81 



to place many of us where we are lo day, had we 

 started with a knowledge of our present "Modern 

 Improvement." 



MOTES FROM CAPE MAY CO., N. J. 



BY MR. C. H. SPOONER. 



When last I greeted j^ou 'twas from your own 

 Parish, (Gerniantown). But the enemy was too 

 much for me there : Rose bugs devoured my inci- 

 pient Roses, and thinned my grapes with unspar- 

 ing jaws; curculios growing too populous for the 

 Plum trees, dipped their dainty crescent into the 

 Cherries, Pears, and Apples ; whilst some predace- 

 ous green legged animals, (was it Rats, think you?) 

 gnawed my Corn, Tomatoes, and other vegetables. 

 So in de.spair, I beat an ignominious retreat to the 

 City. 



But when spring came, with its soft sunshiny 

 days, budding trees, and song of the mating blue 

 birds ; when the grass grew green in the Public 

 squares, and the Crocus and fragrant Hyacinth 

 peeped up in the city j^ards ; the old leaven com- 

 menced to ferment in my veins ; I thirsted for green 

 fields and babbling brooks ; I longed for the smell of 

 the fresh earth, turned up to receive the fruitful 

 seeds, my eyes ached to behold again the glory of 

 the Orchard, bursting into bloom ; and the warm 

 nooks in the woods, whore the sweet wild flowers 

 grow. Ah ! how ineffaceable are these imprints of 

 nature in our hearts. 



The poor country boy coming to the City, and 

 entering into the battle for wealth, by fighting on- 

 ward and upward, learns with each increasing year, 

 that the love for country life, implanted in his youth, 

 grows stronger; and looks forward to the time 

 when he can retire, and pass his remaining years, 

 under his own Vine and Fig tree. 



But, as you say, this has nothing to do with Cape 

 May County. Well in this out of the way nook, I 

 found a small place that I thought combined sever- 

 al advantages. A pleasant shaded Cottage, with 

 comfortable ou buildings, good water; healthy, near 

 rail-road, and stores, &c., and within a short drive 

 of the Sound and Delaware Bay ; this was a chief 

 attraction to me, for there are days when one would 

 feel of Paradise even. At such times, I would put 

 the gears on Rosinante, take my fishing line, and on 

 the sparkling waters of the sound pass most pleas- 

 antly the long summer day, angling for gamy Blue- 

 fish, the dainty Hake, or still more toothsome 

 sheephead ; or crossing over to the Beach, dip into 

 old Ocean's briny serf, and picnic under the gnarled 

 and stunted Cedars that line the sandy coast. Here 

 whdst inhaling the fragrant incense from my meer- 

 schaum, I would think of those unhappy "moitals 

 who go to the crowded watering places for their 

 health ( ? ) The expense of a family for a week's 

 unsatisfying pleasures, costing about as much as 



would pay the interest on a place like mine for a 

 year. 



The climate here is very pleasant ; the air in 

 summer is cooled by the waters of the bay one 

 side, and ocean on the other; the winters are not 

 severe as here in Philadelphia, very little snow and 

 extreme cold. 



The soil is various — sandy, sandy loam — gravelly, 

 and heavy loam — frequently all the above in a few 

 acres ; most generally however the varieties of soil 

 runs in different veins, or tracts. 



In regard to fruit, I found that most of my apples 

 (and the trees, set very full) dropped off, or rotted 

 on the trees. I cannot account for the rotting, as the 

 trees are young and healthy. Pears on the contrary 

 do remarkably well here, the trees being very long 

 lived, which I attribute to their being grafted, 

 mostly, vin the wild sour Pear, that seems indige- 

 nous to this country. I never saw more perfect 

 specimens of Bartlett, Seckel, or Virgalieus, than 

 grew in my garden. Grapes, from all that I can 

 learn, and from a few vines on my ])lace, ripen 

 much earlier, than, even in the city yards. 



Having a piece of very gravelly land, sloping gen 

 tly towards the South, I intend planting a small 

 vineyard on it next spring ; do you think the black 

 peat, or Muck, of which I have an inexhaustible 

 supplv, would be good as a fertilizer for the vines? 

 [Excellent.— Kd.] 



In some of the best grape districts of France, the 

 A^ineyards are planted in" a soil cojnposed almost 

 entirely of gravel and stones, a little vegetable man- 

 ure being put around the vine each year; the vine, 

 are trained very low, and the heat collected by the 

 stones during the day, is given out slowly at night, 

 thus making a more even temperature ; the gravelly 

 soil al'^.o receiving a perfect drainage. 



As I had great success in growing Watermelons, 

 perhaps it would be interesting: to some of your rea- 

 ders to know how I proceeded. About the first 

 week in May, I had holes made, (the ground being 

 well plowed and harrowed previously,) about eight 

 feet apart, every way ; and about eighteen inches 

 in depth, filled with good rotten barn-yard manure, 

 and small handful each, of Phosphate and wood 

 ashes, a few inches of Foil was drawn over, so as to 

 form flat-topped hills about six inches high, and 

 fifteen inches across the top, the seed being covered 

 about two iLches. 



The vines were cultivated a few times, and kept 

 free from weeds, until they commenced to cover 

 the ground. They were then left to themselves, 

 and soon covered the ground completely. I had 

 over Two hundred melons, some of them very large, 

 and but few small ones, of most excellent flavor, I 

 do not know the varieties planted, as the seed was 

 saved from melons eaten the year before, a light 

 green melon, with pink flesh and light colored seeds, 

 ripened full two weeks before the other kind, which 

 was very dark green and deep red flesh. The soil 

 was a black loamy sand, and the land sloped gently, 

 so that the water from heavy rains, would run 

 quickly off ; this is very important, as if the water 

 lay around the vines, the hot sunshine scalds the 

 leaves, causing a weak growth. I omitted to state 

 above, that the space occupied was only thirty feet 

 by fifty, I dont think the crop can easily be beat. 



