vol.. XIV. NO. 00. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL, 



397 



runners, which hapi)ened to be all males, tlio 

 plants wliicli were sent to ]\Ir Thorn had been ta- 

 ken. IMr Thorn did not find out the cause of his 

 misfortune until our good Doctorsaw the blossoms; 

 ot'course the whole bed lind to be dug up. Iftlioy 

 had been female plants, it would have only been 

 necessary to take up every tenth plant and depos- 

 ite n Iiarren plant in its place. 



The male plants of certain kinds of strawberries 

 are more apt to send out runners, than the female. 

 For instance: in the Higbee, the male plants wo\ild 

 soon cover the bed with their ruimers to the ex- 

 clusion of the females, whereas in the real, dark 

 brown Hautbois, the female plants are strongest 

 and completely occupy the ground. 



The best plan therefore is to have a few plants 

 of both se.\es in different places, that a proper |iro- 

 portion of eacli may be taken to make a new bod. 

 This precaution is necessary with the Hautbois, 

 because there is no difference in the shape of the 

 leaf, and of course we never could tell the male 

 from the female, unless the plant were in blossom. 

 But in the Higbee, or large solid preserving straw- 

 berry, the case is different, the latter being round- 

 er, fallea, thicker, of a paler green, more cramped, 

 and less glossy. A practiced eye can tell the dif- 

 ferenoe between them immediately. 



One reason why the Chili strawberry is said to 

 be a '' she bearer," is because the barren plants soon 

 predominate. But if one steady course be pursued, 

 there will be no trouble with the cultivation of 

 any of thosj strawberries which have male and fe- 

 male blossoms in different plants. 



A strawberry bed, well managed, must never 

 have a single runner in it. The plants should be 

 fourteen inches apart each way, if in a private 

 garden; but if the fruit be for sale, then they 

 should be ten inches apart in one direction, and 

 three feet in the other, so as to allow the hand 

 ])Iough to be used between the rows. This hand 

 plough will save a great deal of labor, as three 

 men, (horses will not do) will turn over more 

 ground, and more effectually, in one hour than 

 these three men could do in twelve with the 

 spade. 



When the first season is over, Dr. Bentley, with 

 a garden tool, called a half moon cutter, has all 

 the dead and broken leaves, as well as the rim- 

 ners cut off close to the plant. Ihe hand-plough 

 is then used, and thus the plants have time to re- 

 cover from the tugging, and pulling, and tramp- 

 ling which they have undergone during the peri- 

 od of yielding fruit. 



MANAGEMENT OF HORSES. 



The feeding of horses is a thing which for the 

 most part is indifferently attended to in this coun- 

 try, and indeed the system of feeding which has 

 been adopted, is but ill calculated to [)reserve these 

 noble animals in full health and unimpaired 

 in strength and vigor of body. With many plan- 

 ters and farmers, nothing but corn and oats, in 

 the whole grain are doled out from one end of 

 the year to the other. Now these are each high- 

 ly nutritious and excellent substances, and well 

 calculated to sustain horses under long continued 

 and laborious work, but then are they not too 

 both too heating to the blood, and too difficult of 

 digestion to be given without change dining the 

 whole year? Would it not be better, putting the 

 saving out of question, to reduce those grains to 

 something like digestible substances. Whether 



the horse be fed upon corn or oats, in the whole 

 grain, they necossarily void a large j)ortion of 

 them in precisely the same -itate in which they 

 arc; received into his stomiich. This fact is too 

 well established to be doni(!<l nt this late day, and 

 hence it follows that all ]iortions of gr.'.ins which 

 arc eaten by the horse ancl not digested, serve but 

 to irritate the coat of his stomach, inflame his 

 blood, and, by necessary consequences, disease the 

 whole system. The health of a man's family is 

 very properly said to be dependent as much U[)on 

 his cook as upon any other earthly agent, whether 

 referable to pliysical or atniosi)heric causes. Writ- 

 ers upo:! human lieallh invariably recommend 

 plaiimcss of diet, moderation of eating, exercise, 

 and general temperance, and the substances which 

 are most earnestly commended to favor, are those 

 which aflord the most l)!and nutrition, and which 

 arc easiest of conversion into chyle. If these rec- 

 ommendations hold good with res]iect to hunjan 

 diet, we would ask arc not the same general laws 

 of nature applicable to the horse ? If man lives 

 luxuriantly and feeds upon high seasoned and lus- 

 cious food, the chances are as ten to one against 

 him that he will get the gout, or some inflaumia- 

 tory disease ; and if he feeds upon substances dif- 

 ficult of digestion, he is just as sure to be visited 

 with that worse than pestilent distemyier — the 

 dyspepsia. Ah 1 but would you compare the 

 horse to man ? we think we hear some one ask ; 

 and lest our motives may be i7iistaken, we will 

 take the liberty of replying to the query in ad- 

 vance of its being solenmly put on us. We do 

 not compare the horse to the man, but we hold it 

 as of a truth which admits not of contradiction — 

 that all the alimentary substances, to be profitable 

 to the stomach of either man or horse, shoidd be 

 not only nutritious and bland, but should be eaten 

 in that state in wl^ieh it is best calculated to un- 

 dergo the digestive process. Mastication does 

 much to prepare the food of the horse for that op- 

 eration ; but the evidences which are afforded by 

 the substances voided by this animal, iticontestably 

 show that it fails most lamentably in the perform- 

 ance of this highly necessary work. In England 

 where the management of stock generally, and 

 particularly of the horse, is reduced to a matter 

 of science, but few intelligent feeders think of 

 giving food to that animal iu an uncrushed state ; 

 nor do they confine them to grain feeding alone, 

 and for the assigned reason, that it is too heating. 

 Potatoes and rata baga form a part of the f ed of 

 studs of most English country gentlemen : by 

 which means they keep their horses in better 

 health ; the occasional feeding with roots serving 

 to open their bowels, cool their blood, determine 

 the secretions to the surface, render the skin 

 loose, and the hair silky and healthy. We have 

 said that independently of the saving which is thus 

 effected, the other reasons are sufficient to justify 

 a resort to practice, and wo would ask are not the 

 melioration with the animal to which we have 

 just alluded, sufficient of itself, to make it an ob- 

 ject worthy of every consideration ? We think it 

 is, and should be rejoiced to find that our sugges- 

 tions were improved upon by Americam horse 

 owners, for we honestly believe that infinite good 

 both to the master and beast would inevitably re- 

 sult from it. — Farmer and Gardener. 



The ladies of Barre have formed a "social- 

 knitting-sewing-braiding-palra-leaf-benevolent-so- 

 cietv." 



Preskrvimg BuTTF.n. — Believing that butter 

 may be kept sweet and good in our climate, al- 

 most any length of time, if properly maimfactur- 

 cd, and well taken care of, in order to test the va- 

 lidity of this oiiinicin, we had two pots put down 

 one in .Tune, and tbi; other in August, 1834, ami 

 on probing them with a Iryer, while |)cmiing this 

 article, the butter is founci perfectly sweet, and 

 seems to retain most of its original flavor and 

 freshness. We design to send both pots to Bos- 

 ton next full, with a view of having its mode of 

 manufacture, and method of preservation, judged 

 of by the butter tasters of that notable city. 



In the manufactming process, no water is per- 

 mitted to come in contact with the cream or but- 

 ter — because it is believed that water and ])ar- 

 ticulnrly soft water, dissipates much of the fine 

 Havor that gives to butter its high value. The 

 Orange co. Dairy Women say, " give us good 

 hard water and we wi 1 make good butter," for 

 the reason, probably, that it abstracts less of the 

 aroma from the butter than soft water. The tem- 

 perature of the cream may be regulated by cold 

 or hot water put into a tub, in which the churn 

 may be plunged. Ifthe cream is clean, it needs, 

 no washing; and if the butter is dirty, water will 

 not clean it. 



Nothing but good well pulverized salt is usci) 

 in preserving the butter ; this is all mixed, and 

 all ilissolved, in the mass, before the butter has its 

 second, thorough, and final working \yith the but- 

 ter ladle, and which is not finished till all the but- 

 termilk is expelled. 



To avoid all taint from the butter vessels, and 

 the better to exclude it from the 'air, which soon 

 injures it, the butter is packed close in clean stone 

 jars, and when nearly filled, is covered with a 

 strong brine, rendered pure by previous belling, 

 skimming and settling, in 2C months this brine 

 has been twice renewed, on the appearance of a 

 film upon the surface of the old jjickle. To pre- 

 serve butter, air an<l water, and heat above 65 or 

 70 degrees, are to be guarded against as much as 

 possible. The brine upon the surface does not 

 ])enetrate the mass, nor while sweet taint it ; but 

 it thoroughly excliules the air. — Cultivator. 



Raising Ducks and Turkeys. — In the Agricul- 

 turist of last year appeared two articles, one on 

 the best mode of raising ducks, and the other on 

 turkeys. Two seasons have since passed away, 

 and the writer of this has been enabled to test the 

 efficacy of those directions ; and in every instance 

 that has come under his knowledge, they have 

 been attended with perfect success. The direc- 

 tions for raising ducks were to feed them on ani- 

 mal food and keep them tlry. Individuals who 

 have adopted this plan, have sent to our markets 

 from 500 to 700 ducks of the finest kinds, and 

 they have had no diseases among them, and found 

 no difficulty in raising them. 



Two or three individuals who tried the experi- 

 ments of driving their turkeys, when young to a 

 distance from the house, where the greatest num- 

 ber of insects are found, and feeding and housing 

 them in the inanncr directed in the Agriculturist, 

 have stated, that they have raised from one him- 

 dred to three hundred tin"keys, ami have pronounc- 

 ed it to be a method, which of all others they be- 

 lieve best calcidated to be attended with success. 

 — Southern Agriculturist. 



The Ohio and Chesapeake Canal gave way at 

 Georgetown on Thursday. Damages $30,000. 



