AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
67 
vators, but imperfectly understood. Great and 
serious losses occur from this cause, and men 
complain that they cannot raise peaches. But I 
am persuaded that their failures are mainly owing 
to an imperfect knowledge of the proper treat¬ 
ment of the peach, and only wonder that they 
succeed even as well as they do. The various 
causes that influence these results, we propose 
fully to consider in turn. 
Some make but one trial of peach culture, and 
ailing in this, they infer that disappointment is 
always in store for them. This is no mark of a 
great mind, neither is it any proof that peaches 
cannot be profitably raised. When I meet with 
such instances, I am always reminded of a Dutch¬ 
man I once met in Pennsylvania. When offering 
him some peach trees, he said he would not mind 
buying one, if he “ tot it wool tiff." 
And now, Mr. Editor, as I am nearly to the end 
of journey No. 1, let me invite your readers to 
consider these few remarks only as a sort of in¬ 
troduction to my topic, and that having simply 
announced my proposition, I will endeavor in 
my next to satisfy their curiosity in a measure to 
know something of the peach culture of New- 
Jersey. Wm. Day. 
Morristown, N. J. 
PLANTING ORNAMENTAL TREES. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Trees are the most beautiful and attractive ob¬ 
jects with which nature has kindly endowed the 
face of our fair earth, yet how few set any value 
upon them—to cut down and sweep hence is 
rather the wish and practice. Some cannot spare 
the time to cultivate them, many will not allow 
the expense, while others are in doubt as to the 
how or when to do it, and so, from one cause or 
another, the trees do not go in the ground. We 
will offer a suggestion or two which may be use¬ 
ful, especially to some of the three cases named. 
First, we may say, study the habits and adap¬ 
tabilities of your trees. They should be well 
furnished, that is, clothed to a low point with 
leafy garniture. They should be healthy, vigor¬ 
ous and erect, though in picturesque scenery, 
they may be as crooked as a ram’s horn. The soil 
should be well prepared and free from stagnant 
water, and it will be found advantageous to mulch 
any tree with litter. We deem Autumn, when 
the ground is in better condition, the best time 
to transplant deciduous (leaf-shedding) trees. 
They then have time to settle before mid-Winter, 
and in Spring are ready to start at once into 
growth. The Winter and Spring rains assist in 
packing the soil well round the roots. For ever¬ 
greens we prefer May, June, or even July. With 
these we must use great caution in removing, for 
if the small fibres of the roots are laid bare, they 
receive an injury which may prove fatal to the 
tree. Be careful to remove a goodly quantity of 
soil with them. 
The elm is a very picture of elegant and refined 
gracefulness, but if we would see it in all its mag¬ 
nificence, it must stand out prominently and alone. 
The American and the Scotch, or Wych elm, are 
i he best trees for us, the latter particularly, since 
it is not subject to the ravages of insects, and it 
assumes a pleasing variety of character. The 
weeping Scotch elm, with its pendulous fan-like 
spray, is an interesting tree. The elm requires 
good rich soil, rather moist, and bears transplant¬ 
ing well.* 
The Magnolia is a charming native, and with 
its large showy foliage, smooth trunk and fragrant 
blossoms, is ever a favorite. The leaves of Mag¬ 
nolia grandiflora, which is an evergreen, are about 
seven inches long, with a beautifully polished sur¬ 
face; the flowers are pure white, and quite large. 
This tree often reaches the height of 60 feet in 
the Southern States. The 71/. Macrophylla has 
leaves, in its youthful days, which often measure 
three feet in length. The Cucumber Magnolia 
will grow 1 80 feet high, and has flowers of a bluish 
white, sometimes merging into a yellow tinge ; 
they are very large. M. Cordala flowers very 
abundantly, and frequently twice in the year. The 
Magnolia should be sheltered, and planted in deep 
rich soil. 
The Liquidambcr, or sweet gum, is a beautiful 
tree, very like the maple ; it retains its clean, dark 
glossy star-like foliage through the burning heat 
of mid-Summer. But it is in Autumn that the 
most glorious effects are visible ; then it is dressed 
in a livery of brilliant tints, ranging from vivid or¬ 
ange to deep purpled red. It requires a rather 
moist soil, is easily transplanted and grown, little 
or no care being required ; it is a native. 
The Tulip, or white wood tree, is a very rapid 
growing and beautiful tree when standing alone. 
Its clean trunk, thick-pertumed cup-like mottled 
flowers, and rich glossy foliage, make it worthy a 
place in the garden, and the more so from the 
fact that its leaves are too bitter to furnish food 
for insects. It wants careful removing and rather 
rich soil It is also a native. 
The Virgilia, or yellow wood tree, of Kentucky, 
is an exceeding pretty one, of the medium size, 
and when in bloom, with its pendulous fragrant 
flowers, yellowish in hue, is really an ornamental 
object; the foliage in Autumn is of a beautiful 
yellow. It luxuriates in a light ricli soil, protect¬ 
ed alike from the extremes of heat and cold. The 
roots should not lie exposed. 
The grand objection to these trees, with many, 
lies in the fact that they are natives. 
* Prices of Trees. —We take from Messrs. Parsons & 
Co.’s catalogue the retail prices of the trees mentioned 
above, which will serve as a guide to those purchasing 
elsewhere. These trees are ol moderate size, good habit 
and vigorous growth. Very large trees are more expen¬ 
sive.— [Ed. 
Elms, 50 cts. each, except the Scotch Weeping Elm, 
which is $1. Magnolias— Macrophylla, $2; Cucumber, 50 
cts.; Cordata, $1 to $2. Liquidamber. 50 cts.; Tulips, 50 
cts ; Virgilia, $1 50. 
“ YOU DON’T KNOW BEANS.” 
Te Editorof the American Agriculturist. 
I will grant, Mr. Editor, that this caption, con¬ 
tained in your February number, is applicable to 
myself, and yet I know a bean, and one that, in 
my estimation, is altogether superior to any that 
you have described for making that world-re¬ 
nowned dish, “ succotash .” Not to be able to 
make that dish in perfection, detracts from the 
character of any woman who claims to be a Yan¬ 
kee housekeeper. The bean I refer to I have long 
known, and cultivated, as the Neapolitan. It is 
a small pole bean, of a dash purple color, with the 
habits of the cranberry. The pods, which are the 
desirable pait for use, should not be picked until 
they have changed their color, from green to a 
light straw color, and become semi-transparent, 
and as large as your finger, to be cooked without 
breaking, when they become soft and pulpy, with¬ 
out anything fibrous about them, and communi¬ 
cate more of the bean flavor to the succotash than 
when Lima beans are used. I will give my meth¬ 
od of 
MAKING SUCCOTASH. 
Take Old Colony sweet corn, quantmi sufficit, (I 
prefer this variety to all others cultivated, both 
for Summer and Winter use.) Let it be cleared 
of the silk, then with a sharp, knife cut off the tops 
of the kernels ; then into another pan press out 
all the milk by turning the back of the knife, and 
pressing it from stem to tip, leaving all the skins 
of the kernels upon the cobs ; let the bean pods 
be added and both boiled sufficiently, and season 
to taste, and you have a succotash in perfection. 
An Old Gardenf.r. 
RENOVATING GRASS LANDS, 
The very best way, undoubtedly, to im¬ 
prove meadows or pastures that have be¬ 
come impoverished, is to plow them up, 
manure heavily, and seed them down again. 
If infested with daisies and other weeds, 
they should be broken up in the fall, and 
planted with potatoes or other root crops 
for several years, and then laid down to 
grass. If, however, the land is low and wet, 
and weeds not very troublesome, they may 
be plowed in mid-summer, manured and har¬ 
rowed thoroughly, and in September sowed 
with grass-seed. In most cases, a fair crop 
of hay will be realized the next season. 
But when it is not convenient to pursue 
this thorough treatment, a good effect may 
be produced by top-dressing. Spread a good 
layer of compost or well-rotted manure on 
the sward, scarify it with a heavy harrow, 
and sow with a mixture of six quarts Tim¬ 
othy and one half bushel each of red-top and 
rye-grass seed to the acre, and follow with a 
light harrow to cover the seed. The manure 
should be applied quite early in the Spring, 
so as to be washed in by the April rains. 
Where barn-yard manure is not abundant, 
various other fertilizers may be used to good 
advantage. Guano may be applied at the 
rate of two hundred to three hundred pounds 
an acre. It should be mixed, a week before 
it is wanted for use, with dry, vegetable 
loam, at the rate of four parts of loam to 
one of guano, and applied broadcast, very 
early in spring. Lime, (air slacked-,) is very 
useful to cold, clayey soils ; it is death on 
mosses and sorrel. Muck and lime, mixed 
at the rate of five cords of the former to 
seven bushels of the latter, often produce 
surprising effects on worn out grass-fields. 
Muck, mixed with unleached ashes, at the 
rate of a cord of the first to ten bushels of 
the last, is nearly as good as barn-yard ma¬ 
nure. Where the land has long been de¬ 
voted to pasturage, it is recommended to give 
a dressing of bone-dust, ten bushels to the 
acre. A mixture of plaster, ground bones 
and powdered charcoal has also been used 
with very gratifying results. 
We hope our readers, in this matter, will 
try some of these plans, and send us reports 
of their success. 
RHUBARB-A GROWER’S EXPERIENCE. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
In your January number are valuable sugges¬ 
tions on the culture of “ Pie plant,” which accord 
well with my own experience for several years 
past. I have experimented largely, and think I 
have now reached the “Ultima Thule” of Rhu¬ 
barb culture, though I would not wish to be opin¬ 
ionated,as is too apt to be the case in Horticulture 
and Agriculture as in everything else. Each one 
thinks his own mode of procedure superior to that 
of any one else. 
In setting out the plant, dig a hole as large and 
deep as a barrel, and fill to within a foot of the 
top with well rotted manure. Then throw on three 
inches of dirt, and set the root so that the top 
will be about two inches below the surface. Be 
sure and put them where the sun will have access 
to them the entire day. 
The first season after setting out, keep litter 
around them, and water occasonally if the season 
