1864 .] 
165 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
S. Robinson—Had 50 maple trees destroyed by planting 
too low ; set 50 more last year at the proper depth and 
they were all alive. 
Snlon Robinson—Alluded to the decay of young or¬ 
chards In New England. 
Mr. Field—The reason why young trees did not suc¬ 
ceed like old ones, was owing to the exhaustion of the 
soil. Old orchards were set on virgin soil, which had not 
been poisoned by the excrements of other plants. 
Mr. Carpenter—Some sorts had lived out their time. 
Of 30 N. Y. Pippins, set out seven years ago, only 1 tree 
was left; other sorts, very fine, were either diseased or 
running out. Trees were not pruned as they should be. 
The orchard should be pruned when young, beginning 
when the limbs are no larger round than the finger. 
Dr. Ward—Is it advisable to trench vineyards ? 
Mr. Holton—The best conducted and most successful 
vineyards on the continent are trenched. 
Mr. Carpenter—The success of the vine depends more 
on after culture, than on trenching. 
R. S. Williams—Both may err, those who always ad¬ 
vise trenching, and those who recommend none at all. 
Grape vines near a spring grow well, but do not ripen 
fruit. It Is absurd to dig a trench 3 or 4 feet deep In good 
soil, but if the subsoil is a tenacious clay, subsoiling is 
necessary to promote capillary attraction. 
Containing a great variety of Items, including many 
good Hints and Suggestions which we give in small type 
and condensed form, for want of space elsewhere. 
To Correspondents Once More.— 
We cannot answer many personal inquiries, and do not 
like to devote time to this and pay return postage besides. 
Sometimes it is impossible; for instance Mr. C. H. C. 
writes about some point in grape culture and sends a 
stamp for reply. We write an answer and look for the 
address to put on the envelope, and all the clue he gives 
us is, Chester Co., Pa. There are over 90 Post Offices 
In that county, and we can not look over the mail list of 
each of these as it would take a long time, so Mr. C.’s 
answer instead of going to Chester Co., goes into the 
waste basket. This is only one of hundreds of similar 
cases of indefiniteness in letters received. 
Asking Questions.— A letter before us 
jsks how to make an asparagus bed. This is a sample 
Of numerous queries which have been answered over and 
over again. This year the calendar has contained suffi¬ 
cient directions for asparagus with notes in the “Basket” 
and elsewhere. Will not our readers look through the 
Calendar and index of the current year, if they have only 
that, before they make queries about the culture of com¬ 
mon things. We are willing to answer useful ques¬ 
tions, and sometimes those we have already anticipated. 
Distributing Seeds.— Some of our cor¬ 
respondents, when they have saved a fair stock of seeds 
of some particular thing, ask us to say to our subscribers 
that they will be glad to distribute to those who apply. 
We do not publish these notices, as we wish to save our 
readers from disappointment. Unless one has fine seeds 
by the pound and coarse ones by the barrel, and a half 
dozen people with nothing else to do but put them up, he 
had better not offer seeds to the readers of the Agricul¬ 
turist. Letters will come in by tens of thousands, the 
person who offers will not be able to supply the hundredth 
part of the demand, and he will be blamed for proposing 
to do what is generally impossible for ordinary cultiva¬ 
tors to accomplish. The regular subscribers number 
about a hundred thousand, and the readers hundreds of 
thousands. What one will like to get, many thousand 
others will also want, especially if it is offered free. One 
subscriber offered seeds in this way, and received over 
13,000 applications for the 400 parcels he had to give. 
Tlie Agriculturist Strawberry.— 
We are propagating plants as rapidly as possible, with all 
the more satisfaction as another year gives evidence of its 
great hardiness. It will be hardly fair to expect much 
from our plants in the way of fruit this year, they have 
been so severely taxed in multiplying the stock. Still 
we hope the berry will tell a pretty good story for itself 
at the coming Strawberry Show. 
A Secure Investment.— The 1040 United 
States Loan advertised in our columns and referred to 
last month, is being rapidly taken up, not only by capi¬ 
talists, but by private individuals who have small sums 
not wanted for present use. The recent glorious suc¬ 
cesses of our armies are well calculated to strengthen 
confidence in the permanence of the Federal Govern¬ 
ment, if any doubts could be previously entertained. 
We can, without hesitation, advise all who have money 
to lay by permanently or for a short time, to avail them¬ 
selves of the present opportunity. 
Death of a Prominent Agricultu¬ 
rist.— Edward G, Faile, late President of the N. Y. State 
Agricultural Society died recently at his residence in 
Westchester County. Although a merchant by profes¬ 
sion, Mr. Faile has long been known as a most successful 
stock breeder and farmer. His influence was widely 
felt in connection with the State Agricultural Society, 
of which he was many years a prominent member, from 
the Presidency of which he retired only last February. 
His sterling qualities as a man and a Christian made 
him universally respected and beloved. 
Dystcs- Shell Lime.—“A. W. P.,” Cedar 
Co., Iowa. Shell lime is abundant on the sea-board, and 
costs from 6c. to 12c. per bushel, but It will not pay to 
transport it far inland. This is the best agricultu¬ 
ral lime, but good building lime is nearly as efficient, 
and some cheap kinds are often more valuable on 
the soil than higher priced, whiter and finer qualities. 
Manure for Cabbages.—" E*£.,” Cam¬ 
den Co., N. J. If barn-yard manure can not be had, 
use muck and ashes on sandy soil, or ashes alone in soil 
rich in vegetable matter. Use some sort of liquid ma¬ 
nure while the plants are growing. An application of 
salt is said to make them head ; we never tried it. 
Manure for Strawberries. — Mrs. F. 
E. G. Stoddard, Northampton, (State not given,) says 
that the ashes of sea-weed applied to strawberries have 
produced wonderful results in flavor, size, and yield. 
“ A good quantity” was applied, but amount not stated. 
Those who live near the shore will do well to repeat the 
experiment. Mrs. S. finds that a sprinkling every even¬ 
ing is better for fruit than profuse occasional waterings. 
Seedling Strawberries.— Rev. A. 6. 
Perkins,. Dakota Co., Minn. It is very common for 
chance seedlings to be produced from fruit dropped from 
the vines. Some fine varieties have originated in this 
way. As it is usually three years before they come into 
fruit, there is but little danger of a careful observer mis¬ 
taking these seedlings for the original stock. Cultiva¬ 
tion in hills and allowing only the runners needed for 
new plants to grow, will obviate any difficulty. 
Everbearing Strawberries.—W. O. 
Crittenden, Olmstead Co., Minn. We have never seen 
any of these worth cultivating j they bear a few berries 
through the season, but do not give a good picking at 
any one time. Unless you have something better than 
any now known, it is not worth propagating. 
Plants for Names.— A. B. Gage, Jasper 
County, Ill., and F. L. Bull, Shelby County, O., both 
send Mertensia Virginica, called Lungwort or Virginian 
Cowslip. It is one of the prettiest native perennials of 
the West and should be cultivated much oftener than it 
is_H. Roe, Fairfield Co., Conn. The seed appears to 
be that of the true millet, Panicum miliaceum .J. N. 
Kanaga, Floyd Co., Ind., sends Collinsia verna. This 
is a neat little annual which appears among the early 
flowers of the West. C. bicolor, from California, is 
grown in gardens and this, though small, might find a 
place there_“S. E. S.”, East Setauket, sends a Pelar¬ 
gonium flower which tends to become double after the 
manner described for the rose on page 177..R. D. 
Gray, Armstrong Co., Pa. The plant is the Globe Ama¬ 
ranth, Gomphrena globosa, an annual easily raised if the 
seeds are first scalded. It is useful in the garden and in 
dried bouquets. 
Broolis’ Writing 1 and Toilet Case 
advertised in the May number, is a most convenient 
travelling companion, well adapted for soldiers’ use. It 
contains writing and sewing materials, and other small 
articles frequently needed, but not always easily attain¬ 
able away from home. The whole is compactly envel¬ 
oped in water-proof cloth. It would make a capital lit¬ 
tle present to a friend in the army. 
“ Agriculture of Mass.” — Another 
Annual Volume of the doings of the Mass. Board of Ag¬ 
riculture is before us—by the favor of Mr. Charles L. 
Flint, Secretary, than whom there are few whose contri¬ 
butions to agricultural literature are more justly popular 
and really valuable. The farmers of the “Bay State” 
are happy in having a Board of such liberal views, and 
the expense to the State of the publication and distribu¬ 
tion of a volume of this kind annually, is an hundred fold 
returned If a proper use of the work is made by the farm¬ 
ers. That Massachusetts farmers make a good use of 
books we all know. We take the liberty of proposing 
the subject of an “ Agricultural Experiment Station, u on 
t le plan of those of Germany, to the consideration of 
tits enterprising body. 
N. B.—The Snnd«iy School Book.— 
Some of our friends in ordering Sunday School books fr r 
get to allow for the postage —an important item to us- 
and are doubtless disappointed in not receiving quite so 
many books as they order. Please observe the following 
table and remit accordingly—allowing 2 cents each foi 
any number over 10 copies. 
Illustrated Morse Munaagciaeul;.— 
The Illustrated Horse Doctor by the same author, Ed 
ward Mayhew, member of the Royal College of Veteri¬ 
nary Surgeons, etc., has been received with g'eat favor 
by the lovers of the horse. The diseases of ti.e horse in 
this country are so similar to those with which he is af¬ 
flicted in Great Britain, that for thfe most part that work 
has been found well adapted to our wants. The same 
may be said of the book now before us, issued by Lip- 
pincott & Co., and though it is written with especial re.- 
erence to horses which enjoy the highest degree of “civ¬ 
ilization,” it contains a vast amount of knowledge which 
would profit even the rangers of the great plains. An 
admirable humaneness pervades the works of this author, 
a genuine love of the noble animal, and a pointed way 
of rebuking the revolting cruelties which many, kind- 
hearted men even, practise under the plea of- necessity. 
The illustrations are from Mr. Mayhew’s own pencil, 
and are very striking and instructive. To him who looks 
at the pictures alone and reads barely enough to know 
what they are about, the book is worth all it costs. The 
work is devoted not only to the management of the horse, 
but equally to that mismanagement which impairs the 
usefulness, induces disease, and shortens the lives of so 
many horses. Sent by mail, post-paid, for $3 50. 
Mints to Igitlemen.— This is the modest 
and attractive title of a neat volume, fully illustrated on 
the rifle_andits use, by H. W. S. Cleveland. Everyman 
who owns a rifle would do well to possess himself of this 
little book, for it discusses what makes a good rifle, de¬ 
scribing the prominent ones in use, how to take care of and 
use the rifle, the principles of projectiles, and the various 
circumstances which govern the flight of balls. We have 
studied it with no little interest and profit. As game dis¬ 
appears before improved agriculture, our people are los¬ 
ing their skill with the rifle, and shot-gun too, to such an 
extent that in many districts a gun is seen and handled 
by the majority of the male population as a curiosity. 
The formation of Rifle Clubs has already commenced, 
and properly managed there might be thus afforded not 
only an agreeable pastime, but knowledge of, and skill 
with, a weapon upon which to a greater extent than 
we realize, may depend the liberties of the Republic. 
Tlie Spencer E&iffle. —We had the pleas¬ 
ure of examining at the Office of the Agriculturist, some 
of these remarkable pieces which were presented by tlie 
Spencer Rifle Co., of Boston, to the Metropolitan Fair 
More than 20,000 of these rifles and carbines are now in 
use by our soldiers, and no doubt doing terrible work 
in the exciting days in the midst of which we go to 
press. This piece is so constructed that by the simple 
motion of a lever-guard which shuts over the trigger, 
it is loaded ; no capping or priming is needed. It can 
thus be charged and fired faster than any man can take 
correct aim, and when the shots contained in the 
“ magazine ” which is in the breech are all fired, it can be 
reloaded with 7 or 9 cartridges much quicker than a 
common rifle can be loaded with one. Both officers and 
men in the army speak in enthusiastic terms of this 
rifle, as never failing, never getting out of order, and 
very accurate. The loading may be done with one hand. 
Tlie National Almanac and Annu> 
al Record for 1864.-G. W. Childs, of Philadelphia, 
has published the second number of this most valuable 
annual All statistics and facts relating to the coun¬ 
try, whether in the General or State Governments, the or¬ 
ganization and principle rules of the army, navy, postal 
and other departments, are given, and abstracts of public 
laws. Statistics of Territories of the United States and 
of Foreign countries, election returns and a host of other 
things are classified and condensed into a neat volume of 
641 pages, which form the most useful work of reference 
of its kind in print. Sent by mail for $1.50. 
Chip Manure—Pond Mud.—Gilbert 
Rogers, Crawford Co., Pa., writes that he has rotten 
