338 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
longer, if this care is given them; and besides, 
a garden looks slovenly, with its summer i 
furniture lying around loose. One’s reputation 
for order and neatness is worth something. 
Has that wet corner been- drained ? It has 
troubled you for several years. Vegetables, 
vines, and fruit trees planted there have strug¬ 
gled hard to live: you have often wished it 
drained, but have not yet found just the right 
time for doing it. Now, the present week,' is just 
that time, for the ground is clear of crops, and 
you have the most leisure. Cut the drain at 
least three feet deep; secure a good fall and out¬ 
let ; if possible lay hard-burned pipe, of not less 
than two inches bore, making good joints, and 
covering all well before hard frosts. Tliat 
piece of work will yield you real satisfaction. 
A word or two for the grape-vines. The first' 
week of this month is perhaps the best season 
for pruning. Later in the Fall or Winter, it is 
too cold for comfort to the fiTigers, and the work 
is not apt to be done carefully. If the vines are 
to be laid down and covered for the Winter, (and 
there are few if any kinds not thus benefited,) 
it is best to prune before putting down. They 
take up less room, and you have the cuttings 
for propagation if desired. The mode of prun¬ 
ing will depend on the method to which the 
vines have previously been subjected. If it be 
the spur-method, then cut back the side-branches 
to two good buds. If it be the renewal, cut out 
the old bearing wood down to a strong bud at 
the base, and cut off the new cane (the present 
summer’s growth,) at the top of the trellis. Now, 
bend down the canes carefully to the ground, 
fastening them down with cross stakes. Throw 
a little rubbish over the canes, and upon this 
put a few inches of common earth, only just 
enough to hide vhe vines from sight. Too thick 
a covering is as bad as none. 
, Are the roses, vines, shrubs, and other plants 
of the flower garden protected against injury in 
Winter ? Even the common June roses bloom 
better if laid down and slightly covered. The 
hybrid perpetuals are not safe without some pro¬ 
tection. The Bourbons, Noisettes and Chinas 
absolutely require it; indeed, experience shows 
us that the best place for them between Novem¬ 
ber and May, is the cellar, or green-house, or 
cold frame. Around the crowns of nearly all 
herbaceous plants and rare shrubs, a few leaves 
or a handful of rubbish should be gathered and 
a shovel full or two of manure added. The 
good effects will be visible next season. New¬ 
ly-planted shrubs and small trees, (conifers in 
particular, if not certainly hardy,) should be 
blanketed with evergreen boughs, tied loose¬ 
ly about them. If any one is experimenting with 
rhododendrons, kalmias, azaleas, etc., we would 
advise him, for at least the first year, to stick in 
a few pine or cedar branches among them. Or, 
better still, drive in a few stakes, and tie the ever¬ 
greens to them; else %e snow will beat them 
down on the tender plants and break them. 
The broad-leaved plants will be sure to winter 
safely, and come out in the Spring fresh and 
strong. We need hardly add that hillocks of 
earth should be thrown up around the stems of 
all newly planted fruit trees. This will guard 
them against the gnawings of field mice, will 
protect the roots from excessive freezing, and 
keeD the tree ballasted against riotous winds. 
Elsewhere —See that the sheds and barns 
are snug and tight. When the sailor sees a storm 
coming, he furls the flapping sails, shuts down 
the hatches, and makes all things trim for the 
gale. So should the farmer and gardener, on 
the approach Of stormy Winter. Batten up those 
wide cracks, on the windy sides of wood-shed, 
stable and cow-house. .Give every loose board 
thf^benefit of a nail or two. Provide, in eyery 
possible way, for the comfort of man and beast. 
Lay in good supplies of wood or coal. See 
that the stoves and pipe are in good order. 
Have the chimneys burned out on some damp, 
quiet day, not waiting to have it done acciden¬ 
tally, and at a bad time. In short, do now what¬ 
ever it becomes a good householder to do at this 
season. Then, Ivhen the winds roar, and the 
snow falls in eddying heaps, you can sleep qui¬ 
etly, knowing that you have done your duty. 
Cleaning up the Flower Garden. 
While neatness and order are always desira¬ 
ble in this department, there may be too much 
of even this good thing. In their anxiety to 
have the flower garden the “ pink of neatness ” 
when it can no longer show the pink of beauty, 
> young gardeners are scrupulous to remove all 
fallen leaves, dead stalks, and whatever might 
offend the eye. This is very well, provided 
something be substituted in their place as a 
protection for the roots that are to bear the se¬ 
verity of the Winter. Doubtless, one reason 
why many of our fine shrubs and herbaceous 
plants prove so tender is that they have to go 
through the Winter naked. We strip them of 
the clothing which nature designed for them, 
and then wonder that they get frost-bitten! 
Look at our wild plants, covered in Winter 
by their own decaying haulm, by scattered leaves, 
and the overhanging forest. Transplant them 
intp our spruce parterres, where every brown 
leaf is swept up in the Autumn, and they would 
surely suffer, if not wholly perish. So it is with 
the common domesticated plants of our gar¬ 
dens. Many of them have, indeed, got used to 
the exposure, yet they suffer from it. Tire bet¬ 
ter way is to allow of a little sloveliness in the 
garden in Autumn, rather than expose our fa¬ 
vorites to an untimely death. Let the leaves and 
dry stalks fall' down around the crowns and 
roots of the plants, and so protect them from the 
vicissitudes of the Winter. This is nature’s 
plan, to be followed when we can not improve it. 
A very efficient and neat way of affording 
needed protection is to cover the roots with 
small branches of evergreens. They lie lightly 
upon the soil, and are rather ornamental in ap¬ 
pearance. If these can not be had, straw, or 
leaves from the woods, properly secured, will 
.answer every purpose. If neither can be used, 
leave the dried stalks, and clear up in Spring. 
Prepare now for Spring Gardening. 
Spring work in the garden is by most farmers 
left to be done at leisure intervals between the 
more extensive operations of putting in the 
field crops. It often occurs that, from press of 
business, much that should be done in this im¬ 
portant department is neglected or slighted, be¬ 
cause the leisure is not found, and as a conse¬ 
quence there is but a poor show of vegetables 
throughout the season, and these always late. 
Something may be done during this month of 
November toward early gaixlening in Spring. 
At this time most of the vegetable crops have 
been secured, and there is sometime to work in the 
soil. If it be wet, draining now will prepare it 
for plowing next year before the fields are ready 
to be worked. If draining be impracticable, 
plowing and subsoiling will greatly improve it. 
Trenching, especially on heavy soils and work¬ 
ing in plenty of coarse manure or muck, will 
greatly ameliorate heavy soils. A good coat of 
manure plowed in now, ready to be lightly 
cross-plowed and thus thoroughly mixed with 
the soil in Spring, will give a good rich tilth. 
Now is the best time to set asparagus ^pd 
rhubarb roots, two indispensables in every fam¬ 
ily garden. If old roots are procured, they will 
yield at least a partial supply for the table next 
Spring, and much time will be gained in their 
growth. Though late, strawberries will live 
and thrive if transplanted with care immediate¬ 
ly. They may yield but little next season, but 
the work will be done, and when the fruit does 
come, you will feel abundantly repaid for the 
labor. Blackberries, raspberries, currants, etc., 
may all be put in place, also a few dwarf pear 
trees, if there be space. These trees require much 
care to produce well, but every cultivator will 
soon find them his especial pets in the garden. 
And the grape vines. Have you a full sup¬ 
ply ? Do not let the Fall pass without securing 
enough for plentiful family use. These and the 
currants, gooseberries and dwarf pears, will be 
benefited by spreading coarse manure about 
them as far as the roots extend. The winter 
rains will carry much of it into the soil, where 
it will be ready for use by the roots in Spring. 
Finally, now is the time to build or repair the 
fences, gates, trellises, etc. A coat of paint, 
or even whitewash, would add fifty per cent, in 
appearance to many a garden enclosure, In 
addition to its value in preserving the fence. 
Blood’s Seedling Grapes. 
We have received samples of these from Mr. 
James Blood, of Newburyport, Mass., with an 
accompanying note, stating that they were 
raised from seeds of Malaga raisins. Mr. B. is 
doubtless sincere in his belief that such is the 
fact, but from the peculiar muskiness both in 
taste and smell, the thick leathery skin and hard 
pulp, so little removed from the ordinary wild 
grape, we should have judged them seedlings of 
the fox grape. Two kinds were sent, one pur¬ 
ple, the other amber color; the former the best, 
but neither would seem to be very desirable 
where the Concord, or Hartford Prolific will 
mature. Mr. Blood says they are hardy, and 
ripen from 8th to 12th of September. * 
A Tour in My Garden. 
Mr. Editor: —While some men travel over 
land and sea in pursuit of pleasure, I contented¬ 
ly stay at home, and take a daily trip through 
my garden, my wife and children accorhpanying 
me. Would you like to overhear our quiet 
talks ? Now, we touch upon 
Dwarf Pears. —Wife and daughter ask if 
these trees are called dwarf because they look 
rather feeble, and bear so little fruit. No, no, 
dears: in your simplicity, you are hard upon 
me. The trees are made dwarfish by being 
budded on quince roots, but they ought not/o 
look feeble, and the fruit ought to be large and 
abundant. I ought to have manured the roots 
last fall; then the trees would not reproach me 
so. But next, look at our 
Melons. —How did you manage them? 1 
started them on pieces of turf in oyster-kegs, 
(sawed in two,) plunging them into the soil of a 
hot-bed. When they Avere large enough to 
transplant, the season was ready for them; and 
all I had to do was to turn them out bodily from 
the kegs, and set them out, turf and all. This 
gave them less check than though I had sown 
