AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
13 
of strawberries—the Common Wood, the 
Hautboy and the Alpine. The wood straw¬ 
berry is a small conical berry, dry and 
seedy, but of an agreeable flavor. It is a 
very productive ‘kind, and valuable for its 
habit of continuing a long time in fruit. 
One peculiarity of this kind is, that it does 
not sport (change its character) when raised 
from seed; there is consequently but one 
variety, except that some are red and some 
white. The Hautboy is a larger fruit than 
the Wood, and darker in color. It has a 
large blossom which is elevated quite above 
the leaves. The fruit has a peculiar musky 
flavor, agreeable only to a very few persons. 
The Alpine grows upon the Alps. It is an 
everbearing variety. The fruit resembles 
that of the Wood strawberry, and is of three 
colors, red, white and green. The green is 
very scarce in this country, valuable only as 
a curiosity. 
The Alpine strawberry is raised in Eu¬ 
rope for a supply of fruit after all other 
kinds have gone out of bearing. It is not 
very productive, and requires much care and 
copious watering to keep it in bearing dur¬ 
ing the summer. In our hot and dry sum¬ 
mers it is not worth cultivating, unless one 
is willing to plant and tend a large bed for a 
small return.—[E d. 
EVERGREENS—RAISING FROM SEED. 
To the queries respecting the Hemlock 
(Abies Canadensis) and the Arbor Vitae 
(Thuja Occidentalis), we answer: These 
varieties of evergreens, and also the Spruce 
and White Pine, have until recently been 
chiefly taken from those localities where 
they spring up naturally. But the many 
failures in transportation, and the coarse 
character of the wild plants, have led nur¬ 
serymen to turn their attention to producing 
them from the seed, or importing them 
from Europe (mostly from Great Britain). 
We give a few directions for the guidance 
of those wishing to produce a stock of seed¬ 
lings. 
The seed may be procured from the seed- 
dealers, or gathered in the forest. It al¬ 
ways produces plants true to its kind. 
Prepare beds from four to six feet wide, 
and of any required length, by spading and 
trenching the soil. Place a frame around 
them, made of boards say about one foot 
tn width, nailed together at the corners. 
Sow the seed in April or May, either in 
drills or broadcast, and cover rather lightly 
with loam, or, what is better, a mixture of 
loam, decomposed leaves and muck, which 
will make a soil nearly allied to that in 
which they grow best naturally. The seed 
will vegetate in a few weeks, when the beds 
should be carefully watched, and the tender 
plants shielded from the direct rays of a 
scorching sun, and still not kept in a total 
shade. Brush laid across the frame makes 
a good shade ; or a covering may be formed 
by nailing laths to strips of board, leaving a 
space of about half an inch between the 
slats. Either of these coverings, as the sun 
passes over them, casts a shade much re¬ 
sembling that made by the branches of the 
living tree to the plants which spring up be¬ 
neath it. The screens should be laid over 
the beds during each hot day, as soon as 
the sun shines directly upon the plants, and 
removed towards evening, when the rays 
are less powerful. The narrowness of the 
beds allows of their being weeded, and the 
ground carefully stirred, without going upon 
them. Water should be given occasionally, 
and the screens left off" during rains. The 
plants may grow in the seed-beds for two 
or three years, when they are to be care¬ 
fully transplanted into the nursery rows, 
keeping the roots covered and moist during 
the operation. It is essential that the ground 
be thoroughly and deeply stirred in the nur¬ 
sery, so that abundance of fibres may be 
formed, and an after transplanting to the 
lawn, pleasure-ground or hedges, be done 
with safety. 
Another, and perhaps a better plan, espe¬ 
cially if one has green or hot-houses, is, to 
sow the seed in March or April, in boxes of 
prepared mold, peat, &c., placed in the 
houses, watering as is necessary, but guard¬ 
ing against “ damping off,” by having drain¬ 
age at the bottom of the boxes. 
As the weather becomes mild, expose 
them to the open air, but not to a hot sun. 
By the latter process the plants can be more 
readily attended to, and the earth kept in a 
proper shelter, or exposed, and watered 
when needed. After growing, say two or 
three years in the boxes, they may be trans¬ 
planted into the nursery rows, as above di¬ 
rected, when the after treatment is very 
easy and simple. The greatest care is re¬ 
quisite during the first year, as too much 
sun, or dryness, will burn them up, and too 
long continued moisture will cause them to 
damp off. Water should not be given too 
frequently, but the ground thoroughly wet 
whenever it is done. 
The plants should be protected during the 
first winter, by placing the boxes in cold 
frames, dry cellars, pits or cool houses, ad¬ 
mitting air and light to them frequently. If 
in beds surrounded by frames, cover with 
boards or evergreen brush, not, however, 
excluding the light, which is essential to a 
healthy state. 
The above directions are equally applica¬ 
ble to the Arbor Vitae, Hemlock, Spruce, 
Cedar, White and other Pines.— Ed. 
PEACH STONES-KEEPING AND PLANTING. 
A subscriber who has collected a quan¬ 
tity of peach pits, and who expects to re¬ 
move West in the Spring, asks if he can 
keep them over till another Fall, &c. 
They can be preserved that length of 
time, and retain their vitality, by keeping 
them in a dry place, but they may not vege¬ 
tate the first year, if so kept. If our cor¬ 
respondent can plant by the middle of April, 
we advise putting the pits in sand or earth 
now, and expose them to the frost. They 
will then be ready for planting as soon as 
the ground can be worked in the Spring, and 
will grow at once. If they can not be planted 
before April, it is better to preserve them in 
a dry state, and then crack them in the 
Spring or early part of Summer (the earlier 
the better), and plant the kernels (meats) 
only, which will very soon vegetate.— Ed. 
A CLERGYMAN'S GARDEN. 
We have upon our list of subscribers 
quite a large number of clergymen and pro¬ 
fessional men, and for their benefit we give 
the products of the garden of one of our 
clerical friends for the year 1856. It is 
offered, not exactly as a model, but as show 
ing what may be done with a little land, 
gentlemen who can only devote an hour or 
two a day to its cultivation. The garden 
consists of about an acre and a half. It is 
cultivated with a view to supply home 
wants, and it is only the surplus that is sold. 
The family consists of eleven individuals 
the stock, of a horse, cow, four pigs, and 
forty hens. The garden has been under 
cultivation for six years, and a part of it 
has been trenched two feet or more deep. 
The principal manure used during all these 
years has been made upon the premises, 
from a compost of muck and stable manure. 
Not less than one hundred cords of muck 
have in this time been worked into the soil 
The value of the products is estimated at 
the market price. 
The labor done in the garden, manure, 
ceeds, &c., are estimated at two hundred 
dollars, which is very liberal, as all the ma 
nures were made upon the place. The esti¬ 
mate for the increased value of the young 
trees will not be thought too large, when 
we consider that the most of them are well 
established, and many of them are begin 
ning to bear. 
Four thousand ears of Slowell’s sweet corn.$40 00 
Two hundred ears of July sweet corn. 2 00 
Com fodder. 3 oo 
Lima beans. 10 00 
Scipios and white kidneys. 3 00 
Twenty bushels of Carpenter potatoes. 20 00 
Six bushels of sweet potatoes. 900 
One hundred and eighty bushels of carrots on thirty 
square rods. 45 00 
Five bushels of beets. 2 00 
Ten bushels of onions. g 00 
One bushel of oyster plant. J 00 
Egg plants. 2 00 
Celery... 500 
Thirty bushels of parsnips. 15 00 
Three hundred pounds of asparagus. 15 00 
Cabbage, cauliflower, kale and kohl Rabi. 3 00 
Sixteen bushels of ruta bagas. 6 40 
Red strap leaf turnips.,. 1 00 
Two hundred bunches pie plant. 20 00 
Lettuce. 2 00 
Cucumbers. 2 00 
Sage, Summer savory, parsley and other herbs. 1 00 
Three hundred roots of pie plant on hand, Myatt’s 
Linnaeus, Victoria, and seedlings. 30 00 
The growth on twenty-three apple trees in their 
fifth year. \t, 00 
The growth on two hundred pear trees. 40 00 
Ten dozen pears, Vicar of Winkfield, Virgalieu, 
Louise Bonne de Jersey, Glout Morceau, &c. 10 00 
The growth on one dozen cherry trees beginning to 
fruit.... 3 00 
The growth on one dozen plum trees . 3 00 
One bushel peaches. 2 00 
Quinces. 50 
One bushel of grapes, Isabellas, Catawbas, Dianas, 3 00 
One hundred layered plants of the above. 25 00 
Growth on ten planted vines.. 5 00 
Six dozen Lawton blackberry plants. 18 00 
Five bushels of strawberries, Hovey’s seedling, 
Walker’s seedling, Longworth’s Prolific, and 
McAvoy’s. 40 00 
Plants sold. . 11 00 
Raspberries, Franconia, Falstolf, Yellow Antwerp, 10 00 
Young plants on hand...... 20 00 
Water-melons, green imperial, orange, Bradford... 4 00 
Nutmeg and Green Bay melons. 5 00 
Currants, gooseberries, &c,. 2 00 
Total..... .. ...$461 90 
The amount of profit would be considered 
