ioo 



H0R.T1CULTURB. 

 Two Gooseberry bushes arc described in the 

 IIorticultLiral Transactions, the branches on one 

 at the seat of the late Sir Joseph. Banks, extended 

 12 yards in circumference, and proJiicr; several 

 riGcks of fniit annually. It is manure i with soap 

 .riids and the drainings from the dung hill. Ano- 

 t.iier is trained to a building- : measures fifty-tnree 

 feet from one exremity to the other, and produces 

 .innually from four to five pecks of fruit. 



Large Sirawherries. — The skill of the horficnl- 

 'urist has lieen siicccssfully exerted in Great 

 Britain, to improve the quality and si::c of fiuil, by 

 new varieties, both by seed and by crossing — 

 This rcmaik -.pplie? p-irtirularly to the gooseber- 

 ry and strawberry. Of the former, Briti-h nur- 

 serymen advertise some hundreds of v; rieties — 

 Of the latter we find two new varieties advertised 

 in the Gardener's Magazine for April, 18'2o, the 

 size of which is calculated to astonish the Ameri- 

 can reader^ Bisliop's Orange is repre.sented to be 

 four inches in circumfereuce. This belongs to 

 'ho scarlet class. Wilmot'r. Superb is from si.K to 

 "ight inches in circu nforcnce. 



I should very much like to cultivate Wilmol's 

 Superb stra'.vherry, and I entertain the hope that 

 1 shall be able to gratify my wish. Vel I doubt 

 its intrinsic merits. Its size and exterior beauty, 

 ike the gaudy dress of the beau and belle, excite 

 a suspicion that they merely servo to cover a weak 

 and vapid pulp. Knisht, the veteran of horticul- 

 ture, considers the raediu.m sized fruit as most 

 profitable to the grower, as well as to tlie buyer. 

 The Downlon pippin, a small apple produced by 

 him by crossing, is considered the best apple 

 m England ior cider and the dessert, since the 

 n-olden pippin has deteriorated. The diminutive 

 wild crab of Virgitiia, and the small, apples least 

 esteemed for the table afford i vjnbus liquor far 

 surpassing that made from our largest and hand- 

 somest apples. The best \v'i"es, too, I am inform- 

 ed, are the production of grapes little esteemed 

 for their beauty or their flavor. Tiie principle of 

 flavor ii dissipated in the process of fermentation, 

 and is best imparted to wine or cider by infusing 

 the ripe fruit in the fermented vinous product. 



Of cur pears, the diminutive seikle and spice, 

 surpass in richness the over grown varieties ; and 

 of the strawberries, the common one of northern- 

 meadows, is not e.vcelled in my opinion, by any 

 lariety of our gardens. The specific juices seem 

 lo be more concentrated in medium sized than in 

 large fruit. Nature appears, in this respect, as in 

 the one alluded to by Colonel Shepherd in regard 

 to the fleece of Merinoes, to have made up in 

 •quality what she has stinted in quantity. And 

 yet after all, I intend to have " Wilmol's Superb." 

 Mhany. .1. B. 



CULTURE OF YELLOW LOCUST. 

 The Robinia pseudo-acacia, or Yellow Locust 

 Tree, is superior to any other kind of wood for 

 ship trunnels, mill cogs, and fence posts, as well 

 as for various other purposes. Its culture is very 

 easy and may he propagated in great abundance, 

 by sowing the seed in March or April, in a bed of 

 good sandy loam, which is Ihoir favorite soil, and 

 covering lialf an inch deep ; previous to sowing, 

 put tho seed in a basin, pour scalding water, aud 

 ^et them stand all night ; pick out such seeds as 

 are swollen, and plant them immediately ; next 

 avening repeat the same process, with such as 

 nave not swollen the first night, mix the whole. 



and sow theui ; they will come up in the course of 1 

 tho following month, numerously ; for no seeds 

 grow more freely, notwithstanding what some 

 may say to the contrary. When a year old, trans- 

 plant them out of the seed bed into nursery rows, | 

 four feet distant, and plant from plant, one foot in 

 the row. Having two or three years' growth in 

 these rows, they may be planted successfully in | 

 any warm and tolerably rich sandy ground. They 

 may al-so be propagated by suckers, v/hich they 

 throw up abundantly, especially if some of the 

 wide e.\'tending roots be cut through with an axe.; 

 An acre of these trees, planted at two feet distant 

 each way, will contain 10,690 — at three feet dis- 

 tant, 4,840 — and, at four feet distant, 2,723— and 

 it is said no ippropriation of land is more lucrative 

 than that devoted to this purpose. 



April 13. Ig 



makes us prefer quantity to quality. You] 

 prove as clearly as daylight, that it is beti 

 certain cases, to possess one acre than a hul 

 but where do you find the man that prefej 

 one acre ? When large parcels of land are 

 dertaken to be cultivated, small ones are h< 

 contempt: and, though a good garden supplijfl 

 large a part of what is consumed by a familyF 

 keeps supplying it all the year round too, 

 are many farmers even in England, who gri 

 even a wheelbarrow full of manure that is bea 

 ed on the garden. The garden may, besides 

 intrinsic utility, be made to be a most vali 

 help-mate to the Farm. 



Every American Farmer, North of CarolinJ 

 least, ought to have a Hot-Bed in the Spring.] 



;|,110« 



BENE PLANT. 

 This valuable medicinal plant is hut little known 

 in the northern states ; the proprietors have lately 

 received some of the seed from a friend in Virginia 

 who writes to f'lessrs Thorbuin & Son, that it re- 

 quites to he sown early in April, at a distance of 

 about one foot apart. A few leaves of the plant, 

 when green, plunged a few times in a tumbler of 

 water, make it like a thin jelley; without taste or 

 colour, which children afflicted with the summer 

 complaint will drink freely, and is said to be the 

 best remedy ever discovered. It has been suppos- 

 ed, that [under Providence] the lives of three hun- 

 dred children were saved by it last summer in 

 Baltimore, and I know the efficacy of it by experi- 

 ence in my own family." Bene seed oil is said to 

 be equal to Florence. This plant will throw out 

 a greater profusion of leaves, by breaking off the 

 top when it is about half grown. 



GARDENING. 



America has soil and climate far surpassing 

 those of England ; and yet she is surprizingly de- 

 ficient in variety as well as quality of garden 

 products. I am not alluding to things of orna- 

 ment, or appertaining to Uixurious enjoyments but, 

 to things that are really useful, and that tend to 

 the preservation of health, without which latter, 

 life is not worth having. It is incredible to those, 

 who have not had occasion to observe tlie fact, 

 how large a part of the sustenance of a country- 

 labourer's family, in England, comes out of his 

 little garden. The l:iboui-ers of England are dis- 

 tinguished from those of other countries by sev- 

 eral striking peculiarities ; but, by no one arc 

 they so strongly distinguished us by' their fond- 

 ness of their gardens, and by the diligence, care 

 and taste, which they show in the management of 

 them. The reproach which Solomon, (Proverbs 

 ch. 2-1, v. 30' iiiSxes on the slothful and ignorant 

 husbandman, they aeem to h;'.ve constantly in their 

 minds ; and to be onstantly on the watch to pre- 

 vent it from applying to themselves. Poverty may 

 apologize for a dirty dress on an unshaven face ; 

 men may be nerligent of their person ; but the 

 sentence of the \.''iole nation is, that he, who is a 

 s oven in hi:! gar en. is a sloven indeed. The in- 

 side of a Inhourer.s house, his habits, his qualities 

 as a workman, and almost his morality, may he 

 judged of from tbf aopearanee of his garden. 



It seems, at first sirht, very odd that this taste 

 fur gardening should not have been preserved in 

 America ; but, it is accounted for by reflecting, 

 that, where land is abundant, attrschmont and ev- 

 en attention to small spots wear away. To desire 

 to possess land is an universal desire ; and vanity 



WUSTAR11. 

 There is a white seeded sort and a brown seci 1 

 ed. Tue white mustard is used in salads ali 

 with tho Cress, oi Pepper Grass, and is sown 

 cultivated in the same way. ^See Cress.j 

 black is that which table-mustard is made of. 

 IS sown in rows, two feet apart, early in the spi 

 The plants ought to bo thinned to four or 

 inches apart. Good tillage between the rowi 

 Tiic seed will be ripe in July, and then the sti 

 should be cut off, and when quite dry, the 

 threshed out, and put by for use. — Wliy sh' 

 any man that has a garden buy mustard .' 

 should he want the English to send him out, 

 bottle, and sell him for a quarter of a dollar, 

 and worse mustard than he can raise in his 

 den for a penny ? The English mustard is, in gi 

 eral, a thing fabricated, and is as false as the glj. 

 zed and pasted goods, sent "Ut by the frauduleni 

 fabricators of Manchester. It is a composition ol 

 baked bones reduced to powder, some wheal flour. 

 some colouring, and a drug of some sort that 

 gives the pungent tnste. Whoever uses t: 

 mustard freely will find a burning in his iasi 

 long after he has swallowed the mustard 

 should any man, who has a garden, buy this pi 

 onous stuff? The mustard-seed around in a litl 

 mustard mill is what he ought to use. He wj 

 have bran and all; and his mustard will not loi 

 yellow like tlie English composition ; but, we 

 not object to Rye-bread on account of its colour' 

 Ten pounds of seed will grow upon a porch of 

 ground ; and ten pounds of mustard is more than 

 any man can want in a year. The plants do not 

 occupy the ground more than fourteen weeks and 

 may be followed by another cro of any plant, 

 and even of mustard if yon like. This, ther.-'t'ure, 

 is a very nseful plant, and outrht to be cultivated 

 by every farmer, and every man v/ho has a garden. 

 [American Gardener ] 



COFFKE. 



Coffee drank after dinner promotes digestion : 

 and agues, diarrhoeas, and giddiness, have fre- 

 quently been removed by it. Its subtile oil stimu- 

 lati's the solids, rarifies the blood, and consequent- 

 ly is of great service to tiiose who lead a sedenta- 

 ry life, and to those who suffer from phlegmatic 

 and catarrhal diseases. If drank too strong it af- 

 fects the nerves, and by its penetrating properly 

 often occasions sleeplessness, and tremor of the 

 hands ; but, in some phlegmatic and indolent indi- 

 viduals, it is apt lo e.xcite sleep. 



If cofl^ee be not used merely as a dilutenl for re- 

 laxing the fibres, it ought to be made strong. — 

 The best proportion is, one ounce of well roasted 

 and ground cofl'ee to one pound or one pint of wa.- 



