AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
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102 
Matthew Maokie, two miles north of Clyde, N. 
Y., where we saw specimens of cultivated Hem¬ 
lock, that would almost rival in beauty—and 
nearly half the size—the noble fir presented by 
the cut. Mr. Mackie had gathered them from 
the forests surrounding his home, and by good 
cultivation they excelled in beauty almost 
any evergreen we had seen in the country. 
Many years ago, Mr. Downing says, “Wo place 
the Hemlock ( Abies Canadensis ) first, as we 
consider it, beyond all question, the most grace¬ 
ful and beautiful evergreen tree commonly 
grown in this country. Few of our readers 
have the least idea of its beauty when grown 
alone , in a smooth lawn, its branches extending 
freely on all sides, and sweeping the ground, 
its loose spray and full feathery foliage floating 
freely in the air, and its proportions full of the 
finest sj'mmetry and harmony.” 
The Balsam Fir , or as it is often called, the 
Balm of Gilead Fir, is more commonly used in 
this country than any other, and is very hand¬ 
some when young; but when it exceeds twenty 
feet in height, it grows coarse and stiff, and is 
therefore more especially fitted for small 
grounds. 
The Norway Spruce (Abies Bxcelsa) is one of 
the noblest and most justly celebrated ever¬ 
greens in our country. The finest specimens 
which we have ever seen, may be found in the 
old Linnean Garden at Flushing, L. I. It is 
very hardy, and grows upon almost all soils, in 
the shade of trees, or in the most exposed situ¬ 
ations. There is a beautiful full-grown tree at 
Studley, England, 132 feet in height, diameter 
of the trunk 61- feet, with diameter of the head 
39 feet. 
Another evergreen we would recommend, is 
the White Fine. It is of fine form, rapid 
growth, and the foliage is of a soft, perpetual 
green, and well adapted for ornamental grounds. 
The Deodora Cedar , although not so hardy 
as the foregoing, yet with a little care, easily 
becomes acclimated still farther north than New- 
York city. They grow as rapidly as the Doug¬ 
las Fir—2-1 feet on an average each year—and 
attract by their silvery foliage and graceful 
drooping habit, and yet Mr. Downing said of 
the Hemlock, “ In fact it is as handsome as the 
Deodar, and is very much like it. The latter 
droops more and is silvery in its foliage, instead 
of bronzy —but they are much alike otherwise, 
and are the best possible companions in the 
pleasure grounds.” 
We have purposely placed two or three of 
our most common native evergreens along side 
of some of the most popular foreign sorts, in 
order that our readers may see that no one par¬ 
ticular variety is indispensable ; neither is it so 
important which of one or more kinds are se¬ 
lected, as it is to choose the perfect form, and 
give good cultivation after they are taken. 
Nothing better repays intelligent care, and a 
very little knowledge of their habits is soon at¬ 
tained. For instance, in transplanting, they 
will generally thrive in proportion to the amount 
of soil left on their roots in the transition state 
from the nursery to the lawn. Loudon says, 
“By the exposure of their roots, the extremities 
of their fibers, the spongioles become closed; 
and unlike deciduous trees, when once closed , 
they never again expand, or perform their pro¬ 
per functions." A short exposure of the roots 
to the rays of the sun, or even to the atmos¬ 
phere, is often fatal. Not only the growth of 
the evergreen, but its life, is dependent on the 
strictness with which the above rules arc ob¬ 
served. There is no difficulty in transplanting 
evergreens in May, if the earth is carefully 
taken with the roots. 
Did our limits permit, we should like to refer 
to “ the fringed and sombre Blade Spruce, the 
sun-shiny Yellow Spruce, (which, when well 
cultivated and flourising, can scarcely be dis¬ 
tinguished from its more fashionable cousin of 
Norway,) the stately spires of Fir, the grand 
and noble Iihotan Pine, the curious and beau¬ 
tiful Holly, the rich, green, strange, coral-like 
Araucarias, the solemn, grand “ Cedar of Liba- 
nus," not to more than mention the California 
Giant, Wellingtonia Gigantea, a species of Tax- 
odium, which grows to the enormous height of 
300 feet, with a circumference of 32 feet three 
feet above the ground, and some 20 feet in dia¬ 
meter ; and in the California forest some 80 to 
90 of these trees are to be found within the cir¬ 
cuit of a mile; we will not, we say, stop to 
speak of these now. We hope our readers will 
take as a model the specimen we here present, 
and from some of those first named, succeed in 
training a dozen trees on their own grounds, 
that shall verify all that we have here uttered. 
-O- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
STRAWBERRY INQUIRY. 
I am wishing to raise a good plot of strawber¬ 
ries for family use, but the bad success of my 
neighbor has discouraged me. He has a very 
fine garden soil, and he followed Mr. Downing’s 
directions in his Fruits and Fruit Trees fully, by 
“ well enriching with strong manure and thor¬ 
ough trenching.” He then obtained the best 
kinds of plants, and set them out with great 
care, and watered and watched them. They 
grew most luxuriantly, blossomed well, both 
staminates and pistillates, but where he should 
have gathered bushels of fruits, alas! he could 
not get a pint. It was a total failure. Can you 
tell me the reason, and how to avoid the error ? 
Western New-York. 
We have no doubt the reason the luxuriant 
vines did not bear fruit, was, the ground was 
too highly enriched. Probably the fine garden 
soil itself was too rich for strawberries, before 
the strong manure was added. Sand would 
have been a better application than any thing 
else, if in clay soil, as your region indicates. 
There is no error so common in strawberry cul¬ 
tivation—if we except neglect—as over-feeding. 
In a variety of ways, it acts injuriously in our 
climate. The strawberry is not so gross a feeder 
as corn or pumpkins, or even the raspberry, and 
it is so sensitive, that it will not produce freely 
when highly stimulated. We sometimes think 
it among the most sensitive of fruit plants. If 
not in just the right condition, it is a shy bearer, 
but when in good health, it will qstonish all be¬ 
holders with its abundant crops. Then prepare 
the ground well, by trenching if you please; at 
any rate, spade deep and pulverize the soil thor¬ 
oughly. If a rich garden soil, reduce with a lit¬ 
tle sand, and add one peck of unleached ashes 
per square rod. If only a common mellow gar¬ 
den soil, neither add to it nor take from it, ex¬ 
cept the same quantity of ashes. If rather poor 
soil, add the ashes, four quarts lime, and a mod¬ 
erate coating of well-rotted woods’ mold, or de¬ 
cayed leaves. Mulch well with tan bark, if con¬ 
venient, or if not, with clean straw, or young 
grass, and keep the young plants protected from 
drought by watering when needed, and there 
need be no more uncertainty in the strawberry 
than in the corn crop. 
- • o .- 
RUSSET APPLES. 
Our Pomological authorities do not exactly 
agree in their names and synonyms of these 
fruits; and the popular terms are, oftentimes, 
quite out of the way with either of the book au¬ 
thorities. For instance, Downing has the Ame¬ 
rican Golden Russet — synonyms, Golden 
Russet, Sheep Nose, Bullock’s Pippin. Fol¬ 
lowing this description is that of the English 
Golden Russet, an inferior sort. Then, again, 
is the Putnam Russet, which, as was afterwards 
ascertained, is identical with the Roxbury, or 
Boston Russet ; but transferred to Ohio, from 
New-England, by the late General Rufus Put¬ 
nam, is locally called after him. Downing also 
describes the Boston, or Roxbury Russet, cor¬ 
rectly. The English Russet he also describes 
without a synonym. TnoMAS and Barry, in 
their books, have added the name Poughkeepsie 
as a synonym to this, at the suggestion, proba¬ 
bly, of the fruit conventions. This is the beau¬ 
tiful, rich, and fair-looking apple generally so 
abundant in our New-York markets during the 
spring and early summer months, as the Gol¬ 
den Russet, so called by the dealers. There is 
also a large Yellow Russet, described by Barry, 
cultivated extensively in Western New-York, of 
the size of the Roxbury, which goes by the lo¬ 
cal name of the Golden Russet, different from 
the Roxbury, in not being so long a keeper. 
Again, there is the Pomme Grise, (Gray Apple)— 
a Canadian fruit—very rich, a long keeper, but 
quite small. This is not much, if at all culti¬ 
vated with us, but is abundant in the colder re¬ 
gions of New-York and the Canadas. 
STORING APPLES IN DRY SAWDUST. 
I have a dark closet in my house, or rather I 
live in a row with windows back and front. 
The house is four story high, and the length 
from front to back is so great, that we have 
three rooms on a floor, the center one dark. On 
the third story the floors are plaster, and I find 
the temperature so even that I use it for a wine 
store in preference to the cellar, and have it 
fitted with binns. In this room I put some 
hampers of apples (like pearmain.) I wanted 
one of the hampers, and turned the apples on 
one of the binns, amongst the dry sawdust, (pine 
sawdust.) A fortnight ago we looked at them, 
having used up the others gathered at the same 
time and from the same tree, all of which were 
much wrinkled, but on taking those off and 
from amongst the sawdust, I found them in a 
most beautiful condition; those covered with 
sawdust were as plump and fresh as when gath¬ 
ered, while those partially buried were only so 
to the extent covered with the sawdust, the up¬ 
per portions being wrinkled. I am so pleased 
with the discovery that I shall pack them in 
binns next year, for I have no doubt they will 
keep in this way till next Christmas.— Corres¬ 
pondent Ayr Advertiser. 
- 1 9 •-- - 
AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
The Fifth Session of this National Association 
will be held at Horticultural Hall, in the city of 
Boston, Massachusetts, commencing on Wednes¬ 
day, the thirteenth day of September next, at 
ten o’clock, A. M. 
It is intended to make this assemblage one of 
the most interesting that has ever been held in 
