276 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
the rapid growth and mammoth leaves effectually 
check all noxious vegetation, thus dispensing 
with much of the outlay generally necessary for 
weeding other plants. 
The best time for planting out rhubarb is in 
Autumn, as soon as the leaves die out, say the 
last of Octuber, since this secures an earlier and 
better supply for use the next season. It may 
be planted in Spring, however, and yield some¬ 
what the same year. The whole roots give the 
best immediate results, but each root is usually 
divided into six or eight crowns or separate pieces, 
which are sold by the dozen or hundred. 
Poiiarius. 
Rkmarks. —We will add to the above, that 
every family may and should have a few rhubarb 
plants. In the Spring of 1857, we put out eight 
roots of the Linnaeus, and three roots of the 
Victoria, manuring well with bone sawings. 
They gave about a family supply the first season, 
and this year furnished abundance for ourselves 
and a neighbor, and we are still using the 
Linnatus, which we prefer to any other. We 
know of no better “ fruit” for early sauce and pies. 
We repeat, let every family put out a few roots, 
or crowns this year. Read the article on a suc¬ 
ceeding page respecting a succession of summer 
fruits — Ed. 
rig. 1. 
The Cherry Currant. 
Aoove we give a good representation of the 
Cherry Currant, which is of large size, although 
the bunches are not as long as some other varie- 
oes. The berries are of a deep red color, semi¬ 
transparent, a little more acid than the red Dutch 
and of nearly uniform size even to the end of the 
bunch. It is productive, and of such large size, 
when properly grown, that the fruit readily brings 
a high price in market, measuring one-half to 
rive-eighths of an inch in diameter, as will be 
seen by the engraving which is an exact repre¬ 
sentation of a bunch of the fruit. 
The very large size of this fruit in the hands of 
amateur gardeners is, in part, due to the treat¬ 
ment such persons are wont to give the currant, 
and which would produce a marked improvement 
in the size of the Red Dutch, or other kinds. The 
too common method of allowing the bushes to 
throw up numerous suckers, as seen in fig. 2, 
without ever cutting out or pruning the old wood, 
keeps the bushes unthrifty, and in poor condition 
to mature a crop of good sized berries. On the 
contrary, if trained to the tree form seen in fig. 3, 
Fig. 2. Fig. 3. 
heading back and cutting out each year, as neces¬ 
sary, all the forces of the plant are thrown di¬ 
rectly into fruit rather than superfluous suckers. 
To secure the last form, take cuttings of eighteen 
inches in length and, with a knife, pare out the 
buds from one foot of the lower end and insert six 
inches in the soil. This will give a trunk of six 
inches in hight, which is quite sufficient. Let no 
suckers shoot up, nor leave side branches below 
that distance. By cutting back, from time to 
time, next to buds upon the sides you wish it to 
extend, a shrub, or tree of any desired form may 
be produced 
Fig. 4. 
Fig. 4, sketched from a bush in our own grounds 
is, perhaps, as good a form as any, its open head 
admitting sufficient sun and air into the center to 
fully perfect all the fruit. The mode of treatment 
to produce this last was minutely given on page 
112 of Vol. XVI. 
--— --*<*>*—— «- 
Peabody’s Strawberry Again- 
Last month, page 246, we gave our own expe¬ 
rience and impressions in regard to this variety, 
which has called out numerous responses both for 
and against it. From all these reports we con¬ 
clude that in some localities and with some kinds 
of treatment it succeeds admirably and gives the 
highest satisfaction, while in other places, and 
with different treatment it fails to fruit well. 
What is the most suitable soil and treatment to 
produce the best results we are unable yet to 
gather. In our own case, the soil was somewhat 
stiff, but made pretty good by previous manuring, 
and a free application of bone sawings was added, 
as before stated. One neighbor succeeded equally 
well with ourselves, on a poorer soil, while anoth¬ 
er with a fair soil moderately manured with horse 
droppings, obtained but a limited amount of fruit, 
though this was large and of a very excellent fla¬ 
vor. Of its superior flavor, deep color, and solid, 
marketable character there is no room for doubt. 
We can but hope that by cultivating it in hills, 
and checking the growth of runners which it 
sends out in great numbers, it will be found 
abundantly productive, in which case we shall 
rank it in the first class. 
Geo. W. Robinson, of Onondaga Co., N. Y., 
writes under date of Aug. 3 : “.... In the Spring 
of 1857, I received a dozen plants from Georgia, 
by mail, and with care saved eleven. They grew 
vigorously without fruiting, and when I uncover¬ 
ed them the past Spring they appeared more vig¬ 
orous than any one of 13 other varieties I have 
under cultivation. From my bed 6 "by 17 feet I 
picked 14£ quarts of large delicious berries. The 
measurement of some of the largest was as fol¬ 
lows : 3.9, 4. 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.6, 4.7, and 5 inches 
in circumference. With my experience thus far, 
were I to choose, for garden culture only, two va¬ 
rieties from such as I am acquainted with, they 
would be Peabody’s Seedling and Wilson’s Albany 
Seedling....” 
---» --—Kfr®----- 
One Little Strawberry Plot. 
If any body is content to do without an abund¬ 
ance of luscious strawberries, or to depend upon 
gathering the little wild things that grow in the 
fields, we do not envy their contentment. Here 
is our report with one little bed, just six feet wide 
and sixteen feet long, that is, a little more than 
one-third of a square rod. 
May, 1857, we set out upon it 36 plants, half a 
dozen each of Longworth’s Prolific, Hovey’s 
Seedling, McAvoy’s Superior, Large Early Scarlet, 
Burr’s New Pine and Gen’l Jaquemont—the last 
named about worthless. Cost of plants 87 cents. 
The soil, a light clay loam made rich by hog ma¬ 
nure in previous years, was deeply spaded, and 
four quarts of bone sawings (costing 13 cents,) 
were mixed with the soil in which the plants 
were set. We intended to cut off all runners and 
keep the plants in hills, but by oversight they 
got mixed, and no further attention was given to 
them except to pull out all weeds, and cut off with 
a spade all runners striking out into the surround¬ 
ing path. 
This year that bed supplied a measured bushel 
of large berries, besides a considerable amount 
eaten directly from the plot. A dollar and a half 
will cover the entire expense of the bed, labor in¬ 
cluded. 'We are now cutting out the superfluous 
plants and shall look for another bushel of frir* 
next year. Don’t this pay ? 
- ——-► —-- 
White Native Strawberries- 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
I wish to call your attention to what is, to me, 
a new variety of Native Strawberries. The ber¬ 
ry is larger than the wild red, of a while or cream 
color, and of a delicious pine-apple flavor. The 
leaf is smaller than that of the red variety, and 
of a lighter green. I think it has several advan¬ 
tages over the native red, one of which is the 
facility with which it parts from the hull. In 
picking two quarts yesterday, I could not find a 
hull attached to a single berry. They are ready 
to be dished out upon the table as soon as gather¬ 
ed and sugared. 
I am located in the woods, among pine and 
hemlock timber, and this strawberry is found in¬ 
terspersed among red ones, over a tract of about 
twelve acres, used as a pasture. 
Frederick Hunt. 
Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., July 2, 1858. 
Remarks —We have grown the White Wood 
and Alpine Strawberries of Europe, but we be¬ 
lieve this is the first indication that a branch of 
the same family is a native of this country. They 
may prove worthy of cultivation. 
