1801.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
369 
set with fine buds for next season. One plant 
has 24 buds on it. L. H. Johns. 
Baltimore Co., Md. 
The Moles! The Moles!! Help Wanted!!! 
A HINT TO YANKEE INVENTORS. 
What shall we do with the moles ? They are 
worse than the frogs of Egypt, this year. The 
frogs work above board and we could catch 
them if troublesome. The sneaking moles are 
every where beneath our grounds, plowing them 
at night in all directions, upsetting and destroy¬ 
ing the plants, and sadly marring the intended 
beauty of the smooth lawns. This is the hight 
of ingratitude. For years we have taken their 
part, proclaiming them as innocent, fellows in¬ 
tent only on destroying noxious insects. Last 
year we remonstrated against their extra depre¬ 
dations, and this year, as if in revenge , they have 
swarmed upon us in innumerable multitudes. 
Our rat terrier was let loose, but his subterra¬ 
nean excavations, and mounds, were worse than 
the enemy. We poisoned cheese and placed it 
in their paths; the cheese disappeared but the 
moles did not. We set traps, but with a signifi¬ 
cant thumb upon the nose and distended little 
finger, they laughed at our inventions, and made 
two new paths for one old one we had waylaid. 
Seriously, we are at our wit’s end, and in anx¬ 
iety as to the future. If the moles go on increas¬ 
ing as they have for two years past, and no 
remedy can be found, we shall have to sur¬ 
render at discretion, and yield them full pos¬ 
session of the contested ground. And we find 
that we are far from being alone in our troubles. 
Here is an opening for some ingenious Yankee. 
Whoever shall first contrive some simple , feasible 
mode of destroying moles will not only confer a 
favor upon multitudes, but gather dimes into 
his own pocket. We promise to the first suc¬ 
cessful practicable mole catcher a free adver¬ 
tisement to the hundreds of thousands of read¬ 
ers of the American Agriculturist , that will be 
worth more than all the hand-bills he could is¬ 
sue in a year. Who is to be the lucky man ? 
N. B.—The moles hereabouts arc apparently a 
different species from those common in Europe, 
and they evidently require a different treatment, 
as all European remedies fail here. 
-♦-*--» » 
Hens versus Bugs. 
A neighbor, who has fine gardens, useful and 
ornamental, started in life with the idea that he 
could not have hens running at large, and a 
well kept garden at the same time. He felt cer¬ 
tain that the poultry would scratch, and roll, and 
tear his neat parterres all to pieces. So biddy 
was abjured. But his neighbors kept hens, lots 
of them. And their annoyances, fore and aft, 
right and left, were exceeding great and numer¬ 
ous. Sticks and stones, whistling, loud shout¬ 
ing, all did no good. He complained to his neigh¬ 
bors. “Do the hens trouble you sir! indeed, 
it is too bad; they shall be shut up.” So said 
each neighbor, yet, after a day or two of con¬ 
finement, the hens were at liberty again. 
In the lull of our friend’s exasperation, one 
day he happened to observe that while his 
neighbors hens scratched and rolled among his 
cucumber and melon vines, they also extermi¬ 
nated the vermin thereabout. He noticed soon 
after, that while they scratched off the mulch¬ 
ing from around his pear-trees and rose-bushes 
and dahlias, they did it in order to get at the 
insects which are destructive to these trees and 
plants. At length, he concluded that poultry, 
vexatious as they were to him, were on the 
search for food, and since they fed on what was 
injurious to his garden, he might put up with 
their trespasses. The neighbors began to no¬ 
tice that our friend threw fewer and fewer sticks 
and stones, and made fewer complaints, and 
at last he rejoiced in the possession of a dozen 
or two fowls, to dig and scratch on his own ac¬ 
count. He submitted to the least of two evils. 
--►-►-*-- 
Hyacinths in Glasses for House Ornaments 
in Winter. 
A pleasing, and at the same time a cheap or¬ 
nament for the house in Winter, is obtained by 
growing hyacinths in glass vessels of the form 
shown in the accompanying engraving. This 
is a sketch from one of half a dozen now 
standing upon our office table. The bulb lies 
in the wide neck, while the long roots already 
extend to the bottom of the water. They have 
been growing some three weeks. In a month or 
so a stem will shoot up, and a beautiful spike of 
fragrant flowers will be produced. The ordina¬ 
ry hyacinth glasses of the form here shown, are 
sold by seedsmen at 
$1.50 per dozen (124c. 
each). They are of 
various colors—white, 
pink, carmine, green, 
blue, etc., with inter¬ 
mediate shades. The 
colors answer in part 
for labels; thus, a red 
flowering bulb may 
be put in a red glass, 
blue in blue glass, and 
so on. Each bulb 
Should, however, have 
its specific name on a 
neat label attached to 
the glass.—As most 
hyacinth bulbs are 
arriving here in Sep- 
earlier they are put in 
glasses the better; but if in good condition they 
may be either planted out-doors, or put in glass¬ 
es in November or December even. A common 
practice is to set the bulbs in pots of earth, and 
put them in a cool place to start slowly, and af¬ 
terward transfer them to glasses for successive 
forcing, as required. When put in glasses di¬ 
rect, select firm sound bulbs that have not be¬ 
gun to grow, and lay them crown side up in the 
wide neck, or saucer part of the glass. Fill with 
rain or brook water so as to just touch the lower 
portion of the bulb, and set away in a cool dark 
place for two to four weeks, when they may be 
brought forward, and set first in a moderately 
warm place with a mild light, and afterward in 
heated apartments with a strong light. A bay- 
window, or other window affords a good place 
for them. When first brought to the light, the 
water should be poured off and fresh added, and 
it should afterward be changed every two weeks. 
As the stalk shoots up, a wire may be twisted 
around the bottle and extend upward fora sup¬ 
porting stake. Treated in this way, the hya¬ 
cinth will form a pleasing and very fragrant 
flowering plant for the parlor, conservatory, or 
sitting room in Winter, and by keeping them 
back in a cool dark place, and bringing them in 
in succession, fresh blooms may be secured all 
through the winter months. 
King of the Pumpkins. —In Paris the annu¬ 
al ceremony is performed of crowning the largest 
pumpkin offered for sale at the markets, and 
carrying it through the streets attended by a 
procession. This year the successful candidate 
for royal honors weighed 2424 lbs., and meas¬ 
ured 10 feet 4 inches in circumference. 
--- —•• — - 
Successful Tomato Culture. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
I experimented a little this year in tomato 
growing, and think the result a success. They 
were planted in rows 30 inches apart each way. 
(I think 34 feet would be better). As they grew, 
each was trained to an upright polo 5 feet high, 
and all the side shoots were trimmed off soon 
after making their appearance, except in some 
instances where branches divided equally, both 
shoots were trained up. When they reached 4 
to 44 feet high, the tops were taken off. The 
result of this treatment was, that on a plot 20 by 
25 feet, I had 15 bushels of tomatoes. One vine 
bore 66 specimens. A large number of them 
would weigh from 4 to 14 lbs. each. The largest 
specimen grown on the plot, was 8 inches long, 
6 inches broad, and 3 inches thick, weighing 24 
lbs. The variety grown is here called the 
“Beefsteak.” G. W. Arnold. 
Preston Co., Va. 
-^m- 
Improved Trellis for Tomatoes. 
Though not seasonable for present use, the 
following is worth making a note of, for practice 
next Summer. The Editor of the Maine Farm¬ 
er thus describes an improved trellis for toma¬ 
toes. Short posts, to project above the ground 
about five inches, were set near the rows of 
plants and about four feet apart. These were 
about two inches square, with a half inch hole 
bored through the tops, and a rod was passed 
through the holes, the whole length of the row. 
Five or six inches back of these, was placed 
another tier of the same kind, but six inches 
higher. Behind this was another similar tier, 
six inches higher still. As the tomatoes grew, 
they were tied to the horizontal rods, until they 
reached the highest tier, where they were trained 
to hang over the rod. In this way the vines 
were well supported, and also were left open to 
the sun and air. Slats tacked upon the tops of 
the posts would answer equally well. 
A New Garden Vegetable. 
French and English agricultural Journals 
highly recommend for cultivation a plant known 
to botanists as Clieerophyllum bulbosum. It was 
first introduced into France as a proposed sub¬ 
stitute for the potato. The root, which is the 
edible part, resembles a small parsnep in form, 
and the plant is cultivated in the same manner. 
The editor of the London Gardeners’ Chronicle 
says it is uncommonly good to eat, and grown 
as easily as a turnip. When cooked, the taste is 
described as resembling a boiled Spanish chest¬ 
nut, without its crispness or hardness. It is 
proposed to give it the name Parsnep Chervil , as 
it is thought the botanical cognomen would 
frighten plain people from having any thing to 
do with it. [The above we find in type for 
the Agriculturist. The Kerbelruebe, or Chervil 
Turnip, or Turnip Chervil has long been culti¬ 
vated, though it lias not come into general 
use. Seed can be obtained in this country, 
we doubt not. It is to be sown in Autumn, and 
used in Spring. By many it is esteemed a verj 
delicate vegetable. We have not yet tried it. O. J.) 
imported from Holland, 
tember and October, the 
