AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mat, 
146 
like celery, are mucli used in France in stews. 
The seeds are started in a seed-bed. The young 
plants are afterward set out in trenches and 
treated like celery. It is not our favorite. 
Collards or Coleworts are merely young cab¬ 
bages not headed. They are used as greens. 
Roquette .—A hardy kind of Cress or Pepper- 
grass; if planted in early Fall and covered dur¬ 
ing Winter it yields very early Spring salads. 
Scorzonera .—A plant closely related to Salsify 
and grown in the same manner. See page 85, 
March Agriculturist. The root before it is cooked 
should be scraped and soaked for some hours 
in water to remove the bitterness. 
Skirret belongs to the parsley family. The 
roots are used in the same way as Salsify. They 
have a peculiar taste, not generally relished. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Beans and Peas—Use for Old Hoop-Skirts. 
I planted my pole beans, Limas included, 
in hills 20 inches apart, the rows 3 feet apart. 
On the outside ends, and in the center of each 
row, I inserted a sharp pointed stake about 8 feet 
long, driving it firmly into the ground, say 15 
inches. The rows were 50 feet long. Next I 
fastened a small wire to the three sticks—about 
six feet from the ground, hauled it taut, and 
secured it to each stake by a single nail, like a 
telegraph wire. Two small sticks were driven 
very slanting , one on each side of every hill. 
A ball or two of common wrapping twine com¬ 
pleted my arrangements. I tied the twine fo 
the outside stick, passed it twice over the tele¬ 
graph wire, down to the next stick, over the 
wire again, and so on to the end; thus each hill 
of beans had two or three strings to climb up. 
They took to the strings freely, soon clasped 
the wire, and were safe from all ordinary storms. 
Shall I tell you Mr. Editor, what wire I used ? 
Don’t smile; it was discarded hoop skirts, heat¬ 
ed in the stove to destroy the temper of the 
steel wire and take off the cotton wrapping; 
and I assure you, that all who saw my beauti¬ 
ful rows of beans swaying gracefully in the 
wind, were ready to agree cordially with the 
“Old Bach” who writes this, that the aforesaid 
wire was never before put to so useful or orna¬ 
mental a purpose. I used my old discarded bean 
poles and strings to support my peas, sticking 
the poles four feet apart on each side of the rows 
of peas. Four horizontal strings tied to the 
poles at proper distances, one above the other, 
completed the supports. It answered beauti¬ 
fully, and was quickly imitated by my neigh¬ 
bors. For the peas a much stronger string is 
required than for the beans. Fine wire would 
be better and would last for several years. J. H. 
Dodgeville , Wis. 
Economizing Room in the Garden. 
Where space is abundant, a few extra feet 
are of little account, and the various plants 
may be cultivated without particular regard to 
economizing room. But thousands of our 
readers have only a limited area to improve, 
and need to make the most of it. Much room 
will be saved by dispensing with beds for vege¬ 
tables. Let them be simply planted in long 
rows, extending across the space devoted to 
the purpose. No dividing walks are needed be¬ 
tween the various sorts. One walk, the length 
of the garden, with rows extending on each 
side, is a good arrangement. Several plants, as 
radishes, lettuce, etc., may be scattered among 
hills of young vines, and by a succession, as late 
corn after early peas, turnips after early pota¬ 
toes, etc., much more produce can be realized. 
■-— ■ ■= a g>c n *—e*- 
Make a Strawberry Bed. 
It is but little trouble to make a bed. Plants 
are cheap and the postal arrangements are such, 
that those living far from nurseries can readily 
get by mail plants of enough choice kinds for a 
beginning. Any good garden soil, enriched 
with old manure, will raise good strawberries. 
If there are but a few plants'to “start with, the 
object should be to multiply them as rapidly as 
possible; set them out 18 inches or two feet 
apart each way, prick off the blossom buds if 
any appear and keep free from weeds. Runners 
will be thrown out and form new plants, and 
a dozen plants will in a year multiply enough 
to set out a veiy large plot. A stock of plants 
having been procured, make beds 4 feet wide, 
with suitable alleys between. Three rows of 
plants can be put on the bed, eighteen inches 
each way, which will bring the outer rows 6 
inches from the edge of the bed. In setting 
out the plants, the old and partly decayed leaves 
and all runners should be removed. It is the 
custom of some good cultivators to cut off the 
roots for one third or one half their length. In 
planting, spread the roots well and press the 
earth well around without covering the plants. 
It will pay to plant in the manner recommend¬ 
ed on page 309 of the Agriculturist for 1861. A 
mound of earth is made in the hole, the plant is 
set upon the ground with its roots carefully 
spread out over it, and the hole then filled with 
earth. This will be readily understood from the 
engraving. We planted 
in this way a bed of over 
a thousand plants with¬ 
out losing one.—There 
are two ways of growing 
strawberries. One is to 
keep all the runners 
pinched back as fast as 
they appear. In this way the plants form large 
stools and continue in bearing 5 or 6 years. 
Most varieties do well in this way, but Wilson’s 
Albany, from its manner of growth, is not so 
well suited for this kind of culture. Another, 
and the most common way is to let the runners 
grow, and a bed of this kind will give one full 
crop and a partial one, when it is spaded up. 
There of course should be another bed ready 
to succed it. For varieties see p. 101, last month. 
Celery. 
The great difficulty in raising this delicious 
product of the garden, is in starting the plants. 
The seeds are slow in germinating and the 
young plants are very delicate. There are sev¬ 
eral kinds, but perhaps none better thau the 
early and late White Solid varieties. For the 
earliest, the seed should be started in a hot-bed. 
A very gentle heat is all that is required. The 
manure for this hot-bed should be mixed with 
plenty of old leaves, and the soil in the bed 
should be 10 or 12 inches deep. The seed should 
be merely covered with soil and the bed should 
be shaded by mats until the plants are well up, 
and then they should be protected from the sun 
during the hottest part of the day, and have 
plenty of air. Water and weed the bed care¬ 
fully. Thin out the plants to an inch apart, 
when an inch high transplant to another" bed. 
For out of door sowing, select a place where 
the bed will be shaded by 10 or 11 o’clock, burn 
the surface over by a fire of brush or straw, and 
then sow the seeds and lightly rake them in. If 
a shaded place is not at command, cover the 
bed with leafy brush, or set up a screen of some 
kind, and keep the bed well watered. In weed¬ 
ing or stirring the soil about the young plants, 
be careful to do it only when both soil and 
plants are dry. When three or four inches 
high the plants should be placed in trenches; 
these should run north and south and be one 
foot wide, and two feet deep and about 4 feet 
apart. Six or 8 inches of well rotted hog or 
barn yard manure should be put at the bottom 
of the trenches; add 6 inches of soil, and spade 
the whole up thoroughly. The trenches may 
be prepared for sometime before the plants are 
large enough to put out. When the plants are 
large enough they may be transplanted to the 
trenches; fork over the soil at the bottom of the 
trench and put out the plants, a foot apart. If 
the young plants are disposed to form a large 
tap root it should be shortened. It is well, if 
the weather is hot, to shade the plants a few 
days after transplanting, by laying boards over 
the trenches, while the sun shines hotly. As 
the plants grow, soil is to be carefully filled in 
Mow the green leaves from time to time. A 
light, sandy soil, with plenty of manure, is better 
for celery than a heavy, clayey, or wet soil. 
Cauliflower. 
This is one of the most delicious vegetables 
the garden affords, though many fail in raising 
it. The requisites are good seed and good soil. 
If the seed is not of a good stock no after cul¬ 
ture will produce satisfactory results. We have 
grown Early Paris, Tliorburn’s Nonpareil, and 
Large Asiatic and had satisfactory results from 
each. When very early cauliflowers are desir¬ 
ed, the seed is sown in Autumn, and the partly 
grown plants are wintered over in the cold 
frame. Seed for a later crop may be sown now, 
either in a frame, or in an open bed. The seed¬ 
lings are raised in the same way as cabbage 
plants. The bed to which they are transplant¬ 
ed can hardly be too well prepared. Deep work¬ 
ing, and a plenty of well decomposed manure, 
are essential to the growth of the plants. Set 
out at two feet apart each way. It often hap¬ 
pens that the growing point or bud of the cauli¬ 
flower is enclosed by the base of the leaf stalks 
and is prevented from developing. Such plants 
will never make a head and should be rejected. 
The Cauliflower is subject to the same enemies 
as the cabbage, and needs the same frequent hoe¬ 
ing. Should a drought occur give water and 
stimulate with liquid manure in moist seasons. 
The heads should be cut when fully formed, 
and before they become loose. 
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Planting and Pruning the Grape. 
Several letters have been recently sent to the 
Agriculturist inquiring about pruning the vine. 
It is now altogether too late to prune old vines. 
We shall endeavor to make the whole matter 
plain at the proper season. A few hints con¬ 
cerning the treatment of newly planted vines 
will be timely. The vine should be one or two 
years old, when planted. Some of the best 
cultivators prefer to begin with those only a 
year old. A vine of this age should be cutback 
to two or three buds, and after the buds start, 
all the shoots but the most vigorous one, should 
be pinched off. Place a stake by the side of the 
vine to which it is to be tied. As side branch¬ 
es spring from the main shoot, piuch them 
