186o.J 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
285 
apart in the rows. In many places a kind of 
alternating S3'stem is practised. The rows be- 
ing set as above described, the runners, as they 
form, are placed parallel with the rows, where 
they take root, and form a dense mass one or 
two feet wide. One crop of fruit is taken from 
the vines thus grown, and the space between 
the rows is then plowed, running the plow so 
as to leave the rows of vines 8 or 10 inches in 
width. The ground is harrowed, and the plants 
allowed to rnn as before. The plants are treated 
in this manner as long as they are fruitful, the 
number of crops depending upon the variety, 
and when the yield begins to decline, the space 
between the rows is prepared, and the runners 
allowed to form in it. After these are establish- 
ed, the original rows are plowed under, and the 
new ones formed by the runners cultivated as bo- 
fore. Another method of field culture some- 
what in vogue is, to set the plants in the spring 
and take one crop from them the following year, 
then plow the plants under and commence anew. 
Many complaints have come to us of the de- 
predations of grubs and worms. Both lime and 
soot are said to be useful in the case of the wire 
■worm. Where the ground is infested by the 
large white grub of the JIay-bug, we know of 
no help. This grub is most apt to occur in sod 
recently turned under. This insect lives for 
some three years as a grub, and is often very 
troublesome to the strawberry. It is some satis- 
faction to know tliat, after having abounded in 
a field, they will frequently disappear entirely. 
A small greenish worm, has been sent us 
from several parts of New York State, as 
proving very destructive to the leaves of straw- 
berry plants. We liave not been able to ascer- 
tain what the perfect state of this insect is. 
From the appearance of the larva we should 
try the effect of a dusting of white helle- 
bore. The numerous inquiries respecting 
varieties are nearly all answered in previous 
articles. We hear some complaints that the 
"Agriculturist" has not made runners, but we 
know on the other hand that in many cases the 
plants have multiplied finely. Tliere seems to 
be something untoward in the season, ,as other 
varieties, which usually propagate freely, have 
made scarcely any runners. With respect to 
the "Agriculturist," it was bought entirely on 
account of its remarkable appearance as exhi- 
bited here, and was sent to our subscribers at 
almost no cost to themselves, and the accounts 
thus far show that it has generally done well, 
though, as was to be expected, among the many 
thousands of plants sent out to widely distant 
places, there have been some failures. It is 
quite amusing to see how conspicuously some 
of the agricultural papers have noticed instances 
in which this variety for some cause has failed. 
Don't be jealous brethren, but look about and 
find something better, and we will help you 
introduce it. One person at the summer meet- 
ing of the Fruit Growers' Society of Western 
New York, indulged himself in a growl at the 
fact of the berry being called the " Agricultu- 
rist." Though the matter is of very little con- 
sequence, we would state that the name was 
applied to it not by ourselves, but by a Fruit 
Growers' Association which meets in this city. 
Gazama Splendens. — When this plant first 
came out we did not think very favorably of it, 
but after another years' trial we are disposed to 
regard it as a valuable addition to our stock of 
bedding plants. One great merit is the length 
of time its flowers continue, the same flowers 
opening day after day for two or three weeks. 
The flower is shaped something like a common 
ox-eye daisy, but the rays are an inch long — , 
and of a bright golden, or nearly orange color. 
Near the bottom of each ray is a nearly black 
spot, with a white line, and the whole forms a 
very brilliant and pleasing contrast of color. 
About Capers. 
Tears ago, when people made fewer conundrums 
than they do now, it used to be asked " when is a 
cook like a dancing master." The answer was, 
" when he cuts capers." It is probable that many 
of our readers have no idea at all of what a caper 
is, and would fail to see the point of the quibble. 
There are many trivial Inxuries that are mainly 
confined to the Large cities and the more wealthy, 
and without which farmer-folks can manage to live 
very comfortably. These include many articles used 
in cooking that are not food, hut only serve as sea- 
soning ; for these in the aggregate, large sums are 
annually p.aid, and capers are among them. Capers 
come to us in odd looking, long and narrow wide- 
mouthed bottles, .and look at a little distance like 
pickled peas ; upon examination they will be found 
to be not perfectly round, but somewhat larger at 
one end than the other, and to have a short stem 
at the larger end. Ridges are seen upon the sur- 
face, .and if one of these capers be carefully picked 
open it will be seen to be, what it really is, the 
bud of a flower. The plant which produces capers 
is Capparis spuiosa, a low straggling shrub which 
grows wild iu the South of Europe, where it is 
.also largely cultivated. The engraving shows a 
small branch, with leaves, buds, .and a flower. The 
buds are picked when they are .about half grown, 
by women and children, who find it no pleasant 
task, on account of the prickles which are found at 
the base of eacli leaf. The picking continues 
throughout a good part of the year, each day's 
gathering being put into casks and covered with 
vinegar to which some salt has been added. When 
the season is over, the capers are assorted into sev- 
eral sizes by me.ans of selves, and put into fresh 
vinegar and exported in bottles or small casks. 
The plant is half hardy in England, and would 
doubtless succeed in some of our southern States. 
Capers have a peculiar aromatic taste and have 
been employed .as a pickle for hundreds of years : 
their chief use at present is to mix with drawn 
butter to form a sauce tor boiled mutton. The 
fruit of the garden N.asturtium (Tropeolum) is often 
used as a substitute, as also is, in England, the 
fruit of the Caper Spurge {Euphorbia Lalhyris). 
We should doubt, however, about the safety of the 
last mentioned substitution, as the plant belongs 
to a family producing many very poisonous plants. 
"Tim Bunker on Curing Pickles and 
Eating Them." 
Me. Editor. — " It beats all what a fuss folks are 
making about pickles," said Seth Twiggs, walking 
into our house one hot July night, and taking-his 
scat on the settee, where he was soon lost in his 
favorite cloud of smoke. "One would think," he 
continued, "that cucumbers was a new crop just 
imported from China, or some other furrcign parts, 
lusted of bciu as old as the Bible. They're bavin' 
a run about equal to Multicaulis and Rohan pot.ato. 
I'm bound to say." 
Speaking of Seth Twiggs' smoking, reminds me 
that I owe an apology to your readers perhaps, to 
all the anti-tobacco part of them in particular, that 
I have said so much about his habit. For you see 
the thing is mighty catching. No sooner had I 
got the fashion set in the Agriculturist than all the 
letter writers in the political papers took it up and 
every time they bring out their hero, Gener.il Grant, 
they must tell just how many times and how he 
smokes. Ton see'the Gencr.al h.as not made his 
appearance in public since he got to be a gre.at man 
without his cigar. The public are supposed to be 
interested in knowing just the length of his cigar, 
whether it is a long nine or not, its color, its cost, 
and the particul.ar brand the General uses. J.ake 
Frink says, " the tobacco men have bought up the 
General or his letter writer, and all this fuss about 
his smoking is an advertising dodge to get their 
cigars into market. It is a mean abolishun trick to 
raise the price of tobacco, and he 'spects it'll git to 
be so high that common folks can't have a chaw 
except on Fourth of July, or some sich special 
occasion." 
I think there is considerable sense in what Jake 
saj-s. Hookertown don't care a rush whether the 
General smokes or not, whether he smokes dollar 
cigars or st^jeped cabbage leaves, whctherhe smokes 
quietly or putfs aw.ay like a locomotive. The Gen- 
eral's business has been fighting, 1 take it, for the 
last few years, and if he had used half the tobacco 
tlie letter writers have gin him credit for, he 
wouldn't have had any brains left to plan a cam- 
paign. They have run the thing into the ground. 
Seth Twiess' case is different. His business is 
smoking. If he has any other business, nobody 
has been able to find it out. He cultivates a little 
land, works in the garden some, and tinkers round 
a good deal, but this is only his amusement. The 
solid work on which he lays himself out is smok- 
ing. Now a man who assumes "the solemn re- 
sponsibility" of writing for the papers, as Mr. 
Spooner would say, must regard the truth of his- 
tory. The fact is, the Hookertown public wouldn't 
know Seth Twiggs without his pipe, and I had to 
introduce Seth's pipe or say nothing about him. 
I like to have forgot Seth on the settee. "I'll 
bet there is fifty acres in pickles iu Hookertown, 
this year," he added. 
" Some folks are in great trouble as to how they'll 
cure 'em," I remarked. 
"Du tell," exclaimed Polly Frink, "I thought 
every body knew how to s.alt down cowcnmbers." 
"Not by a jug full," said I. "It is treated as a 
great secret at the pickle factories, and stores, .and 
you might .as well undertake to get ile out of a 
Wall Street Petroleum Company, as to get any 
light on the curing process out of them." 
" I guess you didn't go to the right place, Esq. 
Bunker. For when I went down to the city to 
market my piickles I went all over the factory." 
"And what did you see," I .asked. "Well I saw 
a lot of vats, barrels, kegs, jars, and bottles, some 
of 'em full and some of 'em empty." "Did you 
ask any questions and did you get civil answers ?" 
" Sartainly I did, lots on em. And I found out 
there want any secret about the brine, for it is the 
same rule my grandmother used to go by, and I 
guess it is about the same thing every housekeeper 
in Hookertown uses today, brine strong enough to 
bear an egg, and the little pickles to lie iu two 
weeks, and the big ones three, that is about the 
whole of it, with a little variation to suit circum- 
st.ances." 
" Jest so," said Mrs. Jake Frink, " that is my 
