146 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
mal will not come out in the spring, in so 
good condition. It is enormously wasteful 
of manure. One half at least of the value of 
the droppings of the cattle, are dissipated by 
the sun, the winds, and the rains. '• There is 
an illusion in the popular sentiment, that the 
soil must have all that it catches. The air 
catches more than its share of all the excre- 
tia of animals. The cleaning up in the spring 
makes a good deal of labor, which you can 
expend to better advantage elsewhere. Let 
this wasteful and slovenly husbandry disap¬ 
pear from the farm. Build barns large enough 
for all your cattle, and all your crops. 
CARROT3. 
After cultivating this root for years for 
feeding purposes, we are persuaded that 
nothing upon the farm pays better. It is a 
much cheaper feed for horses and for milch 
cows than oats or corn meal. It is a crop 
easily raised and by its long tap root, stir¬ 
ring the soil deeply when dug in the fall, it 
leaves it in good condition to be improved 
by the winter frosts. Each horse, cow, or 
ox, will readily dispose of a hundred bush¬ 
els during the winter, and you can not make 
a better use of your land, than to raise as 
many hundred bushels of carrots, as you 
have of these animals. Sow the last of 
this month. 
SET OUT AN ORCHARD, 
if it has not been done in years past. Sup¬ 
posing, that the holes have been dug, the 
compost and bones ready, and the trees on 
hand let us proceed to plant a tree. The 
hole is at least six feet across, and two deep. 
Fill up now a foot deep with compost made 
of three parts muck or peat, and one of sta¬ 
ble manure well rotted. Upon this scatter 
a bushel of bones, coarse or broken as you 
happen to have. Cover these with a layer 
of surface soil, and then put down the roots 
of your tree. Prune broken roots, and spread 
out all the fine fibers, and small roots in their 
natural position. Then sprinkle upon the 
roots the finest parts of the surface when 
it is settled in its new bed. A good tree set 
in this way will pay its planter richly. Do 
not set a poor stunted tree, even if it is giv¬ 
en to you, or one covered with scale-bugs. It 
is a fraud upon the public for nurserymen 
to send out diseased stunted trees at any 
price. We have some trees upon our prem¬ 
ises, that it would have been money in our 
pocket, if we had paid the seller five dollars 
each to have kept them. Plant only thrifty 
trees. 
THE GARDEN 
should now be put in order, and a space al¬ 
lotted to every vegetable|you purpose to cul¬ 
tivate. Manure the whole of it abundantly. 
Some seem to think the garden will take care 
of itself, because it has a deeper and richer 
soil than the fields. But fertilizers pay no¬ 
where better than in the vegetable garden. 
The same labor will bring double crops with 
large quantities of manure. Turn up the 
soil very deeply, and make your calculations 
to take premiums on vegetables at the fall 
fairs. 
THE STRAWBERRY BED. 
This delicious fruit is as easily raised as 
the potato, and no man has an apology for 
not planting a bed. A few square rods will 
furnish the family with a daily supply dur¬ 
ing the whole strawberry season. Plants of 
the best varieties can be had from the nur¬ 
series for one to two dollars a hundred, and 
if you have neighbors who have old beds to 
clean and thin this spring, they will very like¬ 
ly be glad to give them away. They are a 
great luxury, and very wholesome in the 
summer heats. Hovey’s Seedling, Walk¬ 
er’s Seedling, Longworth’s Prolific, and 
Mc’Avoy’s Superior, are good varieties, and 
will not be likely to disappoint the purchaser. 
Plant a strawberry bed this month. 
For full directions on strawberry 
planting see our last number. 
THE RASPBERRY 
should also have a place in the garden. It 
ripens just after the strawberry, and makes a 
better dessert in its season than any sweet¬ 
meats that can be produced. It wants a 
deep, rich, loamy soil, and if this does not 
already exist in the garden, it can easily be 
made by trenching in muck and manure. 
The young plants should be set in stools 
about five feet apart. The canes if bent over 
at the top and tied together will support 
each other, and make the gathering of the 
berries more convenient. The yellow and 
red Antwerp, the Falstoff, and the Fran¬ 
conia, are approved varieties, and about good 
enough to satisfy reasonable people. The 
New Rochelle or Lawton Blackberry is a 
fittingsuccessor to the other small fruits, and 
will prolong their season a month or more. 
We have frequently noticed this fruit, and 
believe it to be one of the few novelties, that 
will not disappoint the purchaser. It has 
fruited two years with us, and answered 
fully our expectations. If near a good mark¬ 
et, you may make a large plantation of them, 
and in three years it will pay better than any 
farm crop. Tim Bunker, the conservative, 
has ordered a dozen plants, and you may 
safely do the same. 
THE FLOWER BORDER 
should not be a stranger to the farmer’s home. 
Who have a better right to flowers than his 
wife and daughters. They may not pay in 
dollars and cents so directly as the wheat 
or potato crop, but flowers pay neverthe¬ 
less. They are an index of comfortable 
circumstances, andgive the household ahigh- 
er social consideration. A flower border 
by the entrance to a farm house, always 
gives a pleasant impression to the traveller, 
and makes it more attractive to the friends 
of the household. It is a relief from dull 
care to tend it. It will bind sons and daugh¬ 
ter’s to the old homestead, and make it a 
more inviting spot than all the world offers 
beside. Flowers are the cheapest luxury 
and ornament we can have about our homes. 
They are so cheap that none have an apolo¬ 
gy for not planting them. Buy a few papers 
of flower seeds this spring and repent of 
that old adage, if you have ever cherished it, 
that “ potato blossoms are the only flowers 
that should adorn a farmers home.”— Ed. 
“ Madam,” said a conductor, a day or two 
since, “ your boy can’t pass at half fare— 
he’s too large.” “ He may be too large 
now,” replied the woman who had paid for a 
half ticket, “ but he was small enough when 
we started !” 
APRIL WORK FOR FEMALES. 
BY ANNA HOPE. 
On Friday, the fifteenth of March, the blue¬ 
birds first made their appearance among us, 
since they said good-bye in autumn. Never 
did they receive a more cordial welcome. 
Although the weather is still cold, and the 
snow lies on the ground, they bid us hope 
that winterhas departed, and spring will soon, 
in reality, as in name, be with us. With 
what delight we listen to their sweet songs, 
so rich in music and in promise. They re¬ 
mind us that we must speedly attend to our 
shrubs and vines, and transplant any trees 
that we may desire to remove this spring. 
Work will be more imperative than usual, 
and the ladles, I imagine, will be obliged to do 
much themselves, or be disappointed in their 
cherished plans. 
It seems peculiarly a lady’s province to 
preside over the flower garden, and the or¬ 
namental grounds. It affords her a grate¬ 
ful change from her indoor labors, and cares, 
and enables her, if her husband pursues the 
employment of Adam in Paradise, to sym¬ 
pathize with him in his engagements, and to 
assist him in improving their mutual home. 
It is now a good time to train climbing 
plants, before the tender leaves, and the new 
branches put forth. In summer, when grow¬ 
ing luxuriantly, it is often difficult to do it 
without injury. A very simple trellis is pre¬ 
ferable to one more elaborate, unless the 
grounds are very highly kept, and even then 
nothing can be better than a Cedar standard. 
This is an exceedingly durable wood, and 
will last for many years. 
For Honeysuckles, Climbing-roses, Wis¬ 
tarias, and vines of this kind,the branches 
may be trimmed to within a few inches of 
the trunk. The standard will then soon be 
concealed by the foliage of the vines, which 
is quite desirable. In winter these Cedar 
standards, wound about with slender branch¬ 
es, have a natural appearance. The Cedars, 
so trimmed as to preserve their conical form, 
the lower branches being left much longer 
than the upper, are very pretty upon the 
lawn, covered with running vines. Honey¬ 
suckles, and roses intermingled are beauti¬ 
ful, the Honeysuckles, by their abundant fo¬ 
liage clothing the cedar with green as well 
as ornamenting it with its graceful trumpets ; 
while the rose in June will make it one pyra¬ 
mid of blossoms. The Maderia-pine, Morning- 
glory, the Cypress, and even the Scarlet-run¬ 
ner, may be used to good purpose. We 
should not despise anything because it is 
common, but should use it till we can find 
something better to supply its place. 
Of all vines I have ever attempted to cul¬ 
tivate, none have so soon, or so well repaid 
me as Honeysuckles and Roses. They grow 
rapidly and luxuriantly and produce an ef¬ 
fect upon a new or neglected place, sooner 
than anything else. They require almost 
no attention beyond what a lady herself 
may be able to bestow ; training them is a 
positive pleasure. They add more than their 
cost, many times multiplied, to the beauty of 
a house, giving it an air of taste and refine¬ 
ment, and making it the sweetest spot on 
earth to its occupants. I remember no resi- 
