AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
117 
1802.] 
cord, and they ripen earlier than the Isabella. 
The Adirondac grape, which hails from Platts- 
burg, is said to ripen a fortnight before the Isa¬ 
bella, and to be of first-rate quality. Its ripen¬ 
ing last Fall at Plattsburgh, and its exhibition 
at Montreal in the month of October, is good 
evidence of its early maturity. If it will ripen 
at Plattsburg, before hard frost, it will ripen any 
where in the United States. Its earliness being 
proved, now give us good proofs of its quality . 
Some time last Fall, Mr. Thomas, of the 
Country Gentleman, writing from Ohio, men¬ 
tioned visiting a Seedling Isabella , which was ful¬ 
ly equal in flavor, size, etc., to its parent, and 
two weeks earlier. If these facts prove to be 
facts , the public will want to hear more about 
that grape. For, let men say what they will 
about the Delaware, Concord and the other new 
comers, we pray take not away from us the old 
Isabella where it can be ripened. And if this 
seedling is fully equal to it, and ripens a fort¬ 
night earlier, it will be hailed with delight. 
How to Treat Dwarf Pears. 
I have them fifteen years old in my garden, 
thrifty, hardy, productive, and bidding as fair to 
live the next fifty years, as any standard tree 
upon my grounds. The complaint against these 
pets of the garden, I am fully persuaded, is ow¬ 
ing more to neglect, and mismanagement, than 
to any inherent difficulty. Some varieties will 
not flourish on the quince stock. The fruit 
books will point.them out. Do not plant such. 
They will not be productive on grass ground, or 
in hard inflexible soil. Do not plant them there. 
They want a deep, rich, mellow border, at least 
eighteen inches in depth. If you can not afford 
to prepare a border, do not purchase dwarf pear 
trees. In addition to being properly planted, they 
must have care every season. Now they should 
be shortened in, about two-thirds of the last sea¬ 
son’s growth. This keeps them stocky, and pre¬ 
pares them to sustain a great burden of fruit. 
They also want a barrow full of stable manure 
put around them every Fall. The quince roots 
can not go far in search of food. They should 
have all they can take up within six or eight 
feet of the tree. With manure and good man¬ 
agement dwarf pears will be a success. C. 
Plant an Apple Orchard. 
The old ones are fast dying out all through 
the older States. They were planted a hundred 
years ago, or more, have done good service, and 
ought to have their day. When apples are $3 
a barrel and upward, there is not an adequate 
supply in the country. They can be grown at 
a dollar a barrel, with profit. The apple crop 
in a single small county in this State, was worth 
half a million of dollars last year. Other coun¬ 
ties, in the older parts of the Eastern States, 
were under the necessity of paying out a hun¬ 
dred thousand dollars for this fruit, because they 
had not the article at home. Peaches and plums 
we may be able to get along without, but apples 
we must have—for sauce, for pies, for the des¬ 
sert, and for the dinner basket of little boys and 
girls who can not come home from school to dine. 
We say then to every farmer, plant an orchard 
of at least a hundred trees. The trees are all 
ready for you in the nursery, well grown, and 
grafted, two and three years from the bud. Get 
thrifty trees, of varieties that you know will 
flourish in your locality, and in four years you 
will be eating fruit from them. Do not fail to 
plant an orchard thi° verv month. 
1 2 
Earthern Pots for Plants—Very Useful 
for Everybody 
Comparatively few persons, except those who 
have green-houses, have yet learned the decided 
advantage there is in having an assortment of 
earthern-ware pots about the garden. They 
cost but a trifle—only about a dollar for a hun¬ 
dred of the smallest size, and from that up to 
five or six dollars per hundred for the largest 
size needed in ordinary gardens ; and they will 
generally pay for themselves the first year, while 
they will last many years if used with moderate 
care. Take, for example, the operations in a 
common vegetable-garden on the farm, or in the 
village lot. We must wait until the ground is 
dry and warm, before the work of preparation, 
and seed sowing can begin, and the Summer is 
half gone before the table is supplied with any¬ 
thing more than a little lettuce, a few radishes, 
and, perhaps, some early peas. Asparagus and 
pie-plant, where these 
are grown, about 
complete the assort¬ 
ment. But by simply 
providing a few pots, 
the lettuce can be had 
much earlier,so can the 
melons, the onions, 
the cabbage and to¬ 
mato plants, the cu¬ 
cumbers, the squash¬ 
es, and a dozen other 
things, and with 
more certainty, and 
but little more labor. 
The flower garden, too, may be a bloom of 
beauty and a source of pleasure, many more 
weeks. Having on hand the flower pot, or 
lant pots, as we may call them, we can sow 
ur seeds a month or more in advance, and 
have the plants all in vigorous growth by the 
time the ground is warm and ready to re¬ 
ceive them. Ten, twenty, fifty, or a hundred 
pots of earth may be sown with seeds at an early 
date, and be set on the sunny side of the house 
or barn, or of a board fence, during the day, and 
over night also, except when the chilly air be¬ 
tokens a frost. They can then be readily set 
into the barn, or into the cellar if very cold, or 
they may be covered with blankets, carpets, 
mats, or hay, or straw. A hundred 5-inch pots 
will scarcely require a space five feet square. 
After the seed is sown, an occasional watering 
is required—using water with the chill taken off, 
putting it on moderately—not in a flood—with 
a common sprinkler. The pots may be filled 
with earth and the seeds sown under cover on 
rainy days, if a mass of soil has been previously 
prepared and placed under cover. (For de¬ 
scription of best soils, and best kinds of pots, 
see the March American Agriculturist, page 71.) 
If one has plenty of small pots, a seed or two 
may be sown in each, and one plant only be al¬ 
lowed to grow. At the proper time the soil 
can be slipped out in a moment and set into the 
ground; the plant will grow right on, and be in 
a bearing condition, when perhaps the seed 
sown in the open soil is just beginning to start 
up, if perchance it has not been rotted by a long 
cold rain. An hour’s labor upon the pots will 
provide two or three dozen cucumber or squash 
plants, which when planted out will start off 
ahead of all the noxious insects. It is usually 
preferable, however, to sow more seed in larger 
pots and after the plants are grown so as to be¬ 
gin to crowd, transplant them into smaller 
pots, one or two in each. Four, six, eight, or 
more small plants, like cabbages, may be left 
in each pot of larger size, and the soil be di¬ 
vided when putting out; but we prefer smaller 
pots with one plant in each, at the time of the 
final transplanting. There is then no breaking 
or disturbing of the roots in the removal. 
Figs. 1, 2, 3, are sections of different sized pots 
filled and with plants growing. In the bottom 
are pieces of broken pots, or bricks, stone chips, 
or oyster shells, to afford free drainage off 
through the hole in the bottom, for any surplus 
water. It is important to have only so much 
moisture as will be naturally retained by the 
soil. Above the bottom layer is half an inch or 
so of moss to sustain the earth. Thin sods, or 
fine shavings may be used, in the absence of 
moss. The drainage and moss will occupy 
one-fifth to one-fourth of the pot (it is shown 
too thick in the engravings,) and the soil be 
filled in to within half an inch or less of the top. 
Figures 4 and 5, show the mode of taking out 
the plants. Place the hand upon the soil 
(fig. 4) with the stem between the fingers, invert 
the pot, and strike its edge gently upon the cor¬ 
ner of a table, block, or other wood. The mass 
will slip out as seen in fig. 5. After a little prac¬ 
tice it will be a pleasure to often take out the 
soil and examine its condition, its dryness or 
wetness, and the growth of the roots. If these 
have filled up the soil, and appear crowded, be¬ 
fore the open ground is ready, transfer them to 
larger pots (called “repotting.”) Indeed most 
plants are benefited by one, two or three trans¬ 
fers ; they grow more stocky above and in the 
soil, and a stronger mass of roots is secured. To 
repot, take a pot one or two sizes larger; put in 
the drainage and moss, and enough soil to 
raise the inserted ball of earth nearly to the top. 
Remove the bits of crockery from the bottom, 
and loosen the roots a little if in a compact mass; 
set the ball in and sprinkle in loose earth around 
the outside, packing it down gently with the 
fingers; water moderately, and set aside. The 
roots will soon spread out into the larger space, 
and be ready for a still larger pot, or for plant¬ 
ing out. The whole process is simple, and easi¬ 
ly performed after a little experience, and will 
afford real pleasure. Take our advice, and order 
