1862.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
51 
nuals in the same becl of the flower garden will 
never die out—perhaps it had better not, all 
things considered—but would it not be well to 
take more pains to keep up a constant succes¬ 
sion of blossoms in such borders ? As fast as 
the spring bulbs bloom and fade, let early an¬ 
nuals be set out to fill up the gaps; and so when 
the biennials have had their day and gone. 
Keep the whole ground covered with fresh look¬ 
ing plants of some kind. In setting out her¬ 
baceous plants, don’t stand them in straight 
rows, and exactly the same distance apart, like 
a regiment of spruce soldiers; break up the 
stiffness somehow. 
There are two or three other things you must 
bear with from an old man, viz.: one word about 
walks, one about seats, and one about grass. 
You can’t make your walks, my son, too hard 
and smooth. Of course, you will keep them 
clean, the verges well defined, and the curves 
as neatly cut as when first laid out. Some per¬ 
sons let the grass grow out into the gravel in one 
place, and then jag into the edges rudely in 
many other places. Preserve your lines well. 
Nothing gives a place such an air of finish as a 
good system of walks well kept. And when I 
visit you, let me find them hard and smooth, 
for I am not very sure footed of late years. 
But good paths are not the only thing; they 
should lead to something. If they are long, 
there should be several resting places by the 
way-side, little nooks under the trees, sheltered 
from the sun and wind, with comfortable seats 
where one can sit after dinner, and read his book 
or newspaper, or play with his grandchildren. 
Let one or more of these resting-places have good 
out-looks upon the surrounding country, com¬ 
manding views of hills, streams, and the sky. 
Now, about grass. A hay-field is a good 
thing in its place, very; but before a gentle¬ 
man’s front-door, it is not good. Oh! for the 
green, velvety lawns I saw in merry England, 
where I once traveled when a young man. But 
why not try to have good lawns in this country, 
. be they largo or small ? We might have them, 
if young people would only set about it. Get 
your ground well graded at first, well tilled, 
well seeded down : then mow the grass often, 
(say once a fortnight) roll it after every shower, 
and you have a lawn worth the name. Give a 
country place good trees and smooth grass, and 
it will always be attractive. But I plead most 
earnestly for the smooth grass, for it has such 
an air of calm repose to an old man’s eye, and 
such a pleasant softness to the tread of an old 
man’s foot. Senex. 
Fungi in Cellars. 
A late number of the Mark Lane Express 
speaks of a destructive fungus, which is doing 
great damage in England, especially in the 
wine cellars. It attacks the corks of the bottles 
and causes their decay—often to the destruction 
of their entire contents. Of a lot of Sherry 
bottled in 1840, the recent loss amounted to ten 
bottles in a hundred, and in other instances it 
was still greater—in one case amounting to 
eighty bottles in a hundred. The fungus, or 
dry rot, had penetrated the corks, even where 
covered with black mouse skin. The greatest 
mischief was found in cellars in which either 
saw dust or laths were used, the spawn of the 
fungus being apparently introduced with the 
wood or saw dust. Where either of these are 
used, it is recommended to first kyanize them 
by steeping in a solution of blue vitriol and wa¬ 
ter. But an effectual remedy would be, to seal 
the corks, by dipping them into melted lard and 
resin, of a consistency which would neither 
drip nor crack off. This will entirely prevent 
attacks from fungi, and from bisects, which 
sometimes prove troublesome in wine vaults. 
A Grape Hint. 
In talking, lately, with a German vineyardist, 
the subject of spring and fall pruning came up. 
We advocated fall pruning for several reasons, 
and among others, this, that in autumn, the 
vines do not bleed, as they would in the spring. 
“ But,” said the German, “ dat ish no matter. 
Let liim- bleed, I want him bleed. If you cut off 
de canes in autumn, de wound dries up and 
hardens over.” He went on to say that the 
drying up of the wound in autumn prevented 
the escape of the sap which naturally belongs 
in those canes, and which ought to be allowed 
to escape. If it can not pass off, it returns to the 
roots and causes them to rot. 
Our friend was very earnest on this point. 
He insisted that for every cane cut off in au¬ 
tumn, a root was destroyed by excess of sap and 
consequent rotting. Cut off the shoots in the 
spring, and let the sap which has accumulated 
in the winter, flow off through the wounds, and 
no harm will come to the plant. When the ex¬ 
cess has run off, it will stop and the wound will 
heal. He also maintained that fall-pruning, 
by checking the natural escape of sap, through 
several canes, caused a superabundant growth 
of new wood in the following summer. Prune 
in the spring, let the surplus sap run off, and 
you will get but a moderate growth of new wood. 
As to fall-pruning causing rot of the roots, 
and premature death of the vines, we told our 
friend that we had seen vines so managed for a 
quarter of a century, and they were still in per¬ 
fect health, much more so than some other 
vines of a neighbor which were seldom, if ever, 
pruned. We would thank him to prove, as well 
as assert, that fall-pruning caused rot in the 
roots. On the contrary, we would ask, when 
shoots are cut off late in Spring, does not the 
out-flow of sap induce a species of blight and rot 
upon said shoots ? It certainly does on fruit and 
shade trees pruned at that season. 
Our German friefid’s last argument had some 
more weight with us,' viz.: that autumn-pruning 
induced a superabundant growth of wood the 
following season. This fact can not be denied. 
We stimulate growth by deep trenching and 
manuring, and then we excite it again by autumn 
pruning, which breaks up the balance between 
root and top. In'reply,- we hinted some objec¬ 
tion to the deep trenching and heavy manuring 
recommended by some grape-growers, and we 
advocated a moderate pruning in mid-summer 
to check this overgrowth, aud so save the need 
of severe fall pruning. Also, we said that the 
grand object in grape growing was to get regu¬ 
lar and abundant crops of good fruit; and he 
could not deny that the prevailing system pro¬ 
duced such results. We were tempted to hint to 
him that the mildew which we had often seen in 
his vineyard, did not speak well for his system; 
but we let the hint go unspoken. Still, the 
German’s notions (which he said, were the doc¬ 
trines of his countrymen in Europe,) are worthy 
of consideration. 
How to Grow Gooseberries. 
Many cultivators suffer from insects and mil¬ 
dew so badly, they have about given up the at¬ 
tempt to raise this very agreeable fruit. We 
suspect that a barren soil, stunting the growth 
of the plants, is, in many cases, the cause of the 
blight complained of. Another cause is the sud¬ 
den alternations of temperature that occur al¬ 
most every Summer. It is a mistaken notion that 
because the gooseberry is often found wild in poor 
soils, it therefore needs no manure. With the 
writer the treatment which ensures the best re¬ 
sults is as follows: Give the plants a dressing of 
manure in the Fall, packing it in around the 
roots in Spring. Keep the ground clean and 
open until about the middle of May or first of 
June. Then, spread under the branches a layer 
of straw five or six inches thick, letting it extend 
over the ground as far as the roots penetrate. 
This mulching should remain on the ground un¬ 
til the first of September, when it should be re¬ 
moved and the soil worked clean. The design 
of this mid-summer dressing is to prevent any 
check in the growth of wood or fruit, and to 
keep the air about the bushes uniformly moist 
and cool. In this simple way, we manage to 
get good crops, as often as five years out of seven. 
Persons near the sea-side might use sea-weed 
or salt hay for a mulch. Tanners’ bark is often 
used with success. 
Overgrown Oleanders. 
Such cases are quite common. In many a 
house we have seen oleanders from six to eight 
feet high, handsome and thrifty, but taking up 
too much room, and so large and cumbersome 
as to be moved with great difficulty. What 
shall be done? Just this: begin at once to 
raise a new plant from the old pet of the house¬ 
hold. Take off cuttings six or eight inches long 
after they have done flowering next season, 
set them out in any shaded border of the gar¬ 
den, working in' a little sand where they are 
to stand. If the wood is well ripened, eight out 
of every ten will make fine rooted plants in a 
few months. 
Mushroom Spawn. 
. In answer to several inquirers: The mush¬ 
room seed, or “ spawn,” as it is usually called, 
is kept in the form of bricks, made of horse ma¬ 
nure, cow dung, and loamy mold, in which a 
little of the spawn has been inserted, and 
through which it has spread. These bricks are 
kept on sale by the large seedsmen, at a six¬ 
pence or so each. The spawn is often found in 
old horse manure, in the form of small white 
threads running through the mass. For full di¬ 
rections see Agriculv/rist of last September. 
