plants; are yours half as healthy ? Abundant and 

 systematical ventilation is the secret. Only pro- 

 vide that, and, no matter how verdant the exterior 

 of the pots may be, the stock will be satisfactory. 



The leaves we use are Maple, Oak and Apple of 

 the current season, to which are added the remains 

 of those used a year ago, now much broken, but 

 very good to mix with the new. I would use old 

 leaves altogether if we had a sufficiency of them. 



This mulching, or plunging of pots in leaves, is 

 scarcely practicable on shelves, unless these are 

 wider than usual. It is best adapted for stages 3 

 feet in width, with a raised edge 6 to 8 inches deep. 

 When these are filled up with leaves and the pots 

 nicely arranged, the plants have a very snug appear- 

 ance, and look much better than standing separate 

 and distinct on bare boards. 



Last summer I repeated the experiment of 

 leaving certain plants in their winter quarters 

 amongst the leaves. The house is a lean-to, against 

 a frame building painted white, and although a lit- 

 tle shaded by high bearing trees, is unmistakably 

 hot ; yet there was no flagging, although the sup- 

 ply of water was somewhat irregular. The leaves, 

 by that time, were pretty well reduced in size, and 

 assume a compact condition very retentive of moist- 

 ure. When the roots find their way into this ge- 

 nial medium it is really surprising how indifferent 

 the plants are to a temperature ranging from 80 to 

 110 degrees. The syringe is used, however, every 

 evening, and, at noon, the floor is drenched with 

 water. 



Many spring-struck cuttings of stove and green- 

 house plants will thrive better in this way, during 

 the months of June and July, than if turned out of 

 doors to encounter the ordeal of overpowering sun- 

 shine, drought and drying winds. 



Better leave the leaves alone if the appliances for 

 ventilation are imperfect or irregularly used ; also, 

 if the proper temperature cannot be depended on 

 during severe frost. 



TILDSM TOMATO. 



BY J. C. JOHNSTON. 



With me worthless. A poor cropper and of di- 

 minutive size, much inferior in flavor to other kinds. 

 I grow a sort (said to be of French origin) infinitely 

 superior to the Tilden in all respects, so good,indeed, 

 that I don't see how it could be improved. The 

 fruit is uncommonly large and abundant, beautiful 

 shape, and brilliant red color. 



I used to take a few to some friends in the city, 

 with whom I am in the habit of dining, (several of 



these being experienced cultivators,) and they de- 

 clared they had never seen or partaken of any To- 

 mato that equalled mine. Of many hundreds I cut 

 up in slices, to eat as a salad, I can only remember 

 finding one that was not solid throughout. We 

 grow on low hills, — working in each, before plant- 

 ing, a handful of Super-phospate. This stimu- 

 lant, and heading back the plants when about 6 

 inches long, is our method of growing Tomatoes in 

 perfection : — but the Tilden failed to respond. 



AUTUMNAL STRAWBERRIES. 



BY W. R. PRINCE, FLUSHING, N. Y. 



I see some notices of the casual production of an 

 autumnal crop of Strawberries, which are announced 

 as "out of season." This would seemingly indicate 

 an i2:norance of the fact that there are very many 

 autumnal bearing varieties of the Strawberry. 



The varieties of the Pine family {F. grandiflora) 

 are, very many of them, autumn hearing^ and only 

 require to be grown in a moist soil, and to be well 

 watered, by irrigation or otherwise, to insure a very 

 considerable autumnal crop. 



Lennig's White, Lorio, and Ornement des tables 

 are varieties possessing this character. With the 

 same attention, the varieties of the true Hautbois, 

 [7^. elatioi\) of Europe, will produce the same re- 

 sult. These are the Belle Bordelaise, Bijou des 

 Fraises, Royal, Monstrous Hautbois, and Prolific 

 Hautbois. But passing from these exceptional va- 

 rieties, we will find a family whose character i^per- 

 m.anent production of antumRal crops. This is the 

 Alpine section of Fragaria vesica, of which we now 

 have more than a dozen fine varieties. The old 

 Bed and White and the L ,rge White Orleans, Ja- 

 nus or Twin-berried, La Grrange, La Mendonnaise, 

 with Lettuce-like foliage, and bush like, with few 

 runners ; Grioire du Nord, Perpetual Poiton, Ver- 

 sailles, Triumph of Holland, together with the Bush 

 Red and Bush White, which are devoid of runners. 

 So abundant are the crops of these throughout the 

 entire season, when appropriately grown, that the 

 Paris markets are amply replenished with their 

 fruit till Christmas. 



A moist soil and irrigation are the great points 

 of requirements for large autumnal crops, and we 

 find that such is their influence in our Southern 

 States, that, when combined with heat, all the spe- 

 cies and varieties of the Strawberry are everbearing, 

 as is most strikingly evinced on the moist lands 

 along the Mississippi, at New Orleans and else- 

 where. 



