AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
large, and the fruit in them will be mashed and 
injured in handling. For Antwerp and other 
Red varieties use cups holding one third quart 
only, as in any larger bulk the fruit will be sure 
to mash and be spoiled. They should be picked 
when the dew r is off, and kept in the shade to 
thoroughly cool off before packing. Use venti¬ 
lated crates and round top ventilated baskets or 
cups of the same style as for strawberries. 
Have each crate well marked on both ends, 
with a card containing the consignee’s name in 
large showy letters ; have also the shipper’s 
name and station in full on both ends. 
BLACKBERRIES. 
Pick when the dew is off, and keep them in 
the shade to cool off before packing. Keep out 
all bruised and over-ripe berries, as one soft or 
mashed berry will soon ferment and spoil the 
whole crop. Use full pint or quart round-top 
cups that are well ventilated, also the ventilated 
crates, same as for strawberries. The 45 and 
60 pint crates are the preferable sizes. If quarts 
are used 24 and 36 quart crates are most suit¬ 
able; any larger or heavier package will be 
clumsy to handle, and liable to be injured in 
loading and unloading. Have each crate well 
carded on both ends as above directed. 
WHORTLEBERRIES 
Can be shipped in quart cups and berry 
crates, or in flat boxes holding one half bushel 
heaping measure. If shipped in flat boxes 
these should be made to hold a full half bushel. 
The proper dimensions are 4 inches deep, 13 
inches wide, and 25 inches long (all inside 
measure), the ends 3 /^ inch thick, sides, top, and 
bottom of s / 8 or 1 / i inch thick of planed stuff— 
the whole neatly nailed together—except six 
inches wide on the top side across the width, 
which should be hinged to the box with leather 
and fastened by a screw. In filling the boxes 
they should be shaken and well filled so that 
there will be a full half bushel when they ar¬ 
rive in market. If the boxes are not rvell filled 
and shaken before starting the fruit will be¬ 
come loose and move in handling and is there¬ 
by apt to get mashed, which injures the sale 
very much. Mark with stencil on top “ This 
side up,” and never carry or haul them on the 
ends or sides, but always flat side down, other¬ 
wise they will come to market in bad condition. 
Have each crate or box marked as directed un¬ 
der raspberries. 
CURRANTS 
Must be picked when the dew is off and the 
fruit is dry. Handle carefully so as not to mash 
the fruit. Keep out all leaves. Do not let the 
fruit get over-ripe as it will not then bear trans¬ 
portation. If the market is nearby, pack in flat 
boxes about five inches deep, holding about 25 
lbs.; the lid should be hinged. Currants may 
also be sent in flat baskets holding [about 20 
pounds, covered with muslin. They must not 
be put in large bulk, as they are liable to get 
mashed and spoil. For cherry currants use flat 
baskets holding 15 to 20 pounds, or round-top 
quart cups such as are used for strawberries. 
Mark the gross, tare, and net weight, on the in¬ 
side of each package; either with chalk or on a 
card that is tacked inside on the lid. Have 
each package well carded on both ends ; if in 
baskets sew the cards on firmly to the cover. 
Maple and Elm Trees. —From the com¬ 
plaints that come to us that the seeds of these 
forest trees can not be had at the seed stores, it 
is evident that many do not understand their 
manner of growth. The Elm, the Red or Soft 
Maple, and the Silver Maple all perfect their 
seeds very early—not far from the first of June, 
and must be sown the same season. If kept for 
any great length of time after they fall they 
will not germinate at all, hence it is not practi¬ 
cable for the dealers to offer them. The sooner 
they are sown after they are ripe, the more 
certain they are to germinate. 
# * - — » • 
A Simple Wire-Tightener. 
BY J. SISLEY', LYONS, FRANCE. 
A great many contrivances for tightening 
wires have been offered to the horticultural 
public. They are all more or less ingenious, 
and answer the purpose required; but they are 
more or less expensive, and economy of time 
and money is the great desideratum in horti¬ 
culture more than in any other pursuit. A gar¬ 
dener of our city, M. Ravet, has invented the 
most simple, most economical, and most effec¬ 
tive mode of tightening wires. Upon the wire 
to be tightened he makes a ring, A, through 
which he passes another piece of wire, B, as in 
the figure, which passes around the post, C, to 
which the wire is to be fixed. With a pair of 
pincers he twists the two ends, D, of the piece 
of wire, B, until the wire, A, is sufficiently 
tightened. Nothing can be more simple, more 
easy, and more economical. 
Vegetable Plants and Planting. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
One day about the middle of April the snow, 
not satisfied with its long acquaintance with us 
during the past winter, intruded itself again this 
spring, and covered our newly-planted gardens 
to the depth of several inches. Veteran tillers 
of the soil, as the most of us here are, could 
smile at this assault, knowing it to be harmless. 
But severnUof my correspondents, still young 
in the business, have written to me in great 
trepidation, thinking their planted crops were 
ruined. 
A snow after planting in spring I have never 
known to injure plants of any kind, unless, in¬ 
deed, it was heavy enough to break them. The 
fear of snow and of the slight frosts that come 
often prevents the setting of such plants as 
cabbage, lettuce, and even asparagus among 
vegetables, and of strawberries and other small 
fruits, until the season is so far advanced that 
hot weather comes on, starting the tops before 
the roots have had time to get a foothold. 
There is rarely danger that such hardy or half- 
hardy plants as we plant in spring will be 
injured by any frost that may come after. This 
opening up for spring work usually begins by 
the end of March here, and I have never yet 
seen plants injured by frost after that time. 
To give an idea what amount of cold cabbage 
and'ettuce plants will stand without injury, I 
will remte an experience I had in my early da) r s 
of market-gardening. A particularly mild spell 
in the latter part of February had led us to be¬ 
lieve that spring had come. Out went the teams, 
and the ground was manured, plowed, and 
planted with cabbage and lettuce to the extent 
of two acres, which was all finished up by the 
26th of February. It was my second year in the 
business. I was yet an inexperienced hand,- and 
my neighbors predicted that my venture was a 
foolhardy one, and would result in total loss, 
no oue before having ever planted such crops 
in this section at such an early season. But 
fortune favored me; the weather continued 
mild long enough to .allow the plants to “strike 
root,” and though the thermometer afterwards 
marked as low as 15° above zero, and the ground 
was frozen for full ten days so that it could not 
be again dug or plowed, yet the wild venture 
proved a success, and I had the satisfaction of 
having the first cabbage from that February 
planting that was sold in market. I never after 
had an opportunity of planting so early, and 
would not do it if I had, for it was simply favor¬ 
able conditions that saved the crop. If the cold 
snap had set in immediately after planting, there 
is but little doubt the plants would have suffered 
injury. But the experience was valuable in 
showing what severity of frost such plants 
would stand without injury. Of course, much 
depends on the condition of the plants; if taken 
from the hot-bed or cold-frame without being 
previously exposed, they might be in condi¬ 
tion to be as easily injured as a tomato plant. 
The past season I had the sashes taken off my 
entire crop of cabbage and lettuce plants on 
March first, (having, however, had them well 
hardened beforehand by ventilating), and never 
covered them again. They were twice covered 
completely up with snow r , and the thermometer 
several times marked only 20° above zero. 
Yet we hardly ever before had finer plants. 
The sashes so taken off—nearly 1,000 in num¬ 
ber—were used for our flower business, but, had 
we desired it, they might have been used on tem¬ 
porary frames, and grown a crop of lettuce 
which in 5 weeks from date of planting, March 
1st,, would have easily given $3 per sash. I 
mention these facts to give confidence to the 
hundreds of your readers now engaged in mar¬ 
ket-gardening, who, from dread of exposing 
their plants in spring, not only do them an in¬ 
jury but lose the profit of a second use of their 
sashes. A third use of sashes may be had in 
growing tomato, sweet-potato, or egg-plants, 
after the crop of lettuce has been sold, or they 
may be used for forwarding an early crop of 
cucumbers or melons. 
Notes from the Pines. 
When one is doing the first week in May the 
work he usually does the first week in April, he 
finds matters crowding upon him at such a rate 
that he has little lime to notice things, and still 
less in which to write about them. It is of no 
use to say that this is the most backward spring 
we ever knew, for those matter-of-fact people 
who keep records will come down with the 
figures and show that we have had several just 
such seasons within the past dozen years. Still 
no amount of figures or records can do away 
with the uncomfortable fact that we are all very 
much behindhand with our work. In looking 
about this spring I discovered to my dismay 
that a number of my dwarf apples and pears 
was infested with 
Harris’ Bark-louse (Aspidiotus Harrisii .)— 
This is a very different affair from the Oyster- 
shell Bark-louse, the scale being oval and of a 
pure white color, while the eggs beneath the 
scale give a red stain when crushed. The tree 
