170 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mat, 
but little to plant a few vines, and the reward will 
be abundant in a few years. Newly planted vines, 
whether set last fall or this spring, whether they 
were one or two years old when planted, should, 
for the future good of the vine, be allowed to bear 
but one single shoot this year. Probably, when 
planted, it had two, three, or more buds ; all these 
will start. Rub out all but two, and when the 
shoots from these two are long enough to tie to a 
stake, remove one and tie up the other. Two are 
allowed at first to guard against accidents. 
Training Old Tines. —Recollect that all the buds 
now on the vine (or nearly all) will form shoots, 
and whatever fruit is to be borne will be on the 
few (three or four) lower joints of these. If 
there are so many buds that the shoots from them 
will be crowded, rub them off. Allow no more 
shoots to grow than can have abundant room to 
spread their leaves without crowding. 
Layering the Grape. —If a cane of last year’s 
growth is so situated that it can be brought to the 
ground and buried, layers can be easily made. 
Open a trench about six or eight inches deep, and 
peg such a cane along the bottom of it; when the 
buds start and make a few inches of growth, put a 
little earth in the trench, and as these shoots grow, 
pinch off their lower leaves, and gradually fill the 
trench. By next fall, each shoot will be well 
rooted, giving as many vines as there were shoots. 
Marketing Fruit. —Have baskets and crates iu 
readiness. For the styles of these, consult the 
dealer to whom the fruit is to be sent. The cus¬ 
toms of the different markets vary greatly, and 
fruit in a package to which consumers are not ac¬ 
customed, will appear at a disadvantage. Where a 
market is usually supplied with round baskets, do 
not introduce square ones, or vice versa. The fur¬ 
ther fruit is to be sent, the more the care required 
in shipping. An over-ripe berry may spoil a bas¬ 
ket, and a spoiled basket hurt the sale of the crate. 
Home Markets. —It is a mistake to suppose that 
large cities afford the only profitable markets. 
Those dealers who pass by flourishing towns and 
villages to get their fruit to New York, Phila¬ 
delphia, etc., often make a mistake. As a general 
thing, small places are poorly supplied with fruit, 
often having only that which has been sent to the 
large centers, and from there distributed to them. 
It will pay to build up a market near home. 
liitcfieM ami Market CSsis-desa. 
What has been said on beginning late applies 
especially to the vegetable garden. A great many 
come into the possession of their garden plot only 
ou tiie first of this month, and there are only a few 
early vegetables that are not as well sown now as 
earlier. The better condition of the soil, being 
now dry and warm, will compensate for the lack of 
early sowing and planting. Those who are obliged 
to begin their garden now, will find useful hints in 
previous months. The list of vegetables given in 
March, page 84, will be a help. Those who have 
already begun operations, should have in mind 
Succession Crops, to follow the earliest sowings of 
peas, spinach, radishes, lettuce, etc. 
Corn Planting Time.— In the Notes for March 
last, it was stated that the time at which corn 
could be safely planted, was a guide for each lo¬ 
cality as to the proper time for sowing seeds of 
tender plants, or for setting out plants of this kind 
that had been raised under glass. Squashes, 
melons, and all related vines and other tender plants 
may be sown, and tomatoes may be set out when¬ 
ever the farmers find it safe to put in their corn. 
Small Gardens are often most easily furnished by 
buying certain plants, such as tomatoes, peppers, 
early cabbages. Where the number of plants re¬ 
quired is small, it is easier to pay some one to 
supply the neighborhood than it is for each one to 
be at the trouble to raise the plants for himself. 
Asparagus .—It should be cut with a strong 
round-pointed knife, and with care not to injure 
the dormant buds. If marketed, it should be 
washed and made into neat bunches. We have fig¬ 
ured various bunching machines in former volumes. 
Beans.— Do not put in the Limas until the long 
rains are over; thrust them into the soil, eye 
downwards. Two vines are enough to a pole, but 
to guard against accidents, put in four or five beans 
to each ; the surplus may be transplanted to fill 
gaps. Sow a succession of the bush sorts. 
Beets. —Sow a succession of early, and when the 
weather is settled, put in Long Blood for winter. 
Cabbages and Caulijloieers.—Sow the later varie¬ 
ties. The plants of early kinds need frequent hoe¬ 
ing or raking, and this reminds us to repeat that a 
Long-toothed Bake, one that has sharp teeth and 
will penetrate the soil, is the best possible imple¬ 
ment for killing weeds just before they are visible, 
and to keep the soil well stirred among the plants. 
Celery. —Sow in seed-bed; be sure and bring the 
earth in close contact with the seed by rolling or 
patting the soil well with the back of the spade. 
If a dry time comes on, water the seed-bed. 
Sweet Corn. —Sow the early sorts for the first, and 
whatever may be the main crop, such as “Tri¬ 
umph,” “ Excelsior,” put in seed every week or so. 
Egg Rant is perhaps the most thoroughly tropi¬ 
cal of all garden plants. Do not set out until 
really warm weather has set in, and then push 
with fertilizers, and fight potato bugs. 
Sweet Potatoes, at the North, should be grown 
on ridges; put down rows of well-decomposed 
manure, 30 inches apart; build up over these, with 
plow and spade, ridges of earth, and plant the 
“ slips ” or “ sets ” on this at 15 inches apart. The 
first of June is early enough near New York. 
Tomatoes, in every private garden, should have a 
trellis of some kind, not only for the sake of better 
fruit, but for neatness. Whatever will keep the 
plants up from the ground will answer. 
Odds and Ends. —Do not forget the hoe figured 
laat month....The general uselessness of garden 
reels, as now sold, was referred to last month. 
A friend sends the method of making a serviceable 
one, which will be found on another page... .Apply 
Paris green to potatoes as soon as up....Sow 
sweet herbs in a seed-bed for a supply of plants, 
to occupy the.soil when other crops come off.... 
Thin all thickly-sown crops as soon as they can 
be handled, while the ground is moist.... Dust 
squashes, melons, and all of that family, as soon 
as the plants are up, with fine air-slaked lime, or a 
mixture of plaster and ashes, to keep off insects. 
Flower garden and Law n. 
Lawns— In making new lawns it is not necessary 
to sow oats or other grain with the grass seed, un¬ 
less the work is done very late, and even then we 
should risk the grass without it, as it fills the soil 
with large roots, to the detriment of the grass. 
Frequent Mowing before hot weather sets in, will 
help thicken the turf, but new lawns should be cut 
less frequently when drouths come on. If it has not 
yet been given, the established lawu should have a 
Top Dressing of some fertilizer, and different from 
that applied the year before. Guano, ashes, bone, 
nitrate of soda, or plaster will be useful, and one 
or the other should be put on each year, using gu¬ 
ano at the rate of 200 lbs. to the acre, and others in 
proportion. 
Large Weeds in lawns, can only be eradicated by 
weeding; if the plantains, dandelions, docks, etc., 
appear, pull them in a moist time, or cut well below 
the surface with a knife. Annual weeds soon give 
way to frequent mowing, and die without seeding. 
Bedding Rants from the greenhouse, should not 
be put out until settled weather, as cold storms 
give a check from which they are slow to recover. 
Annuals may be sown ; the labels upon the seed- 
packets usually state whether the plants will bear 
transplanting, or must be sown in place. 
Climbers are useful for shade, for decorating ver¬ 
andas, and for making a screen to hide unsightly 
objects. Where the woody kinds can not be waited 
for, annuals may be used with good effect. Canary 
Vine, Thunbergias, Cobsea, Maurandias and others 
are all good, and some of the finer Morning Glories, 
though the flowers are short-lived, are very showy. 
Boses.— Try White Hellebore for the Rose-slug. 
Tobacco water will kill plant lice, but for Rose- 
bugs, nothing short of hand picking persisted in, 
will abate these pests. Manure roses generously. 
OJreehliouse and Window Plants. 
The plants that are to go out doors, should have a 
place where they will be partially shaded, and not 
be under the drip of trees. A thick layer of coal 
ashes upon which to stand the pots, will keep worms 
from working their way into the ball of earth. 
Shading the Boots is important. When the pots 
are not plunged, it will be well to arrange boards 
so as to screen their sides from the hot sun. 
Summer Bloomers, such as Fuchsias and most Cac¬ 
tuses if not wanted to decorate the verandas, should 
be kept in the greenhouse. 
Shade should be provided for the plants that re¬ 
main in the house. Whitewashing the outside of 
the glass is the easiest, though a cloth screen, pro¬ 
vided with rollers, is sometimes used for shading. 
Plants in the House need care as to insects, and 
should not lack proper watering. 
Hanging Baskets whether in the greenhouse or on 
verandas, soon dry out, give a thorough soaking, by 
plunging iu a tub of water at least twice a week. 
Hot too late for the Experiments, 
SUGGESTIONS FOR TIIOSE MAKING THEM. 
The most important number of this journal ever 
issued during thirty-seven years, was sent out last 
month. The Fertilizer Experiments proposed will 
be undertaken by a large number of farmers—we 
would be glad to have it done by not less than ten 
thousand. The information to be gained will be 
highly useful to every experimenter himself, to his 
neighbors, and of great value to the country gen¬ 
erally. Negative results obtained will be as in¬ 
structive as positive ones. It is almost as de¬ 
sirable to know what fertilizers, and what elements 
in this or that fertilizer, are not useful, and will not 
pay, on any particular soils or crops, as to know 
what will be useful and what will pay. The use of 
fertilizers obtained outside of the farm, in addition 
to those made on the farm, is already one of the 
chief meaus for securing a profitable increase in 
the products of the soil, in all the older States, 
and this will soon be the case even in what are now 
called the newer farm regious.—Just as Providence 
had hidden beneath the soil the vast stores of coal 
and oil, to be brought forth when needed, so we 
begin to find that inexhaustible supplies of fer¬ 
tilizers are coming to light in the earth, where they 
have existed unknown to man through countless 
centuries.—But we began this to say that there is 
YET PLENTY OF TIME FOR THESE EXPERIMENTS. 
Corn planting is not begun in at least two-thirds 
of the country, and this is an excellent crop for 
the experiments proposed. Potatoes are still to be 
planted in Northern regions, and the experiments 
upon these, and upon field beets and turnips, will 
be highly instructive also. Every one who has not 
done so, and can possibly do it, should still secure 
one of the sets of fertilizers, carefully reading over 
what was said on pages 128,129, and 130, last month. 
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE EXPERIMENTS. 
Some additions to the particulars given last month 
may be stated. As advised then, the plots should 
be long and narrow, rather than square, to makeup 
as far as possible for any unevenness in the quality 
of the soil. For the half-acre and acre plots, we re¬ 
commended the strips to be 8 and 10 rods long, and 
one rod wide. (By mistake this was printed on the 
margin, 8 rods by “2 rods” wide). If they are 
even longer and narrower, all the better. 
Lay out all the plots as accurately as possible, 
with a tape-line, or a pole marked in feet and 
inches. Drive strong stakes to mark the bounda¬ 
ries of the plots, and so deeply that they will re¬ 
main, to distinguish them in coming seasons, as fu¬ 
ture lessons from this season’s experiments will 
be important. 
Read carefully the directions and explanations, 
and have plans complete and clearly in mind in 
advance. Select as uniform soil as possible. Level 
