906 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
main green and fresh, and constantly produ 
ring an abundant grojvtli of grass during the 
hottest, driest summers, while others not so 
deeply plowed, and the same kind of soil, 
were parched up and the grass as brown as 
in midwinter. 
After plowing, the ground should be very 
fmely harrowed, from two to four bushels of 
grass seed sown to the acre, and their rolled 
smooth with an iron roller. It is a great mis- j 
take not to sow a superabundance of grass j 
seed. ISy doing this you keep out the weeds, j 
and the grass covers the surface thick and j 
fine at once. As soon as it is up three or 
four inches, don’t be afraid to cut it or keep 
cutting it often as advised above. Some fear 
to do this, thinking it will not take root so 
well ; but the contrary is the case, as we 
have proved from long experience in the 
management of lawns. 
We need not add that the soil should be 
made clean and thoroughly enriched before 
sowing the seed, and he kept rich thereafter 
by frequent jtop dressings of guano, bone 
dust, ashes, muck and manure, or a compost 
of a part or all of them, though guano should 
never be used at the same time with ashes, 
lime, or other alkalies.—[E d. 
MICE— THEIR EXTENSIVE RAVAGES IN 
0RCHARS8 AND NURSERIES—WHAT 
SHALL RE HONE ? 
A friend in Western New-York writes us, 
that the mice girdled his fruit trees so badly 
the past winter, as to ruin nearly two thirds 
of them. He had over sixty acres of orch¬ 
arding in fine bearing condition. In the nur¬ 
series and forests they have been equally 
destructive. The same calamity has been 
experienced in Western Michigan and some 
other parts of the country, where they have 
never suffered to any great extent before. 
Let any of our readers who can, suggest 
a remedy for these pests. Field mice occa¬ 
sionally swarm like the locusts of Egypt 
over the land, and if the winter happens to 
be a deeply snowy one, woe to the fruit 
trees! Is there a wholesale way of destroy¬ 
ing these mice I 
Since the above was put in type (three 
weeks ago) we have received a * hat full ’ of 
letters from every part of the country, com¬ 
plaining of the same matter, and all asking. 
“ What shall be done with the mice 1” It is 
too late to do anything now, but we will call 
up the subject next Autumn, and throw into 
a single article all the hints and suggestions 
we can gather in the meantime. We defer 
our Clermont correspondent’s letter to that 
time, and also ask for all the information, 
that can be given by our readers generally. 
— [En. 
BLACKBERRY VINES KILLED IN KENTUCKY. 
We arc sorry to learn the following from 
the Louisville, (Kentucky,) Courier : 
Competent judges inform us that the black¬ 
berry crop in this vicinity, will prove a total- 
failure this season. The cold of last winter 
killed many of the vines and all the fruit 
buds. The failure of no crop of fruit will 
bo more regretted than that of the hlaokbeV” 
ry. It is one of our best, most healthful and 
most delicious fruit, and rarely fails us, be¬ 
ing capable of withstanding drouth and ex¬ 
treme wet to a wonderful degree. It had, 
however, to succumb to the bitter weather 
that visited us about Christmas and remain¬ 
ed so long with us. 
—~«fc«etz3>a44S*astir»- • 
ECONOMY IN THE HUE OE I .AND. 
•-• — - 
miiOr, Amtru'on Ayrkulturixt . 
When by chance so placed that 1 can get 
sight of the small plots, as well as the city 
lots of ground thatborder the numerous new 
villages on the line of the Harlem and Hud¬ 
son River Railroad—-also those situated on 
the out skirts of this city and Harlem, and no¬ 
tice the vast aggregate of surface without 
tree or shrub, choice plant, or fine vegetable, 
I can not help exclaiming to myself, “ What 
a want of economy in the use of land !” What 
a loss of comfort, of pleasure, of income, 
from bad management. I wish to address 
myself at once to the occupants and owners 
of these small, yet very valuable plots of 
ground. Why do you not dig up the weeds, 
bi iars and brambles—drain out the mud holes, 
the fever “ sinks ”—draw off the water, if 
any is stagnating there. ' Do it yourself at 
“ early morn and late at eve,” if you cannot 
hire a man to do it, and my word lor it, you 
and your family will be the happier for the 
improvement, and before many days your 
appetite for breakfast, and your sleep at 
night, will both receive a new relish. 
Give the ground a most thorough breaking 
up, rip out every root and branch of improp¬ 
er growth. Then put on any black soil that 
lines the border of every road and avenue 
in the vicinity. Place a “pile” on } 7 our 
plot of ground. Spread it over and spade 
it in. perfectly. Now my friend, you are 
ready for filling your grounds with many 
comforts. Begin by surrounding the bor¬ 
der of the plot with grape vines. They take 
no room. Plant them six or seven feet apart, 
and if well planted and carefully cultivated 
they will in ten years, yes, in five, supply 
the family with most delightful fruit. If 
trained high and well fed with pounded or 
ground bones, soap-suds, &c., they will, in 
addition to supplying your own wants, from 
the sale of surplus fruit, often pay the inter¬ 
est on the cost of a cheap lot; while you get 
a sight of the graceful elegance they dis¬ 
play, when folding there tapering arms around 
the objects that support them; and their 
cooling shade you get in the bargain. Plant 
the Isabella and Catawba vines. They are 
sure bearers all through the lower part of 
New-York, and surrounding States, South, 
East and West, and the Isabella every where. 
Dig a large hole three or four feet across 
and one and a half or two feet deep. Then 
fill it up again with rich dark soil, with 
ground or pounded bones, and street manure 
to within nine inches of the top, next put in 
two or three inches o.f soil, arid put in your 
vines. Spread out the roots, cover them and 
fill to the top with good earth. Keep them 
well watered with all the wash of the house, 
applied cool, allow but two or three branches 
from each vine to grow, rub off all the others, 
and in a few years you will behold a monu¬ 
ment of your industry staring you in the face, 
with smiles and tears —when the fruit is ripe 
and the morning dew covers the foliage. 
Stop not here ! Plant some curiosity t 
Gooseberries that bare the large fruit, and 
if you have room the Raspberry, Blackberry 
and a fine bed of Strawberries. You can gel 
these plants very cheaply, the latter from 
those who are thinning out old beds, for a 
trifle or the asking. They can be bought 
cheap at all the seed stores and nurseries* 
Plant a few peach trees, also plum and 
cherry if you have them. Or if you prefer 
a grass plot to whiten the “ linen ” upon, 
sow a square plot in the center of your 
.grounds, with timothy, red top and white 
clover, spreading a little wood ashes over it* 
and soon you will have a grass-plot—“ Thai 
is a grass plot.” 
Your grounds are not full. Plant some 
choice rose bushes, Carnations, Pinks, 
and the Lilly of the Valley. If you have 
more than a city lot you can also raise some 
vegetables for the table. Lettuce, onions, 
cabbages, potatoes, peas and beans. Be sure 
to have some roses blowing out of the house, 
and you will soon find some budding within. 
Your wife and children will take pleas¬ 
ure in walking out and helping you plant, 
nurse and enjoy the good things you are 
bringing forth to brighten the sunshine of 
the heart, to warm the affections, to make 
your children lovers of Nature—the noble, 
the elegant, the graceful, the beautiful in her 
Kingdom. The study and the practice in 
these things expand the intellect, elevate the 
sentiments, and ameliorate the heart. If 
there are young ladies here, they will not 
spend the day talking about dress, the num¬ 
ber of hoops and flounces that should be in¬ 
troduced to make it the pink of the fashion, 
the fixings for the ball, the cut and the style— 
whole days in shopping and spending money 
that can’t well be spared, and sure to lull 
Nature’s golden charms to sleep and death: 
wraps them in sackcloth and covers them 
with thfe ashes of their former greatness; 
strips the fruit and foliage through neglect 
of culture. And if allowed to enter the 
sacredness of those enclosures, this little 
garden would be stripped of its comforts and 
delights. The weeds and briars and thorns 
would come over it. But the change would 
not stop here : it would enter the portals of 
the dwelling and fill the garden of the mind, 
the affections, and the heart with the charms 
of their own deformity. Let us keep these 
things from the lots and the plots—and 
grounds we are cultivating—from field and 
valley, from country life altogether. 
Yours Mr. Editor is a happy task to direct 
the taste, to open new sources of enjoyment, 
that never tire, that confer happiness upon 
him that gives and him that takes, that af¬ 
ford present enjoyment while endueing the 
mind with a taste, a relish, for those heaven 
born pleasures that do not wear out with 
the using. U. T. R. 
“ Father,” said a cobbler’s lad, as he was 
pegging away at an old shoe, “ they say that 
trout bite good now.” “ Well,” replied tlic 
old gentleman," *■ stick to work, and they 
| won’t bite yon."' 
