ISO.).] 
103 
AM EE I CAN AGKRICU JL.TU JUST. 
Shade the Road-sides. 
On a certain highway, in a town familiar to us, 
many of the native forest-trees were left stand¬ 
ing by the first settlers, at intervals of fifty to a 
hundred feet, and the road winds among them in 
curves as graceful as could be drawn by the best 
landscape-gardener. These trees are mostly ol 
elm, maple, and white ash, and are now quite 
venerable with age. That road is the favorite re¬ 
sort of pleasure-riders in summer. And why ? 
Plainly, as the whole community declares, be¬ 
cause of the grand old trees and the winding 
road, and nothing beside. It might not be best to 
have trees scattered about in every highway, as 
they are here, but trees should be theie some¬ 
where, and, most properly, by the sides of the 
road. 
What attracts city-residents into the country 
during summer 1 Nothing more powerfully than 
the shaded roads and walks of our villages. It is 
the rows of thrifty maples and elms before them 
that make the homes of our villages look so com¬ 
fortable, and that make a summer morning or 
evening walk in the neighborhood so pleasant. Do 
not these embellishments also enhance the value 
of one’s property ! Do they not pay more than 
legal interest on their cost! 
That’s all very well, says an objector, but I 
have set trees by the roadside, year after year, 
and got nothing for my pains ; they have all died. 
Horses have gnawed them, street-cattle have 
rubbed against them and broken them down, boys 
have hacked and girdled them, and one after an¬ 
other they have all died. I have got tired of 
working for the public. 
Indeed, sir, there is truth and force in your 
complaints, but keep patient, and think again. 
How did you plant your trees ! I saw a neighbor 
of yours set out trees before his house precisely 
thus : He went to the woods with his ax, (not his 
spade,) cut a circle around the tree chosen, about 
the size of a half-bushel measure, pried the trees 
out of the ground, and then, hailing the first lum¬ 
ber-wagon that passed by in the road, got them 
carted home. He then dug holes about the size 
of the roots of his trees, in soil quite hard, set in 
the trees, threw on a little dirt, smoothed off the 
surface of the ground quite complacently, and his 
work was done. The trees were from twelve to 
fourteen feet high, and the top branches were not 
shortened in at all to balance the mutilations of 
the roots. These trees nearly all died a lingering 
death. Were your trees planted so! And do 
you do well to be angry, if they die! Nay, veri¬ 
ly. But try again, and do better. 
Some persons who have no knowledge of tree¬ 
planting, and no time for doing it, employ itiner¬ 
ant tree-pedlers to set them out and warrant them, 
for a specified sum. This may sometimes ans¬ 
wer, but it is a bad practice. If a tree is war¬ 
ranted to live, the proprietor is apt to neglect it: 
drouth may scorch it to death, cattle may rub it 
down, or boys swing upon it, but it is no concern 
of the owner, for was it not warranted ! More¬ 
over, the owner will get less enjoyment out of his 
trees. For this end, he ought to select and dig 
up (or help in digging) his own trees, set them 
out, protect, water, mulch, dig about them, and do 
whatever may be necessary for their welfare. 
That’s the way to enjoy trees, and to succeed 
with them. 
Care should be taken in selecting trees for 
transplanting. They should be symmetrical, vig¬ 
orous, and taken from dry land, and from open 
aDd exposed situations. They should not be dug 
up in haste, or rudely. A trench should first be 
opened around the tree, several feet off, more or 
less according to its age, and as many as possible 
of the small roots saved. A crow-bar should sel¬ 
dom if ever be used to pry out a tree : the roots 
will very likely be split or marred by the opera¬ 
tion. A better way is to actually unearth the 
roots, by digging all around and under them, un¬ 
til there is nothing left to bind them to the ground: 
then lift the tree, and carry it away. 
But with the best care, some trees—such as 
the oak, tulip-tree, and magnolia—are hard to 
transplant, after they have attained much size. 
Their tap-roots are difficult to manage. The 
surest way to succeed with them is to take two 
or three years for it. First: cut a trench around 
one side of the tree, cutting off .the extremities of 
the roots with a sharp spade or pruning knife; 
then cut off the tap-root which strikes down deep 
from the central part of the tree, and afterward 
fill up the trench with dirt, as carefully as possi¬ 
ble. The tree will suffer no material injury from 
the operation, and will at once form new roots in 
a lateral direction. In a year or two it may be 
transplanted witli safety. 
Now, let us return to those cattle and boys 
who injure our shade trees. A community is but 
half-civilized which allows cattle to roam at 
large, trespassing, as they do continually upon 
gardens, door-yards and grain-fields. Perhaps a 
little combined effort among the leading citizens 
of a place would bring about a change in this re¬ 
spect. Failing in this, wc should protect every 
tree with some substantial guards, made of 
scantling and slats. If every house were pro¬ 
vided with good hitching-posts, horses would 
seldom be tied to our trees. Yet, some vigilance 
might still be needed to remind the thoughtless, 
and to warn off wilfull trespassers. As to the 
boys, a few kind words, with an occasional sea¬ 
soning of firm remonstrance, will go a great way. 
It is rare that these “ hopes of the nation,” these 
“ possible Presidents,” will long or wilfully prac¬ 
tice such barbarities. At any rate, don't let us 
magnify our difficulties, but rather overcome them 
by planting more trees. 
irrigation. 
Irrigation, or flowing water over grass lands is 
but little practiced anywhere in this country. 
Every one may see an illustration of its benefits 
in^ose fields that lie on the lower side of a road, 
where the path-master has turned the water from 
the highway on to the adjoining land. Some ma¬ 
nure falls in the road, and the soil is pounded up 
very fine by the continual trampling of feet and 
the rolling of wheels. This fine dust and ma¬ 
nure is carried off by every shower, and spread 
over the meadow. It is noticed that all along 
such sluice-ways the grass grows very luxuriant¬ 
ly, often lodging. The same thing is frequently 
seen about barns and dwellings. Sometimes the 
barn-yard overflows in very wet times, and 
wherever the water flows off over the adjoining 
field, the effect is seen in the increasing luxuri¬ 
ance of the grass through the summer. 
The advantages of irrigation have long been 
understood in England, and are beginning to be 
appreciated in this country. The most astonish¬ 
ing results are recorded from this process. A 
recent letter from one of the best farmers in Put¬ 
nam County, who has had over forty years of ex¬ 
perience, and who has one of the best grazing 
farms in the State, speaks of irrigation as the 
greatest of all his improvements. This matter 
was up for diseussh n at the last Fair of the 
Broome County Agricultural Society, where it 
was claimed to be the cheapest method of en¬ 
riching grass lands, securing, under favorable cir¬ 
cumstances, four tons of hay to the acre. There 
► can be no doubt of the utility of the measure, 
where there are small streams running through 
farms, that can be controlled for this purpose. 
The time of this artificial irrigation is from 
late in the Fall until Spring, when the grass is 
well started. The dam is constructed and fur¬ 
nished with a gate, which gives the operator the 
control of the stream. The best time for putting 
on the water is in rainy weather, when the snow 
is melting, and the water is muddy. The snore 
muddy the water the more valuable it is for irri¬ 
gation. The snow and rain water contain ap¬ 
preciable quantities of ammonia, and this has a 
surprising influence upon the growth of grass. 
Sometimes the bottoms of these artificial ponds 
are plowed, when they are dry. during the Sum¬ 
mer, for the purpose of furnishing sediment to 
the stream in the Winter. If the pond be but a 
few inches deep, it is stirred up with a team and 
harrow, when the gate is hoisted and immense 
quantities of earth are carried off in this way, 
and distributed very evenly over mowing fields. 
It imitates, on a small scale, the overflowing of 
the Nile or the Mississippi. The great value of 
intervale land is owing to the annual deposit of 
mud left upon them by the streams that overflow 
them. The soil of a small part of the farm is 
sacrificed to enrich the rest, for the land devoted 
to ponds can not he used for other purposes. 
Even the subsoil, especially if it he clayey, has 
an excellent influence when deposited as a sedi¬ 
ment over meadow f s. 
There are thousands of farms all over the 
country that have streams available for irrigation. 
Sometimes half the farm is so situated that water 
can be turned over it. It is one of the most in¬ 
viting fields of experiment open to the farmers 
who enjoy this facility. In many cases the 
streams are so situated that they can be turned 
over the adjoining acres at very small cost. Four 
tons of hay to the acre upon land that now grows 
one, is an object worth looking at. 
-4- »aiea -Q- anr ■ - > » 
Horse Radish. 
Perhaps there is no vegetable so really useful, 
that is treated with so much neglect as the Horse 
Radish. Scraped into shreds, or grated fine, and 
soaked in vinegar, it becomes an excellent condi¬ 
ment for fresh meat and fish ; it has medicinal 
uses also, in cases of dropsy, scurvy and rheuma¬ 
tism. It stimulates digestion, excites the glands 
into action, and warms up the blood in a health¬ 
ful manner. Aside from all domestic uses, it is 
worth raising for market. Large quantities are 
annually bought up by pickle manufacturers, 
ground and packed in closely corked jars and bot¬ 
tles with vinegar, for sale in this country, and for 
exportation. 
Culture .—It will grow without culture ; but to 
raise it in the best and most profitable manner, 
it should he treated with some care. Choose a 
spot of good sandy loam, rather inclining to mois¬ 
ture. Lay off as much space as can be devoted 
to it, give it. a good trenching, and work some 
old manure down into the lower part of the trench. 
This will prevent the formation of weak side- 
shoots or prongs, and will favor the growth of 
large and long roots. After spading and leveling 
the ground, make holes for the plants eight or ten 
inches apart, in rows one foot apart. These plants 
may be cuttings taken from the buds or crowns 
of old plants; in which case, they should be set 
in holes near the surface. Or they may betaken 
from the lower part of the root, in pieces two 
inches long; in which case, the cuttings should 
be set a foot or so in depth. Either way will do. 
When roots aro wanted for table use, uncover 
