1863.] 
Q09 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
and wants, have died. Few plants accustomed 
to grow in the deep woods, and in moist places, 
will live when transplanted to an open border in 
the garden. The shock is too violent. But if 
put in the shade, and planted in a good border 
of vegetable mold from the forest, most of them 
will live and flourish. 
A shelter of evergreens makes one of the 
best screens for rock work, but the shade of any 
tree, or the north side of a building will answer, 
if nothing better can be had. If a spring or 
fountain is on the grounds, the rock work should 
be located near it, so that it can receive copious 
waterings at pleasure. No definite rules can 
be given for constructing these ornaments. They 
should not be merely piles of loose stones, or 
regular in outline. The larger the rocks, the 
better for this purpose, and the more irregular 
the better. The spaces between, may be partly 
filled with stones, and with vegetable mold 
from the woods. A great variety of plants, will 
thrive in such a location. Many of the ferns 
and mosses, of which we have a large number, 
will do well. Only the larger ferns should be 
employed, where the work is on a large scale. 
In transplanting, the more earth we remove 
with the plants, the more likely they will be to 
live. The club mosses with their long trailing 
vines and bright green shoots, are highly or¬ 
namental. In selecting the plants it is desirable 
to secure a succession of blossoms, from the 
early Spring to late Autumn. The Blood Root, 
(Sanguinaria Canadensis) comes early in April. It 
loves moist, shady places, and is often found 
growing in the clefts of rocks. The "YVood Anem¬ 
one blooms about the same time, and is found 
in the same localities. The Saxifrage, and Rock 
Geranium, or Herb Robert, are also desirable 
plants. The Partridge Berry, and Winter Green, 
or Checkerberry are even more beautiful for 
their leaves and berries, than for their blossoms. 
The berries are of a bright red, and hang on 
through the Winter. The trailing Arbutus, 
one of our most beautiful flowers, the Linnsea 
borealis, Blue Houstonia, Columbine, and many 
others will flourish in rock work. Health, 
pleasure, and instruction will come of this 
home made ornament. 
Gravel Walks on Hill Sides. 
Here is one of the hardest things to manage 
in ornamental gardening. It is easy enough to 
make them, but to construct them so as not to 
gully and tear up in heavy rains, is not a little 
difficult. A few hints are offered : Such walks 
should, of course, have a solid foundation of 
stones, and this should be covered with gravel 
or shale. To enable the walk to shed rain, have 
it quite well rounded over in the center. The 
central parts should also be pounded or rolled 
so smooth and hard that running water can 
make no impression on it. If the walk is not 
long or very wide, the water accumulating upon 
it may be shed off upon the adjoining turf. But 
to secure this, the channel of the walk must be 
filled up brimful with gravel. Where the walk 
is long and wide, and the hill steep, this can 
not always be done, and provision must there¬ 
fore be made for carrying off the water in gut¬ 
ters. These may be made of small cobble 
stones laid neat and smooth, or of bricks. If 
stones are used, they should not be larger than 
a goose-egg, and should be fitted in a workman¬ 
like manner. Provision should also be made 
for turn-outs at proper intervals, which may 
discharge the water upon the adjoining grass, 
or into cesspools, or under-ground drains. 
In our own experience, we find the above 
methods to answer tolerably well, yet they are 
not a perfect protection in violent storms. At 
such times, the water will fill up and surge over 
all the gutters and turn-outs, and tear the walks 
sadly. The only way we know of is to provide 
these remedies as effectually as may be, and then 
lay in a stock of patience against storms. 
Since writing the above, we have met with 
the following in one of Loudon’s works : He 
is describing the grounds of an English country 
seat:—“ One practice at Redleaf is, that in every 
part of the garden, where the slope is consider¬ 
able, the walks are paved with brick, and have 
brick or stone-edgings. Some great advantages 
result from this practice. The walks are never 
injured by rain, but rather improved by being 
washed clean. No weeds grow in them; they 
do not become soft with rain, nor powdery in 
dry weather. Gravel walks need renovating, 
trimming and cleaning every year or two, but 
brick walks if jiroperly laid at first, with a solid 
foundation and good drainage, will last ten or 
twelve years without any repair whatever.” 
--C -- -- 
Layering Grape Vines. 
This operation is very simple. Early in the 
Summer, take down a last year’s cane from the 
trellis, and after making a trench near the vine, 
five inches deep and a foot or two long, lay 
down the cane in it, and cover it up with fine 
soil. The layer should be fastened down by 
pegs or by stones. Bring up the extreme end 
of the cane and tie it to a stake. In the Fall, 
if all has gone well, the layer will have formed 
a large bunch of roots at the point buried, when 
it may be severed from the parent vine, and 
planted. Latterly it has been found that 
most varieties can be multiplied faster than by 
this method. The plan is to spade up and en¬ 
rich the soil all along the side of the vine. 
Make drills not more than two inches deep, and 
as long as the branches to be lajmred. Sprinkle 
a little sand in these drills. Now, lay down the 
cane3 in these shallow drills and peg them fast 
at every joint. Tie up a foot of the end of each 
cane to a stake. Such sorts as Rebecca, Lo¬ 
gan, Concord, etc., will soon take root at every 
eye, and will also send up shoots from the same 
joints. As these shoots grow, a little soil should 
be drawn over the layers, and the shoots tied up 
to stakes. By careful management in this way, 
one can get about as many rooted plants as 
there are buds on each layered branch. 
---—-»-«■-- 
Grafting the Grape. 
“L,” St. Louis Co., Mo., writes to ike Agricul¬ 
turist, that he “ has been very successful in prop¬ 
agating grapes by grafting. Two years since I 
purchased a Rebecca vine, with a stem a little 
larger than a darning needle. I trimmed off 
the wood to two eyes, and although the buds 
were swelled, I grafted the part cut off on a 
piece of wild grape root, and planted it in the 
open air. In a year after it was, and is now 
much better than the original stock. The Del¬ 
aware, Rebecca, and some others, with me 
grow better on other roots than on their own. 
My method is as follows : Make as much bark 
meet as is practicable. Where the root is 
larger than the cion, split the cion, sharpen the 
root, and cut out a deep gash or wedge in the 
centre of the root between the two sides, leaving 
the bark undisturbed. In inserting the cion, bend 
or press the sides of the root, until the bark of the 
cion and root meet, then wind with soft twine, 
Furrow out the ground with a one horse plowt 
put fine chip manure about the plants, placing 
them about eight inches apart in the rows, and 
cover with common soil. Have the top of the 
grafts two or three inches above the level of the 
ground, and cover them out of sight one or two 
inches. If the season is unusually rainy and 
cold, place 6 inch boards on each side of the 
row, roof shape. When the weather is warm 
and settled, dig down to the buds, and leave 
them uncovered. If it continues very dry, cover 
the buds up, and let them find their way out.” 
Thinning the Leaves of Grapes. 
One of the most absurd practices prevalent 
at this season of the year, is that of pulling off 
the foliage of grapes, in order (as it is said,) to 
ripen up the fruit. Those who do this say they 
can’t bear to see the clusters so shaded: they 
'know the sunshine would color them. And so 
they thrust right and left, covering the ground 
with green leaves. This is a great error. The 
ripening of fruit depends upon the presence and 
successful working of well-formed and healthy 
foliage on vigorous vines. The leaves are the 
lungs and stomach of the plant. Through them 
it breathes; by them it digests its food, and pre¬ 
pares nourishment for the fruit and the whole 
vine. Go to the sides of the forest, and you find 
the blackberry developing larger, and ripening 
up finer in partial shade than in the sunny field. 
Go a little further and you will find the wild 
grape growing luxuriantly and ripening perfect¬ 
ly where the sun seldom shines'; certainly, 
where it never reaches the clusters, and where 
no one pulls off the leaves. Some of the hand¬ 
somest clusters ever picked in our garden hung 
all Summer in the shade of leaves, and on the 
north side of the trellis-bar. The leaves had the 
sunlight all day, but the fruit did not. We have 
do doubt that one reason why the costly vine¬ 
ries of the country show so much half ripened 
fruit, is because the gardeners so perpetually 
meddle with the foliage. 
Girdling Grape Vines. 
This operation consists in taking out a ring 
or section of bark (say about an inch wide,) on 
the fruit-bearing canes. The effect of it is to 
enlarge the fruit above the girdle, and to give it 
the color of ripeness ten or more days before 
the usual time. It is an interesting experiment 
in vegetable physiology. It furnishes splendid 
specimens of fruit for horticultural exhibitions. 
But this is all we can say in its favor. The fruit 
itself is deteriorated for eating purposes, and 
clusters exhibited as fair specimens of the fruit, 
give an untrue idea of it. 
Thin out Freely. 
Two plants half developed are not worth as 
much as one which has had plenty of room to 
perfect itself. A much larger and finer crop of 
beets can be harvested if the plants are thinned 
to 8 or 12 inches, than if allowed to stand at 3 
or 4 inches ; and so with other crops—the dis¬ 
tance of course varying for each. Not only will 
a larger yield be realized by thinning judicious¬ 
ly, but the quality of the product will be much 
better. So in the flower garden, the annuals are 
commonly sown very thickly, and left to crowd 
one another in a dense mass. For a few kinds 
this treatment will answer, but the majority 
will give greater pleasure if each individual 
has room to develop its beauty. 
