AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
209 
eral days. Those ordering plants from a nursery, 
should be particular in directing this to be done. 
Having the ground nicely prepared and the 
plants at hand, if you have plants of both classes, 
put them in separate beds. The beds may be 
side by side, or several feet or yards apart. One 
of the perfect plants will be enough to impregnate 
or render fruitful ten of the imperfect ones. 
DISTANCE FROM PLANT TO PLANT. 
If put out in beds, which in a garden is perhaps 
the best, the rows may be eighteen inches apart, 
and the plants twelve to fifteen inches from 
each other in the row. If planted in drills, let the 
rows be two feet apart and the plants one foot 
from each other. The only thing necessary in 
this process of setting out, is to put the roots only 
in their full depth, and to press the earth gently 
about them, care being taken not to bury the 
crowns below the surface. When set, wa¬ 
ter each plant, and cover the bed or drill 
lightly with some hay, or, what is better, some 
new-mown grass. This will keep the sun from 
burning the leaves, and prevent sudden evapora¬ 
tion of the moisture. In a week’s time, the plants 
will be rooted, and need no further care, except 
to rake the spaces occasionally between the rows 
to keep down weeds and prevent the ground from 
baking. 
On the approach of Winter, cover the plants 
lightly with some litter, straw or leaves. In the 
Spring, the only care after taking off the covering 
will be to keep the ground loose on the surface, 
and clean of weeds. In Strawberry culture the 
beds must he kept free of weeds. Not merely clean¬ 
ing them occasionally, but keep them from 
getting foul. White clover, sorrel, and couch 
grass, are very troublesome, and if they once get 
a footing, they are sure to ruin the plantation. 
A word to those who set out beds last Spring. 
If, as in nine out often cases, the plants have not 
been trimmed of their runners through the Sum¬ 
mer, the beds are now a mass of plants, and, in 
some instances, we fear, full of weeds and grass. 
If such is the case, it is absolutely necessary to 
thin out the plants if it is an object to secure a 
good crop of fine fruit next Summer. Cut out 
with a small hoe the weakest, leaving only about 
ten or a dozen roots to a square yard. If the 
plants are not strong, a dresssing with a compost 
of wood ashes, lime and salt, applied early next 
Spring will be of great use to them. 
SPINACH. 
Spinach, or spillage, may be sown during the ear¬ 
ly part of this month for fall, winter, and early 
spring use ; the sowing may be continued at inter¬ 
vals up to at least the middle of the month. The 
quality of the spinach depends much upon the rich¬ 
ness of the soil; the object should be to induce a 
rapid growth. Spread on and dig under a good 
coating of old barn-yard manure; the older the bet¬ 
ter. Sow the seed in drills about six inches apart; 
for the last sowing, intended to be kept over for 
early spring use, the drills may be only four inches 
apart. When the seed is well up, give the plants a 
hoeing, as well to destroy the weeds as to encourage 
a rapid growth. If the seed has been sown thickly, 
the plants will probably need thinning out. On the 
approach of cold weather, cover the beds intended 
to be kept over winter with hay or straw. This 
covering is not indispensable, but its advantages are 
sufficiently great to warrant the trouble. The 
plants are not so liable to be thrown out by frost; 
the tops are less injured by extreme changes in the 
weather; and an earlier growth takes place in the 
spring. As to kinds, the broad-leaved Savoy is 
probably the best. 
This is an odd name to many, though not more 
so than was ru-ta-ba-ga only a few years since. But 
whatever may be thought of the name, the thing it¬ 
self is excellent. With us it takes the place of both 
cabbages and turnips, and is decidedly superior to 
either of those articles—to our taste and digestion. 
Several subscribers have enquired “what it’s like ?” 
“ how it’s grown ?” “ how it’s cooked ?” “ how it 
tastes 2” Answer .—Kohl rabi is a kind of turnip 
cabbage—a cross between the two. Imagine a short 
cabbage stalk with a round turnip upon the lop of it, 
and about a dozen small, long-stemmed leaves grow¬ 
ing out from as many points of the turnip, and you 
have an idea of “ what it’s like.” It may be grown 
precisely like a turnip, and quite as easily. If 
wanted early, start the plants in a hot-bed, and 
transfer them to the open ground as soon as dan¬ 
ger of frost is past. It grows faster than cabbages 
and is even more hardy. We sowed seed in the 
open ground where they were to grow without 
transplanting, on the 8th day of last May, and com¬ 
menced cooking on the 1st of August. The heads 
are (Aug. 15th) from three to seven inches in diam¬ 
eter. We present above an exact drawing of one 
four inches in diameter taken from our garden this 
morning. To cook them we sever the heads from 
the stalk, remove the leaves, cut into quarters, or 
into six or eight pieces, according to the size of the 
head, and boil in water until cooked through, which 
may be known by trying them with a fork. They 
are served up with drawn butter, or cream gravy, 
similarly to turnips. They are sweeter than cab¬ 
bage, and more tender and less strong to the taste 
than most varieties of turnips. We find them more 
agreeable and far more digestible than either cab¬ 
bages or turnips. We shall obtain a supply of the 
best seed we can get, and offer it in our next An¬ 
nual Distribution. 
ANNUALS FOR WINTER BLOOMING. 
There are a number of annuals of much beauty, 
which, with a little care, will bloom almost con¬ 
stantly during the Winter months. A flower of 
any kind in the Winter is a sight to gladden the 
heart, and does much to divert the mind from the 
dreary scene without, and tends to reconcile us 
to the inclement season. The green-house is in 
no small measure indebted to annuals for its 
cheerful aspect during the winter ; and they are 
also peculiarly suited to adorn the sitting room or 
parlor. 
We herewith present a list of the choicest kinds 
fur Winter blooming : Sweet Alyssum, Mignon¬ 
ette, Drummond’s Phlox, Nemopbila or Love 
Grove, Lobelia, (gracilis and ramosa,) Clarkia, 
{nerifolia is best,) Schizanthus, Double Purple 
Jacobea, Candytuft, Blue Ageratum, Clintonia, 
Ice Plant, (curious and interesting,) great flower¬ 
ing Whillavia. A few more might be added to the 
list, but the above presents every thing needful in 
diversity of form and color. The seed, at this 
period of the, year, should be sown in rich mold in 
pots. The pots may be plunged to the rim in the 
open border, which will save some trouble in fre¬ 
quent watering. The smaller seeds should be 
sown quite shallow, and none of the above more 
than an eight of an inch. On the approach of 
frost the pots must be removed to the house. 
Many of the kinds will be large enough to trans¬ 
plant. This is done by inverting the pot, and 
knocking gently the rim, when the whole will 
come out entire. A slight pressure will crumble 
the ball of earth to pieces, and the young plants 
can be readily separated, and put in small pots. 
Let transplanting be done as soon as two or three 
leaves are formed. Some kinds should have only 
one plant in each pot, while others may have 
several. Among the first named are Clarkia, Schi¬ 
zanthus, Drummond’s Phlox, Nemopbila, Jacobea, 
Ageratum, Ice Plant, Whitlavia ; the others may 
have one or more. The plants should be shaded 
for a few days, and then placed near the glass. 
If it is intended to grow them in a room, one hav¬ 
ing a southern exposure is best. The plants 
should be placed near the glass, and the pots 
turned occasionally, to preserve a uniform growth. 
As soon as the small pots have become filled with 
roots, a shift should be made to larger ones, and 
the repotting repeated from time to time as the 
plants progress in growth, not, however, going 
beyond pots five or six inches in diameter. The 
operation of repotting, however, being a nice one, 
the young amateur may shift his plants from the 
small to the large sized pot at once, and thus 
confine his repotting to one operation. The tall 
growing plants must be neatly tied to stakes ; 
the others may be left to hang over the side of the 
pot. The Lobelia and Nemophila should be sus¬ 
pended by a strong cord or wire, as they will 
hang down a yard or more. 
Watering must be attended to regularly. When 
pot plants get too dry and suffer for water, the 
foliage turns brown and frequently drops off. 
The other extreme of giving too much water 
should be avoided ; but if plenty of drainage is 
put in the bottom of the pots, this will rarely be 
the case. We have grown Winter flowering an¬ 
nuals for many yeats, and have found them oi 
comparatively little trouble ; their generous bloom 
has been a source of much enjoyment, and there 
are many plants in the green-house that we could 
sooner part with than with our cherished annuals. 
They should be more generally cultivated, especi¬ 
ally by amateurs, and by those who would render 
cheerful what otherwise is too often a gloomy 
period, during which we long for some green 
object to rest the eye upon. 
For the American Agriculturist . 
HOUSE-KEEPING IN THE COUNTRY-NO. II, 
Is the list so long1 Meat that will not keep, 
bread that will mold, butter always soft, scarce 
vegetables, skim milk and stale eggs, the very 
articles that you imagined sprang up spontane¬ 
ously good everywhere “ in the country.” Is the 
butcher an unknown institution 1 or have you one 
who reigns tyrant over the neighborhood, grant¬ 
ing you now and then, of grace, a whole quarter 
which you cannot possibly eat before it spoils 1 
And last, worst of all, the flies, flies, flies ! 
I remember a friend of mine once summed up 
her experience in these words: “ I could be 
happy but for servauts that won’t work, and pre¬ 
serves that will.” Of course, she lived in the 
country. 
You will be glad to know that there are reme¬ 
dies for nearly all these troubles, could one only 
find them out; but for some of them, it will be 
necessary to go back to the very foundation of 
your house-keeping, viz., the house itself. 
