114 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
or in a dry room, until it shall become dry 
soup. 
Dry soup is prepared of different sizes, of 
one, three, six, or twelve pounds, and is sold 
by weight. 
It should be observed that in its composi¬ 
tion there is no salt, nor spice. Salt has a 
tendency to soften and moisten it, and any 
spice does not suit all persons alike. Be¬ 
sides, the broth, being administered as soup 
and dissolved would not be suitable for the 
sick. 
SELECTING A FEW GOOD PLUM TREES AND 
HOW TO CULTIVATE THEM, 
Knowing that Dr. Underhill has been quite 
successful in growing fine plums, we re¬ 
quested him to state his method of avoiding 
the curculio, and also to name a few of the 
varieties which he considered the best for 
those who could plant but a few trees. The 
following is his reply : 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist 
In compliance with your request, I will 
make a few statements on the culture of 
plums, the means of protection from the 
depredations of the curculio, and the names 
of a number of trees that would be worthy 
of selection for table use, and for supplying 
our markets, 
The means resorted to for preventing the 
attacks of the curculio, which has been very 
destructive to the plum for a number of 
years past, are various ; many of doubtful 
efficacy, and some too troublesome to be 
carried out in practice. Planting the trees 
in grounds occupied by poultry, or as the 
feeding places of the swinish race, so rich in 
odors offensive to the sense of smell , proves 
effectual in most seasons for driving away 
the curculio-epicure, and thus secure a good 
crop of fruit. 
It occurred to me about ten years ago, that 
the plum tree might be so planted on the 
borders of streams, ponds and lakes, that 
its entire top would hang over the water, 
that the curculio seeing that its progeny 
placed in every plum, would fall into 
the liquid element the moment it dropped 
from the tree, would be deterred from the 
selection of so dangerous a locality, and pass 
to a more secure retreat. On this supposi¬ 
tion I surrounded an artificial lake with a 
choice variety of the best kinds of plums, 
planting them so that the entire top hung 
over the water—the fruit being gathered with 
the assistance of a boat. They have borne 
finely for a number of years, and have entirely 
escaped the depredations of the curculio. 
The fruit also grows more free from all 
blemish, and is really beautiful. 
I have a variety. Among them are the fol¬ 
lowing kinds, which form a choice selection 
for the table, and will pay well for those who 
are in favorable localities for supplying the 
markets. The Lawrence Favorite, Cole’s 
Golden Drop, Jefferson Green Gage, Wash¬ 
ington, Smith’s Orleans, Flushing Gage, Im¬ 
perial Gage, Empress, Winter Gage, &c. 
Plum trees do not require the grounds to 
be cultivated around them—indeed they seem 
to thrive best when the body of the tree is 
surrounded with a close sod.—R. T. Under¬ 
hill, M. D., Croton Point Vineyards. 
GOOSEBERRIES AND CURRANTS. 
These are fruits that every cottager might 
grow well without much trouble, their cul¬ 
tivation being very simple and easily under¬ 
stood; yet how seldom do we find planta¬ 
tions of them well managed. The goose¬ 
berry is propagated by cuttings, which strike 
root freely, the young wood of the previous 
year’s growth answering best for the pur¬ 
pose. Slip off the young shoots, and care¬ 
fully pick out, with a sharp knife, all the 
eyes or buds at the base or under part, so 
as to get a clean stem, leaving only three or 
four at the top. They should then be placed 
in a little nursery, where they should re¬ 
main until they become well rooted, which 
will be the case after the first year. By this 
method of treatment the plants will not be 
liable to produce suckers hereafter, which 
are so difficult to be removed when once es¬ 
tablished, and rob the plant of a great por¬ 
tion of that nourishment which should be 
preserved for the production of its fruit. 
When the young plants are ready for 
planting, the plot of ground intended for their 
reception should be well prepared by being 
deeply trenched, and if some enriching green 
crop, such as potatoes or cabbages, with 
which plenty of manure had been used, were 
planted upon it the previous year, so much 
the better. Here the young plants, when 
lifted from the nursery, should be placed in 
rows, and at six feet apart every way, care 
being taken not to plant them too deep—a 
very common error with most persons. 
Openings should be made sufficiently large 
to receive them freely, the bottoms perfectly 
level; and in putting in the little plants their 
roots should be spread out horizontally on all 
sides, and by no means allowed to overlap 
each other. Good rich mold, with a little 
old manure or compost, should be placed 
immediately under and over them; then, 
having gently pressed them with the foot, 
the remaining portion of earth should be 
placed about them, and left quite loose at 
the surface. 
The principal care they will require after¬ 
wards is pruning, which should be once a 
year, and at the most convenient time after 
the leaves fall off. In pruning gooseberries 
care should be taken to leave the center of 
the plant tolerably open, so that light and 
air may have free access to every part of it, 
and the branches thinned out until those re¬ 
maining do not touch or cross each other. 
The old wood should be removed, in order to 
encourage the growth of the new, on the 
presence of which the luxuriance of our 
second year’s crop entirely depends, this 
being one of those plants which produce 
their fruit principally on the wood of last 
year’s growth. Should any part of the bush 
become deficient of young wood, stop back 
the old branches in that part, and plenty of 
young wood will be thrown out by them the 
following year. 
Nothing can be worse than for cottagers to 
leave too much wood on their bushes, as 
thereby they become too much crowded, and 
the fruit worthless. If abundant crops of 
fine large fruit be desired, leave little wood, 
and supply the plants with plenty of both 
liquid and solid manure. This should be 
done immediately after pruning, at which 
time, also, the ground should be dug, and 
left open and loose about the plants. No¬ 
vember is, perhaps, the best time of the 
year to take cuttings from, and transplant, 
gooseberries. 
All the varieties of the currant are propa¬ 
gated precisely in the same manner as the 
gooseberry; and as the black variety pro¬ 
duces its fruit similar to the gooseberry, on 
the young wood, its method of pruning is of 
course the same. The white and red are 
pruned in quite a different manner, the young 
wood being cut back every autumn within a 
few eyes of the old, to cause them to send 
forth spurs, upon which those plants pro¬ 
duce their fruit.— An Artisan, in London 
Florist. 
NEW METHOD OF PERPETUATING THE PLUM. 
Nurserymen are generally very unsuc¬ 
cessful in propagating the plum on an exten¬ 
sive scale. The great difficulty consists in 
the buds refusing to take, with sufficient 
tenacity, to become a component of the 
stock. Sometimes in budding plums, a por~ 
tion of the woo'd or bark will attach itself 
permanently to the stock ; but this portion in 
most cases, is not the part which contains 
the bud. As the season for budding the 
plum tree is quite short, the only remedy 
remaining for stock, on which the buds have 
failed, is to engraft the ensuing spring ; but 
engrafting the plum is an equally unsuccess¬ 
ful operation, hence the difficulty that is ex¬ 
perienced in getting a saleable stock of plum 
trees. 
Having devoted special attention to rais¬ 
ing plum trees, for the wholesale trade, for 
the-last ten years, it became necessary for 
me to devise some method that would facili¬ 
tate the increase of stock. I had often ob¬ 
served that the buds invariably grew better 
on wood of the current season’s formation, 
than that of the previous year. Taking ad¬ 
vantage of this fact, I subsequently sought 
the new wood, when practicable, in which to 
insert the buds; the only fault with this 
method was, that the trees were worked so 
high on the body of the stock, that in the 
case of rapid growing kinds, the scion out¬ 
grew the bottom, thus making unsightly and 
rather unsaleable trees. 
I have practiced a method with great suc¬ 
cess for several years, by which I secure the 
principle of budding in new wood, and at the 
same time, work the stocks within an inch of 
the ground. 
In the first place, care must be observed 
to procure none but sound, fresh seed. In 
the month of November, the ground must 
be prepared for the reception of the pits. 
This is performed by plowing a deep trench. 
(The soil should be a rather stiff loam, 
which may be afterwards deepened to eigh¬ 
teen inches with a spade. This trench 
