198 
AMEBIC AN AGKICULTUKIST : . 
linrWtal 
THE HORTICULTURIST FOR NOVEMBER. 
The number opens with a very finely exe¬ 
cuted engraving of the Caroline de Sansel 
rose, which was selected from a whole half 
acre of roses, as one of the two most worthy 
of the distinction of an engraving. It is said 
to be the best among the light colored varie¬ 
ties ; the flowers opening well, and retaining 
their form and color for a long while. 
The leader is a timely article on “ Parks 
and Pleasure Grounds for the Farmers.” 
The time has fully come when our farms 
should cease to be regarded as mere manu¬ 
factories of food and the raw material of 
clothing. It is one of the great wants of our 
times that these farms should be turned into 
attractive Christian homes, where men and 
women shall not only work, eat, sleep, and 
die, but where they shall enjoy life, as social 
and religious beings, and by loving and cul¬ 
tivating the good and the beautiful on earth, 
be fitted for the paradise of God. A man 
should no longer be considered a good citi¬ 
zen, who does not plant trees enough, and 
give time and money enough, to make his 
homestead so attractive that it shall retain 
some of his children to fill his place when 
he is gone. Multitudes of these old home¬ 
steads in the north are forsaken, mainly be¬ 
cause there was nothing but the sternest 
utility about them, in the whole circle of the 
year. 
The writer shows that the farmer may 
have his park without incurring a very heavy 
expense. He can fence ofF, with any good 
hedge plant, five or ten acres immediately 
around the house ; and it xvill be as availa¬ 
ble for mowing or pasture, as if it were on 
any other part of the farm. The hedge 
would not cost more than twenty-five cents 
a rod. Seed the inclosure, and plant it with 
young maples, elms, tulip trees, basswoods, 
and other forest trees, at your leisure. Cul¬ 
tivate the soil around the trees until they 
are well established. They should be set 
in clusters, and singly, in all parts of the 
park, leaving ample room for them to attain 
full size at mature age. The park, after the 
trees are well established, may be pastured 
with sheep, as many parks are in Europe; 
and thus it would have a closely cut surface, 
without the expense of mowing, and the 
sheep would be an interesting feature in its 
scenery. 
The “ Philadelphia pear ” is 1 figured, and 
highly recommended in an article by Dr. 
Brinkle. Its size, taken in connection with 
its other fine qualities, will render it one of 
our greatest pomological acquisitions ; and 
at no distant day it will occupy a high posi¬ 
tion among the most valuable varieties of 
this excellent fruit. Its present name was 
given to it by the Native Fruit Committee of 
the American Pomological Society. With 
skillful cultivation, the Philadelphia will 
probably equal in size, as it surpasses in 
flavor, the largest grown specimens of the 
Duchesse d’Angouleme. The editor, who 
tested it at Boston this fall, regards it as an 
important acquisition. 
An Amateur has an excellent article on 
“ Grape Culture in Cold Vineries,” that 
makes one’s mouth water. He prefers the 
curvelinear roof, running due north and south, 
as it secures a longer period of the sun’s 
rays, without its scorching effects at meri¬ 
dian, and concentrates a more equable heat 
during the day. He follows Mr. Chorlton’s 
direction for preparing a border, with the 
addition of about fifty barrels of refuse char¬ 
coal sweepings ; a quantity of refuse potash 
in sawdust, as obtained from the floors of 
inspection offices ; two bags of guano—near¬ 
ly 400 pounds ; and one foot deeper. Vines 
one and two years from the eye were set 
out in 1852, and grew thirty feet the first 
season. In 1853 they were allowed to fruit 
five bunches each. They matured well, and 
gave a succession of grapes from the first of 
August to the last of November. The pres¬ 
ent season, the vines were allowed to ripen 
ten bunches each. Their maturity sur¬ 
passed the preceding year, in size, color, and 
flavor, and the canes were better ripened, 
giving satisfactory evidence of unimpaired 
health. 
As these grapes were selected with refer¬ 
ence to a succession, the list, is valuable to 
those who wish to'order vines for a grapery 
to supply their own table. Royal Musca¬ 
dine, Muscat bianc hatiff, Joslyn’s St. Albans, 
and White Frontignan, are the earliest varie¬ 
ties. These are followed by the Austrian 
Muscat, Zinfindal, Xeres, and Decon’s Su¬ 
perb. Then come the Hamburgs, White 
Tokay, Malvasia, Rose Chasselas, and Mus¬ 
cat of Alexandria; and, latest, Reine de 
Nice, Prince Albert, Cambridge Botanic 
Garden, Syrian, and West’s St. Peters. 
Any one desirous of enjoying this luscious 
fruit in perfection, may realize the most sat¬ 
isfactory results, by having a tight curvelin¬ 
ear house, at a costof $12 the running foot, 
(say fifty feet in length, for $600,) which will 
be a tasteful appendage to any establishment. 
This, with a rich compost border, stinting 
neither quantity or quality of the material in 
its first construction, and with Chorlton’s 
treatise upon exotic grapes as a guide, he 
can not fail to reap full satisfaction in the 
investment. 
We have waited with interest for the edi¬ 
tor’s opinion upon the merits of the Concord 
grape ; and we find it given at length, in this 
number, and with evident candor. It ac¬ 
cords substantially with our own, expressed 
in former issues. He says : “ It has the 
same foxy perfume and flavor of the Isabella, 
but stronger’; when a few berries are eaten, 
a prickling sensation is produced on the 
tongue. This has been remarked by all who 
have tested it, so far as we know. It is 
very juicy, and will, we think, prove to be 
an excellent- wine grape. For the table, 
however, we do not think it equal to the Isa¬ 
bella ; and in this opinion nearly all disin¬ 
terested parties, whom we have conversed 
with, agree. It was tested and compared 
with the Isabella, at Boston, grown at Wes¬ 
ton, not far from Concord ; and not one on 
the committee considered it as good. We 
have again compared it with Isabellas grown 
here, and the latter has been unanimously 
pronounced superior. 
“ Yet Ave regard the grape as an important 
acquisition, as ripening earlier than either the 
Catawba, or Isabella, and therefore likely to 
furnish northern sections with a grape, where, 
heretofore, no good grapes have ripened. 
We believe the merits of the grape havebeen 
exaggerated.” 
This grape has now been before the pub¬ 
lic several seasons, and has been fully dis¬ 
cussed in the pomological journals. Fruit 
growers, in search of the truth, have now 
the necessary data to form their own opin¬ 
ions. Five dollars a vine is a little “ too 
warm in the mouth ” for an article inferior 
to the Isabella. 
The editor raps the knuckles of our New- 
York hotel keepers. Their fruit desserts 
are shabby. At the very best, where $2 50 
per day is charged, one can not find a good 
pear or a good bunch of grapes upon the 
table. Those who want such things must 
go to Thompson’s, or Taylor’s, and pay for 
them. Our hotel accommodations are good 
enough; but in the matter of fruit desserts, 
there is ample scope for improvement. Which 
of them Avill take the lead '? 
The Northern Muscadine grape is con¬ 
demned as Avorthless. Matthew’s Curculio 
Remedy is still under the consideration of 
the committee appointed to test its merits. 
A. Fahnestock,’of Syracuse, N. Y., in a let¬ 
ter, represents it as uniformly successful, 
where faithfully applied. Mr. Matthews 
offers to wager $100 on its success, “on 
any tree, in any soil, and anywhere, Avith a 
single application.” Is the Millenium of 
plum growers actually come 1 
LIQUID MANURE FOR THE GARDEN- 
Permit me to offer a few remarks on the 
valuable effects that night-soil, when reduced 
to a liquid state, has upon the various pro¬ 
ductions of the garden; and, as not a feAv of 
your readers Avill be aware, manures are of 
no use to vegetation until they are dissolved 
in Avater. When, therefore, liquid manure 
is used, the cultivator has less trouble, and 
at the same time he is applying a substance 
in the state in which plants can best receive 
it and derive most good from it. 
For some years past I have been in the 
habit of using this description of manure to a 
considerable extent, and have found the re¬ 
sults to be very beneficial; besides it prevents 
the necessity of applying for such quantities 
of manure in a solid state. At the end of the 
season I make it a rule Avhen turning up va¬ 
cant pieces of ground to the action of frost, 
to lay upon the exposed soil some rotten 
manure, adding a considerable portion of 
vegetable refuse reduced to mould for such 
purposes. This mould is obtained by taking 
all the refuse possible from the garden, 
throwing it into a heap to rot, and turning it 
tAvo or three times during the summer. The 
decomposed vegetable matter is admirably 
adapted for the growth of plants for culinary 
purposes. 
During the winter I go over the ground in¬ 
tended for the Brassica family, pouring on a 
large quantity of this liquid, in order to al- 
Ioav the winter rains an opportunity of wash¬ 
ing it doAvn, so that the ground is greatly 
benefited. 
The above is also applicable to gooseberry 
and currant bushes. I have a large basin 
made round the root of each, and about the 
end of November I apply tAvo large pans full 
of the liquid to each plant; afterward I level 
