1861.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
5441 
Fig. 4—A Model Juniper. 
tree. The lower branches must be hewn off, 
ten or fifteen feet high, so as to allow free pas¬ 
sage for vehicles, and openness of view in all 
directions. It is especially needful, however, 
that thejr be of the toughest sorts, because they 
vill be exposed to more injuries than park- 
trees. Forest trees are models of their kind, just 
as we find them, adapted to their location. 
Our object in this article is doubtless appa¬ 
rent. We hope it will open the eyes of some to 
note the characteristics of trees. It is desirable 
for every person to have formed in his own 
mind an ideal of each kind of tree, so that 
when selecting sorts for his own grounds, or for 
others, he can choose them uuderstandingly. 
Why should we not plant perfect specimens, 
while we are about it, instead of such ungainly 
things as will pain all discerning eyes ? And is 
it not plainly the duty of nurserymen to give 
their ornamental trees, (evergreens in particular,) 
more room than they are wont to receive in the 
nursery rows to develop their base branches ? 
For, if these branches are wanting or feeble 
when purchased, they will be quite sure to re¬ 
main so always. More care in this respect 
would be to the advantage of buyer and seller. 
-— --- - -- - 
The Best Elm Tree. 
The inquiry is not unfrequently made, which 
is the best sort of elm tree ? To which we gen¬ 
erally reply, patriotically of course, the Ameri¬ 
can White Elm. Its grandeur and dignity, com¬ 
bined with equal gracefulness, are nowhere 
surpassed. Yet other elms have their own ex¬ 
cellences. The Scotch and English do not 
grow as lofty, nor sweep so proudly, but their 
foliage is darker, denser, and does not turn yel¬ 
low and drop so early in the Autumn, as does 
the American. The Cornish (Irish) elm is an 
erect and dark leaved tree, worthy of a place in 
every good collection. The Dutch cork-barked 
el^i is also one of the yery best trees, Jt comes 
out late in the Spring, but holds its leaves well 
up to cold weather. It is entirely hardy, and is 
probably the most rapid grower of all. It 
stands quite upright, making a globular, or 
plume-shaped head. It may be readily dis¬ 
tinguished from most foreign species by its 
rough, corky bark, which, however, is less con¬ 
spicuous than our own native cork-barked elm. 
We have seen it stated that trees of the Dutch 
elm, standing in the streets of large towns, 
among other trees—lindens, ash and common 
elms—were entirely untouched by the caterpil¬ 
lar and other worms which infested other trees. 
If this exemption is a general rule, it will put 
the Dutchman high on the list of town trees. 
Grape Training. 
In these mid-summer months, the grape-vines 
must have some attention. There is danger on 
two sides. Some persons, seeing their frames 
covered with an almost impervious mass of fo¬ 
liage, concealing the clusters, will be apt to pull 
off the leaves to let in the sun and air upon the 
fruit. Beware of this ! The leaves, not the fruit, 
want the sun light. If your vines were proper¬ 
ly trimmed, last Fall, or early in the Spring, all 
you need do now, is to pinch out the laterals 
where too many start from a joint, and to 
pinch off the fruit bearers at two or three buds 
beyond the fruit. Experience shows that the 
clusters are largest and also ripen best where 
the vines have an abundance of healthy foliage. 
Another danger lies in the neglect to prune at 
all in Summer. A mass of suckers is allowed to 
shoot up from the central part of the vine, over- 
lying and smothering the fruit-bearing canes. 
Three or four shoots are suffered to grow from 
every point, when one or two are enough. The 
vigor of the vine should be concentrated into 
those canes which grow where they are wanted, 
not diffused and wasted in a wild, ungoverned 
a, a, bearing wood of last year’s growth— b, b, new wood of 
this year’s growth. 
growth of useless wood. The canes should be 
distributed equally over the trellis, tying them 
in as they grow, and nipping off the extremities 
when they have exceeded proper bounds. 
Probably, it is the growing conviction of our 
vine-loving readers—it certainly is our own—- 
that the renewal mode of training grapes is on the 
whole the best. Get two, strong, horizontal 
canes, full of sound, plump buds, bend the canes 
to the lower bar of the trellis and fasten it there 
by stout thongs, from this, upright shoots may 
be trained, which are to be renewed alternately 
from year to year. In this way, we get an 
abundance of new fruit-bearing wood every 
year. The vine, too, is more completely under 
control than in any other method. When the 
canes are tied to the trellis at random, and spur- 
pruned, the new shoots starting out on every 
side, overlap and crowd each other, and make a 
mass of unmanageable foliage. When the vines 
are trained on the renewal method, one sees 
every cane distinctly, he can rub out every shoot 
that Is not wanted,, training up only the fruit- 
bearers of the present season and those intended 
for the same office the next year. In short, he 
keeps every cane easily at home. Every garden 
er who loves system and order and neatness, 
will strongly incline to the renewal method. 
—--»-<———■■ - 
Manzanito. 
In answer to our request on page 25, January 
No. Mrs. E. Bowman, of Siskyou Co., Cal., 
describes the Manzanito, as an evergreen shrub 
of 15 to 20 feet in liiglit, very crooked and scrub¬ 
by, much like the Ivy Laurel on the Allegany 
mountains. Leaves broad and thick, smooth, 
dark red, or light brown bark, with a very hand¬ 
some and fragrant bloom of small pink flowers. 
The fruit is of a dark color, the size of a pea, with 
a single pit like the cherry, and is used for food 
by the Indians. The wood is exceedingly hard 
and close grained, resembling box wood, the 
small shoots making fine canes, when they can 
be found sufficiently straight. 
It is found upon the Southern slopes of the 
mountains, in a dry and sterile soil where noth¬ 
ing else grows but a scrubby pine. Mrs. B., has 
never seen it transplanted with success. She 
promises to send us seed in the Fall. We have 
no doubt they will flourish here, and add anoth¬ 
er to our list of desirable hardy evergreens. 
You Must Have Strawberries— 
Not an occasional half pint doled out by the 
teaspoonful, but plenty of them, great bowlfuls 
and panfuls, once or twice a day for a whole 
month at least—not little things of the size of 
peas that require so much time to pick them 
over, but great luscious ones, as large as hickory 
nuts and black walnuts, and larger too—not 
the chance growth of meadows and pastures, 
requiring hours of picking in the hot sun, and 
the trampling (town of much grass, but nice 
plots of flourishing hills in the best part of the 
garden. You must have strawberries—not 
alone a few of you who dwell in the old settled 
portions of the East where other fruits abound, 
but all of you who live away on the new farms 
of the West, where few cultivated fruits are yet 
enjoyed, and can not be until the trees have had 
time to grow. You must have them—not a 
dozen years hence, when you have got your 
farm paid for, your buildings completed, and 
every thing else fixed up. You must have a 
good taste of them next year, and thenceforth 
all you can eat. They are good for the health. 
They are good for the temper; did anybody 
ever rise from a meal topped off with strawber¬ 
ries, or strawberries and cream, and feel like 
scolding ? They are the cheapest luxury the farm 
or garden affords, and the best. Good strawberries 
can be grown for 64 cents a bushel (1 cent a pint!) 
“ But,” says more than one, “ we can’t afford 
it this year; times are hard, and your cultivated 
varieties cost money.”—Not much; a dozen or 
two plants of good kinds will cost but a few 
cents—not more than one or two cents each— 
and, thanks to the last Congress, the postage is 
now so low on plants and seeds, that those who 
can not obtain strawberry plants nearer home, 
can order them by mail from the other side of 
the Continent. If well put up in oiled silk, or in 
light wooden or tin cases, strawberry plants can 
go from here to Oregon in the mail bags, (for 2 
cents per ounce, or 1 cent if under 1,500 miles), 
and if sent in the cool month of September, they 
will generally go safely. If subject to much 
heat on the passage, they may sometimes fail, 
but the chances are so greatly in favor of their 
