1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



1S8 



till the whole is a homogeneous mass similar to 

 honey. 



After a few day's exposure to the atmosphere 

 in a thin coat, it assumes a whitish color, and he- 

 comes as hard as stone, being impervious to water 

 and air. 



The editor of the noiimiUnrist adds : — A good 

 liquid grafting wax has long been a desiderattim. 

 AVe have seen the above as used by "Horticola," 

 and are much pleased with it. It is better than 

 the shellac preparation, and is much cheaper. It 

 is an admirable preparation for covering wounds 

 in trees. — California Farmer. 



"WHAT A GARDEN" MAY BE. 



Here let me outline, in brief, what a farmer's 

 garden may be made, without other than home 

 labor. A broad walk shall run down the middle 

 of either square enclosure, or long paralli^logram. 

 A box edging on either side is of little cost, f.nd 

 contributes eminently to neatness ; it will hold 

 good for eight years, without too great encroach- 

 ment, and. at that time, will sell to the nursery- 

 men for more than enough to pay the cost of re- 

 setting. On either s^dc of this walk, in a border 

 of six feet wide, the farmer may plant his dwarf 

 fruit, with grapes at intervals, to climb upon a 

 home-made cedar trellis, that shall overarch and 

 embower the walk. If he love an evening j)ipe 

 in his garden, he may plant some simple seat un- 

 der one or mere of these leafy arbors. 



At least one-half the garden, as I before sug- 

 gested, he may easily arrange, to till, — spring and 

 autumn, — with the plow ; and whatever he places 

 there in the way of tree and shrub, must be in 

 lines parallel jvilh the walk. On the other half, 

 he will he subjected to no such limitations ; there 

 he will establish his perennials — his asparagus, 

 his thyme, his sage, and parsley ; his rhubarb, 

 his gooseberries, strawberries and raspberries ; 

 and in an angle — hidden if he choose by a belt of 

 shrubbery — he may have his hotbed and compost 

 heap. Fork-culture, which all these crops de- 

 mand, will admit of any arrangement he may pre- 

 fer, and he may enliven the groupings, and win 

 the good wife's favor, by here and there a little 

 circlet of such old-fashioned flowers as tulips, yel- 

 low lilies and wliite, with roses of all shades. 



Upon the other half he may make distribution 

 of pans, by banding the various crops with bor- 

 der lines of China or Refugee beans ; and he may 

 split the whole crosswise, by a walk overarched 

 with climbing Limas, or the London Horticultu- 

 ral — setting oft' the two ends with an abutment of 

 Scarlet-runners, and a surbase of fiery Nasturtium. 

 There are also available and pretty devices for 

 making the land do double duty. The border 

 lines of China-beans, which will be ripened in 

 early August, may have Swedes sown in their 

 shadow in the first days of July, so that when the 

 Chinas have fulfilled their mission, there shall be 

 a new line of purple green in their place. The 

 early radishes and salads may have their little cir- 

 clets of cucumber ))its, no way interfering with 

 the first, and covering the ground when the first 

 are done. The early Bassano, beets will come 

 away in time to leave space for the full flow of tliff 

 melons that have been planted at intervals among 

 them. The cauliflower will find grateful shade 

 under the lines of sweet corn, and the newly- set 

 winter cabbages, a temporary refuge from the sun. 



under shelter of the ripened peas. I do not make 

 these suggestions at random, but as the results of 

 actual and successful experience. 



With such simple and orderly arrangement, in- 

 volving no excessive labor, I think every farmer 

 and country liver may take pleasure in his garden 

 as an object of beauty ; — making of it a little farm 

 in miniature, with its co])pices of dwarf trees, its 

 hedge rows of currants and gooseberries, and its 

 meadows of strawberries and thyme. From the 

 very day on which, in spring, he sees the first 

 faint, upheaving, tufted lines of green from hi.s 

 Dan O'Rourkes, to the day when the dangling 

 Limas, and sprawling, bloody tomatoes are smit- 

 ten by the frost, it offers a fiej^l of ccmstant {)ro- 

 gress, and of successive triumphs. Line by line, 

 and company by company, the army of green 

 things takes position ; the little flowery banners 

 are flung to the wind ; and lo ! presently every 

 soldier of them all — plundering only the earth 

 and sunshine — is loaded with beauty. — Ik Marvel. 



BEANS AS A FIELD CHOP. 



Good white beans have commanded a high price 

 for more than two years past, and will undoubted- 

 ly continue to do so for more than a year to come. 

 We have an abundance of New England soil 

 suited to the crop. They are easily raised and 

 are not especially subject to be destroyed by 

 worms or flies. They are harvested and cleaned 

 without difficulty, and when ready for market are 

 in a compact form and can be transported to mar- 

 ket with facility. Indeed, there is probably no 

 neighborhood in the whole of New England, but 

 the farmer may sell every bushel he can produce 

 at his own door, and at a fairly compensatmg 

 price. 



In addition to their increased home consump- 

 tion, in consequence of the high price of meats, 

 our armies will need vast quantities, whether the 

 war continues or not. 



If peace should be declared to-morrow, we can 

 see no reason why a large standing force can be 

 dispensed with for many months, or perhaps, 

 years to come. Beans will be wanted largely by 

 this force, for -in the whole class of edibles, no 

 dish is more universally or more highly esteemed, 

 than that of a meal of well-ripened, sound, prop- 

 erly cooked baked beans, with a suitable seasoner 

 from the pork barrel ! 



There is aonther reason why a large crop of 

 beans should be produced. The prospect is now 

 encouraging, that before a twelvemonth passes, the 

 number of sheep in the iiee States will be greatly 

 multiplied. In order to secure the most profitable 

 results in sheep culture, the animals require a 

 variety of food, that which especially promotes 

 the growth of the body, and that which is more 

 particularly adapted to the growth of wool. 

 Beans may be raised as i)rofitably as corn, and 

 on light lands where it would not be advisable to 

 put corn, a fair crop of beans may be brought with 

 the addition of a light manuring. We hop# a 



