292 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



they seem less inclined to rot than the light. 

 AVhen late kinds are dark and have spreading 

 heads, the crop is more likely to be saved from 

 the birds, as the latter are not so numerous as in 

 the last week in June ; and if they were, the 

 spreading tree would tend to keep the fruit from 

 exposure. 



Among the best varieties are the May Duke, 

 Belle de Choisy, Coe's Transparent, Elton, Black 

 Tartarean, Black Eagle and Downer's Late. The 

 Clack Tartarean is a standard of excellence in 

 fruit, but the tree is rather tender, liable to burst 

 its bark and to become short-lived. A cherry 

 which sold a few years ago for a high price, called 

 "WalsJi's Seedling" seems to be identical with the 

 Tartarean, having all its ha!)its, virtues and faults. 

 Tills "seedling," if its secret history could be dis- 

 covered, would probably be found to be a grafted 

 fruit ! The Napoleon Bigarreau, which has borne 

 with me tlie past two years, is a very large and 

 handsome white cherry (so termed), with a blush or 

 crimson cheek, but crisp, and only of fair quality. 

 It is very showy, has a small pit and thick pulp, is 

 excellent for the market, and the tree is a free and 

 healthy grower ; but its fruit hangs in clusters, 

 and in damp weather is quite liable to rot. 



We need more late cherries. Nothing can be 

 seen in market in the middle of July but the 

 Black INLazzard ; yet Downing notes the ^^Bigar- 

 reau Tardiffe de Hildersheini" which, he says, 

 "ripens here in August, and according to Thomp- 

 son is the latest sweet cherry known." Also the 

 Sweet Montmorency, which is nearly as late. Both 

 of these fruits are in Messrs. Hovey's Catalogue, 

 yet they are rarely if ever seen, even on the hor- 

 ticultural tableii. D. W. LOTHROP. 



West Medford, July, 1863. 



Fur the Neit England Farmer. 

 LITTLE THINGS, 



Or a Walk in my Garden. 



While walking up and down the garden one 

 early twilight last week, as I am wont to do, my 

 attention was arrested by a pretty row of cabbag- 

 es, and 1 was led to inquire whether the ordina- 

 ry art of our households has been put sufficiently 

 to the test in scfi'ving up this vegetable in as many 

 ways as it is capable. It is true that Yankees will 

 never learu to eat sour krout. This belongs to 

 our Dutch population, but I was further led to this 

 thought while translating a German hymn the oth- 

 er day in whicli, among other things prayed for, 

 ■was a plenty of Cabbage. Now if there be any- 

 thing good in cabbage, why should we not find it 

 out in some form or other ? Cannot some of our 

 readers give us a variety of dishes from this arti- 

 cle.? 



The whole family of the Brassica is capable of 

 great development. See what splendid varieties 

 of the cabbage and turnip have been brought into 

 use by careful cultivation, to say nothing of the 

 cauliflower, the most delicious of them all. Per- 

 haps some, who, like myself, practice gardening on 

 a small scale, would like to know how to cultivate 

 this esculent. For twenty-five years I have not 

 failed but once to raise a supply for my family. 

 There are two methods I have practiced for start- 

 ing them, one, to plant them in a hill, and the oth- 

 er to start them in a rich spot, or in a hot bed, and 

 tiien transplant. Each method has its advantag- 



es. When I transplant, which I am as likely to 

 do on a summer day as on any other, I pour a lit- 

 tle water round the plant and immediately lay over 

 it a leaf of burdock, rhubarb or grape, and let it 

 wilt down over the leaf and remain there two or 

 three days. I then remove them, hoe them and 

 place a platform of newspaper around the plant, 

 which may be rapidly done by tearing up pieces 

 eight inches square, tearing a slit in one side to 

 the centre and placing a little earth on the edges. 

 This will keep off the cutworms. If a plant turns 

 to a lead color, pull it up and supply its place 

 with another. In this way I never fail of cabbag- 

 es, if I don't let the cows get in and eat them up ! 

 To be sure, there is not much poetry about a cab- 

 bage, but it answers an excellent purpose for pro- 

 sy people who are fond of the substantials of life. 

 There is another article with about as little poe- 

 try in it as the cabbage, but I have been some- 

 what perplexed as to the best method of training 

 the vines. At last I hit upon the following meth- 

 od of 



Training the Tomato. 



Knock a flour barrel to pieces, take one of the 

 hoops and two of the staves, sharpen one end of 

 them, and nail the other ends to the opposite sides 

 of the hoop, set it over the plant and drive it into 

 the ground, the vines will hang over the edge of 

 the hoop free from the ground. Set the staves in 

 the next hill at right angles with those in the first, 

 and let the hoops just come together and tie them 

 with a string in such a way as to support each 

 other. Thus, at a trifling expense of time and 

 money, you may eflfectually train all your tomatoes. 

 These may be little matters, but they will insure 

 great cabbages and tomatoes. 



Yours, little enough, N. T. T. 



THE "WHEAT CROP IN SOUTHERN 

 ILLINOIS. 



In their dreams of farming on the rich soil of 

 the Mississippi Valley, few New England farmers 

 probably think of anything less than twenty bush- 

 els of wheat per acre, and from that up to forty, 

 and even higher. In this, as in many other things, 

 'tis distance lends enchantment to the view. In 

 conversation some years since with several Michi- 

 gan farmers as to the average yield of wheat per 

 acre in that State, we found that their estimates 

 of an average crop for all the acres sown to wheat 

 in that State varied from eight to fifteen bushels. 

 A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer, writing 

 at Dongola, in the southern part of Illinois, after 

 asserting that "we raise as good wheat as any- 

 where grows on the globe," makes the following 

 statement : 



The wheat crop is about an average this year ; 

 that is, 7^ bushels to the acre. Many places will 

 not exceed three bushels to the acre. Thousands 

 of farmers never get more. What can be expect- 

 ed of wheat slobbered on grass amidst standing 

 corn ? When it is put on good clover ground we 

 have wheat, say from 18 to 25, and even 30 bush- 

 els to the acre. It is a pity we do not raise more 

 wheat, when the quality is so superior to that 

 raised in the north part of the State. 



