AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
85 
I860.] 
Gardening in Old Times. 
The writer’s library has lately been enriched 
by an English book on gardening, written a cen¬ 
tury and a half ago by Charles Evelyn : a few ex¬ 
tracts wifi amuse the readers of the Agriculturist. 
“About the latter end of February, 
graff apples, pears, &c., in the clift, 
and so continue till the end of March, 
when the sap arises briskly : the 
new moon is the best time.” [Some 
moon-guided cultivators have come 
down to our day.—E d.] ...Gather 
herbs in the full of the moon, dry 
them in the shade, shewing them to 
the sun a little, only to keep them 
from being musty.”...Sow winter 
herbs in the new of the moon !”... 
“ Gather olitory seeds, clipping the 
herbs with one handfull of the ground 
before full of the moon.”....“ In 
Spring, cover tender flowers anil 
evergreens with mats or canvass, 
from the farewel frost and easterly 
winds.”.“ Sick trees, impaired 
by removing, and other accidents, 
are many times recovered by a milk 
diet, that is, diluting it with a portion 
of water discreetly administered ; 
sometimes by letting the tree down 
i-nto a pit of 4 or 5 feet in depth, covering the 
head and the rest of the tree. [Not very clear this.] 
“ Continue to cleanse all parts of your garden, 
and let not your hough be idle when the weeds 
begin to peep.” [A most excellent rule.—E d.] 
“The Peony is a common flower, but yields the 
fairest and most double blossom of any, and is 
very becoming in your flower-pots or chimnies. 
“ The Sun-Flower grows very tall, and there¬ 
fore is most fit for pots. [Some mistake here. En.] 
“The Syringa Pipe-tree, or lilach, bears ablos- 
som not much unlike the Persian Jessamine. It 
flowers in April and May, and yields plenty of 
suckers ; but it is a nice plant, and requires the 
skill of a curious artist for its management. 
“ There is your rosemary gilded with yellow, 
and a sort of it variegated with white, very de¬ 
lightful to the eye, which are to be preserved 
under warm walls. 
“Eugh(yew) trees being dipt and reduced 
to regular forms (the most beautiful whereof are 
the round and square pyramid,) make the most 
ornamental trees you can have in your, garden.” 
Such was the horticultural literature in vogue 
no longer back than about the time this country 
was first settled. The moon was more consult¬ 
ed than the condition ofthe soil. In the writings 
of two thousand years ago which have come down 
to ns, we find occasional scraps which indicate 
that similar directions were prevalent then. 
But as wise as we think ourselves in compari¬ 
son with our fathers, there is little doubt, that a 
hundred years hence, our mode of tillage, and our 
notions of the growth of plants, will be looked 
back upon as old fogyish in the extreme. Our 
implements may only be known as curiosities, 
stored in agricultural museums, and our books 
he quoted, as we have quoted from the above. 
-----—a — —» -- 
Spikenard Berries for Fruit. 
V. Leonard writes to the Agriculturist from 
Bradford Co., Pa , that he experimented with ber¬ 
ries of the Spikenard (Aralia Racemosa) and found 
them to make excellent pies. Other:-' who have 
tasted them, he says, agree with him. The berries 
have a peculiar aromatic flavor, and no spice 
need be added. He also recommends the berries 
for making wine which is palatable and medici¬ 
nal. Spikenard is a perennial herb easily grown, 
and if liked, will furnish fruit for cooking when 
most other fruits are out ot season. Not having 
tried it, we can not speak further of its value. 
Inexpensive Household Ornaments-•• «II. 
EVERGREEN CONES FOR BASKETS, ETC. 
Last month, reference was made to using nat¬ 
ural objects for ornamenting rooms. There is 
hardly a limit to the selection which can be made, 
for almost everything in Nature is beautiful—tree, 
rock, flower, moss, bird, insect, and creeping 
thing, all possess some feature, which the hand 
of taste can use for its purpose. The Agriculturist 
is receiving .specimens and descriptions of such 
ornamental designs, as will make this part of our 
in-door department an attractive one, and do 
much, we trust, to create and improve taste. 
This month we illustrate the method of using 
evergreen cones for making fancy articles, speci¬ 
mens of which were furnished by Miss Anna Pet- 
tinger, Kings Co., N. Y. Fig. 1 shows a card- 
basket, made chiefly from the scales of white 
pine seed-cones, and whole seed vessels of hem- 
* Fig. 2. 
lock ; cones of other evergreens can be used in 
the same manner, and any desired shape given to 
the work. The basket here illustrated, was made 
thus: Pieces of pasteboard were cut of the 
right shape to form the basket, when sowed to¬ 
gether. A small wire, properly bent and sewed 
around the edge of each piece, holds it in shape. 
Then the more ornamental part of the work as 
wreaths, rosettes, etc., are made by sewing to 
the pasteboard small whole cones of hemlock, 
acorns in their cups, walnut shucks, etc., dispos¬ 
ed to suit the taste of the maker. The interstices 
left, are filled with the scales of the pine cones; 
yellow pine are the neatest. These are sewed on, 
lapping one over the other, like 
shingles upon a roof, thus hiding 
the stitches. A very neat rosette 
is made by cutting off the bottom 
of a yellow pine cone. The seed ves¬ 
sels of the Tag Alder are pretty 
for trimming. The scales and other 
parts may be glued or cemented to 
the pasteboard, but they look neater 
when sewed. The separate parts 
when finished, are joined, and the in¬ 
side of the basket lined with p-ink or 
other bright colored silk, quilted in. 
Open seams left where the edges of 
the pieces meet, may be covered 
by a beading of allspice berries 
strung on strong thread or fine wire. 
Similar trimming is sowed around 
the edges of the basket, and o( 
the handle. Four large acorns in¬ 
verted and glued to the bottom, 
form neat supports.Fig. 2 repre¬ 
sents a ■picture frame, made of the 
same materials, the pasteboard being 
fastened to the woodwork ; or, the cones might 
be glued directly upon the wood. For such larger 
objects, larger cones are appropriate. Those of 
the white pine split lengthwise with a knife, and 
the flat side laid down give variety. 
Varnishing .—When all is fastened, the work is 
covered with varnish, made of an ounce of gum 
shellac, dissolved in a pint of alcohol. Some 
give it two coats, adding a little vermilion to the 
varnish for t?he first coat, and a very little lamp¬ 
black for the second, to darken the shade. A fin¬ 
ishing coat of copal varnish gives additional luster. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Music in the Family. 
Music is healthful. There is no better cure for 
had humors, and no medicine more pleasant to 
take. I can not join those who lament that the 
piano is heard where once the monotone of the 
spinning-weel, and the click of the shuttle, were 
the only instrumental performances. It is a mat¬ 
ter of rejoicing rather, that, muscles of iron and 
fingers of steel, driven by the tireless elements, 
now perform the laborious work of cloth manu¬ 
facture, and give leisure to cultivate refined tastes 
in the household. Music is to the ear and to the 
intellect, what strawberries, peaches, and other 
luscious fruits, are to the taste. Who regrets 
that the forests have heen cleared, the walls and 
fences built, the grain crops made sufficiently 
easy of cultivation, to allow the addition of the 
fruit yard and garden for the enjoyment of the 
cultivator! One of the greatest attractions for 
old and young when visiting our cities, is the 
music that may be heard here. Why should the 
farmer’s household not he as cheerful, as full of 
pleasure, as that of the merchant or the profes¬ 
sional man ? I know of nothing more genial and 
heart-warming than to hear the whole family 
joining in a hymn or song. They will love each 
other and their home better for it. Songs learn¬ 
ed in childhood, are like birds nestling in Hue bo¬ 
som; their notes will be heard and loved in after 
years. The hymn sung by a mother to her little 
boy may in other days be a voice that will recall 
i him from ruin. The philosopher was not far -Torn 
