298 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEE. 



Got. 



From the Scientific American. 



Gardens of Mechanics. 



We want to encourage our mechanics as much 

 as possible, to cultivate sm-all garden spots for the 

 production of table vegetables ; they will also find 

 some satisfaction in the growth of some choice va- 

 rieties of flowers. These two things combined 

 give to the dwelling and the grounds adjacent a 

 home-like appearance, besides adding to the luxu- 

 ries of the table. A person in our employ who 

 owns a snug little place near Xew York, raised last 

 year, seventy-six bushels of excellent potatoes on 

 a piece of ground measuring only just three six- 

 teenths of an acre. In addition to this useful es- 

 culent, he cultivates choice fruit and flowers ; the 

 latter in great profusion. We often find, upon 

 reaching our desk in the morning, a fine bouquet 

 of beautiful flowers — such as Shenstone might 

 covet — plucked from vines and shrubs grown in 

 his garden. In addition to the floral produce of 

 summer culture, we are often greeted with choice 

 bouquets in mid-winter from the same source. Our 

 friend has a skillful arranged greenhouse attached 

 to his dwelling, which is kept warm in winter by 

 the waste heat from the cooking range. It has 

 acquired some years to arrange all these things — 

 they have been done gradually, and they are now 

 more than paying all outlays of time and money. 



Msiili 



-"•^ 



From the Gardeners' Monthly. 



Hale's Early Peach. 



Fruit almost globular, below medium size. Skin 

 white, dark rosy red on the sunny side, with a deep 

 suture especially towards the apex. Flesh greenish 

 white, sub-acid, very juicy, and agreeable. Stone 

 broadlv ovate, pale gray color, sub-free. August 

 12, 1863. 



The above description we have made from spec- 

 imens received from Dr. Edward Taylor, of Cleve- 

 land, Ohio. Excellent as the peach is, it is proper 

 to say that Early York peaches are abundant in 

 our markets, from New Jersey and Delaware ; 

 though probably these localities are much earlier 

 than Cleveland, as Dr. Taylor writes that no peach- 

 es yet have began to color with him but this Hale's 

 Early. Of course, Cleveland being so much far- 

 ther north, there should be some difference, though 

 when the lake shores are concerned, mere latitude 

 does not always affect earliness ; but Mr. Pullen, 

 of New Jersey, informs us that in his orchard- 

 house, Hale's Early maintains the character for ex- 

 tra earliness given it West, and it no doubt fully 

 deserves the good character it has obtained. 



Tree Management. 



The Country OenUeman is publishing a series of 

 articles on this subject which are interesting, and, 

 in the main, valuable. The writer holds that an 

 orchard should be cultivated, and no grain or grass 

 grown in it ; that the trees will do better, grow 

 more thrifty, and give more and better fruit — all 

 of which will not be denied here. But how much 

 more profitable will such a crop be than if grass, 

 or grain, or hoed crops are permitted to grow in 



it when the soil is rich and deep ? We think the 

 diffierence is not so great as is generally held. 

 When the crop of grass, or whatever is raised 

 in the orchard, is reckoned and added to the fruit, 

 the balance will be in favor of cultivating the soil. 

 We usually raise two good crops of hay from our 

 orcharr, in a year; and the best and heaviest crop 

 of apples in the neighborhood. Biit we take bet- 

 ter care of our trees than our neighbors. If you 

 wish to raise your fruit to show, keep your ground 

 in fallow, for trees, in one sense, are a crop, and 

 will do best by being cultivated clean. But the 

 most income is in reaping your groimd as well as 

 your trees-. — V. F. 



From the Gardener's Monthly. 



Troubles of Fruit Growers. 



Many persons forget that gardening is an art ; 

 and of those who do not forget this, there are 

 many who think it one of very easy accomplish 

 ment. They act as if gardening were natm-al to a 

 man, and go into it precisely as young ducks take 

 to water. But not being ducks, they find the wa- 

 ters of Horticuculture too warm for their delicate 

 knowledge, and they retreat disgusted with it. 



Our friends who fail in fruit growing, must re- ■ 

 member these things : "Eternal vigilance is the 

 price," not only of "liberty," but of fine plums, 

 large crops and big pumpkins. 



Do not be deterred by the cry that certain 

 things " do not pay ;" first succeed at any cost, and 

 you will soon learn to reduce the expenses within 

 a paying point if you so desire. 



Isabella Grapes. 



Hon. E. Cornell, of Ithaca, writes to the Jour- 

 nal of the New York State Agricultural Society, 

 under date of June 21st, 1863, and says: 



I have this moment been greatly surprised by 

 one of our farmers, Mr. Levi Williams, of West 

 Hill, Ithaca, bringing in a dozen bunches of grapes 

 as fresh and plump as if just from the vines. They 

 are of last summer's growth, and were preserved 

 by being laid down in a box with layers of cotton 

 cloth between the bunches of grapes. I will send 

 you a bunch of them by express, and hope they 

 will reach you ia as fine preservation as they leave 

 me." 



These grapes arrived in good, order, and they 

 were as fresh as if taken from the vines. So sim- 

 ple a proceeding as this will lead our grape grow- 

 ers to preserve their grapes, and have a supply the 

 year round. 



-••^ 



Pruit in Utah. 



A correspondentiTof the Farmsi^t Oraok, writing 

 from Manti, says : 



" I have a nice patch of strawberry vines that 

 look well and fruit this season. The English goose- 

 berry grows finely here ; I have fruit this year 2^- 



