1SG7.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
221 
few minutes, and then letting the water off rap- 
idly at the opposite side, into the ditch that is 
not being used, one can often thoroughly cleanse 
the bed of these pests. Onions need water about 
as often as cabbage, but not so much at once. 
Spinach should be watered over night, when 
picking for market, and immediately after, in 
hot weather. Lettuce, we transplant in wet 
beds, and irrigate in all respects as directed for 
cabbage. Cucumbers need water in this climate, 
at least once a week, but not heavy waterings. 
Celery, in trenches, must have a sink at the 
end of each trench to serve as explained in the 
March number, and when hilling up the plants, 
leave each side of the trench lower than the 
center, until you are on a level with the surface ; 
by this means you cau run the water on without 
covering the hills, for if you allow water to go 
down into the heart of the plant, for a few 
times, it will cause your celery to rot ; through- 
out the growing season celery will require 
water nearly as often as cabbage. 
Pepper: water often until it has attained the 
growth at which you expect it to mature, then 
give it but very little, as it retards the ripening. 
Tomatoes need more care in the watering 
than any other vegetable ; when the plants are 
first put out, they should be transplanted into 
wet beds, as for cabbage; then see that they arc 
erect before irrigating, and let on the water 
slowly, taking care not to cover the crowns of tlie 
plants; and at no time let over two inches 
of water on your plants, or they will either 
wither, or stop growing entirely ; tomatoes need 
water often to get an early crop, but in very 
limited quantities. 
And now, supposing that your garden is able 
to wait a day or so, and that there is nothing 
that can be hurt by so waiting, then, the best 
times for irrigating are : cloudy clays, and moon- 
light nights ; but if the plants really need water, 
irrigate them at any time. 
It is well, with your crops that have to be 
thinned, to take them in rotation; and the beds of 
carrots, beefs, etc., which you intend to thin 
next day should be watered the night before ; 
or even better, early the same morning; by this 
method you can work among them much easier, 
as you can pull out those which need remov- 
ing without injuring the rest. 
Hot-beds can be irrigated as soon as the plants 
are up, by cutting a hole in the back board of 
the frame, the bottom of which should be on a 
level with the soil ; by spouts from the ascequia 
you can water many hot-beds while you would 
be sprinkling one. The above remarks as re- 
gards time between waterings, etc., must not, 
in all cases, be closely followed, as difference in 
climate, soil, situation, etc., will cause a differ- 
ence in the need of water; I have shown here 
as nearly as possible what is required in this 
section of country, but it is a thing in which 
every man must rely on his own judgment, tak- 
ing care, in a dry climate, never to miss seeing 
his whole crop, at least every two days, as 
plants that to-day look fresh and appear to be 
doing well, may to-morrow show signs of dis- 
tress. It is well for beginners to rather overdo 
their irrigating than to err on the other side, 
and to bear in mind that the great cause of cab- 
bage lice, and many other troubles to the gar- 
dener in all climates, is— drouth. 
Flower Garden Experience. 
If persons, instead of writing us essays on the 
beauty of flowers and the pleasures of garden- 
ing, would tell us their experience and the cir- 
cumstances that led to their success or failure, 
we should print more of their letters than we 
do. Miss 0. M. Luke, Trumbull Co., Ohio, 
gives us a clever bit of flower garden ex- 
perience, from which we extract the following, 
with the remark that her plan of protecting 
seedlings with leaf mold is an excellent one, 
and followed by some of our best growers. 
" I have always been a great lover of flowers, 
and have tried various experiments on some of 
them, marking, with the greatest pleasure,each 
new feature, which my experiments produce. 
" Sweet Williams and Pinks are my hobbies 
now. Some seeds of these were sent to me by 
a friend, two years ago last August. Two weeks 
after I received them, I had a bed made about 
8 feet long, and 1 foot wide, upon which I spread 
one peck of leached ashes, one of stone-coal 
cinders, and about the same of well rotted chip 
manure, being careful to have them all raked 
through the soil. Then, after sowing my seeds, 
I covered them very slightly by raking the 
compost over them. The plants came up very 
thick, and grew about two inches before winter. 
I thought best to protect them during the 
winter by a covering of leaf muck from the 
woods. In the spring, after removing the muck 
from their tops, they looked very green. I wa- 
tered them during the summer season about 
once a week with soapsuds. 
" They grew thriftily and needed very little 
weeding. The second winter, I protected them 
by a covering of brush and straw, removing it 
in the spring, and last June they blossomed. I 
wish every reader of the American Agriculturist 
could have seen them. The Sweet William 
stalks were all about two-and-a-half feet high, 
and measured about two-and-a-half inches 
around. Such a variety of colors I had never be- 
fore seen. They were ringed, streaked, speckled 
and plain, of almost every shade; some were 
double, others measured an inch-and-a-half 
across each flower, with a fine deep fringe 
around their edges. There was one stalk with 
three different varieties of colors growing on the 
same stem; but on different little branches. 
Every one who saw them said they never had 
seen any thing like them before." 
Transplanting Seedlings. 
Bedding Plants, such as Verbenas, Lanta- 
nas, Gazanias, etc., make a much better show 
if pegged down. Hair-pins, hooked sticks, etc., 
are used, as well as a strip of bass matting put 
over them, with both ends thrust into the ground. 
There will be much trausplanting done this 
mouth, in both the kitchen and flower garden, 
and with varying success. There are some 
who seem to do the work very roughly and al- 
ways succeed, while others appear to be very 
painstaking and have bad luck. A plant, in its 
removal from the seed-bed, will lose more or 
less of its root fibres, and as all the leaves 
usually remain, the present surface of the 
haves is all out of proportion to that of the 
roots, and unless in a very damp time, the plant 
will wilt from the loss of moisture by evapora- 
tion. It is always preferable to do the work on a 
damp day, not SO much on account of the moist- 
ure in the ground as of that in the air. The few 
last hours of day-light are to be preferred, as 
plants set attliat time have a chance to recover, 
in a measure, during the cool night. The soil in 
which the plants are to be placed should have 
been recently worked, so that, only fresh and 
mellow earth can conic in contact with the 
roots. Water the seed-bed thoroughly, and 
take up the plants with care, and set them out 
as soon as possible. Much of the success de- 
pends on bringing the soil in close contact with 
the roots. Where a dibber is used for making 
the holes, an unskillful workman is very apt not 
to properly fill the hole made by the dibber, and 
as a consequence, a portion of the roots are 
surrounded by air instead of earth. For this 
reason, those who have but little transplanting 
to do, and are not practised in the use of the 
dibber, had better make broader holes with the 
point of a garden trowel, and when the plant 
is set, fill the earth in carefully, and crowd it 
down firmly. Always have the ground marked 
off beforehand, so that no time need be lost in 
looking out for the proper distances; besides 
the work will be more regular. 
In larger operations, there is a division of la- 
bor; one carries a basket containing the plants, 
which are kept thoroughly wetted, and drops 
them at the proper places, and another sets them. 
When plants are brought fiom a distance, 
and must be put out without waiting for favor- 
able weather, it is best to make rather large 
holes with a trowel, fill each with water, and 
set the plants. By a division of labor it may be 
clone much more rapidly than one would sup- 
pose. In a very light soil, in a hot, dry time, we 
have practised this without the loss of a plant. 
Seedlings that are to be kept out of the ground 
for any great length of time should have their 
roots puddled, by mixing up a^JJun muc l of 
loam, and enveloping the rov x *,.a it. 
A Fruit Critic Criticised. 
The farmer of Edgewood, in a recent number 
of the American Journal of Horticulture, ad- 
vauces some very sceptical and heterodox no- 
tions in pomology, calculated to discourage im- 
provement in this fine art. He says : " I doubt 
very much if the finest flavored fruits can be 
grown as easily as the grosser tasting ones." 
And again, " in the pear line, it is quite possible 
that, with great nicety of treatment, both in 
garden culture and in the ripening process, 
(which last counts for a great deal,) a higher and 
finer flavor may be given to the Beurre Diel, or 
the Flemish Beauty, or the Beurre d'Anjou, el- 
even the Duchess, than belongs ordinarily to the 
BarlleU. But put the Bartlett in comparison 
with either, under fair average treatment, and 
upon ordinary garden lauds, and I think two 
luscious Bartletls will present themselves, to one 
of either the other names." The idea here ad- 
vanced, that the finer kinds of pears require, 
specially nice treatment in order to succeed, is 
mischievous, and is certainly not sustained by 
facts. The Seckel, the highest flavored of all 
pears, is even more hardy than the Bartlett, and 
will bear good fruit in almost any soil that is 
adapted to the pear. It is improved in size by 
high cultivation, but that is true of all pears — 
and of the Bartlett as well. We do not think 
the flavor of the Seckel is improved by its size. 
The Flemish Beauty and the Beurre Diel, upon 
ordinary garden lands, and with the fair aver- 
age treatment, have always borne as well as the 
Bartlett, in our experience. The Beurre d'An- 
jou is a newer pear, but it is notoriously a good 
-rower and bearer, and may prove itself adapt- 
ed to as wide a range of soil and climate as the 
Bartlett The Duchess is more fasti. lions about 
its soil, but where it finds congenial aliment, it 
is as easily raised, ripens as wall, and keeps bet- 
ter than the Bartlett We found four large, 
well grown trees, upon pear stock standing iu a 
