1863. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
307 
is small, bul for quality wc have not seen it sur- 
passed. The Red Astrachan and Summer 
Queen are both showy apples, of fair quality, 
and their appearance causes them to bring a 
good price. "We are the better pleased with the 
Summer Queen, the more we see of it. The 
tree is of fine shape, a good grower, and the 
fruit, though not of the very first; class, is very 
fair and beautiful. A friend of ours says, that 
it is the most profitable fruit he raises, and all 
who grow it, speak well of it in this respect. 
We are glad to see those who live near market 
towns turning their attention to the best varieties 
of early apples; it is quite certain that they 
will find their account in it. The above list 
comprises the best sorts we know of at present. 
Trials of Life in the Country.— A Hint 
to Visitors from the City. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist : 
I am one of those'who have left the city to try 
farming on a small scale, in the country. My 
wife is an industrious and frugal housekeeper, 
and by our combined management, we have 
paid for our land and have begun to lay up a 
little against a rainy day. "We have built a pleas- 
ant cottage, and the trees and flowering plants 
around it, arranged and set out by our own hands, 
begin to afford us much satisfaction. Our pears, 
grapes, apples, and other fruits, are just coming 
into bearing. Our children helped us plant and 
cultivate them, and they feel a just pride in the 
work of their hands. Much as they love to 
pluck flowers and to eat fruit, they never pick 
them in wanton wastefulness, but they are in 
fact as careful of them as are their parents. 
But here begins the story of our sorrows. 
Coming, as we did, from the city, we have fre- 
quent visitors from town. They are wont to 
come in fruit time, and that in flocks. They 
seem to scent the strawberries and grapes fifty 
miles off. And when they come, they do not 
always wait to receive what our limited re- 
sources can afford to give, but they help them- 
selves to whatever they can find. Last week, a 
family, consisting of the mother and six chil- 
dren and a maiden aunt, came, and the way they 
took to my garden and fruit-orchard was " a 
caution." "While wife and I were busy, they 
rambled about, as if perfectly at home. My 
Delaware and Rebecca grape vines were just 
beginning to favor us with a few clusters. On 
each, were a few bunches which I had reserved, 
expecting to exhibit them at the next County 
Fair. Our visitors picked enough from these to 
destroy their symmetry and beauty, and of oth- 
er clusters they ate freely. Then they passed 
through my young pear trees, tasting right and 
left, throwing away the half ripe, and devour- 
ing or pocketing the others. Most of these trees 
were now fruiting for the first time, and, after 
waiting many years for them, I had hoped to 
enjoy the first taste myself, and to have the 
pleasure of giving away to appreciating friends 
what my family did not need. But here they 
were virtually snatched from my very teeth ! 
I might go on further with the story of our 
annoyances and trials, but the foregoing is, per- 
haps, enough to show you the nature of our 
troubles. "We do not complain so much of the 
money value of our losses, as of the vexation and 
disappointment at seeing fruit coolly plucked, 
after long waiting, and so much labor and 
care. Some city people — surely not all, or the 
country would be devastated— but some seem to 
think that fruit grows spontaneously in the 
country, and that the supply is unlimited, and 
is common property. And the sufferer must 
not complain to his visitors, lest they call him 
stingy, but must spread for them a bountiful 
table, and be good natured and smilingly agree- 
able. Mr. Editor, you see my sore spot : par- 
don my wincing, and won't you use your influ- 
ence through the Agriculturist, to cultivate a bet- 
ter public sentiment. A Sufferer. 
[" Sufferer " is unfortunate in the character of 
his visitors, though instances as bad as tha^ he 
relates do sometimes occur. City people are 
.supposed to be well-bred, and generally arc, 
and we country people all like to have them 
escape the prison-dwellings of the city, and 
come and see and enjoy our country homes. 
Aside from the pleasure their society generally 
gives, we feel a little self-complacency, in doing 
a sort of benevolent deed, when we take them 
through our grounds, and share with them some 
of the good things from our gardens and fruit 
yards — though, like "Sufferer," we prefer to 
have them let us do the gathering, and proffer 
the fruits. Of course, none but those who need 
the admonition, will take any offense at the 
hints of our correspondent. — Ed.] 
The Quality of Grapes. 
There is perhaps no fruit about which there 
is such a diversity of opinion aud about which 
tastes differ so much as the grape. Nothing 
shows more strikingly the difference between 
a crude and a cultivated taste, than to hear the 
opinions expressed by the numerous individuals 
who subject grapes to our inspection. One per- 
son will bring'us a parcel of grapes which he 
says are remarkable for their perfume, but be- 
fore he opens the package we recognize the 
"perfume" as the foxy odor so disagreeable to 
an educated palate. "We have heard a person 
declare that he never saw such grapes as grew 
on his father's farm. " Why a dish of them 
would fill the whole house with fragrance." 
This person probably never tasted a good grape, 
and would be perfectly satisfied with a fruit 
like the Charter Oak. Those who have based 
their standard of quality upon this peculiarity 
of our worst grapes, we have very little hope 
of. It is a peculiar taste, and argues a defective 
sense. Others show a more cultivated taste in 
selecting some of the thin skinned and least 
musky of the wild grapes, but their knowledge 
extends only to the fact that there are wild and 
cultivated grapes, and that the cultivated ones 
are generally the best. To properly judge of 
grapes, or any other fruit, it requires not only 
a refined but a cultivated taste. It needs a 
naturally delicate palate to distinguish flavors, 
and this must be educated by experience. A 
good grape should have a very thin skin, be 
quite destitute of foxy aroma, and with so deli- 
cate a pulp that the seeds can be separated by 
the tongue ; after these prime requisites tne 
qualities of sweetness and flavor are to be con- 
sidered. "We think that the Delaware may be 
taken as our present standard of a good grape, 
though with the attention now given to pro- 
ducing new varieties, we look for a fruit which 
shall be even superior to this variety. "We are 
led to these remarks by receiving several " new 
seedlings" sent in to us with the regret that 
they were too early for our great Grape Exhibi- 
tion. They were sent by persons whose taste 
for grapes had not been cultivated. Had they 
been exhibited, the senders would have been 
disappointed iu not getting a prize, and would 
have been quite surprised to learn that their 
fruit was condemned as tin worthy of cultivation. 
My Asparagus Bed. 
To the Kditorqf the American Agriculturist. 
My Asparagus bed was set out Oct, 20th, 
with two-year-old roots, and has pleased me so 
well that I must tell others how it was done. 
Perhaps old boots, shoes, leather shavings, 
bones, horns, stones and other things recom- 
mended as needful might have benefitted it, 
though it apparently lacks for nothing, and a 
person who cannot get these articles should not 
be deterred from planting this early and always 
welcome vegetable. The way I did it was this : 
On a dry, sandy spot in my garden, I staked off 
a piece 15x18 feet, manured the surface heavily, 
and spaded two spits deep, working in another 
good dressing with the lower spit. The soil 
was rich to begin with. I set the roots in rows, 
eighteen inches apart, and nine inches in the 
row, which gave me 12 rows 15 feet long, each 
containing 20 roots. The crowns, when cover- 
ed, were three inches below the surface, and 
the whole was raked off smooth. Just before 
Winter set in, I covered the bed with two or 
three inches of coarse stable manure, the finer 
portions of which were forked in lightly be- 
tween the rows in the Spring. "Weeds were 
kept down and the soil frequently strirred. 
The plants made a fine growth the following 
season. Since then I have followed the same 
method as to manuring and keeping the bed 
clean of weeds, and I have cut more real giant 
asparagus, each Spring, than could be eaten by 
a family of eight persons. Gardener. 
Brooklyn, If. Y., Sept. 15lh, 1803. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Crinoline in the Garden- 
I have great regard for the ladies, but must tell 
them that their broad phylacteries do spoil our 
gardens. Paths wide enough for their ampli- 
tude can not well be afforded. The consequence 
is that if a delicate plant or trailing vine hap- 
pens to stand near the margin of a border, it is 
sure to be crumpled or broken down by their 
hoops ; and if they lean over to admire or pluck 
a flower, they are very apt to crush down sev- 
eral more. Aud then, what havoc they make in 
the green-house— bruising plauts and knocking 
over the pots ! How many an amiable garden- 
er scowls when a row of hoops come to his door ! 
Dear ladies, what shall be done ? Can't you 
take in sails, say about one half? Think about 
it. Some of our lady friends love to do light 
work in the garden, morning and evening, 
but what sad work the dewy plants and the 
wet ground make with their trailing skirts! 
" Bloomer " dresses we do not approve of 
for the parlor, or even the street, or church, 
but in the garden and kitchen, why may not 
something of the sort be wisely adopted ? The 
ladies are full of ingenious contrivances, and it 
would seem that they could devise some sort of 
compromise between the sweeping folds of the 
parlor dress and the genuine Bloomer, cos- 
tume. "Why should not our fashion-mongers 
contrive a working dress for ladies, neat, mod- 
est, tasteful, aud becoming? Gardener. 
Apples keep best when left upon the trees 
until quite late in the season. A white frost, 
and even a slight freezing will not injure them. 
Pick carefully, and leave them in the orchard 
or out-house to sweat for a few days, and only 
take to a cool dry cellar when there is danger 
of their being injured by hard frost. 
