50 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
no small item, in the farmer’s income. On 
lots, where none of these young saplings 
had taken root, I have been careful to select 
suitable seed trees of the varieties I wished 
to propagate, and spared one or more on 
every acre I wished to replenish, with a fu¬ 
ture growth. In this way I have been saved 
the labor of sowing the seed, or transplant¬ 
ing the trees, and have found about the third 
or fourth year from the cutting off, a plenti¬ 
ful supply of young trees showing them¬ 
selves, but greatly in the rear of those 
lots where the young saplings were saved.” 
This is valuable testimony from an intelli¬ 
gent farmer, who has seen the working of 
both methods upon his own woodlands. The 
care of our forests, so rapidly waning in all 
the older states, is a matter that can receive 
attention none too soon. The time is not 
distant when they will be far more valuable 
than they now are for timber, if not for fuel. 
Fuel, we may indeed find elsewhere, but 
nothing can ever supply the place of wood m 
many of our manufactories. The farmers 
of the present day should consider the wants 
of posterity in this respect, and should hand 
down their farms to their heirs as well wood¬ 
ed, as they received them from their fathers. 
There are large tracts of country in this 
State, and indeed in the rougher portions of 
all the States, that maybe more profitably 
kept in timber, than in anything else. It is 
a poor inheritance to hand down to one’s 
heir, a miserable worn out farm, not only 
stript of its soil, but denuded of its forests, 
without any available means to restore its 
wasted energies. The rocky hill tops, and 
ridges should alw T ays be kept in forest. The 
plains and vallies below will have a milder 
climate, and be more productive for their 
protection. Where these elevations have 
been stripped, they should be immediately 
sown with seeds of forest trees. Too much 
of this rough land has already been cleared 
up, in many parts of the country. 
SUBSTITUTES FOR WOOD, 
have as yet been very little thought of, out 
of cities and villages. But vast store houses 
of excellent peat are in reserve upon many 
farms. This is used in some small districts 
in this country, and might come into use 
still more largely with great advantage to 
the waning forests. In the town of New- 
Shoreham, an island near Newport, R. I., it 
is the only fuel, and has been for the present 
generation. These peat mines are worth 
looking up. They exist upon many farms 
in worthless swamps, unknown to their 
owners, because they have never been ex¬ 
plored. But near railroads, and navigable 
waters, anthracite coal is already a more 
economical fuel than wood, and many farm¬ 
ers are resorting to it, for their winter sup¬ 
plies. They only cut such trees, as are 
decaying, for their own fires and for market, 
The forests are judiciously thinned, and are 
every year increasing in value. This course 
could be adopted by a much larger number, 
with profit. 
THE WELL-USED PLOW 
of which the poet speaks, though true 
enough in his sense, is still a very ill-used 
implement, if left standing in the furrow, ex¬ 
posed to all the winter storms. But we fre¬ 
quently see this spectacle in our travels 
over the country. Such neglected tools can 
not live out half their days. They become 
saturated with water,decay early, and break. 
Tlit- fault, of course, is charged upon the 
manufacturer of agricultural tools, when it 
properly belongs to a careless and improvi¬ 
dent owner. 
A TOOL HOUSE 
is the moral of all such plows left standing 
in the furrow. It was justifiable when farm¬ 
er Putnam heard the first guns of the Revo¬ 
lution to leave his plow in haste. But the 
attack of winter is less sudden, and every 
tool should be in its place. Now they should 
be thoroughly overhauled and put in order. 
The spring’s work isjust ahead. 
PLANNING WORN IN THE KITCHEN 
GARDEN. 
Little can yet be done here besides prun¬ 
ing trees and shrubbery, and preparing hot¬ 
beds. Of these operations we have spoken 
elsewhere. Our object now is simply to 
urge the careful planning of the spring work, 
which will soon begin in earnest. In a few 
weeks, spring will be here, with her birds, 
her early flowers and bursting buds ; and all 
our readers will be full of business, from 
morning till night. It will be too late to plan 
then. But now, while winter still lingers, 
and your hands must, of necessity, lie com¬ 
paratively idle, work with your brains. 
Spread a'sheet of paper before you, and, 
with pencil and ruler, map off your garden 
into some convenient plan. There is a •par¬ 
ticular design which is better for you than 
any other: find out udiat that is and put it on 
paper , preparatory to working it out on the 
soil itself. For example : the rhubarb and 
the asparagus-beds should have a warm cor¬ 
ner, so as to give them an early start in 
spring. Grape-vines, also, need a sheltered 
and sunny aspect, to insure the ripening of 
their fruit before frost. Give them such a 
position, accordingly, on your plan. No 
modern garden is considered complete with¬ 
out its collection of dwarf pears,—the num¬ 
ber varying with the size of the garden—its 
raspberries, blackberries, currants, gooseber¬ 
ries, peaches, apricots, quinces and the like ; 
and successful practice assigns these to bor¬ 
ders running around the garden, and some¬ 
times through the middle. Therefore, mark 
off on your plan a border, from four to six 
feet wide, on each side of the garden next 
to the fence, and if you have room, run a 
broad walk through the centre, with borders 
of the same width on each side. The walk 
next to the fence-border may be three or 
four feet wide, and the central walk, five. If 
vines or espalier trees, occupy one of these 
outer borders, they can be trained on the 
fence, leaving room in front of them for 
other small fruits, as gooseberries, straw¬ 
berries, &c. 
In planting dwarf pears, and other small 
fruit trees, they should not be set so near 
together, or in such situations that they will 
shade the vegetables which are to grow near 
them. Eight feet apart is near enough, and 
the largest should be set, if possible, where 
their shades will fall across the walks, and 
not on the beds devoted to vegetables. And 
here, let us say, while planning these bor¬ 
ders, take pains to fill them with the best 
kind of each fruit selected. Among cur¬ 
rants, raspberries and grapes, for instance, 
there is great room for choice ; and it would 
be great folly to plant the poor sorts, which, 
after years of wasted toil, will have to be 
torn up and thrown away in disgust. Among 
dwarf pears, also, a wise selection is per¬ 
haps of still greater consequence. Experi¬ 
ence has now decided that certain sorts ol 
pears uniformly succeed well on the quince- 
stock, others less often, and others seldom, 
if ever. There are but few persons for 
whom it would be worth while to trifle with 
these uncertain varieties. We say, then, 
ascertain from books, papers and your hor¬ 
ticultural neighbors, what the reliable sorts 
are, and let them alone appear on your plan, 
and in your garden. 
Thus much for the fruit-borders. The 
remainder of the garden may be laid off in 
beds, or in square plots for vegetables. These 
may be intersected with narrow walks, as 
convenience shall require. The vegetables 
most commonly needed and most commonly 
grown for family use, are as follows : For 
summer—asparagus, peas, lettuce, cucum¬ 
bers, summer-squash, melons, beans, toma¬ 
toes, beets, cauliflower, sweet-corn, spinach, 
peppers, egg-plant and radishes. For winter 
use—cabbage, carrots, winter squash, pars¬ 
nips, oyster plant, potatoes, beets, turnips, 
onions and celery. There should also be 
a permanent bed of herbs, such as sage, 
thyme, parsley, mint, sweet marjorem, sum¬ 
mer and winter savory. And for a relish, 
devote a corner to horse-radish. 
Everyone should determine beforehand, 
which of these vegetables and herbs he will 
plant, how many of a sort, and where they 
shall stand. Let these things be noted on 
the plan already referred to. Then, nothing 
will be forgotten when the busy season 
comes, and everything will occupy its ap¬ 
propriate place. 
It is, perhaps, unnecessary to add, that it 
should form part of every plan to keep 
melons and squashes as wide asunder as 
possible, to prevent their mixing; that 
where it can be done, two crops of vege¬ 
tables should be grown in succession the 
same season,—for example, celery follow¬ 
ing peas, and turnips following cauliflowers. 
It would also enter into a good garden-plan 
to ascertain and note down the best sorts of 
each vegetable to be grown. There is a 
great difference between varieties, and it is 
important to find out what the best are, and 
to procure the seeds before the hurry of 
planting time comes. 
By drawing up now, some plan like that 
we have indicated, and adhering to it, gar¬ 
den work will proceed intelligently, and in 
its results will afford great satisfaction. 
The oftener carpets are shaken, the long¬ 
er they will wear. The dirt that collects 
under them grinds out the threads. 
