244. 
AMERICAISr AG-IilOULTTJRIST. 
[JtrLT, 
they call them, but none really know anything about 
It. It is a disease that only makes itself known by 
the death of the patient. A small limb, a large 
one, or the whole tree, apparently In good health 
one day, is dead the next. All that can be done 
is to cut away the dead part, to sound wood, even 
if it takes the whole tree and burn it. It will be 
disastrous in a locality for a while, and then disap- 
pear as mysteriously as it came. 
Early Apples and Pears for mai'ket should be 
picked whUe stUl hard, they mature and decay 
quickly ; they are best suited to a near market. 
Rjiches In the great peach counties of Delaware 
and Maryland promise a very heavy crop. In years 
of abundance, inferior fruit wiU not pay its ex- 
penses ; extra care in selecting and packing is 
especially necessary when the crop is large. 
Fi-iiit Oardeu. 
Most of the insects that are destructive in the 
orchard are to be guarded against in the fruit gar- 
den, while certain of the small fruits have their 
special enemies. 
Strawberries. — In but few localities does the sea- 
son extend into the present month. The treatment 
of the plants when the crop is off will depend upon 
the system of culture adopted. In fields where 
alternating beds are made, the spaces that have 
served for paths are manured and plowed, and the 
runners allowed to occupy them, and when the 
plants are well established — usually in September 
. — then the old plants are plowed under. By this 
treatment the plants bear but one crop of fruit. In 
garden beds, where the plants are in separate stools, 
or have been allowed to fill in between the original 
plants to make a solid row, the mulch is removed, 
a dressing of fine manure forked in, and the mulch 
replaced ; during the remainder of the season the 
runners are cut off as they grow, and the few strong 
weeds which make their appearance through the 
straw are pulled by hand. 
Baspberries follow close upon strawberries, and 
as they are always biennial, the crop of next year 
will depend upon the care given to the plants this 
season. With the ordinary kind that throw up new 
stems from the root, or sucker, the shoots should 
be selected for next year's bearing canes, and all 
others cut off. There is nothing gained by letting 
the shoots grow tall ; if stopped at three, or at 
most four feet, according to the vigor of the varie- 
ty — which is done by merely pinching out the grow- 
ing point or tip, with thumb and finger, the energy 
that would have been expended in producing a 
cane 6 or 8 feet high, is diverted to forming branches, 
and by the end of the season ^vill be a stocky, 
branched bush, that will require but little support. 
The canes that have borne this year, wiU not bear 
again, but will be dead at the end of the season. 
Cultivators diSer as to the proper time for removing 
these canes ; some think that If they remain they 
contribute to the growth, and help strengthen the 
root, and do not cut them away until late in the 
fall. Whatever gain there maybe is, in our opinion, 
more than offset by the injury in crowding the 
new shoots and preventing their proper develope- 
ment, hence we cut out the old canes as soon as 
the fruit is off. 
JSack Cap and ParpHe Canes, do not throw up 
suckers, but their new canes come from the base of 
the old plant, and the old fruiting branches should 
be cut away, while the new shoots that are to bear 
next year are to be cared for, especially their 
growth in length should be stopped, and branch- 
ing induced. Of course, if it is desired to propa- 
gate them, the shoots must be allowed to grow to 
then- full length, as they are only multiplied by 
taking root at the tip, later in the season. 
Currants for jelly should be picked as soon as 
they are fairly red, but for table use they are much 
better if allowed to get dead-ripe. If one has but 
a few bushes to care for, the new shoots not needed, 
and the pinching of too rampant growth, wUl an- 
ticipate much of the fall pruning. 
Grapes. — In all well trained vines, the laterals — 
the side shoots that appear in the axils of the 
leaves, are kept pinched back to one leaf. When 
they first push, pinch off all but one leaf ; after a 
while the bud in the asd of that leaf will push ; 
pinch that growth back to one leaf; a third may 
start, but seldom more. — Pick off the large beetles, 
and the various caterpillars ; they are seldom so 
numerous that they can not be hand-picked. — 
Watch for mildew, especially in a warm, moist 
time, and dust thoroughly with sulphur. — Vines 
may be propagated by layering the shoots of this 
season's growth, when they have become hard 
enough to handle without breaking ; bend down 
the shoot and place two or three joints of it — the 
leaves being removed from these joints — in a small 
trench a few inches deep ; the end of the shoot 
may be tied to a stake. It is a good plan to lay a 
flat stone over the buried portion, as this keeps the 
earth moist and thus favors the formation of roots. 
Kitchen and JVIarket Oarden. 
So long as the growing season lasts, there w dl be 
weeds, and so long as there are weeds there is 
work. Some writers insist that weeds are by no 
means an evil, as without them the soil would not 
get the needed stirring. See Note last month on 
the use of the rake in weed-killing. Weeds or no 
weeds, the 
Use of the Hoe or some equivalent implement in 
a dry time will help tlie plants greatly, and those 
well cultivated wiU resist the drouth much better 
than the neglected ones. Many of 
The Early Crops, such as peas, early cabbages, 
early potatoes, etc., will be off, and the land should 
at once be made ready for something else. In 
market gardens land is too valuable to lay idle, but 
it is not rare to see, in private gardens, a piece al- 
lowed to run to weeds after the crop is off. If not 
wanted to produce supplies for the family, it is 
better to grow something that can be fed to the 
cow, the pigs, or even the chickens, than weeds. 
Succession Crops of several things may be sown. 
Beans, Beets, Carrots, Cucumbers, Sweet Com, and 
later. Radishes and Spinach, are among the things 
that maj' be sown to fill cleared places, and late 
Cabbages and Cauliflowers, and sweet herbs may be 
transplanted to them from the seed bed. 
Beets. — Many persons sow early beets only in 
spring ; the Egyptian is so much better in quality 
than any of the late kinds, that by successive sow- 
ings, we have them all the season ; besides the beet 
greens — the thinnings — are most acceptable when 
hot weather puts a stop to spinach. 
Celery is to be set out from the middle to the 
end of the month. We have long ago given up 
growing it in trenches ; set the dwarf kind six 
inches apart, in good soil, and keep cultivated dur- 
ing the season, until the time to earth up. Those 
who prefer the use of trenches, can make them 15 
inches wide, and a full spade deep, taking care to 
have some good soil at the bottom, which should 
be well manured ; set the celery in two rows, 8 
inches apart, and the plants at 6 inches in the rows. 
Corn.— In the latitude of New York, sweet com 
rarely gives a crop if sown later than the first part 
of this month ; in exceptional seasons it will ma- 
ture it put in as late as the middle of the month. 
We usually risk a few rows of late sown, as the 
fodder wUl pay for the trouble if we faU of the ears. 
Cabbages and Cauliflowers should be set out by the 
middle of the month ; rows 3 feet apart with the 
plants every 3 feet apart in the row, is the usual 
distance where they are worked by horse. See that 
the plants are perfect ; sometimes the growing 
point is injured or "blind," and such will never 
head ; in dry weather it is well to mix up cow ma- 
nure, loam, and water, and dip the roots in this be- 
fore setting. Press the earth well down around the 
roots, to have the plant firm. 
Egg Plants. — Give frequent hoeings. Potato bugs 
are very fond of them ; the plants are usually so 
few that the buss may be hand-picked ; on large 
lots Paris-green may be used. Keep the fruit from 
the ground by a wisp of hay, or mulch the bed. 
Sqiiasfies, JiTelons, and Cucumbers, are all liable to 
attacks of insects of the same kind. The worst 
enemy is the " borer," which enters the vine near 
the root, and if not discovered early and cut out, 
destroys the whole plant. Covering the vine with 
earth for several joints next the root, is said to be a 
preventive. Before the plants get too large, eggs 
of the squash-bug may be found on the under side 
of the leaves and killed. 
Tomatoes. — Keep tied to the trellis ; cut away all 
superfluous growth ; look out for the great green 
worm, it takes leaves and young fruit, and a single 
one will make sad work with a vine ; the droppings 
usually show where the enemy is, catch — it can't 
bite or sting — and crush. 
Sweet Pbtaioes ; keep clear of weeds, and move the 
vines to keep them from taking root. 
Turnips. — The ruta-baga sorts shotdd be in, in" 
this latitude, by the middle of the month. For 
family use the Long White French is vastly prefer- 
able to any of the larger growing kinds. When 
large enough, thin to six inches. 
Flo\rer Oardcu and I^awn. 
The work here wUl be confined to what may be 
called "keeping," but it comprises a great variety 
of operations, most of which have been pointed 
out in former months, and need here but a brief 
reminder The grass on the lawn should be 
movru when it needs it ; those wSo make it a rule 
to mow regiilarly at stated intervals, make a mis- 
take ; in a hot, dry time, when the grass is making 
no growth, it is best let alone, else the roots may 
suffer Edgings must be kept neatly cut 
Shrubs and perennial plants should have the clus- 
ters cut away as soon as out of flower, unless seeds 
are wanted Dahlias, gladioluses, lilies, and other 
plants wiU need stakes, which should be so placed 
as to show as little as possible Bedding plants 
in masses, need pinching and cutting to preserve a 
uniform hight ; in ribbon planting the effect is 
spoiled unless the lines are kept distinct, which 
may be done by proper cutting Insects of vari- 
ous sorts wUl annoy, and one of the greatest 
troubles, not only on roses, but other plants, is the 
rose-bug, for which there is no help but catching 
and killing. In early morning they are inactive, 
and easUy shaken off into a dish of water Propa- 
gate shrubs, such as Weigelas, Forsythias, and 
other easily rooted things, from the just hardening 
new wood, under a shaded frame. 
Oi-eeulioiise aud ^Vindotv Plants. 
Plants set out of doors for the summer, are apt 
to suffer from neglect. It would conduce greatly 
to their healtti to prepare a place for them, a mere 
frame of boards as wide as the hight of the pots ; 
put down a layer of coal-ashes on which to set the 
plants, and then, having put in the pots to allow 
each plant sufficient room, fill in between them 
with coal-ashes. This wlU not only prevent dry- 
ing out so rapidly, but avoid injm-y to the roots by 
the sun falling directly upon the pots — an unsus- 
pected cause of much damage This plan wUl 
prevent the plants fron being thrown over by the 
winds, otherwise some other means must be de- 
vised Most greenhouse plants need shade in the 
hottest part of the day, and should be so placed as 
to secure this Several insects that are not known 
in the greenhouse, may visit the plants when set 
out, and vigilance is required Fuchsias should 
never be turned out into the open ground, unless 
in a much sheltered place ; the hot suns and winds 
soon destroy their beauty ; if taken out of the 
house at all, the veranda is the best place for them, 
and if they can be set where the flowers can be seen 
from below, they wfll be all the more effective. 
Keep the weeds from growing in the flower pots. 
HoTT AgricnUnre is Encoiiragecl. 
—In North Carolina artificial fertilizers are tazsed by 
means of a heavy license fee exacted from dealers, from 
which already §13,000 has been paid into the State 
treasury. In Maryland, ont of 67 stadents in the "Agri- 
cnltoial College," so called, eleven are stadring for West 
Point or the Naval School, and the professor of Mathe- 
matics is paid $-3,000 per year whUe, the professor of 
A.gricultore receives $600, Nearly every other indnstry 
in the country is protected, wliile agriculture has to take 
care of itself, or is hardened to help other industries. 
