246 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



the occupation they offer to us is exceedinfrly 

 healtliful. Ill all countries women love tiow- 

 ers, and are enj:;at:ed in their culture. A 

 farm house without them is bare indeed — be- 

 reft of its chief glory. Those who have 

 travelled in the country, can testify that a 

 rose tree at the window — a honeysuckle around 

 the door of a cottage is a good omen to the 

 weary traveller. The hand that cultivates 

 flowers is not closed against the supplications 

 of the poor, nor against the wants of the 

 stranger. Flowers have been called the al- 

 phabet of the angels, wherewith they write on 

 hills and plains mysterious truths, s. o. J. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



WHITE I'l^E SEEDS. 



Can you inform me where some seeds of the 

 common "White Flue may be Ijought, and the 

 price ? When should it be sown ? . k. s. 



Millington, Mass., March 26, 1871. 



Remarks. — Tree se ds are seldom to be found 

 in seed stores here. It is difficult to keep some of 

 them so as to preserve their vitality. As a general 

 rule thej' /hould be planted soon after ripening. 

 The white pine ripens its seed in August and Sep- 

 tember. Mr. David Allen, to whom the premium 

 on forest trees in Plj'mouth County, Mass., was 

 awarded in 1852, says the proper time to gather 

 white pine seed is from the 25th of August to the 

 10th of September and before the burrs open. 

 They should be spread on a tight scalfold, away 

 from mice, and when dry can be threshed with a 

 flail without injuring the seed. December is con- 

 sidered a good time to sow the seed, though if 

 kept moist they may be sown in March. Many 

 who have cultivated pine forests prefer transplant- 

 ing small trees from pastures, road sides, &c. For 

 this purpose May and June are favoralde montlis. 

 Mr. C. Morton of Kingston, Mass., furrowed a 

 piece of ground as for corn, only wider, took up 

 small trees from pastures, &c., with a shovel, with 

 considerable sod and soil about the roots, placed 

 them in the furrow at proper distances and hauled 

 the earth about them. Of 400 thus transplanted in 

 the last of May not one in twenty died. In one 

 case a hired man furrowed the ground and dug 

 up and set out trees on half an aci-e of ground in 

 one day. Trees transplanted in the same way the 

 next October nearly' all failed. Possibly were you 

 to order now some White Pine seeds for next fall 

 some of our dealers would engage them for you. 

 Messrs. J. Brcck & Son have furnished them on 

 such orders. Probably others would do the same. 



STBAWBERRIES AND ONIONS. 



Having passed three score years, half of which I 

 have spent in manufacturing business, I now come 

 back to the farm to get my Hving from the soil. I 

 would be glad of a chapter from you on raising 

 vegetables and berries, — the labor and exijeiise, 

 the profit and loss. Which of the following kinds 

 of Strawberries would you recommend — Wilson's 

 Albany, Jucunda, Nicanor, Peak's Emperor, Tri- 



omphe de Gand ? I have a piece of land that has 

 been planted two years with potatoes. Will it do 

 to jiut on some shoi't manure and cultivate it in, 

 without iiloughing, for onions ? Some say the 

 harder the ground is the better for onions. Which 

 is best fur market ? w. b. 



Cohasset, Mass., March 26, 1871. 



Remarks. — One or two bound volumes of the 

 Monthly Farmer, with its ample index of sub- 

 jects, will give you "chapters" on almost an}' agri- 

 cultural topic on which you need information. 

 Capt. John B. Moore's essay on the culture of 

 small fruits, pages 142, 143, 144 and 145 of last 

 year's volume, would probably be>orththe cost of 

 the whole book to you. Just now we have not 

 time at command to answer your inquiries fully. 

 In relation to the first strawberry you mention 

 Capt. Moore remarks, "for profit there is nothing 

 better than AVilson's Albany ; for eating without 

 cooking there is nothing poorer in quality." With 

 some of the kinds that you mention we have no 

 acquaintance. Hovey's Seedling is still popular 

 in this vicinitj'. The Cutter's Seedling is popular. 

 Mr. Manning of Reading has the Wilson's Albany 

 and Cutter's Seedling. Last summer's drought 

 has made plants dear — some f 10 a 1000. A gentle- 

 man recently informed us that he was intending to 

 set out, near Lowell, about an acre of strawberries 

 this spring, and that last fall he engaged the plants 

 of a neighbor who had a large old bed on rather 

 dry land, that had not been mulched. On exam- 

 ining the bed recently the owner and himself were 

 suri^rised to find that there was scarcely a live 

 plant on the whole plot. At the same time the 

 plants on a small bed on similar land that was 

 mulched last season were alive and vigorous. 



Soil for onions should be rich and fine, whether 

 a cultivator or plough are used. The Early Dan- 

 vers is most popular in Essex County. Mr. 

 Gregory calls the Red Globe good. The Potato 

 Onion is the earliest and most sure. 



dwarf An-LE TREES. — MONTHLY FARMER. 



I wish to inquire if there is anjthing known of 

 the Dwarf Apple tree ? There has been an agent 

 for fruit trees canvassing in this town this winter, 

 and his chief attraction was this dwarf tree, the 

 parent stock of which he says is imported from 

 Germany to New York, anil is set there to be 

 budded. He clauned that it would succeed in any 

 soil, and not being an apple stock the apple borer 

 is less lia))le to trouble it, and the fruit is fairer 

 and more perfect. 



I would also inquire how many bound volumes 

 of the New England Farmer monthly you can 

 furnish, and the cost. B. B. Smith. 



£asi Dover, Me., 1871. 



Remarks. — The apple tree is dwarfed liy graft- 

 ing on the Paradise or Doucin stock. Mr. Thomas, 

 in his "American Fruit Culturist," says, "for sum- 

 mer and autumn sorts, dwarf apples are valuable 

 in affording a supply to families. They begin to 

 bear in two or three years ft-om setting out, and at 

 five or six years, if well cultivated, will afford a 

 bushel or so to each tree. A portion of a garden 

 as large as the tenth of an acre, may be planted 



