168 
[May, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
——— 1 1 — ar—— i - 
of the manured field, I had over 70 bushels 
to the acre, just double what I had the year 
before, on the same kind of land, not manured, 
though I gave it nearly double the work. The 
weeds did not trouble me so much in the ma¬ 
nured field, as in the other field. The best corn 
was where the horse and hog manure was put. 
Most farmers here are very careless about 
their manure. In my travels through the coun¬ 
try, I have seen manure thrown over the fence 
into the high-road. I have seen corn not two 
feet high, and plenty of manure going to waste 
around the stable and cattle-yard. Hog manure 
is hardly ever used at all, nor the cleaning of 
the fowl-house; and wood-ashes are all thrown 
away. No wonder that the land is giving out, 
and crops getting light. A good many here are 
selling out and going 'West. The}''say the land 
here is giving out. Won’t it be the same with 
the Western farm in a few years? I think so. 
I have seen farmers haul manure away from 
their stables and throw it in a heap in the pas¬ 
ture, or on the road side, and they having plenty 
of land in cultivation that never got an ounce 
in thirty years, while corn on this land, I 
believe, did not yield ten bushels to the acre.” 
Picking and Packing Strawberries for 
Market. 
BY S. B. CONOVER, WEST WASHINGTON MARKET, N. Y. 
A large proportion of the strawberries and 
other small fruits sent to market arrive in bad 
order, and are consequently sold at such low 
prices that they do not pay the.raiser. Indeed, 
they are frequently a loss, as they do not real¬ 
ize enough to pay the shipping expenses. It is 
useless to spend time and money in obtaining 
the best varieties, and producing fine fruit, if 
it is not properly picked and packed, and 
handled with care, until it ‘reaches market. It 
should then be in such a perfect condition as to 
last at least twenty-four hours after it is re¬ 
ceived, to give time for selling and use. 
The marks or names of the producers be¬ 
come known to the buyers and dealers, and 
great care should be used by the producer in 
putting up fruit, to build up a character. When 
a certain mark acquires an established reputa¬ 
tion for honesty and uniformity of packing, it is 
invariably spoken for and engaged at the high¬ 
est prices by the dealers, and always meets 
ready sales; while those of doubtful character 
are the last sold, at reduced prices, and, in case 
of a glut in the market, are not sold at all. 
Strawberries should be carefully picked after 
the dew has dried off the vines, carried to a 
shed or shady place in the field, and spread out 
thinly on a clean sheet or cloth. When per¬ 
fectly cool from sun heat, and all external 
moisture is dried, they should then be carefully 
sorted by trusty persons who will use care to 
put none in the cups or baskets that are over¬ 
ripe, bruised, or of inferior size. The cups or 
baskets should be well filled, and slightly round¬ 
ed. Place the top layer, which should be of 
choice berries, yrith the hulls down, or out of 
sight as much as possible, but not “topping off” 
so much that the top of the cup will not be a 
fair representation of the rest. All sandy fruit 
should be kept by itsqlf, and if sent to market, 
not faced with fruit that is not sandy, but 
put up to be sold for what it is. Neither 
should unripe berries be put in the bottom, and 
faced with ripe ones; they had better be thrown 
away. The pickers must be watched, and those 
who will not pick the fruit carefully, and in 
proper condition, should be discharged. One 
bruised or over-ripe berry in a cup, will, in 
twenty-four hours, ferment, mold, and spoil the 
whole cup full. In picking strawberries, the 
hulls should be left on, as it prevents bleeding, 
and the fruit will keep a great while longer. 
The packages should hold what they profess 
to contain, a full quart, pint, or one-third of a 
quart, and should be so filled when packed as 
to be full when they arrive in market. From 
the experience of myself and all the principal 
dealers in fruits for the past ten years, there is 
no basket in which berries will carry so well, 
and command such ready sale, and conse¬ 
quently such high prices, as the Beecher cups 
or baskets, or one of similar size and shape, and 
equally strong. Baskets of this kind are pre¬ 
ferred for the following reasons: They hold 
full measure, and are well ventilated; being 
larger at the top than at the bottom, each layer 
of fruit forms an arch with the sides, which pre¬ 
vents the top berries from crushing those below; 
they are strongly made, having a firm bottom, 
which prevents crushing the berries in handling; 
and having Haring sides, they will pack into each 
other, and take up less room when empty, while 
in the hands of the retailer; and being round on 
top they show the fruit ofF to better advantage 
than any of the square ones. The crates should 
hold from twenty-four to forty-eight quarts, in 
order to be handled easily and carefully, and 
the grower’s name and residence, as well as 
the name and address of the consignee, should 
be marked plainly upon the crate. In order 
to prevent delay and mistakes, inform the con¬ 
signee of the shipment by early mail or tele¬ 
graph, so that he may know when and where to 
look for the packages promptly on arrival. 
■- e i i e ,» 
Sparrows—Are They Useful or Not ? 
BY N. JEAN SISLEY, LYONS, PRANCE. 
In the Feb. number you express some doubts 
about the usefulness of the European Sparrow. 
This subject has been much discussed in Eu¬ 
rope. Sparrows have their advocates and their 
detractors, but the general impression is now, 
that they must be to a certain degree protected. 
In support of this opinion, it may be useful 
to state a fact not generally known. Since more 
tlian a century ago the question was solved in 
the north of Italy, where rice and other grains 
are grown very extensively. At one time people 
thought that sparrows were a nuisance, and the 
cultivators of that country destroyed them all; 
but they soon had to regret it, as all sorts of in¬ 
jurious insects soon propagated in large quanti¬ 
ties. They went to consult a celebrated naturalist 
(whose name is forgotten), and his answer was : 
“ Get all the sparrows you can procure from 
neighboring countries, and make as many holes as 
you can in the walls of your houses and church¬ 
es ; each hole will become the temporary abode 
of a pair of sparrows, and each pair, to feed its 
offspring, will have to destroy thousands of in¬ 
sects, which you cannot yourself put down. 
You will object, that when harvest time comes, 
your fields will be covered with flocks of spar¬ 
rows and the destruction of grain will be 
enormous; but this you can very easily avoid. 
“ Young sparrows, just before they are able to 
leave the nest, are a delicious meal. Visit the 
nests regularly, take all the broods except the 
last one, which will come after you have stored 
your crops and will feed on what has escaped 
your notice. The loss will therefore be scarcely 
perceptible. This is the only and rational solu¬ 
tion to the question of sparrows.” 
This advice was strictly followed, and the 
destruction of the early broods is still practised 
in northern Italy. In France, sparrows are 
not disturbed and their mischief is very little felt. 
-- — —o ■ « ■ ■na o- tw n. » 
About Hoses. 
Those who wish to purchase roses become 
much bewildered when they look into the cata¬ 
logues. They find several classes of roses, with 
“no end” of varieties under each class. The 
classification of roses is very puzzling, even to 
those who have given some attention to the 
subject, and Mr. Parsons, in his work on the 
Rose, (a new and revised edition of which is 
just ready) has very much simplified the matter 
by making only three classes. The first of these 
is Garden Roses, which includes the old-fashioned 
kinds, and many newer ones, that bloom only 
once a year, and does away with the distinc¬ 
tions of Damask, Provence, Hybrid China, etc. 
This class also includes the Moss Roses, Briers, 
and Climbing Roses; they are all hardy. The 
second class is the Remontants, a word signi¬ 
fying to bloom again. These are often called 
“ Hybrid Perpetuals,” a name calculated to de¬ 
ceive those unacquainted with the fact that they 
are not at all “perpetual,” but give a fine bloom 
in tke spring, and usually a weak one in autumn. 
These are all hardy, and among them are found 
some of the finest bloomers. The third class is 
the Everblooming Roses, and includes the Tea, 
Noisette, Bourbon, and Bengal Roses. These 
are really perpetuals, and are in bloom nearly 
all the season. Unfortunately they are tender 
at the North, and must either be “ heeled-in ” 
in a dry place, or be laid down and covered 
with sods and a bank of earth. It is now too 
late for our readers to do much with any but 
the last named class, the Everblooming roses, 
which are sold by the florists in pots. They 
will do well in any good garden soil, but if the 
soil is old it is better to make an excavation and 
put in some fresh earth from the pasture, mixed 
with well-decomposed manure. It is difficult 
to make a selection when there are so many va¬ 
rieties, and all of them charming. Perhaps after 
all the best way for the inexperienced is to send 
to a reliable florist for a given number of plants, 
to be free bloomers, and to include as great a 
range of colors as possible. "When the roses 
are planted then trouble begins, and no one 
need expect to have Hewers without trouble. 
The tender shoots and buds will be covered 
with plant-lice (green-fly, or aphis). Syringe 
with tobacco-water, soapsuds, or a weak so¬ 
lution of cresylic soap; many can be destroyed 
by going over the plants with a soft brush. 
When the rose-bugs come, as they sometimes 
will, and make havoc, nothing short of hand¬ 
picking will avail. But neither of these troubles 
is anything compared to the rose-slug. If any 
of the leaves appear to be eaten, look upon the 
under side for a small green worm. A few days’ 
neglect, and the bush will be stripped of every 
leaf, and it will be a long time before it recov¬ 
ers. Having tried all the proposed washes, we 
accept the slug as a conundrum and “give it 
up,” as far as they are concerned. No doubt 
that cresylic, whale-oil, and tobacco soap, would 
“ do ” for them, if one could readily apply it to 
the under side of the leaves. We have found it 
much less trouble, and a great deal more effica¬ 
cious, to give the bushes a smart shake, early in 
the morning; this will dislodge all the worms, 
which are to be dispatched, as they lie curled 
up on the ground. This is only practicable 
where there are a few bushes, but any one who 
cares for roses will be willing to take the trouble. 
