246 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
IIeMItoI gepttmt 
HOVEY’S MAGAZINE EOR DECEMBER. 
The editor improves the close of the 20th 
year of his labors, to magnify his office a 
little, in a social chit-chat with his readers. 
He claims for his magazine a longer and 
more prosperous career than that of any 
kindred publication, in this country or in 
Europe. He records, with pride and pleas¬ 
ure, the long-continued friendship of gentle¬ 
men so thoroughly imbued with a love of 
gardening pursuits, as the late late Hon. 
John Lowell, Gen. H. A. S. Dearbon, Robt. 
Manning, A. J. Downing, Judge Buel, J. E. 
Teschmacher, Wm. Oakes, and Capt. Lov¬ 
ett—through whose kindness he has been 
enabled to please and instruct his readers. 
He looks with great satisfaction upon the 
improvements in horticulture and rural taste 
that have grown up in twenty years. Not 
an American seedling strawberry had then 
been brought before the public, and but three 
or four cherries, and the list of pears was 
very limited. To look over the catalogue of 
these fruits now, and see what extensive 
additions have been made to them, by the 
accession of foreign varieties and native 
seedlings, must astonish even those who 
have been tolerably close observers of the 
annual progress of horticultural science in 
America. Many of his readers will share 
with him the high satisfaction with which 
he looks upon these tokens of progress. 
He claims for his magazine the honor of 
having given an impulse to the many rural 
improvements in the suburbs of Boston, 
which make that vicinity unrivaled in A mer- 
ica; and of having helped very much the 
labors of authors, who have written books 
upon fruits. He pleads guilty to the soft 
impeachment of having got up a “ pear 
mania,” and points Avith great satisfaction to 
the contrast between fairs twenty years ago, 
showing fifty varieties of this fruit, and fairs 
now showing three hundred. 
Great credit is no doubt due to the labors 
of this magazine, so long Avithout a cotem¬ 
porary in its sphere of influence, and will 
share its Editor’s enthusiasm in the contem¬ 
plation of rural improvements. The vicini¬ 
ty of all our large cities is dotted over Avith 
beautiful villas and elegant grounds ; and 
the homes of our rural population are more 
and more significant of comfort and increas¬ 
ing taste. Gardening, both as a practical 
art and an art of taste, is moving forward 
with a rapid pace in every direction through¬ 
out our land. With a climate and soil scarce¬ 
ly surpassed by any temperate region, and 
with accumulating wealth and knowledge, 
there is no obstacle in the way of the great¬ 
est enjoyment of all the blessings which a 
bountiful Providence has placed within our 
reach. 
Wilson Flagg has a characteristic article 
on “Sounds from Inanimate Nature”—a 
mixture of philosophy and poetry very pleas¬ 
ant to read, and more profitable for the cul¬ 
tivation of the mind than the soil. 
The question, “ Can our Native Grapes be 
Improved 1” is answered negatively. The j 
mistake of Emerson in supposing that he I 
had found,a Summer White grape, decidedly 
superior to the Isabella, is pointed out, and 
pomologists are counseled to look to hybrid¬ 
ization as the only source of improvement 
in our native vines. Taste is a thing of ed¬ 
ucation, and it is not at all surprising that 
men of literary distinction, not particularly 
skilled in fruit-growing, should advance the 
opinion that some tolerable grape was better 
than the Isabella, or that this latter Avas su¬ 
perior to any of the foreign varieties grown 
under glass. Time, and better acquaintance 
with fruits, generally corrects these preju¬ 
dices of early education. 
In his pomological gossip the editor gives 
a sort of summing-up of the Concord grape 
controversy, in Avhiclr he- repeats himself on 
former occasions, corrects Mr. Barry in some 
particulars, and sticks to his old position 
with a good deal of tenacity. The Concord 
grape is undoubtedly “ some pumpkins 
and as the case has been Avell argued and 
summed up, Ave are content to leave the de¬ 
cision with the public. 
The Wilkinson and Lewis pears are brief¬ 
ly noticed, and a Avord is said upon “ Per¬ 
petual StraAvberries.” The Editor thinks 
Ave must have the climate of the South to 
give us the results of Mr. Peabody’s straw¬ 
berry garden. 
“ NeAv English Strawberries” are noticed 
as very superior, and some of them larger 
than the British Queen, upon Avhich Ave are 
to hear again Avhen they have had further 
trial. 
The following excellent sample of Johnny 
Bull is taken from the Gardeners’ Chronicle: 
“ Blackberries. —We do not knoAv what is 
meant by the NeAv Rochelle blackberry. 
Many kinds of the Rubus inhabit the United 
States, and are said to be good for the table ; 
but they have never found favor in Europe, 
Avhere men’s tastes are more refined (!) than 
in the New World.” 
Mr. Pardee’s Work on the Strawberry is 
reviewed, in Avhich the editor dissents from 
Mr. Pardee’s views of special manures, and 
recommends stable-mannre or guano. 
The Editor of the Granite Farmer com¬ 
mends the “ Old Colony Sweet Corn” as the 
SAveetest and best table-corn ever cultivated 
—far better than StOAvell’s, Avhich is admit¬ 
ted to be very good. We have cultivated 
StOAvell’s for fomvseasons, and tried the Old 
Colony for the first time last season. We 
had it once upon the table, and it proved so 
insipid that Ave never picked another ear. 
So editors must disagree in their tastes. 
The Stowell, taking all things into consider¬ 
ation, is the best SAveet corn Ave have ever 
met Avith. Dried for Avinter use it surpasses 
any variety we have ever tasted. We, how¬ 
ever, are not incorrigible in our opinion 
about the Old Colony, and if the editor of the 
Granite Farmer, or Mr. Hovey, will send us 
a sample of the seed, we will give it another 
trial. Possibly Ave had not a genuine va¬ 
riety. 
There is an interesting article on the 
“ Profits of Pear-growing in Belgium,” Avhich 
Ave hope to transfer to our pages 
STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 
The straAvberry is, and deserves to be, the 
most extensively cultivated of all our small 
fruits. Productive, easily cultivated, and 
equal to any fruit in flavor and general use¬ 
fulness, it would be strange if it were not 
familiar to every gardener. Neither has it 
lacked notice in horticultural literature. 
Much valuable information has of late years 
been disseminated relating to its history and 
management; and although there are vari 
ous opinions held, Avith reference to its bo¬ 
tanical distinctions, its treatment as a fruit¬ 
bearing plant is reduced to a matter of cer¬ 
tainty. On the former question it is not my 
present purpose to enter, but beg to offer a 
few remarks in regard to its general treat¬ 
ment and culture. 
When Ave consider the habit of growth, 
season of ripening, and permanency of the 
strawberry plant, Ave are led to the conclu¬ 
sion that the soil intended for its growth 
should receive the most thorough prepara¬ 
tion. Its dwarf, spreading growth is not fa¬ 
vorable for after improvement of the soil, 
farther than Avhat can be derived from appli¬ 
cations on the surface. Ripening at a period 
which, in nine seasons out of ten, is charac¬ 
terized by deficient moisture in the soil, and 
extreme atmospheric aridity, suggests the 
idea of alloiving the roots a deep and rich 
medium, where they can luxuriate unin¬ 
fluenced by surface temperature. And Avhen 
we further consider that a strawberry plan¬ 
tation should produce at least three crops 
before[removal, Ave may safely aver that the 
preparation of the soil in the first instance 
is of the utmost importance. 
This leads us again to the foundation of all 
permanent improvement —subsoil culture. 
Trench the soil at least 18 inches in depth, 
incorporating a heavy dressing of well- 
decomposed manure, and if the-soil is clayey, 
or adhesive in its nature, an application of 
charcoal dust will be highly beneficial. As 
a corrective for clayey soils, charcoal can 
not be too highly recommended. In a phys¬ 
ical view, it renders the soil porous and 
permeable to gases, and chemically, its ab¬ 
sorbing and disinfecting properties are equal¬ 
ly valuable, the amount of ammonia and 
other gases Avhich it is capaple of absorbing 
giving it a value as a fertilizer. On a soil 
thus treated, there will be no danger of a de¬ 
fective, half-ripened crop, or the plants 
burning out, as frequently happens, on poor 
shallow soil, for although the straAvberry is a 
plant of small structure, I have traced the 
roots, in favorable soils, a distance of three 
feet from the surface. 
There are various methods of arranging 
the plants. They may be placed in rows 
thirty inches apart, the plants standing one 
foot from each other in the roiv, or, planted 
in beds, six feet wide, thus admitting of four 
rows, the plants fifteen inches apart. Some 
strong growing varieties require more space 
than the above to attain their greatest per¬ 
fection, and such as Boston Pine, Goliah, 
&c., do best in hills thirty inches, or three 
feet apart. The best method for garden 
culture is the first-mentioned, keeping be¬ 
tween the rows clear of weeds and runners, 
unless the latter are required for a new 
plantation, ivhich, on the principle of rota¬ 
tive cropping, should be done every third or 
fourth year, as the plants seem t.o retain 
their vigor and fruitfulness. 
Young plantations may be set out at vari¬ 
ous seasons ; either at midsummer, fall, or 
early spring. As early as young plants can 
be obtained, say about the last of July or be¬ 
ginning of August, is the time for midsum¬ 
mer planting. Choosing a cloudy day for 
the operation, the plants immediately on re¬ 
moval should have their roots preserved by 
dipping them in a puddle. This system of 
