50 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Fetsiujaey, 
Try Mulching. 
By mulching , the inexperienced reader xvill un¬ 
derstand that we mean the placing of leaves, 
straw, refuse hay, grass, or other material, upon 
the surface of the soil, around the base of fruit 
trees, and various other plants. We hope every 
reader of the Agriculturist will look into the ben¬ 
efits of this process. It is possible, doubtless, to 
over-rate the importance of the practice, but there 
<s little danger ot it. To our view, it is one of 
the most useful processes in orchard and garden 
culture. Of course, it is not to be employed 
without regard to time and season. Its value 
appears chiefly in times of drouth, preserving a 
Healthful moisture of the surface of the soil. It 
it Iso saves hoe-labor in keeping down weeds and 
scarifying the earth about trees and plants. 
If a fruit-garden is not carefully tilled in mid¬ 
summer, the ground becomes hard and dry, and 
an army of weeds invade it, which by the 
evaporation from their leaves pump the soil 
still drier than it w r ould be if bare of vegetation. 
But cover the ground between and around the 
frees with a few inches thick of forest-leaves, or 
straw, or tan-bark, and the soil will continue 
moist, and few weeds will appear. The trees, 
too, will make a better growth. 
Yet mulching should be applied with some 
care and discrimination. For instance; it should 
seldom be used in early Summer, except in the 
case of newly planted trees. From April to 
June, it would be better to keep the soil clean 
and loose with the cultivator and hoe; for, if 
covered earlier, it would keep out the genial 
heat of the sun, and so retard the growth of 
both leaves and roots. Wait until the ground 
gets well warmed and vivified, until the manures 
have been well worked into the soil by the hoe, 
and until the ordinary rains and dews of early 
Summer seem insufficient 10 keep the ground 
properly moist: then put on the blanket oi 
leaves, or straw, or refuse hay, or cut weeds. So 
treated, it will matter little whether it rains or 
not, for several weeks at a time, for the mulch 
will arrest the moisture always rising from tht 
subsoil, and prevent its evaporation. The hoc,, 
too, may cease its fight of the weeds lor a long 
time. 
Again; the mulch should, in most cases, be 
removed before the close of the season. If kept 
on late into Autumn, it will serve to keep the 
ground about the roots of the trees warm and 
moist, and so excite continued growth at a time 
when it should have ceased, and the forces of 
the tree be spent in ripening off its wood prepar¬ 
atory to Winter. The neglect of this precaution 
may account, in part, for the winter-killing of 
many fine dwarf and other pear trees. There is 
another reason, too, for this; if the mulch of 
hay or straw be left around young trees in Win¬ 
ter, it will be quite sure to afford a nesting-place 
for mice. Let it then be removed, say about 
the middle of September or first of October. 
Early in November, supply its place with a hil¬ 
lock of common soil around the trunk, to repel 
vermin. 
As already intimated, mulching is very im¬ 
portant in the case of newly planted trees, 
shrubs, and vines. The mangled roots very soon 
send off all the moisture they possess, or can 
gather from the surrounding soil, and it is very 
important to supply their lack artificially, until 
they get re-established, and in a condition to 
gather water for themselves. This can be done, 
either by watering the roots frequently, or by 
mulching them. The first method every expe¬ 
rienced planter knows is open to many objec¬ 
tions; it is an unnatural remedy, it usually 
packs the ground too much, it is laborious, and 
is not always successful. The latter has every¬ 
thing to recommend it: it is nature’s plan for 
protecting roots, it is easily and quickly done, 
and is generally successful. Water may perhaps 
be wisely applied once, at the time of replant¬ 
ing, but it will seldom be needed again. Among 
deciduous trees, there is none that demands this 
treatment more than the cherry. From neglect 
of it, many fine collections perish every year. 
And if deciduous trees require mulching, much 
more do evergreens. Their foliage always fully 
expanded, serves to evaporate the moisture of 
the roots very fast. At the time of re-setting, 
they should be plentifully watered, and then 
the soil over the roots should be covered with 
leaves and flat stones to keep them down, or 
with spent tan-bark. With this little care, even 
the fastidious Hemlock will accommodate itself 
to new soils and exposures. For shading the 
ground about newly planted shrubs, grape-vines, 
strawberries, cuttings and the like, nothing is 
better than chopped straw, or (which looks bet¬ 
ter) newly mown grass. If water is applied 
soon from a watering pot, it will make the mulch 
lie flat upon the ground, and it will remain there 
all Summer. 
-■*-«-—n<T>«—-*-•- 
Highland Cranberries. 
It is claimed by many, that the common 
bog-cranberry can be grown on upland, pro¬ 
vided the soil is somewhat moist, is dressed 
with a coating of sand, and afterwards properly 
tilled, etc., etc. In a late meeting of a Farmers’ 
Club, which the writer attended, a gentleman 
who had just visited New-Hampshire, remarked 
that his friends in that State showed him cran¬ 
berries which they had gathered in a wild state 
from the sides of their hills and mountains. This 
remark was received with looks of incredulity 
on the part of several present. 
In a recent Maine Farmer, we see it stat¬ 
ed on the highest authority that there is a 
variety of the cranberry known as the moun¬ 
tain-berry, which grows wild on the waste 
mountain lands of Washington county. It is 
known to botanists as Vaccinium Vitis Idcea, and 
to the common people as “ mountain cranber¬ 
ry,” “ rock-cranberry,” “ cowberry,” etc. It 
grows abundantly on the sides of the White 
Hills, and on the summits of other mountains in 
Maine, and portions of Massachusetts. In the 
eastern parts of Maine, they are common, and 
are gathered by the Passamaquoddy Indians and 
other white Indians, and brought into market. 
They are smaller than the lowland cranberry, 
but of a pleasant, acid flavor, and by some 
preferred to the others. If this be so, 
would it not be well to introduce this high¬ 
land cranberry into other parts of the country ? 
It would doubtless succeed where the lowland 
variety is raised with much difficulty. * 
The Privet not Hardy. 
There seems to be a difference of opinion in 
regard to the hardiness of this shrub. It often 
grows 5 or G feet high without injury, and then 
dies out hi patches. In the City of Buffalo, N. Y., 
we have seen extensive hedges of it, which were, 
for many years, the pride of their owner, but at 
length were so badly bitten by the frosts of sev¬ 
eral Winters that they had to be rooted out and 
thrown away. We have seen some handsome 
specimens of topiary-work, or shrubs cut with 
the shears into fantastic forms, in privet, near 
Utica, which after a line display for a few years, 
were cut to the ground in a single Winter. Ant. 
again, in other parts of this State, we have seen 
hedges and screens of privet remaining per¬ 
fect walls of verdure for a dozen years. 
On the whole, we think the privet is not per¬ 
fectly hardy at the north. And it should not 
be planted in such conspicuous places that when 
badly “ cut up,” it will be an eye-sore. For an 
undergrowth in a grove, it is very suitable, as it 
retains its leaves there nearly all Winter, and is 
seldom injured by frost. For screens in out-of- 
the-way places, t@ hide coarse fences, it does 
very well. For a very low hedge around a 
burial lot in a cemetery, it is very pretty: if 
kept quite low, it will seldom be winter killed. 
It is a native of Europe, but has become do¬ 
mesticated in some parts of this country. In 
France and England, it is much used for hedges, 
and, like almost every fine plant in England, it 
has received poetic honors:— 
-“ The Privet, too, 
Whose white flowers rival the first drifts of snow 
On Grampia’s piny hills.” 
Shelter for a Fruit Garden. 
A subscriber (J. P. of Oswego,) wishes to plant 
a fruit-garden, where it needs shelter on the 
north and west sides; and asks advice about 
the material for a hedge or screen, and the man¬ 
ner of planting it. 
Reply :—If your garden were not to be so 
large as you propose, we should say, use buck¬ 
thorn for the hedge, allowing it to grow eight 
or ten feet high. This plant .can be had cheap, 
it grows in almost any soil and exposure, and is 
not subject to the attacks of the borer. But, as 
you wish “ shelter for standard pears and peach¬ 
es one hundred and thirty feet off,” probably 
you had better try something else. If large 
specimens of the American Arbor Vitos—say 
five or six feet high—can be had from the woods 
near you, we should say, make a trial of them. 
They will transplant easily, and when establish¬ 
ed, will grow a foot every year. They can bo 
sheared and kept within as small space as any 
hedge. The roots will not extend a long dis¬ 
tance, to rob fruit-trees of their needful food. 
If the Arbor Vitae can not be easily obtained, 
then try the Norway Spruce. This may be a 
little more expensive at the outset, but it will 
surely succeed and be every way satisfactory. 
Get plants about four feet high, set the stems at 
least six feet apart in the row, and they will 
soon spread laterally so as to fill up the spaces 
between, and they will rise high enough to 
break the winds from your most distant fruit- 
trees. All this, however, goes on the supposi¬ 
tion that you first prepare a wide, deep and rich 
border for them to grow in. After they have 
become well rooted and in vigorous growth, 
they should be primed a little in mid-summer. 
This tree is much used in Norway for hedges 
and screens, and when well managed, makes a 
lofty green wall, and a barrier stout enough to 
turn cattle. You could, undoubtedly, set fruit- 
trees within ten or twelve feet of this hedge, 
without material injury from its roots. 
New Upiiigiit Tomato. —The Gardener’s 
Chronicle (Eng.) speaks of a new upright toma 
to, which requires no support. Its stem is two 
feet high, or more, and so remarkably strong 
and st iff, that they are strictly self-supporting— 
a highly commendable quality. It branches 
less than the common great red tomato, is less 
leafy, and does not want so much pinching. It 
does not bear so freely, as the common tomato, 
