160 



GENESEE FARMER 



June. 



perhaps this is to be accounted for hy tlie Aid 

 that (here, when the tree is excited by fine 

 weather to put .'orth its tender saoots, nipping 

 frosts are by no means so common as in Eng- 

 land, or, in other words, the climate is not so 

 uncertain as it is in the latter country. 



Its love for deep loamy soil has very much 

 opernted against its being planted in tliis country 

 in great numbers ; for the land wiiich suits it 

 best is more profitably employed in growing 

 corn crops, &3. Nevertheless, in all places 

 where ornament is required it will continue to 

 offer many attractions over some other ever- 

 greens. After it has attained to the age of ten 

 or twelve years, it commences to grow rapidly, 

 making aimual shoots of from two to three feet 

 in one season. 



Virgil was right in ascribing to it the attri- 

 bute of beauty. It has nothing of the tortuous 

 ramification which forms the delight of the 

 painter, nor is it calculated to elevate the mind 

 when the winds are high, or during a storm : 

 we hear not the shouting of the tempest in 

 its lofty top. In the oak, for instance, the 

 voice of Nature is loud and deep ; but in all the 

 individuals of the Con'fercc there is only a shrill 

 hissing soimd, which in minds attuned to such 

 things awakens a feeling of extreme solitariness. 

 Its leaves are full of beauty, and will suffer the 

 minutest examination ; its branches are disposed 

 horizontally, and sometimes may be observed at 

 a great d stance, and to advantage against a clear 

 sky. The trunk is straight and unbending. 

 rising to a majestic height, and the tree altogether 

 m»y l)e justly considered as one of those which 

 adds dignity to the spot where it rises. 



The propagation and culture of this plant are 

 accomplished much in the same way as in the 

 common pine. The cones should be gathered 

 in December, subjected to a very slight degree 

 of kiln-drying, and then thrashed on a floor, as 

 recommended in the case of the larch. When 

 sifted, and freed as much as possible from the 

 broken pieces of the cones, &c., they should be 

 kept in a dry place till the middle of March, and 

 sown in beds of liglit loamy soil, placing the 

 seeds so as that the plants may rise at about an 

 inch apart from eacli other ; and this will be 

 best insured by reckoning one seed in every 

 four as likely to vegetate. 



This, perhaps, will be better understood when 

 It is stated that Silver fir seed is always bid, and 

 requires to be sown very thick to have a good 

 close crop, in moist soil a covering of half an 

 inch will be sufficient, and in dry soils it may 

 be increased to three quarters of an inch, and 

 even one inch. When the plants have been two 

 years in the seed bed they m ly be transplanted 

 into nursery lines, in Ike very richest soil thai. 

 can he had, only it is not proper to use fresii 

 manure. They should stand about two inches 



apart, in lines six inches asunder ; for if planted 

 at a greater distance apart, they will be ibund 

 to make strong side branches, often robbing the 

 leading slioot, which is, besides, very liable to 

 injury by iVost. It will be worth while to insert 

 dead branches (cut in summer .so as to retain 

 their leaves, ) throughout the lines: this will ward 

 off the etfecis of spring frosts, and will he (bund 

 to answer belter than [)lanting ihern under old 

 trees, as is done in several nurseries in Surrey. 

 Two year's seedlings are lOs. per l.ltOO, and 

 transplanted plants, nine inches liigli, are from 

 15*. to 2().s\ per 1.00(1. Amongst the sytion- 

 ymes which are applied to tiiis plant are P. tax- 

 i folia and P. excelsa. 



Strawberries. 



Mr. Barry : — I wish to inq lire if you, or some of your 

 correiaporiiierils pan .hforin me the f^■^cl^e of ilie uiitVuitiiil- 

 fulness ill some birawberries that I set in Aiigusi 1845 — ihe 

 soil u sandy loim, fiirrovvetl wiih a plow three fi'ei iipart ; 

 plants 8 inches in the rows, Ihe r nvs dresheil with horse 

 manure ; the^tit-si. winter (^overi^d with sea weed of diifrint 

 kinds ihat lands on tlie sea-shore; second uinhr h >rse 

 manure and siravv. In 184i) an 1 1847 thfy were full of 

 hlossoms. an 1 grew houiitifiiily, ihe won ler of ud ih it saw 

 ihem, hut produced iiitonc perfect hciry. Soiue ha?esai(I 

 that ihpy errcw too hixuri int ; some that f.iiey were all m:ile, 

 others ail female. 1 ;iui nol saiislicd as to ihe iriie ciiise, 

 for they were taken from a bed in my garden Ihtil hore well 

 the season before, of Ke-ii's S^^,/iii/<r iinil Hn/ilhu/s. IJy 

 running a ciihivalor b'lwcpiiihe rows and hoeing, not a 

 weed w IS lo be seen in ihem the lirsi t^vo years, but they 

 not lo be very tlm-k in llu- niws. W'irliiii :\ few days i 

 have plowed them all up, and pi inre I poiat;)es. It was es- 

 timtied by some ihit I should have 21 to 4) bushels the 

 first spasoii. llespec. fully yours, 



Nivitufket, Mass., 184'1. K |{. Swain. 



Remarks. — It is no uncommon thing fir 

 plants, taken from a bed that had been produc- 

 tive to prove utterly sterile ny what is usually 

 termed " running out," owing to an imperfect 

 development of the pistils or fructifying organs 

 of the flower. The Keen's Seedling, though 

 usually perfect in its flowers, will occtsionally 

 run out, and the Hnutbois frequently. The 

 Cincinnati mode of strawberry culture, as de- 

 scribed by N. LoNGWOKTU, Esq., the great 

 teacher of strawberry philosophy, is to piant 

 pistillate or female plants, w t!i a few stamiiiales 

 or males among them to fertilize them — say one 

 to a dozen. Hovev's Seedling is o,ie of the 

 largest and finest pistillate varieties, and the 

 Early Scarlet one of the best for fertilizing. 

 The Early Scarlet, the Alpine and Wijod straw- 

 berries scarcely ever fail to produce a full crop 

 by themselves, having perfect blossoms. 



Mr. Lo.vowoaTFi and others at Cincinnati will 

 nol admit that plants ever " run o'lt," that is, be- 

 come defective in stamens, and thus partiallv 

 clianged in characier ; but we have yet to find 

 evidence that thev do not. 



ROKFAI.O IloRriCOl.TURXL SoCI KTV.— I'he C rn. All- 

 v^rl'i-ei S|ieiks well of ihe exhi' ition lieM by iho .tbovo 

 Society on last Tiiesd ly afiernoon and evening. Tulips 

 wero of course the iirineijial feaiiire. 



