1861.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
179 
north of this city. The Siberian is the finest 
hardy species that has yet been fully tested. Its 
foliage is more compact, heavier, and darker in 
color than the American, and does not brown 
up in Winter. When it becomes cheaper, it will 
be the favorite plant for green hedges and 
screens. It would be unfair to deny a word of 
commendation for that excellent drudge, the 
common American arbor vitae. With care in se¬ 
ating specimens and in the after treatment, 
it often makes a handsome tree. For hedges 
and screens, it serves an excellent purpose, and 
grows very rapidly. 
The Junipers. ( Juniperas .)—These trees de¬ 
serve more attention than they receive. The 
common American and Swedish are hardy as 
far north as Albany, N. Y.; they are quite dis¬ 
tinct in habit from all other trees, and being of 
medium size, are well suited to small grounds, 
cemetery-lots, and other such situations. Some 
varieties are straggling and loose in their style 
of growth, but as a general rule they assume a 
tapering, conical shape, resembling a miniature 
poplar. An occasional tying in of the branch¬ 
es, and a little clipping of the extremities, im¬ 
prove their appearance. 
The Red Cedar belongs to the juniper family. 
It varies much in form and color—being some¬ 
times compact and pyramidal, at others open 
and spreading; sometimes a dark grass green, 
and again tinged with blue. It becomes rusty in 
Winter, and is wont to lose its lower branches, 
and to become shabby on the sides exposed to 
severe winds. Give it a partially sheltered as¬ 
pect, set it in a sandy loam, and it will often 
nake a handsome tree. 
There are several other desirable evergreens, 
which we have not space to describe, or of 
which our personal knowledge is so slight that 
we can not speak with much confidence. Pinus 
ponderosa, from Oregon, is a noble tree, resem¬ 
bling the Austrian, though of still larger growth, 
throwing out its giant arms in a very grand 
way. Our own specimens, four or five feet 
high, are doing well; but Mr. Sargent, the 
Apostle of Evergreens in America, warns us 
that they will by and by topple over, from their 
too rampant growth, and their habit of working 
the crown of the root out of the ground. They 
will perhaps require artificial support. Pinus 
pumilio seems to be a dwarfish variety of the 
Scotch, hardy as an oak. Pinus Benthamiana, 
P. Pyrenaia, P. Laricio and P. Lambertiana, are 
reported hardy in some parts of New-England, 
and on the middle Hudson, and are fine trees. 
Thuiopsis borealis , or Nootka Sound Cypress, is 
undoubtedly hardy, having stood out in the lati¬ 
tude of Albany uninjured. It has the general 
habit of the Arbor Vitae, but is more feathery 
and graceful, and is of a bluish green color. Cu- 
pressus Lawsoniana , Picea nobilis, Thuja pendula , 
and several others promise well, but we are un¬ 
able now to say more than this with certainty. 
Dry Dot in Living Trees and Vines. 
The London Gardeners’ Chronicle, noticing 
the unusual prevalence of disease among grape 
vines in England this year, attributes it in part 
to the effects of dry rot. This great destroyer 
of timber, as is generally known, consists of a 
minute fungus, which, by its growth, disorgan¬ 
izes the substance of the wood, making it brit¬ 
tle and worthless. The Editor of the Chroni¬ 
cle, Prof. Lindley, is convinced by repeated ob¬ 
servations, some of them made as far back as 
1848, that this fungus may, under certain con¬ 
ditions, establish itself upon the roots of living 
plants. It first attacks those which, from other 
causes, have lost their vitality, and gradually 
advances until the whole of the roots are des¬ 
troyed, and the plant perishes. Rotten wood 
lying in the ground may, at first, be the seat of 
the Fungus, from which it may extend to an un¬ 
healthy root. In the case of two grape vines 
recently inspected, the dry rot was plainly the 
cause of their death; where it originated, was 
not ascertained. The presence of excessive 
moisture or any cause tending to weaken the 
vitality of the roots, would render vines or trees 
more liable to attack; hence the importance of 
a well drained border. It may also be worthy 
of consideration whether the use of chip dirt in 
the grape border is not objectionable, for fear of 
breeding the destructive fungus. 
Slugs in Strawberry Beds. 
It sometimes happens that strawberry patches 
mulched with saw-dust or tanners’ bark, become 
infested with worms—though, in our experience, 
this seldom happens in the use of bark. But 
when this occurs, if the bed is an old one, we 
should advise breaking it up as soon as possible, 
killing the slugs which come to light, and work¬ 
ing into the soil a good dressing of ashes or 
lime. If the worms are not very numerous, 
watch where they burrow, and then give a good 
soaking of tobacco water. Make the decoction 
at the rate of one pound of tobacco stems to 
three gallons of water; let it soak half a day, 
stirring it occasionally, and then apply with a 
watering pot. We have known this to extermi¬ 
nate such “ varmints” pretty effectually. Where 
tobacco stems are not at hand, try salt and w T a- 
ter, at the rate of half a pint of salt to two gal¬ 
lons of water. The strawberry will endure salt 
about as well as asparagus. Sprinkle the brine 
on the infected districts at evening. 
--- — ©■>— ---- 
Thin Out the Plants. 
We can not allow the month of June to pass 
without preaching our annual sermon on the 
above text. Every body sows more seed than 
he knows it is best to grow where it is sown— 
he does it supposing that some will prove poor, 
that others will be eaten by worms, etc., etc. 
Yet when the plants come up fresh and green, 
and grow luxuriantly, he finds it very hard to 
pull up the beautiful things and throw them 
away. But what would become of those car¬ 
rots, and beets, and parsneps, if they were al¬ 
lowed to stand crowded together as they first 
come up ? They would look quite like pipe- 
stems. Let them be thinned out several times 
early in the summer, and in the final thinning, 
leave them from two to four inches apart. So 
with cucumbers, melons, squashes, and Lima 
beans. Three plants are enough to leave in a 
hill. This number will make a more vigorous 
growth, and will mature their products quicker 
than five or six plants to a hill. 
Nor is thinning less needful in the flower- 
garden. This is important even where one 
wishes to grow flowers in masses. Small grow¬ 
ing plants, such as candytuft, clarkia, etc., may 
be allowed to stand four inches apart, and larger 
sorts, such as asters, marigolds, and larkspurs, 
six or eight. As masses, they will grow better 
and bloom better than if crowded. But if one 
wishes to raise specimen plants, they should 
stand much further apart, say from eight to 
twelve inches. They will then form miniature 
trees, clothed with foliage and flowers from the 
ground to the top of the plant. If any one 
doubts the wisdom of so thinning cut his plants, 
let him once tiy it'and report. Wc know 
.in advance what his report will be. 
--»--» — -—.-•»—-—. 
Raising Cabbages. 
Let no one despise this ancient vegetable, so 
palatable and useful to man and beast. Some 
sorts are coarse and rank, fit only for the cow- 
yard, but others are delicate and crisp, hardly 
inferior to the cauliflower, fit for the table of a 
king. Among early varieties, the old Early York 
has had hardly a competitor for a hundred 
years past. The heads are rather small, firm, 
almost heart-shaped, and of delicious flavor. 
Early Nonpareil is also excellent. Early Dutch 
comes a trifle later, and is first-rate. Then fol¬ 
lows the Drum-Head or Flat Dutch , with its large, 
spreading, fiattish head, and of close, firm tex¬ 
ture. If seeds of it are sown in May, the heads 
will mature in October, and keep well all win¬ 
ter. It is a favorite market sort, bringing, on 
an average, $2 50 a hundred. For family use, 
we confess the Savoys have our preference, es¬ 
pecially the curled leaf varieties. Not attempt¬ 
ing to mention all the good sorts, we must not, 
however, forget the Red Dutch , the favorite for 
pickling, and a capital sort for winter consump¬ 
tion. 
Can it be that any body in this enlightened 
land does not know all about raising cabbages ? 
That, for the early sorts, the plants should be 
started in a liot-bed, and transplanted as soon as 
the May frosts are over ? That, for later sorts, 
the seed-bed may be made in any warm spot, 
and the plants be re-set, along through June and 
July, as may be convenient? Every body 
knows that the cabbage likes a fat soil. Each 
plant wants two to three feet square of ground 
to spread itself in, according to the size of the 
variety. The ground should be frequently hoed, 
hilling up the earth around the stems to support 
them. For details in transplanting, see an article 
on the subject, in the May Agriculturist, p. 149. 
In some seasons the cabbage-fly is trouble¬ 
some. Give him soot, ashes, or air-slaked lime, 
sprinkled on the leaves before sunrise. Or, set 
a hen-coop with young chickens near the patch, 
and they will feast upon the insects. Cabbages 
are also subject to club-foot or stub-foot, the 
roots having a swelled or knobby look, and the 
plants being weak and unhealthy. Some as¬ 
cribe this to a grub, others to the growing of 
cabbages too long on the same ground. What¬ 
ever the cause, avoid it by choosing a new spot 
every other year. That wicked grub which eats 
off so many young plants by night, just above 
the ground, may be headed off by sprinkling 
lime around the plants, or by surrounding each 
stem with a ring of thick paper an inch wide. 
During the heats of mid-summer, it is well to 
water the plants with slops from the kitchen sink. 
---O -- m e . —-- 
A Cabbage Tree. 
For a year or two past we have met w r ith no¬ 
tices in our exchanges, of a wonderful cabbage 
tree, said to be growing in Calaveras Co., Cali¬ 
fornia. It was described as having grown dur¬ 
ing five years from an ordinaiy cabbage plant, 
to near fifteen feet high, and as having borne 
fifty or sixty heads of cabbage last year. This 
appeared so like a humbug, that no notice was 
taken of it. The last No. of the Country Gentle¬ 
man contains a letter from James Hepburn, the 
