V^"^,- 



r " " ■ ^vr — •^?T^^f*'^'^r' 



of berries, the smallest of which are 1 1-2 

 inches in circomference, and the largest 

 over 1 3-4 inches. These cultivators are 

 putting out thirty acres of this variety, to 

 raise fruit for preserving. We have also 

 before us splendid bunches of the Cherry 

 Currant, grown by C. F. Erhard, of 

 Ravenswood, L, I,, who is raising a large 

 stock of the plants for market. The berries 

 before us are 1 1-4 to 1 5-8 inches in circum- 

 ference. Another gentleman, whose name 

 and residence we did not learn, recently 

 brought into our office specimens berries 

 still larger than either of the above. 



These, and many other specimens we 

 have seen, give abundant evidence that 

 there is sufficient opportunity to improve 

 upon the old stereotyped small varieties, 

 hitherto the standard crop. We are test- 

 ing several varieties of the newer sorts, and 

 shall be able to report by another season, 

 So far, we incline to place the genuine 

 Cherry Currant ahead of all othejs. There 

 are some sold as such, which are not the 

 genuine. " 



Common small currants now sell readily 

 in this market for 5 to b* cents per pound, 

 and the best large improved varieties bring 

 10 to 12 cents. 



Let us look a moment at the profit of 

 raising currants at present market rates. 

 Planted in rows four or five feet apart, they 

 can be plowed and hoed between with ease. 

 At four leet apart, 2,122 busdels will oc- 

 cupy an acre. At a very moderate esti- 

 mate, each plant will yield five pounds. 

 These, at only five cents per pound (less 

 than half the present price,) will give 

 $685 50 as the product of an acre. This 

 certainly shows a fair chance for profit on 

 this crop. Usually the yield will be much 

 larger than we have given above, on plants 

 three years old and upward, and the price 

 of the improved varieties we have named, 

 will seldom, if ever, be so low as five cents. 



— Am. Agriculturist. 



.•» — 



The Grape Culture. — Since the failure 

 of all attempts in this country to legislate a 

 temperance reform, or coerce by law the dis- 

 use of intoxicating liquors, the next move- 

 ment, and it seems to us a very salutary 

 one, is to extend the cultivation of the vine 

 and the manufacture of wine, so as, if pos- 

 sible, to make native wine take the place of 

 native whisky as the common drink of the 

 people. In various quarters we hear of the 

 planting of vineyards and renewed attention 

 to grape culture. Every friend to temper- 

 ance must wish success to these efforts. 

 It is very certain that if wine drinking could 



be substituted for brandy or whisky drink- 

 ing there would be less drunkenness than 

 there is throughout the land, because ex- 

 perience has proved the fact in other coun- 

 tries. There is now a salutary dread of 

 drugged, medicated and manufnctured al- 

 coholic liquors. Pure wine would have a 

 better chanee now that pure other drinks 

 are hard to obtain. — [Alexandria Gaz, 



Washington, A Horiienltnrist. 



We are apt, from all that has been pub- 

 lished, to look upon Washington as a farmer 

 on a large scale, but when we approach him 

 nearly, we find him aUo a gardener and a 

 horticulturist. In reading Irving's new life 

 of the great Statesman, it is difficult not to 

 extract a passage here and there, and to-day 

 we must be indulged in this respect. 



In a letter to the Chevalier de Chastellux, 

 for whom he felt an especial regard, he 

 says: 



' 'I will only repeat to you the assurances 

 of my friend, and of the pleasure I shall feel 

 in seeing you in the shade of those trees 

 which my hands have planted; and which, 

 by their rapid growth, at once indicate a 

 knowledge of my declining years, and their 

 disposition to spread their mantles over me 

 before It'go hence to return no more. (Vol. 

 iv. p. 455.) 



A few pages forward, we come upon the 

 following passages, from the graceful pen of 

 Mr. Irving: 



"He had a congenial correspondent in his 

 quondam brother-soldier, Gov. Clinton, of 

 New York, whose spear like his own, had 

 been turned into a pruning hook. 



"Whenever the season offers, and an op- 

 portunity offers," writes he to the Governor, 

 "I shall be glad to receive the Balsam 

 trees, or others which you may think curi- 

 ous and exotic with us, as I am endeavor- 

 ing to improve the ground about my house 

 in this way." He recommends to the. Gov- 

 ernor's care certain grape vines of the 

 choicest kinds, for the table, which an uncle 

 of the Chevalier de Luzern had engaged to 

 send from Prance, and which must be about 

 to arrive at New York. He is literally 

 going to sit under his own fig tree, and de- 

 vote himself to the quiet pleasures of rural 

 life. 



At the opening of the year 1785, the 

 entries in his dairy show him diligently em- 

 ployed in preparations to improve bis groves 

 and shrubbery. On the lOoh of January, 





