s 
AMDBICAN AGKIGULTTTBIS^. 
Pcrtirultoral Jiprtmeitt. 
A NEW CURCULIO REMEDY. 
Considerable expectation is excited at the 
present time by the hope, that Mr. Matthew’s 
remedy, now in process of trial, may prove suc¬ 
cessful. Certain it is, that an easy and perfect 
remedy would preserve to us a large amount of 
very fine fruit. No one has eaten the large and 
lucious Moor park or Peach Apricots—or Jef¬ 
ferson and Green Gage Plums, without earnestly 
wishing a protection from such a pest. Some 
remedies seem to be effectual for a time, in 
some seasons, and in some locations; but then 
they fail in others, just at the time, when they 
are most needed; and therefore the public look 
with no small suspicion on any proposed rem¬ 
edy, until it has received the most thorough 
trial for years. 
On stepping into a friend’s excellent fruit or¬ 
chard in Connecticut last w r eek, we saw plum 
trees by the dozen, of various varieties, literally 
loaded with clusters of fair fruit. We ex¬ 
pressed our surprise and gratification, when he 
said, “ Oh, I have found a remedy for the cur- 
culio, and it w r orks perfectly.” Then turning to 
some venerable apricot trees, continued, “ Those 
trees had not ripened an apricot for twelve 
years, until three or four years ago, when I dis¬ 
covered this curculio remedy, but since then 
they are loaded with fruit every year as well as 
the plums.” 
On further conversation, he said he had not 
yet made his remedy public. His residence 
being one of the most retired in New-England, 
and although we could not obtain permission to 
report it for the benefit of our readers; yet we 
can say it is altogether the most probable and 
easy remedy that has yet been brought to our 
notice. It involves the application of neither 
lime, nor sulphur; and it is just such a discov¬ 
ery as a shrewd Yankee farmer wmuld be likely 
to make; and it is so simple that every one 
can apply the remedy without stepping from 
his own premises, or going to the drug store for 
assistance. We shall experiment with it, and 
hold the remedy in reserve, in case others fail. 
Occasionally a small tree was left without the 
application, and not a plum was to be seen on 
all of those, while trees in full bearing sur¬ 
rounded them so closely that the branches in¬ 
terlocked. 
We shall wait patiently for the reports on Mr. 
Matthew’s remedy, and earnestly hope it may 
be the thing needed. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
THE MECHANIC’S GARDEN. 
When a good thing is started, a good rule is 
to keep it agoing. An article in one of the late 
numbers of your paper, calls attention to what 
might be done in small gardens; and I then 
thought it the duty of some one who has had 
experience in the matter, to point out some of 
the most prominent errors in garden culture; 
and also propose a better method. 
Mechanics generally have at their command 
only a moderate supply of means, consequently 
it is a matter of no small importance that they 
should be encouraged and directed aright in 
matters of domestic economy. Let the me¬ 
chanic and small farmer see that in supplying 
them with a family journal, you send into their 
circle a correct counterpart of what has been 
done, and what can still be done. Let them see 
that with a moderate outlay of industry and en¬ 
terprise, they can enjoy such luxuries as straw¬ 
berries, asparagus, raspberries, grapes, dwarf 
pears, plums, and such smaller fruits, and you 
at once gain their confidence, and encourage 
them to a trial. There is a way to manage a 
kitchen garden that will greatly abbreviate the 
labor. This is the heaviest item in the consid¬ 
eration of the mechanic. 
A very common practice with some is, to 
commence the laying out a garden by digging 
miniature canals for walks, which is just so 
much useless labor, as the sides that are in¬ 
tended to represent a border, are continually 
crumbling down at every weeding, thus adding 
labor to labor; and if the ground is any way 
level, these canals receive the water of every 
shower. The very reverse of this is a better 
practice and a great saving of labor. The 
walks should generally be laid out at right an¬ 
gles, leaving squares that are square ; and the 
walks should always be higher than the beds— 
(naturally wet gardens of course excepted,) 
then the water will run off the walks upon the 
square—the very place wanted. Also avoid 
having a border for vegetables or small fruit 
around the outside the garden, next the fence, 
as they will always be more or less injured by 
repairing fences. Then plant and cultivate 
every thing in rows, at right angles with your 
walks, and you will find the gardens much more 
easily kept clean. 
The next best tool in a garden to a spade is 
a scuffling hoe. No one unacquainted with that 
tool can scarcely conceive its value. And any 
one that w’ants it had better apply to some ag¬ 
ricultural store at once for one, if it is conve¬ 
nient. It is a hoe that cuts off the weeds by 
‘pushing, thereby enabling the operator to loosen 
the ground and leave it so ; as he is not obliged 
to walk upon it after hoeing, as is the case with 
a common hoe. The hand-plow and cultivator 
are great labor-saving implements in the garden, 
and enable the operator to work the ground 
deeper, and stir it more thoroughly and evenly, 
than can be done with any series of hoes. 
With these implements, in a good friable soil, 
one person can easily do the work of three with 
hoes alone. 
The next matter for consideration is the se¬ 
lection of plants for a small garden. The 
smaller fruits are best adapted for ornament and 
use, and in referring to this branch of garden¬ 
ing, I would add but one item more, which is, 
never depend upon your neighbors for fruit 
trees, such as suckers and sprouts—it is the 
worst economy in the world. Go at once, even 
at some sacrifice, if necessary, to some respect¬ 
able nurseryman. Make known your wants, 
and let him select for you such plants as are 
known to be of value. Buy moderately and 
cultivate experimentally , making yearly addi¬ 
tions to those that succeed. These brief direc¬ 
tions, prudently followed, and you will never re¬ 
gret your acquaintance with the American Agri¬ 
culturist. 
By way of proof that mechanics can by their 
industry accomplish something, I will quote a 
part of a letter I have just received from a re¬ 
cent mechanic, but now a farmer in Wisconsin. 
He says: 
We are all well and enjoy good health—[mark 
that, good health—that priceless boon enjoyed 
more largely by farmers than any class of men 
on the face of the earth,] though pretty much 
worked down; having with the help of one 
man only—harvested some thirty acres of grain 
and grass. The fore part of the harvest season 
was warm and wet, the latter part hot; the 
thermometer from 90 to 100 in the shade, but 
upon the whole, favorable for harvest, which in 
Wisconsin is a bountiful one. Wheat, oats, 
grass and barley excellent; and corn, the best 
I ever saw; and, as far as I can hear, all tell 
the same story. Yesterday I went some 20 
miles N. W. It is astonishing to see the stacks 
of grain the people have got together this sea¬ 
son. I have got 80 acres of land, 35 of them 
cleared, worth about $1,500. Timbered land, 
(unimproved land,) is worth about $600 a lot of 
80 acres. It costs $10 per acre to clear and 
fence. The face of the land is rolling. I raise 
considerable produce to spare this year. 1 have 
six acres of winter wheat, yielding 25 to 30 
bushels to the acre, and three and a half acres 
spring wheat. I will have 200 or 300 bushels 
of oats and corn ; potatoes enough and some to 
spare. I have got a nice span of horses, have 
raised a pair of colts this summer, keep two 
cows, a few head of young cattle, and 47 sheep. 
The balance of my stock are swine, poultry, &c. 
And now, Mr. Editor, this is from a me¬ 
chanic; and all this is accomplished by hand 
labor. I offer it as exceedingly appropriate at 
this time, as positive proof that we do not pro¬ 
pose impossibilities to the mechanic for diges¬ 
tion. How many of your city mechanics that 
pay high rents and city doctor’s bills, can say 
this after twenty years of toil and labor. 
W. D. 
HOW TO LAY OUT A GOOD GARDEN. 
Town, cottage or small suburban gardens, 
admit of little or no choice as regards style; they 
must be laid out principly in the geometric or re¬ 
gular order, for any attempt to introduce a gar- 
denesque or picturesque ai'rangement, in so 
limited a space, will only result in an unneces¬ 
sary waste of the ground, or a ridiculous at¬ 
tempt at landscape art. Many small gardens 
have been entirely ruined by the desire of the 
proprietors to have something in the rustic or 
natural style, without at once taking into con¬ 
sideration the extent of their grounds. It is no 
uncommon thing to see a garden of a quarter of 
an acre cut up into serpentine walks, in such a 
manner as to leave scarcely a spot of earth of 
sufficient size to plant a tree, or grow a dozen 
cabbage plants. There are some individuals 
who admire such a display, and regard it as a 
specimen of elaborate skill, but the man of true 
taste must look upon all such efforts as childish, 
and beneath the recognition of landscape art. 
The general form in which town gardens are 
usually laid out is a parallelogram, ranging in 
width from fifty to one hundred feet, and in 
depth from fifty to two hundred feet. These 
lots are often uniform in size, and frequently 
form a continuous row for many hundred feet, 
or perhaps a mile in length. On the fronts of 
these lots the houses are erected, from five to 
thirty feet from the street, but oftener the first 
distance than the latter; an error upon which 
we must not omit to make a passing remark. 
Nothing, it appears to us, can be more objec¬ 
tionable than a dwelling immediately upon the 
street, and for various reasons it should always 
be avoided: 1st, the dust from the road; 2d, 
the absence of all privacy to the inmates; and 
3d, the prevention of the planting of trees and 
shrubs between the house and the road. In a 
lot of one hundred or more feet in depth, no 
house should stand within fifteen or twenty feet 
of the street, and if thirty feet the better. 
But whether a plot of ground selected for a 
