470 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
cool and yet not frozen, will, during the win¬ 
ter, make preparations for growth. One or 
more buds will be formed on each piece. The 
ends of the cuttings will have callused, and 
often more or less roots have formed ; they 
are then to be set in the open ground very 
early in spring. Tender raspberries should 
be covered this month. The canes are bent 
down in the direction of the rows and covered 
with a few inches of earth. Currant cut¬ 
tings are made from the present year’s 
growth, removed from the bushes at the 
time of pruning, and should be about six 
inches long ; these may be set in the open 
ground and covered with litter, or in boxes 
of soil placed in the cellar. The grape 
vines should be pruned as soon as leaves 
fall. Vines set this spring should have only 
one or two shoots, according to their vigor. 
There is no rule for pruning an old vine 
—enough buds should be left to produce a 
sufficient number of shoots for leaves and 
fruit. Grape cuttings are made from the 
branches pruned off, and should have two 
or three buds each ; tie them in bundles 
carefully, label and pack in earth in the cel¬ 
lar. Many sorts, as the Concord, will grow 
from such cuttings planted in the open 
ground in spring; those with harder wood 
require special treatment. The Delaware, 
for example, requires the bundles of cut¬ 
tings to be puddled in thin mud for half 
their lower length, then set upside down in 
a cold frame with fine earth sprinkled among 
the bundles, and covered to the depth of four 
inches. Before freezing weather sets in, the 
cold frame is filled up with straw or forest 
leaves, and covered with boards. The cover¬ 
ing is removed in spring, and sashes placed 
on the frame, when roots will start from 
the cuttings and they will then be ready to 
be set out. The covering to the strawberry 
beds should be put on as soon as the ground 
begins to freeze. Straw or leaves may be 
used for this purpose, placed thickly between 
the plants, but lightly directly over them 
to prevent injury by smothering. 
The Kitchen and market Garden. 
So soon as a crop is removed, the ground 
should be cleared of all rubbish, manured, 
and plowed or spaded. It is not best to har¬ 
row, but leave the soil with the rough surface 
from the plow. If the soil is very stiff it can 
be improved in texture by throwing it up in 
ridges to more thoroughly expose it to the 
action of the frosts. In short, do whatever 
the weather will now permit to improve the 
garden, and aid in the hurry of spring. The 
sashes should not be put upon the cold 
frames until there is danger of freezing the 
plants. The cold frames are only for protec¬ 
tion, and not for stimulating the growth of 
the plants within. A circulation of air is 
important, and the sashes should be raised 
for this purpose on all warm days. Cellars 
in which roots are stored need to be kept 
cool, or the roots will shrivel and lose their 
freshness. If put in barrels and covered with 
sand, they are preserved more nearly like 
those in pits—the best method of keeping 
roots fresh and good. The celery should be 
stored before the ground freezes; a trench 
may be dug in a dry place, deep enough to 
bring the tops on a level with the soil. Set 
the plants in closely, side by side, with no 
earth between, and cover first with some 
straw, and add more covering as the cold in¬ 
creases. Boards may be put over the straw. 
A small amount of celery may be stored in 
earth in the cellar. Some of the parsnips for 
present use may be dug now, and stored in 
sand in the cellar, but as freezing improves 
this vegetable, the most of the roots may re¬ 
main in the ground until needed, or dug in 
midwinter during the “January thaw.” 
Cabbages are best stored in trenches. Pull 
and place heads down in rows, and two fur¬ 
rows turned upon them will do the bulk of 
the work. A common method is to dig a 
trench in a dry place, and set the cabbages in 
it heads down, and close together. As the 
weather gets cold put on straw, afterwards 
more straw and boards over the whole. Car¬ 
rots and beets should be dug before they are 
injured by frosts, and stored in the same 
manner as given for other roots. Turnips 
should be harvested next after the beets, 
and carrots being less injured by freezing. 
The Flower tiarden and Law n. 
The grass of the lawn should be left uncut 
for some time before the ground freezes, that 
it may have a sufficient coat for winter pro¬ 
tection. The fallen leaves and all litter 
should be raked up and used in the stable, or 
as a protection to tender plants ; it both im¬ 
proves the looks of the grounds and furnishes 
a valuable litter, or covering. Evergreens 
show now to the best advantage, and a 
diversity of form and shades of green are 
very pleasing. These trees and shrubs should 
be selected and planted in groups, etc., large¬ 
ly for their winter effect. New beds and 
paths may be laid out now, and much work 
of this kind done that will add to the per¬ 
manent value of the grounds, and also aid in 
the busy days of spring. 
Greenhouse ami Window Plants. 
Plants that come in from the garden should 
have a period of rest. Pots of bulbs should 
be placed in a dark cool cellar for several 
weeks to form good strong roots. If there is 
no suitable cellar, place the pots in a cold- 
frame or pit, and cover them with coal ashes. 
The object is to keep the bulb warm enough 
to emit roots, and not so warm that the 
leaves and flower buds will start. Watering 
is one of the most important labors for the 
Greenhouse. A good thorough wetting is 
better than keeping the surface, and that 
only, moist by frequent pouring over of a 
little water. The water should not be much 
colder than the air of the room, at best not 
almost ice cold, as is too often the case. 
Hanging baskets require a plenty of light and 
air. They need abundant water, and frequent 
turning if the light comes strongly from 
one side. No one with house plants should 
be without some good climbers, such as the 
English and the so-called Parlor or German 
Ivy. Look out for insects, and kill them 
before they have done any serious harm. 
TBie “ Wampapin ” l.ily.—Various 
writers have discussed in the “Gardener’s 
Chronicle” (Eng.) the identity of a water lily 
with the above name. Some have supposed 
it to be the common Yellow Water Lily, or 
Spatterdock ( Nuphar ), but it appears to be 
settled that it is Nelumbo (Nelumbium lute- 
urn). We have known this gigantic lily in 
many different localities, but never heard the 
name “Wampapin” applied to it. A very 
common name is Water Chinquapin, the 
seeds being in size and shape much like the 
Chinquapin nut. May not the name Chinqua- 
pin, in crossing the ocean, have somehow be¬ 
come transformed into “Wampapin?” 
A Tasmanian Fern Case. 
A subscriber in Tasmania, who signs him¬ 
self as “Amateur,” but also gives his real 
name and residence, at Hobart, sends a sketch 
of his Fern Case. He takes a common box, 
without top, and removes a board or two 
from each side. He then saws a triangular 
piece from both sides of each end of the box, 
so that the ends taper to a point. A strip of 
wood is then nailed in from one point to the 
other, and a strip is also nailed on each side 
of the box to form a ledge for the glass to 
rest upon. Three or four panes of glass of 
the required size are placed in position, as 
shown in the engraving made from the clever 
sketch sent by our correspondent. To com¬ 
plete the Fernery it is to be painted of some 
unobtrusive color. Though our friend does 
not say so, we assume that he uses his fern¬ 
ery for plants in pots; if they are to be 
planted out, then the box would need a lin¬ 
ing of zinc or galvanized iron to prevent the 
moisture of the soil from warping the wood. 
The chief use of such a fernery is to keep the 
plants surrounded by a moist atmosphere, 
which the contrivance here described will 
do as well as a more expensive one. 
Ensilaging Night Soil. 
Captain St. John, of the English navy, in 
describing some of his excursions for shoot¬ 
ing snipe, during winter, in the rice fields on 
the Canton River, mentions a method of 
preserving night-soil in pits, which appears 
to have escaped the attention of agricultural 
travellers. He says: “Chinamen resemble 
their neighbors, the Japanese, in one thing, 
in that they never waste manure of any 
kind ; that which is chiefly prized being from 
their own houses or tubs outside their doors. 
This is collected in great pits in the fields, 
and covered over with a thin coating of mud, 
which hardens in the sun, and acts as the 
crust to a pie. It preserves the precious ar¬ 
ticle underneath from the sun and rain, both 
of which deteriorate the strength of this 
most potent manure, that is so grievously 
wasted in our own country.”—[The tight 
covering probably hinders or perhaps pre¬ 
vents the hurtful action of the microscopic 
organisms, which, under ordinary circum¬ 
stances, occasion wasteful decay.—E d.] It 
appears that inexperienced foreigners, when 
shooting over the bare rice fields, are apt to 
attempt, for once, to walk across these 
smooth, tempting pieces of dry mud. Their 
experiences, when the crust of the manure 
pit breaks, may be imagined more readily 
than they can be described. S. 
