1864 ] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
83 
each way. It is the practice with some to grow 
them in a hedge and allow them to take the 
bush form, but they do not fruit as well as 
when they have been trained to a single stem. 
Valuable Experience in Surface Manur¬ 
ing Fruit Trees. 
The following extract from a communication 
to the American Agriculturist by Dr. H. G. 
Davis of 1ST. Y. City, is published with the re¬ 
mark that, while we approve of the practice, 
we do not agree with the theory. To give our 
objections would require more space than can 
be allowed this month. Theory aside, we ac¬ 
cept it as evidence of the benefits of surface 
manuring, so often advocated in these pages. 
“ Some years since I purchased a Country 
Seat, the grounds of which, ten years previous¬ 
ly, had been prepared with great care and set 
with fruit and ornamental trees. The ground 
was trenched to the depth of two feet and liber¬ 
ally enriched. Among the fruit trees were 
seven dozen and a half of standard pear trees. 
At the time I came in possession, these trees had 
not made any wood for five or six years, and but 
two or three had borne fruit. Among them were 
Bartletts and a Brown Beurre, which would set 
full of fruit, but when they were about half 
size, the fruit would begin to dry and crack 
upon the south side, and not one would perfect 
itself. Other trees were dying at their extremi¬ 
ties, as of old age. I had the earth removed 
down to the roots and a rich compost applied; 
the next year the foliage appeared of a rather 
deeper green and the fruit of the Brown Beurre 
mentioned was improved somewhat, particular¬ 
ly that portion not exposed to the sun, but none 
of the trees made any new wood. In reason¬ 
ing upon the mode of growth of a tree, I came 
to the conclusion that the first sap a tree takes 
up in the spring, contains the materials from 
which the wood and fruit of that season are to 
be manufactured. In conformity with this 
opinion I directed my gardener to spread stable 
manure under my pear trees as far out as the 
branches extended. This was done during a 
rain when the ground was thawing, so as to 
admit the water to penetrate to the roots. The 
manure remained upon the ground until the 
grass began to look green, when it was remov¬ 
ed and used in the garden. It will be observed 
that the manure was applied just at the time the 
tree began to take pp its sap, so that the leach¬ 
ing from it could be appropriated by the roots 
at the time. This was in strict accordance -with 
the views I had formed as to the time a tree 
takes up all the nourishment it will convert in¬ 
to wood or fruit that season.—Now for the re¬ 
sult of this test of my theory. The tree nearest 
dead, some of its branches being entirely so, 
and the whole having the look of a stunted 
Black Jack, bore full of large elegant fruit, and 
it also threw out new shoots twenty inches 
long, and three eighths thick at their extremity. 
The Brown Beurre was loaded with fruit unusu¬ 
ally large and perfect. Two grafts, put into a 
branch an inch and a half in diameter, grew 
seven feet each. The top of another tree being 
removed the next spring, for the purpose of in¬ 
serting grafts, the main shoots were found to 
have grown five feet, others four, and none less 
than three, doing this while at the same time it 
had been full of fruit. The fruit of all these 
trees was improved not only in size but in 
flavor, in as great a degree as the growth of the 
wood was increased. These results were fully 
corroborated another season by experiments 
made on different trees by another gentleman.” 
A New Vegetable—The Tuberous Chervil- 
This vegetable, which has been noticed in the 
foreign journals, and has been tried by a few in 
this country, has at length found its way into 
the catalogues, and the seed can now be obtain¬ 
ed by those who are fond of testing novelties. 
The botanical name of the plant is Ghcer- 
ophyllum tuberosum , and it belongs to the same 
family as the parsnip and carrot. By some it 
is called the Parsnip Chervil, from the resem¬ 
blance of its root to a small short parsnip. It 
is a biennial, the seeds being sown in August 
and September, and the roots ripened in the 
following July. The general mode of culture 
is that given to carrots. The root when cooked, 
has a flavor somewhat like that of a chestnut. 
Letters frequently come to the Agricultwist 
asking for plans for laying out the family gar¬ 
den. As a vegetable garden is not for ornament, 
the plan should be the simplest possible, and 
made with a view to facilitate working. The 
accompanying one by Mr. R. Pillsbury of John¬ 
son county, Iowa., has some good features: The 
garden contains an acre, and in representing it 
on so small a scale the paths and borders are 
necessarily made too large in proportion. The 
borders are occupied by small fruits as indicat¬ 
ed in the plan. A gate at C opens near the 
house, and another at D, near the barn, is wide 
enough to admit a wagon. “A is a bed 16 feet 
wide, running from the house entrance to the 
foot of the garden; this is devoted to radishes, 
onions, beets, &c., which are all planted in 
rows across the bed. At the upper end of this 
bed, is my hot bed (H. B.), near the house, as it 
requires frequent visits; then comes a rhubarb 
patch (R), 5 hills square, which affords an abund¬ 
ance ; below the rhubarb this long bed has no 
subdivisions, one article follows another, with¬ 
out loss of space. For our use—and our fami¬ 
ly is not small—we need about 25 rows of beets, 
same of onions, 10 of parsnips, 5 of carrots, and 
three sowings of radishes, 8 or 10 days apart, 
8 rows at each sowing. The parsnips should 
be next the rhubarb, to be out of the way in 
the spring or fall, if you wish to plow or spade 
the bed; this bed affords room for any new 
thing, and for early squashes or cucumbers. 
I only use about half the bed for the first men¬ 
tioned articles; others might need the whole, 
or more, in which case a similar one might be 
made adjoining it. Corn, early potatoes, sweet 
potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages, snap beans, cu¬ 
cumbers, melons, occupy the next space (B); 
all these are planted in rows running through 
from North to South and are worked by horse 
power; the paths afford turning places. I find 
12 rows of corn at two plantings, and one each 
of tomatoes, snap beans, and cucumbers, are 
sufficient for us. I place all the permanent 
things together, strawberries, asparagus, etc., 
following the general idea throughout of tend¬ 
ing with a horse everything I can.” 
New Flowers Offered this Spring. 
Each year the seedsmen’s catalogues present 
a list of novelties in the way of flowers, accom¬ 
panied by attractive descriptions, and giving the 
price of the seeds, which is usually a rather 
large figure. Some of the 
new plants thus yearly 
brought forward, prove to 
be really valuable and re¬ 
tain a place in the estima¬ 
tion of the public, while 
many, whose only merit 
is their novelty, are soon 
lost sight of. For the bene¬ 
fit of those readers of the 
American Agriculturist who 
wish to keep up with the 
new introductions, we give 
a list of a few of the latest: 
Callirrhoe verticillata. This 
has larger flowers than 6. 
pedata. It is highly spoken 
of in England. Convolvulus 
aweus superbus; a yellow 
flowered Morning-glory, a 
novelty indeed.— Convolvu¬ 
lus Mauritanicus; this is not 
exactly new, but it is not very common; it 
is smaller than Convolvulus major , with very 
bright flowers, and will doubtless be good for 
hanging baskets.— Clarkia pulcherrimaintegripeta- 
la; said to be the finest of the Clarkias.— Abro- 
nia fragrans. This is a perennial from the Rocky 
Mountains. We have admired it in its wild 
state, and think it will prove valuable in cultiva¬ 
tion.— HelipterumSanfordi; anew “everlasting" 
flower, with clusters of golden yellow.— Lupinus 
albo-coccineus; is said by the English florists to 
be the finest annual Lupin.— Mimulus tigridioides, 
a highly praised new bedding plant.— Rhodanthe 
atrosanguinea and maculata-alba; dark purple, 
and pure white varieties of It, Manglesii , one of 
the prettiest of the “everlasting” flowers. 
Scabiosa candidissima; is a white variety of the 
well-known purple Sweet Scabious. Vicia Gerar- 
di; is described as a new climbing annual, with 
bunches of flowers like a Wistaria, but smaller. 
The Fruit Crop at the West- 
Many correspondents of the American Agri¬ 
culturist at the West are apprehensive that many 
of their fruit trees, especially peaches were de¬ 
stroyed by the severe cold, on Jan. 1st, 2d, and 
3d. The fruit buds for the coming season are 
probably considerably injured, perhaps enough 
to result in scarcity, but it is yet too early to 
predict a general failure even in this respect. 
Trees will bear very intense cold, but sudden 
changes from mild to severe weather and the 
contrary are most likely to prove injurious. 
Path. 
Raspberries. 
Plan for Laying out a Garden. 
