1867.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
183 
the garden." Sage is the staple article, and is 
so readily grown from seed that it is not worth 
while to make divisions or cuttings of the old 
plants, and the same may be said of Thyme. 
Make a seed bed of good light soil and sow 
Sage, Thyme, Sweet Marjoram, and Summer 
Savory, when the ground gets warm. Keep the 
plants well weeded, and thin if crowded. By 
the time that early crops of peas, cabbages, etc., 
come off, there will be a plenty of good plants 
to set out and occupy the ground, and give an 
abundant supply for home use and for sale. 
Raspberries and Black Caps. 
The great trouble with the cultivation of the 
common raspberries, even when they pass the 
winter safely by being protected or otherwise, 
is that the manner of growth is not understood. 
In private gardens we frequently see the rasp- 
berry bed a dense thicket, with new canes strug- 
gling with the old ones, and all in an uninviting 
and unfruitful condition. The majority of pri- 
vate growers do not seem to be aware that the 
stems of the raspberry are biennial, i. e., they 
grow one year and bear fruit the next, and then 
die. With some of the varieties called ever- 
bearing, the young growth flowers and fruits in 
the autumn of the same year. When a rasp- 
berry cane of the ordinary kind has fruited, it 
is no longer of any use, and should be cut out. 
The large cultivators usually leave the pruning 
out of the old canes until the time to cover them, 
but it is much better to remove them as soon as 
fruiting is over, to allow the new growth a 
plenty of room. Those who plant raspberries 
this spring, and wish the best results, should cut 
the old canes back to a few inches, leaving just 
enough to serve as a convenient handle in plant- 
ing, and look to the new growth of this year to 
produce fruit the next. If the canes be left 
their full length at transplanting, a poor crop of 
fruit may be had the first season, at the risk of 
the future good of the plants. The plants are 
set four feet apart each way for the more mod- 
erate growers, and the taller kinds five or six 
feet apart. The varieties are numerous, and 
every year brings additions to the list. Along 
the Hudson River the Hudson River Antwerp is 
the great market berry. In Southern New 
Jersey, the Philadelphia is the profitable mar- 
ket fruit, aud at the West, the Purple Cane en- 
joys great popularity. Choice sorts for garden 
culture are : Brinckle's Orange, Franconia, 
Clark, (said to be hardy,) Fastolf, and French. 
The Black Caps, of which there are now 
many named varieties, are becoming very pop- 
ular. Though not to be compared in flavor of 
fruit with the others, they have many good 
qualities. They are hardy, very productive, and 
throw up no suckers. They are propagated by 
rooting from the tops of the pendent branches. 
Of this class the Doolittle's Improved, is, per- 
haps, the best known, and doubtless many oth- 
ers, including native seedlings, are just as good. 
— . — — ■»■— _• 
Sweet Potato Culture. 
BY W. W. RATmiONK, MARIETTA, OHIO. 
In April, page 139, we gavo Mr. Rathbone's 
manner of preparing the land for Sweet Pota- 
toes, and now add the remainder of his article, 
upon setting tlie plants. The plants should al- 
ways be set down to the first leaf, and if the 
upper portion is destroyed by a late frost, they 
ijill start, from below and make a good growth. 
The ridges being made, they will stand 80 to 
36 inches from top to top; let them be sharp 
pointed. To mark the distances for plants, I 
use a revolving wheel, with fans every three 
feet, resembling a reaping machine fan, marking 
two rows at once. I keep the plants well set up 
on the ridge, and cut between them at the 
second and third hoeing to make the hills. 
Make the hills pointed and high. Do not be 
afraid of dry weather. "We always get the best 
crops when " everything ip burnt up." 
Mode op Setting Plants. — One plant per 
hill is plenty. Put fifteen inches apart if to be 
kept in the ridge. I have two modes of setting. 
First, if the weather be dry, don't wait for rain, 
nor the "dark of the moon." Let one boy drop 
the plants, another pour from a water-pot, with 
the rose off, sufficient water to float the rootlets, 
and immediately fill up with mellow earth. One 
can water for three to set. Never set plants 
after heavy rains. A second method of planting, 
which I prefer when the earth is sufficiently 
moist, is to dip the roots in a puddle of clay of 
the consistence of thick cream. The plants thus 
treated generally live well, and the objection- 
able hard lump formed about the plants in 
man}' soils when watered in the hill is obviated. 
After Cultivation. — After every rain break 
up the crust of soil in contact with the plants. 
I do this rapidly with both hands — clasping, 
raising and pressing the earth on the tips of the 
hills. It answers all the purposes of a regular 
hoeing, breaking up the ant boles and giving 
health to the young plant. Keep the surface clear 
of weeds. Be careful in working among the 
plants, not to hoe too deeply. The earliest 
potatoes lie immediately beneath the surface. 
After heavy rains the vine3 root at the joints. 
On sunny days they may be upturned on the 
hill or ridge. But in no case cut off the vines. 
I have cut every alternate row in a large patch 
to fully test this point, and on harvesting found 
fully 100 per cent, in favor of the uncut hills. 
A frost that merely blackeus the learns does not 
hurt sweet potatoes, but if the vines are frozen 
it does. Upon digging, the potatoes should be 
carefully handled and put away in boxes or 
barrels, with alternate layers of leaves, (some 
prefer cut straw,) in a warm, dry place to keep. 
In conclusion, I repeat, if good plants are set 
as indicated, on moderately fertile land, with 
good surface drainage on small high hills, the 
surface kept well cleaned, any reader of the 
Agriculturist south of 45° north latitude can 
raise good Nansemond sweet potatoes. 
The Ailanthus. — "We hear so much against 
the Ailanthus, that w.e are quite disposed to 
take its part. It will grow every where, is a 
rapid grower, and is very seldom troubled by 
insects. We know that it makes good fuel, and 
we cannot see why its timber should not be 
useful for a great many purposes. We have 
had a couple of blocks upon our desk for some 
lime, the one varnished and the other plain, and 
of the great many who have examined them, 
not one has guessed the kind of wood. Its 
disagreeable quality is an unpleasant odor when 
in flower, and its great nakedness in winter 
renders it less suitable as a wind-break than 
many others. Despite all the abuse it has had, 
were we upon a tree-less prairie, we should 
plant the Ailanthus, notwithstanding it has been 
condemned by several pomological societies. 
It is the tree that converts the brick and brown- 
stone streets of New York into beautiful avenues 
of tropical foliage, it grows among the pave- 
ments as if it rather enjoyed a hard life, and it 
is especially adapted to rocky and sterilo soil 
Cranberry Culture. 
To answer numerous letters we condense re- 
cent articles upon this subject, some of which 
came to us, and others appeared in papers, pub- 
lished in New Jersey, a State some portions of 
which present remarkable facilities for cranberry 
culture. The essentials seem to be, 1st, a sandy 
peat soil ; where the deposit of peat or muck is 
shallow, with sand beneath, then a proper soil 
may be made by plowing. If the peat is very 
deep, then sand must be put on to the depth of 
four to eight inches. 2nd. — The bog must be 
so situated that it can be drained, ditching is 
the common method. 3d. — The land must -be 
capable of being flowed at will. This is not 
considered so essential in New-Jersey, as the 
other two conditions, but is considered desirable 
as a means of protecting the vines from frost 
and insects. 4th. — The land must be cleaned 
of all stumps as well as tussocks of sedge and 
other vegetation, and the surface made as level 
as possible. The sanding is of course the last 
thing to be done before planting. These are in 
brief the New Jersey essentials. Mr. Orrin C. 
Cook, of South Milford, Mass., who last year 
sent us the largest and finest berries we ever 
saw, has quite different notions. He says: " In 
selecting land for the cranberry, wet swamp 
land is the best, as it requires more moisture 
than is found on high lands, but any land that 
will grow potatoes will raise good cranberries. 
I raise my best berries on a hard clay soil. To 
prepare the ground for the plants, take out all 
the roots, brush, and tufts of coarse grass, plow 
deep, and, if not too wet, harrow. Having made 
the land as level as possible, set the plants one 
foot apart each way. We set the plants in the 
fall, from the middle of September until the 
ground freezes, and in the Spring until the 85th 
of May. We neither plow nor hoe among the 
plants, but in the fall go through and pull all 
the brush and grass that may have started. In 
three years the vines will cover the ground, at 
which time a full crop may be expected. There 
is no crop that we can raise here with so Utile 
trouble as the cranberry ; after they get to bear- 
ing there is no trouble beyond picking the crop 
and marketing it. One acre will yield from fifty 
to one hundred bushels, and these sell from $7 
to $10 per barrel of three bushels each." 
We have heretofore expressed our disbelief 
in the success of the upland culture of the cran- 
berry, but last autumn a gentleman from Long 
Island, whose address we have mislaid, brought 
us very fine specimens of berries, raised on up- 
land. We should be glad if Mr. Cook's state- 
ment that "any land that will grow potatoes 
will raise good cranberries" were generally ap- 
plicable. Some unfortunate attempts of this 
kind that we have seen, have made us cautious 
in advising any one to invest in cranberries on 
high ground, and we should be glad of more 
reports, Whether of success or failure. 
Mr. Gilbert Conaul, whose report was quoted 
in the March Affriculturi.it, says, that in the. 
article wc copied, the word "plowed" in the 
third line of the quotation should be floibttt. 
The question is often asked, will it do to set 
wild plants, or must the cultivated ones be pur- 
chased. The cranberry, like all other fruits, 
varies from the seed, and seedlings will differ 
in the size and shape of the fruit, and in the 
productiveness of the vines. Wild plants may 
give good results and may not. The advantage 
of cultivated vines is that they arc produced 
from runners of a sort known to be fruitful. 
Several different kinds are sold by dealers. 
