1864] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
311 
cently introduced varieties. New candidates for 
a place in the first class of fruits of any kind, 
have to undergo a probation of several years be¬ 
fore they can be admitted. Continued culture 
in widely separated localities, not only often de- 
velopes defects which were not before manifest, 
but subjects them to an unprejudiced judgment, 
which is often quite different from that of their 
enthusiastic originators. Doubtless this year of 
trial will do much toward establishing the 
standing of many of the newer strawberries, and 
show us that some steps have been made toward 
that perfection for which we are all striving. 
The Hoe and Rake. 
The artist in drawing the above little fancy 
vignette, has unintentionally conveyed a lesson 
which can not be too strongly enforced or too 
often repeated. He has represented ripe fruits 
and flourishing plants, and as intimately con¬ 
nected with these results, he has given the hoe 
and rake a conspicuous position in the picture. 
It is to be feared that many of the readers of the 
Agriculturist , no matter how enthusiastically they 
may have begun gardening in the spring, find 
that their garden tools need rest in these hot 
days of summer. There are some who believe 
that weeds do good by keeping the ground 
shaded and moist, forgetting that weeds are con¬ 
stantly taking up water from the soil and evap¬ 
orating it through their leaves, and are thus rob¬ 
bing the earth of moisture. The only way to 
have good crops of any thing, whether in the 
fruit, vegetable or flower garden, is to keep down 
the weeds and keep the soil loose. Where the 
garden is sufficiently large, the cultivation may 
in good part be done by horse power, but in 
most family gardens some form of the liand- 
lioe will be in constant requisition. Whatever 
kind of hoe is used, let it be always sharp and 
bright. A few minutes sharpening upon the 
grindstone before commencing work, will do 
wonders toward, lightening the task. The 
brightness will come if the hoe is kept busy. 
The ordinary field-hoe is the one most in use, 
and for general work is perhaps the most effi¬ 
cient. For working between rows, the Dutch 
or Push-hoe is a favorite with many, but for all 
small garden, work give us the Bayonet-hoe. 
Whoever invented this little implement de¬ 
serves the thanks of the whole gardening com¬ 
munity. It has been often aV.uded to in these 
pages, and was figured some years ago, but 
we engrave it again in order that those who 
can not find it on sale may have one made 
by a blacksmith. The shape is shown by the 
figure; its blade.is 6 inches long, its greatest 
width 
inches; it 
strengthen 
by the tliic 
ening of t 
back, afl 
the mann 
of a bayom 
One 
an 
ment of this kind will be tempted to work in 
the garden just for the fun of seeing how much 
good work can be done with such insignificant 
looking help. If used endwise, it will stir the 
soil for several inches deep, and one can work 
close to the roots of plants without danger of in¬ 
juring them; if kept sharp and used sidewise it 
will be found much handier to work with among 
plants than the common hoe, and equally destruc¬ 
tive of weeds. By all means try a bayonet hoe. 
The rake will be found to be a very efficient 
tool in light soils. By its frequent use weeds 
may be kept down and the soil loosened to a de¬ 
gree that the hoe may be in good part dispensed 
with. There is one garden implement in the 
picture which we do not advise the general use 
of: that is, the watering-pot. It must be a very 
dry time to render water necessary if the hoe 
and rake have been thoroughly used. When 
water must be given to save the plants, its use 
must be continued until rain comes to their relief. 
Strawberries and Irrigation. 
The following extracts from a letter from L. 
J. Rose Esq., of Los Angelos Co., Cal., not only 
give an interesting account of the mode of cul¬ 
ture in that region, but are suggestive of exper¬ 
iments in those parts of the country where irri¬ 
gation is not, as it is there, absolutely necessary. 
It is well known that in some parts of the South 
the fruiting season of the strawberry is much 
prolonged by planting on the banks of streams, 
and it would be certainly worth while for those 
conveniently situated to try what the effect of 
irrigation would be in the Northern States. One 
great cause of the failure of the crop is exces¬ 
sive dryness just as the fruit is forming, and this 
could be obviated if one had the means of irri¬ 
gating at will. Our correspondent’s observa¬ 
tions in relation to the lands and cultivation 
in New Mexico accord with the writer’s obser¬ 
vations during protracted visits to that Terri¬ 
tory, made at intervals through three years. 
“ Strawberries are cultivated here by a few, and 
to a limited extent; I don’t think there are two 
acres all told in the County. The only variety 
that I have seen is Longwortli’s Prolific, which 
bears with irrigation continually, and I suppose 
bountifully, from the first of April to the first of 
December, a few days earlier or a month later 
according to the season. They have no other 
care than removing runners, weeding and irri¬ 
gating say once a month. There is a half acre 
of this strawberry cultivated by a neighbor, 
which has been in cultivation for six years, and 
has increased in bearing every succeeding year, 
as the stools increased in size, with no other 
care than removing runners, weeding, irrigating, 
mowing the tops, and spading the ground be¬ 
tween the vines in January. I have a plot of 
12 rows, each 120 feet long, the plants about 18 
inches apart in the row, which I cultivate with a 
plow, and from which we now pick ten to twelve 
quarts daily, picking six rows each alternate day. 
It will keep in nearly this state of productiveness 
until December, and this too without it having 
been once manured; the land has been in cul¬ 
tivation for many years. We began picking the 
20th of March and picked every other day. 
“ Irrigation, which almost all could have, is 
entirely overlooked, yet it is a great fertilizer in 
some way, either in itself or indirectly, and when 
it is remembered that lands have been culti¬ 
vated for centuries, with nothing given to 
them in the way of manure except clear water, 
that these lands are now as fertile, and even 
more so, than lands lying adjoining which have 
never been cultivated, it would lead to the con¬ 
clusion that water is a fertilizer in itself. It is a 
fact that ground which is irrigated requires no 
manure, and that irrigation, even in count! ies 
where they have more seasonable rains than in 
the United States, still adds largely to the yield. 
“ During the last six years I have seen much 
of irrigation and observed closely. I carried on 
farming and gardening in New Mexico, farming 
on th.e Pecos and gardening in Santa Fe, both 
old cultivated places; in fact no one could say 
how long the land had been in cultivation, first 
by the Indians and subsequently by the Mexi¬ 
cans, during hundreds of years. It is almost 
certain that the land was never manured, and 
yet it year after year produces extraordinary 
crops of wheat both in quantity and quality, 
the wheat being the fairest, plumpest, and heav¬ 
iest I ever saw in any country. Since then I 
have been in California, and in this, Los Angelos 
County, where there is more irrigation prac¬ 
tised than farther north, and nearly as much as 
in New Mexico. I have now a vineyard and 
fruit garden, and keep the water running nearly 
all the time. My vineyard is young, so too my 
fruit trees, and I irrigate more than would be 
necessary or even beneficial for the fruit, in or 
der to get the greatest growth in the shortest 
time. This would not do with you, but as we 
have scarcely a frost here (tobacco not being 
killed this winter), wood can ripen any time. 
Nor are all things irrigated in equal quantity, 
some trees requiring absolutely no water, and 
a vineyard probably as little as any, and were 
it not that I fear the land would wear out, 
none at all. No one ever thinks of manuring, 
and can see no necessity for it. There are 
vineyards here seventy years old, and as pro¬ 
ductive to-day as at any time of their exist¬ 
ence ; so too with trees or farm products of any 
kind with irrigation. The ground remains pro¬ 
ductive and it is generally sandy land, which 
would under ordinary cultivation soon become 
exhausted. With irrigation too, there can 
scarcely be a failure to raise a crop, for the 
drouth can have no effect. Probably nine- 
tenths of short crops are caused by drouth and 
worn out land. Nor is irrigation any great ex. 
pense. As a general thing, one man can irri 
gate as much land as he can plow.” 
Cactuses as Bedding Plants. 
There are but few of the Cactus family which 
bloom in winter, do what we will with them. 
They should be kept quite dry during the win¬ 
ter season, and have only water enough to keep 
them from wilting. In spring they will come 
out in their full glory and may be kept in the 
room or on the verandah or, what is better than 
either, the pots may be plunged up to their 
rims in the border and left to take tlieir chances. 
They will get water enough from the rains and 
if properly tied to stakes will make a brilliant 
show for a good part of the summer They 
should be set in a sunny exposure. 
