and pleasures unknown 

 to his equals in another hemisphere ; — whilst the 

 day laborer lias his little coruer, the more pros- 

 perous mechanic and merchant have their acres. 

 With the land comes the question, how may it be 

 best used? If the income is small, it is, how it 

 may be made most conducive to the welfare of the 

 family ; and the question is generally answered 

 by the needs or desires of the appetite, and soon 

 fruit trees and vegetal^les fill the spot. 



But even amongst these, there is room for a few 

 of nature's favorites ; do not judge of the worth 

 of the possession by its monicd value, and how far 

 it will fill the purse, or gratify the passions. 



Man has a higlier aim thtm merely to live ; he 

 has a future, and must develope liimsclfnow, so 

 as to take such a position then as he may have a 

 right to. 



Tliere is no more sure method of cnnolding the 

 mind, than the contemplation of something higher 



than ourselves, than to be not of the earth, earthy. 

 Let us surround our families with mcFC utility, 

 and they must become utilitarians ; if we would 

 make a boy close and avaricious^ or their oppo- 

 siteS) we cultivate those qualities in youth ; if 

 we would unfold his higher nature, we can only 

 do it by offering it every inducement to manifest 

 itself. But to leave the ethics of the subject, and 

 come directly to the thing before us, the plot 

 of ground, what is the first tiling to be done after 

 its acquisition ? Ascertain hoAv much land you 

 can afford to keep free from weeds. Remember, 

 we ought not judge a man's gardening qualities, 

 bij the amount of land he tills, but how well he culti- 

 vates ; better quarter of an acre full of fr uit and 

 flowers, than half, where every other plant is a 

 weed. Having decided hoAv much land is to be 

 kept in culture, lay the rest down to grass; then 

 from the piece selected, allot a certain amount to 

 flowers, but do not think any gravelly knoll or 

 corner will answer ; you cultivate them for their 

 beauty, and nothing is more dependent for 'perfec- 

 tion, on gejicrous nurture ; the common mistake is, 

 in making a flower garden, a compound of gravel 

 walks, flowerbeds, and turf edging. 



Abandon the idea of a Jlowcr garden, and sub- 

 stitute /^oioe?" ie^/s; the common method is to lay 

 oflf the land into a square, or some other regular 

 figure, and then subdivide that into ovals, circles, 

 triangles, &c., entirely forgetting that' walks fill 

 with rubbish and must be as carefully cleaned as 

 the beds themselves ; and that the eflect of math- 

 ematical divisions and sections is necessarily stiff 

 and formal, and in every way alien to the natu- 

 ral beauty and grace of flowers and plants. To 

 economise labor, if nothing else, avoid extra paths; 

 get the flower garden surface into a thick, rich 

 turf; dig deep, and manure well, that the grass 

 may never suffer from drought, and then you will 

 soon have a beautiful emerald setting for your 

 jewels. In this turf cut out such figures as please 

 your fancy, the more irregular the better ; here 

 arises a difficulty ; the roots of the grass are ever 

 liable to grow into the beds, and choke the Q.O'w- 

 ers ; to prevent this, drive down strips of slate, 

 bricks, or even cedar poles, around the perimeter 

 of the bed, driving them down flush with the sur- 

 face, in order that the grass may cover them over, 

 they Avill present an effective barrier to all va- 

 grant roots. Next remember that the best way of 

 avoiding weeds in the beds, like vices in the mind, 

 is to cultivate flowers or virtues ; cover the ground 

 with them so closely, that the weeds shall have no 

 chance. 



After the beds are ready, 1st, select plants of 

 about uniform heights to fill them, so that none 

 shall ovei'shadow the others, or if some must grow 

 liigher, let them be in the centre or at the back, 

 and grade down from them with more dwarf vari- 

 eties. 2nd, select according to tljc season — have 

 bulbs for the spring, and jierennials and bedding 

 out plants for the summer and fall. Get all the 

 best varieties of perennials, and next biennials, as 

 they save the trouble of refilling the beds every 

 year ; but you may want something else for filling; 

 to sup23ly this Avant, plant the seeds of annuals, or 

 better still, get every spring a few Heliotropes, 

 Verbenas, Geraniums, Mexican sago, &c., from 

 the nearest green-house ; these latter are univer- 

 sal favorites, because they bloom steadily from the 

 time of planting until frost, and may then be tak- 



