1977 | 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
4=71 
roots were satisfactory, they have planted them 
out in their own grounds for one season, before 
risking them in the streets. 
Wherever the trees may be taken from, every 
precaution is used to prevent the roots from ex¬ 
posure. Several wagons have been built in such a 
manner that the trees can stand upright, without 
being jammed either in tops or roots, the roots be¬ 
ing protected with wet bagging, to prevent drying. 
The trees, when planted, average an inch and a half 
in diameter, and 12 feet in hight. The hole for 
the roots is dug about five feet across, and two feet 
deep. When the natural soil is unsuitable, this is 
filled with good soil brought from elsewhere. Every 
tree when planted is surrounded by a substantial, 
but plain, slatted tree box, 6 feet high ; this serves 
the double purpose of protecting the tree from in¬ 
jury by cattle and otherwise, and of shading the stem 
from the sun. This shading is all important. When 
trees are growing in masses, either in the forest or 
in the nursery, they shade one another, and it must 
be evident that, if set out without any protection 
from the blazing sun, they must suffer. Many 
thousands of deciduous trees (both fruit and orna¬ 
mental), perish annually, the first year of planting, 
from this cause. When taken from the closely 
planted nursery rows, and exposed to the full sun 
and air, the change is too great, and, unless the 
season is especially favorable, however careful 
the planting, large losses must ensue, unless the 
stems are shaded. Trees in orchards and other en¬ 
closures, may be most cheaply shaded by wrapping 
the stem up to the lower branches, with straw or 
hay ropes, or anything that will shade the trunk 
from the sun ; but for trees in streets or elsewhere 
exposed to injury, the slatted tree box is the best 
method of shading. The grand success in planting 
the avenues at Washington, is no doubt largely 
due to the persistent use of this precaution, for it 
is never omitted, and the results attest its value. 
The average cost of each tree, with its box, is $2.25, 
one-fifth of which is paid by the property owner, 
and the balance by the city. This is less thaa half 
what it would be, if the planting was done by the 
owners ; it now costs them a mere trifle, and is 
done uniformly and thoroughly, and gives the city 
an appearance that, before another decade passes, 
will be the wonder of every visitor. Already you 
may ride five miles “ under the Linden,” and when 
the work is completed, one may drive for 200 miles 
through the broad and amply shaded avenues of 
the Capital, as these trees will couvert the whole 
city into one great park. The planting was begun 
in 1872, and will in all probability be completed in 
ten years from date of starting, producing a result 
of which every American may be justly proud. 
Mr. William Saunders is preparing a pamphlet 
giving full details of planting, pruning, and general 
management of city trees, which will embody the 
experience acquired in the five years of extensive 
practice in planting the streets of Washington City. 
The Sweet Potato “Early Peabody.” 
This new sweet potato was first brought to notice 
by the American Agriculturist last spring. With re¬ 
gard to new plants of all kinds, an editor is placed 
in an unpleasant position. If he brings a new thing 
to the notice of his readers, and it turns out to be 
a disappointment, he is blamed. If, in the exercise 
of caution, he waits until the plant is more thor¬ 
oughly tested, he is, should it turn out to be valua¬ 
ble, blamed for not being up with the times, and 
for withholding that which his readers should hare 
known. Our course, in such matters, has been to 
give the statement of the one who originates or 
brings out the plant, and our readers, having all the 
information we possess, and knowing its source, can 
judge for themselves whether they should make a 
trial or not. Of course there are a few who think 
that we recommend e\ erything we notice, and 
if we describe a particular fig, and they fail with 
it in Canada or Minnesota, are ready to blame us 
for the publication. Mr. Peabody’s claim for his 
•new sweet potato was, that it was to other varie¬ 
ties of sweet potato, what the Early Rose was to 
other potatoes. Indeed, so strongly was he im¬ 
pressed with this that he proposed to call it “ Early 
Rose,” but yielded to our suggestion that the name, 
being already applied to something else, would lead 
to confusion, and accepted our proposition to name 
the variety the “Early Peabody.” Any who are 
disposed to accuse Mr. Peabody of vanity in giving 
his name to the variety, are informed that he had 
nothing to do with naming it. That Mr. P. accom¬ 
panied his description with a liberal sample of seed 
potatoes, was evidence that he felt confidence in 
the variety. We started the potatoes in a hot-bed, 
and treated the slips, or plants, as we have hereto¬ 
fore treated others. The season was unusually wet 
with us, and the vines grew luxuriantly. With the 
ordinary sweet potatoes, we think it fortunate if we 
can steal a few from the rows two or three weeks 
before the vines are stopped by the frost, when the 
whole must be dug. We had potatoes abundantly 
large for the table by August 10th, but we did not 
have them on the table, as they were not fit to eat. 
So abundant had been the rains, that while the 
vines gave us a plenty of potatoes, they forgot all 
about the sweet, and they were simply useless, as 
probably any other variety would have been under 
the same conditions. After this trial we let the crop 
alone until frost, in early October, when it was dug. 
There were three rows across the garden, each 180 
feet long, and they gave, without any unusual cul¬ 
ture, 9 barrels of Early Peabody. And such pota¬ 
toes for size ! Three of them, selected of course, 
weighedl2 pounds. We are now having them on 
the table, and while they are not quite so sweet as 
those brought from Yirgiuia and Delaware, they 
are sweet enough to suit the writer’s taste, and of 
a most excellent flavor and texture. Our land is 
very light, and suffered so much from drouth in 
previous seasons, and especially the last, that a 
steam pump was put in to enable us to water the 
garden from the river, but so unlike to the average 
seasons was that just past, that we have not need¬ 
ed to apply a gallon of water, the rains giving us 
more than enough. From our experience, under 
these conditions, we have no doubt that, in an 
ordinarily dry summer, the Early Peabody will not 
only prove early, but good and productive, and it 
is especially valuable because, on account of its 
early maturing, it will allow the cultivation of the 
sweet potato in localities much further north than 
has heretofore been possible. From our experience 
this season, adverse as it was in some respects, we 
feel that we speak within bounds when we say that 
the Early Peabody will prove to be at least a month 
earlier than any other variety—and we have culti¬ 
vated all that are grown in the Northern States. 
The “Wire Worm” and “White Grub.” 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
In the American Agriculturist some months ago, 
a correspondent from Montreal credits the “ Wire 
Worm,” or lulus, with the destruction of his Car¬ 
nation plants. Our experience in this matter leads 
us to believe that the “ Wire Worms ” are seen 
only as a consequence of the death and decay of 
these, and are not the cause. They merely feed on 
the decaying vegetable matter of the Carnation, as 
they do on many other plants in the process of de¬ 
cay. We often, of late years, have Carnations die 
off by thousands, when the closest examination 
reveals no “ Wire Worm ” or other visible cause of 
death ; this is particularly the case when the plants 
die off in the greenhouse. It is only in the open 
garden that I have observed the “Wire Worm” 
on the decayed stems of the Carnation—never, so 
far, on the plants that had died inside. The 
“ White Grub,” or “ Grub Worm,” is very differ¬ 
ent in appearance, varying from an inch to an inch 
and a half in length, and from i to f inches in 
circumference ; the color of the body is of yellow¬ 
ish white, the head blackish brown. This pest is 
destructive to many kinds of nursery stock, and is 
particularly fond of cutting off the roots of Roses, 
and other woody roots of like character. I remem¬ 
ber that the late David Buchanan, Nurseryman, of 
Elizabeth, N. J., one season employed several 
men for weeks in killing these grubs by hand; 
they were destroying his Quince stock with great 
rapidity. The indication of their presence was the 
drooping of the leaves of the plants attacked by 
them. So far, 1 know of no other method of de¬ 
stroying them. The “ Wire Worm,” as you de¬ 
scribe it in the .January number, and as 1 under¬ 
stand it to be, I have always considered harmless. 
THE MUSMOm 
J5F* For other Household Items see “ Basket ” pages. 
Home Topics. 
BY FAITH ROCHESTER. 
Moving. 
O dear !—For you see I am in the moving busi¬ 
ness now—neither here nor there, but waiting for a 
day or two with friends, while the household goods 
go on and get into the new house. Who knows 
whether it is “ a move in the right direction,” when 
the familiar objects are torn away from their ac¬ 
customed places and shipped for the new home ? 
A person who has moved many times should know 
by experience that no great change for the better, 
in all respects, is to be expected. There is no great 
loss without some small gain, and no great gaiD 
without some loss. For my part, I no longer ex¬ 
pect, for myself or others, anything except a change 
and variety of frying-pans, so to speak. But then 
home, in the best sense of the word, can exist even 
in a frying-pan (metaphorically speaking). It must 
be a great loss, indeed, which can counterbalance 
the great gain of a re-united family after many 
months of separation. To have ample time for 
preparation, makes the labor of moving more easy. 
One can then get the rubbish, which is too useful 
to be left behind, into some reasonable shape. For 
instance, carpet-rags. How they do accumulate ! 
But there is a great deal of wastage about them, 
and they occupy unnecessary space if packed with¬ 
out being at least cut for sewing. We had just got 
well into the business at our house. In other words, 
the dear grandmother had settled herself to the 
task, helped sometimes by the little girls, when the 
call for a removal suddenly came. Who knew be¬ 
fore that there were so many old garments only fit 
for carpet-rags? How we wished that we had 
known about moving before, so that the carpet 
might have been finished first! And then the old 
papers! We quite agree with Emerson (or was it 
Thoreau?) that “the old is as good as the new,” 
but I am tired of carting about 
Old Newspapers. 
I like to look over old files of one sure to have 
some good things in it. But semi-weekly papers 
do accumulate so fast. I think we had better scat¬ 
ter the old ones among neighbors who have a lack 
of reading. I see them eyed wistfully by one who 
has had a chance to read but few of them, and who 
says they will at least pay for their freight, sold as 
old papers after they have been looked through and 
gleaned of things valuable. So in they go. But 
before we move again, I hope we shall cut out 
whatever we wish to save in the old papers, and so 
be able to move from place to place (if such is to 
be our lot) lighter-weighted. It is a standing mys¬ 
tery to a friend who has twice helped in our moving, 
what it is that makes our loads so large and heavy, 
for when he visits us he sees only a little plain 
“furniture,” and no one supposes us to be bur¬ 
dened with too expensive wardrobes. But books 
and papers weigh, and old rags make bulk. 
When the word comes to “ move on,” a house¬ 
keeper would like time to sort over things, but if 
she must also go to work to get the children ready 
for the journey, the hands which do most of the 
packing will probably put in many things hardly 
worth carrying. The children enjoy the general 
confusion, but the house-keeper shudders as she 
sees them in the dust, and considers what a large 
washing will be the first one in the new house. 
But there is a huge cistern of rain-water in pros¬ 
pect, and in that fact is consolation. Perhaps at 
last we shall have plenty of water handy for use. 
