isnr.] 
AMF.TITCAN ACxRICUI.TURIST. 
221 
Flower Garden Experience. 
few miiuUfS, uiul tlicii letiiii;' liic water olT rap¬ 
idly at tlio opposite side, into the ditch that is 
not hein:^ nsed, one can often thoroughly cleanse 
the bed »)f tiiese pests. Onions need water about 
as often as cabbage, bnt not so much at once. 
Spinach should be watered over night, when 
picking for market, and immediately after, in 
hot weather. Lettuce, we transplant in Avet 
beds, and irrigate in ail respects as directed for 
cabbage. Cucumbers need water in this climate, 
at least once a week, bnt not heavy Avaterings. 
Celery, in trenches, must have a sink .at the 
end of each trench to servo as explained in the 
jMarcli number, and Avhen hilling up the plants, 
leave each side of the trench loAver than the 
center, until you are on a level Aviththe surface ; 
by this means you can run the Avater on Avithout 
covering the hills, for if you allow water to go 
down into the heart of the plant, for a fcAV 
times, it Avill cause your celery to rot; through¬ 
out the groAving season celeVy Avill require 
Avater nearly as often ns cabbage. 
Pepper; Avater often until it h:is attained the 
groAVth at Avhich you expect it to mature, then 
give it but very little, .as it retards the ripening. 
Tomatoes need more care in the watering 
than any other A’egetablc; Avhen the plants arc 
first put out, they should be transplanted into 
Avet beds, as for cabbage; then sec that they arc I 
erect before irrigating, and let on the Avater j 
taking care not to cover the crowns of the 
plants; and at no time let oA'er tAA'o inches 
of water on your plants, or they Avill either 
Avither, or stop groAving entirely; tomatoes need 
Avater often to get an early crop, but in very 
limited quantities. 
And noAV, supposing that your garden is able 
to Avait a day or so, and that there is nothing 
that can be hurt by so Avaiting, then, the best j 
timeu for irrigating are; cloudy days, and moon¬ 
light r.ights; but if the plants really need Avater, 
irrigate them at any time. 
It is Avell, Avith your crops that have to be 
thinned, to take them in rotation; and the beds of 
c.arrots, bcc«s, etc., aa'IiIcIi you intend to thin 
next day should be Avatered the night before; 
or CA'cn better, early the same morning; by this 
method you can work among them much easier, 
as you can pull out those Avhich need remov¬ 
ing Avithout injuring the rest. 
ITot-beds can be irrigated as soon as the plants 
arc up, by cutting a hole in the back board of 
the frame, the bottom of Avhich should be on a 
level Avith the soil; by spouts from the asccquia 
you can water many hot-beds Avhile you aa'OuUI 
be sprinkling one. The above remarks as re¬ 
gards time betAveen Avaterings, etc., must not, 
in all cases, be closely folloAved, as difTercnce in 
climate, soil, situation, etc., Avill c.au3c a dilfcr- 
cncc in the need of Avater; I have shoAvn here 
as nearly as possible aa hat is required in .this 
section of country, but it is a thing in Avhich 
CA-ery man must rely on his own judgment, tak¬ 
ing care, in a dry climate, ncA'cr to miss seeing 
his Avholo crop, at least CA-ery tAVO days, as 
I)lants that to-day look fresh and appear to be 
doing AVcll, may to-morroAV sIioav signs of dis¬ 
tress. It is Avell for beginners to rather oA’crdo 
their irrigating th.an to err on the other side, 
and to bear in mind that the great cause of cab¬ 
bage lice, and many other troubles to the gar¬ 
dener in all climates, is—drouth. 
Beddin'o Pi.akts, such as Ycrl)cna.=<, Lanta- 
n.as, Gazanias, etc., make a much better shoAV 
if pegged doAvn. Hair-pins, hooked sticks, etc., 
arc used, as Avell as a strip of bass matting put 
over them, Avilh botli ends thrust into the ground. 
If persons, instead of Avriting us cssa)'3 on the 
beauty of floAvers and the i)leasures of garden¬ 
ing, Avould tell us their experience and the cir¬ 
cumstances that led to their success or failure, 
Avc should print more of their letters than aa'C 
do. ^Nliss O. ^I. Luke, Trumbull Co., Ohio, 
gives us a clever bit of lloAver garden e.x- 
perience, from Avhich avc extract the folloAving, 
Avilh the remark that her i)lan of protecting 
seedlings Avith leaf mold is an c.xcellent one, 
and folloAved by some of our best groAvci-s. 
“ I have alAva3's been a great lover of lloAvers, 
and have tried A’arious experiments on some of 
them, marking, Avith the greatest i)lcasure,each 
new feature, Avhieh my experiments produce. 
“Sweet Williams and Pinks are my hobbies 
noAA'. Some seeds of these Averc sent to me by 
a friend, tAvo years ago last August. Tavo Aveeks 
after I received tliem, I had a bed made about 
8 feet long, and 1 foot Avide, upon Avhich I spread 
one peck of leached ashes, one of stone-coal 
cinders, and about the same of avcII rotted chip 
manure, being careful to have them all raked 
through the soil. Then, after soAving my seeds, 
I covered them veiy slightly by raking the 
compost over them. The plants came up very 
thick, and grcAV about two inches before Avinter. 
I thought best to protect them during the 
Avinter by a covering of leaf muck from the 
Avoods. In the spring, after removing the muck 
from their tops, thev' looked very green. I Ava- 
tcred them during the summer season about 
once a Aveek Avilh soapsuds. 
“They grcAV thrillil)-and needed A’ery little 
.Aveeding. The second Avinter, I protected them 
bj' a covering of brush and straAV, removing it 
in the spring, and last June thej’ blossomed. I 
Avish ever}’reader of Wic American Agriculturist 
could have seen them. The SAveet William 
stalks Avere all about tAVO-and-a-half feet high, 
and measured .about tAvo-and-a-half inches 
around. Such a variety of colors I had never be¬ 
fore seen. Tliey Averc ringed, streaked, speckled 
and plain, of almost CA’cry sh.ade; some AA'ere 
double, others measured an inch-and-a-lialf 
across each floAver, Avith a fine deep fringe 
.around their edges. There Avas one stalk Avilh 
three different varieties of colors groAving on the 
same stem; but on different little branches. 
Every one Avho saAV them said they never had 
seen any thing like them before.” 
Transplanting Seedlings. 
There will be much transpl.anting done this 
month, ill both the kitchen and floAver garden, 
and Avith A’arying success. There arc some 
Avho seem to do the Avork very roughly and al- 
Avavs succeed, Avhilc others appear to be very 
painst.aking and haA'ebad luck. A plant, in its 
reinoA'al from the seed-bed, Avill lose more or 
less of its root fibres, and as all the leaves 
usually remain, the present surface of the 
leaves is all out of proportion to that of the 
roots, and unless in .a very damp time, the plant 
Avill Avilt from the loss of moisture by evapora¬ 
tion. It is ahvays prefer.ahle todo the AVork on a 
damp day, not so much on account of the moist¬ 
ure in the ground as of that in the air. The fcAV 
hast hours of day-light are to be preferred, as 
plants set at that time have a chance to recover, 
in a measure, during the cool night. The soil in 
Avhich the plants are to be placed should have 
been recently Avorked, so that only fresh and 
mellow earth can come in contact Avith the 
roots. Water the seed-bed thoroughly, and 
take up the plants Avilh care, and set them out 
as soon as possible. IMuch of the success de¬ 
pends on bringing the soil in close contact Avilli 
the roots. Where a dibber is used for making 
the holes, an unskillful Avorkman isA’cryapt not 
to properly fill the hole made by the dibber, and 
as a consequence, a portion of the roots are 
surrounded by air instead of earth. For this 
reason, those Avho have but little transplanting 
to do, and arc not practised in the use of the 
dibber, had better make broader holes Avith the 
point of a garden troAvel, and Avhen the plant 
is set, fill the earth in carefull}’, and croAvd it 
doAvn firmly. Ahvays have the ground marked 
off beforehand, so that no time need be lost in 
looking out for the proper distances; be.sidc3 
the work Avill be more regular. 
In larger operations, there is a division of la¬ 
bor; one carries a basket containing the plants, 
Avhich arc kept thoroughly Avetted, and drops 
them at the proper places, and another sets them. 
When plants are brought fiom a distance, 
and must be put out Avithout Avaiting for favor¬ 
able Aveather, it is best to make rather large 
holes Avith a troAvel, fill each Avith Avater, and 
set the plants. By a division of labor it may be 
done much more rapidly than one Avould sup¬ 
pose. In a very light soil, in a hot, dry time, avc 
have practised this Avithout the loss of a plant. 
Seedlings that are to be kept out of the ground 
for any great length of time should have their 
roots puddled, by mixing up a thin mud of 
loam, and eiiA’cloping the roots in it. ^ 
A Fruit Critic Criticised. 
The farmer of EdgCAVOod, in a recent number 
of the American Journal of Horticulture, ad¬ 
vances some A’ery sceptical and heterodox no¬ 
tions in pomology, c.alculated to discourage im¬ 
provement in this fine art. He s.ays: “ I doubt 
very much if the finest fi.avored fruits can be 
groAvn as easily as the grosser tasting ones.” 
And again, “ in the pear line, it is quite possible 
that, Avith great nicety of treatment, both in 
garden culture and in the ripening process, 
(Avhich last counts for a great deal,) a higher and 
finer fiaA’or may be given to the Beurre Diel, or 
the Flemish Bc.auty, or the Beurre d’Anjou, or 
even the Duchess, than belongs ordinarily to the 
Bartlett. But put the Bartlett in comparison 
Avith either, under fair average treatment, and 
upon ordinary garden lands, and I think tAvo 
luscious BartlettSAvill present themselves, to one 
of cither the other names.” The idea here ad¬ 
vanced, that the finer kinds of pears require 
specially nice treatment in order to succeed, is 
mischievous, and is certainly not sustained by 
facts. The Scckel, the highest fiavored of all 
pears, is even more hardy than the Bartlett, and 
Avill bear good fruit in almost any soil that is 
adapted to the pear. It is improA’cd in size by 
high cultivation, but that is true of all pears— 
and of the Bartlett as avcII. AVc do not think 
the fiavor of the Seckcl is improved by its size. 
The Flemish Beauty and the Beurre Diel, upon 
ordinary garden lands, and with the fair av’er- 
age treatment, have ahvays borne as Avell as the 
Bartlett, in our experience. The Beurre d’An¬ 
jou is a ncAver pear, but it is notoriously a good 
groAver .and bearer, and m.ay prove itself adapt¬ 
ed to as Avide .a range of soi,l and climate as the 
Bartlett. The Duchess is more fastidious about 
its soil, but Avhere it finds congenial aliment, it 
is as easily raised, ripens as Avell, and keeps bet¬ 
ter than the Bartlett. We found four large, 
Avell grown trees, upon pear slock standing in a 
