AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
242 
[August, 
best methods of applying manure to any plants 
or shrubs which have been transplanted. 
For General Culture or Fruiting .—There is need 
for but few directions. Choose any soil, the best 
that can be spared : spade it deeply, and if not 
in good heart, mix all through it a fair supply 
of rotten manure, muck or sods, or better still, 
black mold (black earth from the forest). This 
is not necessary, but is desirable, in order to 
get the best results. Leached ashes mixed in 
plentifully, are also good, especially for heavy 
clay soils. Too much fresh manure will pro¬ 
duce an over growth of plants at the expense of 
fruit, though a fair supply of any kind of ma¬ 
nure is not objectionable for plants set in Au¬ 
tumn. We prefer dividing the ground into beds 
4j feet wide, with three rows of plants in each, 
one in the middle, and the others 7 inches from 
the sides—setting the plants 15 to 18 inches 
apart in the rows. The plants can then be 
worked and picked from the alleys between the 
beds, without treading on the beds at all. If 
there are plants enough, the runners should be 
picked off as they appear, keeping the original 
plants in hills. If more plants are desired, let 
them grow between the hills, and then remove 
them. The best fruit is obtained by keeping 
the plants separate in hills. 
Strawberry Experience. 
The following communication from William 
F. Heins, Esq., of Morrisania, N. Y., embodies 
his experience with the different varieties for 
the present year. The opinion of Mr. H. has 
great value from the fact that he is purely an 
amateur cultivator, and has no interest in the 
sale of either plants or berries, but gives his ob¬ 
servations upon the endurance and prolific 
quality of the plants, during the past unfavor¬ 
able season, entirely from their behavior in his 
own grounds. “In most locations the crop 
may be considered nearly a failure, and I think 
the principal causes were: 1st, the changeable 
Winter; 2nd, the hot and dry weather follow¬ 
ing, and 3d, the sudden and heavy rains while 
the plants were flowering. My soil, gently slop¬ 
es to the S. E., is an excellent, medium heavy 
loam, thoroughly worked to the depth of 30 
inches, and rich in completly decomposed veg¬ 
etable matter. The result of my observations 
upon the 65 kinds I cultivated is the following: 
The Triomphe de Gaud I put at the head of the 
list, and with me, old and new beds, attended to 
or neglected, gave plenty of fruit, and showed 
least signs of suffering; the plants remained vig¬ 
orous, and are bearing now, July Gth, a quan¬ 
tity of sound and excellent berries. The next, 
mentioned in the order of their excellence, were 
Lennig’s White, White Pine Apple, White 
Albion, Wilson’s Albany, and W. A. Burgess’ 
new seedlings, General Scott, Garibaldi, Gen. 
Lyon, Monitor; Hot-house Pine. The three 
first ones gave plenty of fruit, were of vigorous 
and healthy habit; then I name Burr’s New Pine, 
Russell's and Downer’s Prolific, Early Scarlet, 
Ladies’ Pine, Empress Eugenie, Scott’s Seed¬ 
ling, Scotch Runner, Jenny Lind, Bartlett, Hoo¬ 
ker’s Seedling, M’Evoy’s Superior, Cutter’s Seed¬ 
ling, Honneur de la Belgique, Bonte de St. 
Julien, La Constante, (the last two of very excel 
lent flavor), Nero, Black Prince, Red and White 
Alpine, Due de Malakoff. As all the other sorts 
suffered more or less and yielded only a very 
moderate crop, it is not necessary to enumerate 
them. It is probable that in more favorable 
seasons some of these will prove more valuable 
than they seem to be at present. 
Currants and Gooseberries. 
The season of strawberries passed away with 
June and was succeeded by the less delicious but 
still acceptable currant. The currant is one of 
our most reliable fruits, and we refer to it at 
this time, because we. desire every reader of 
the American Agriculturist to be thoroughly 
impressed with the importance of the small 
fruits, both as a matter of health and economy. 
We hope every one of them will have a 
constant and full supply of strawberries, cur¬ 
rants, gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc., 
as long as the season lasts^ A currant patch is 
easily started ; if neglected it will bear tolerably 
for years, and with a little care in pruning it 
will continue to yield abundant crops of fine 
fruit which is excellent fresh, dried, made 
into jelly, or preserved in bottles. The time 
that fruits are in perfection is the one in which 
to talk about growing them. All our plans, 
whether for the farm or garden should be laid. 
well in advance. Let every farmer who is with¬ 
out small fruits determine to have at least a 
patch of currants, and strawberries; grapes, and 
other fruits will soon follow. Currants are raised 
with the utmost ease. Good rooted plants from 
the nursery set this Fall will give a some fruit 
next season. Those who cannot afford to send 
to nurseries or are not in reach of them, can 
always get cuttings of some neighbor. Cuttings 
of this year’s wood, about a foot long, are to be 
taken as soon as the leaves have fallen: cut out 
with a sharp knife all the buds except three or 
four of the upper ones, and then plant in 
rows 6 to 12 inches apart, burying them for 
two-thirds of their length. If set into good 
soil, not ten in a hundred will fail to make 
plants, which next year may be set out where 
they are to stand. In after culture the currant 
is grown in several different ways. It may be 
grown upon a single stalk in the form of a tree; 
it may be trained upon a wall, fence or trellis; 
or it may be grown upon a sort of renewal 
plan. According to the last method, the eyes 
or buds which go below ground are not taken 
out, but the plant is allowed to shoot up from 
the root, and the branches which come up are 
cut out after they have borne one crop of fruit. 
If the plants become crowded, a portion of the 
new wood should be cut out. This manner of 
growing currants is, by many cultivators, pre¬ 
ferred to the tree form. A hoop is sometimes 
put over the bush, to which the branches are 
trained, thus giving all an equal chance at the 
light and air. We have seen such fine crops 
grown with both methods of cultivation, that 
we hardly know which to recommend. When 
the bushes are trained upon a fence or trellis, 
they should be encouraged to make only two 
stout branches the first year. These are to be 
laid horizontally, and the limbs which they 
throw out are to be trained in an upright po¬ 
sition. Currants may be made to give a large 
crop and take up little room, by training them 
against a fence; they may be planted with¬ 
in six inches of it. With regard to variet¬ 
ies there is considerable choice. We say, grow 
currants at any rate, and take the common red, 
if nothing better is within reach. Where they 
can be had, the Cherry currant and the White 
Grape are to be preferred. Even the common 
sorts will yield larger fruit by good culture and 
close pruning. The gooseberry is very much 
neglected of late for the reason that the varieties 
most celebrated in Europe are rendered worth¬ 
less in our country by mildew. Of late two 
American sorts, Houghton’s seedling and the 
American seedling have been introduced, which 
arc quite free from this defect. They are pret¬ 
ty sure to give a crop, though the berries are 
small. We recently saw on the grounds of J. 
C. Thompson Esq., at Staten Island, a fine large 
seedling berry which was very productive and 
very free from mildew. Mr. T. expects to get 
20 bushels from a small patch, and judging from 
the appearance of his bushes we should think 
that this amount might be gathered. Should 
this berry produce as well and prove as free 
from mildew in other localities, as it does in the 
grounds of Mr. Thompson, it wfill be a decided 
acquisition. The gooseberry, when green, pos¬ 
sesses a sprightly acid flavor which will always 
render it popular for either pies or “ sauce.” 
-----»-•.-- 
Another Enemy to the Fruit Grower. 
Prof. G. M. Smith, of Tippecanoe Co., Ind., 
has sent us specimens of an insect which seems 
to be of the most destructive character. It 
strips the leaves from the trees by cutting off 
the leaf stalk, and eats the bark from the young 
shoots, and in some cases attacks that of the 
last year’s wood. It does its work of devas¬ 
tation so thoroughly that not a leaf or young 
shoot was left on about 50 trees which were at¬ 
tacked. Not recognizing the insect, we forward¬ 
ed specimens to Prof. Glover, of the Agricultur¬ 
al Department at Washington, who has kindly 
furnished us with the name and the drawing 
from which the engraving is 
made. It is the Ithycerus curculio- 
noides , belonging to the same or¬ 
der with the well-known curculio, 
and is one of its largest represen¬ 
tatives. It has been called the 
New-York weevil. The insect is 
of a gray color, having upon each 
wing-cover four white lines inter¬ 
rupted by black dots. Its attacks are not con¬ 
fined to fruit trees, as it is also found on the 
oak and maple. Fortunately this pest does not 
seem to be very abundant, and wherever it ap¬ 
pears, it should be captured, by jarring the trees 
under which a sheet has been placed, in the 
same way that has been described for the de¬ 
struction of the curculio, on page 164. 
Renewing Old Grape Vines. 
Many persons have large, ill-shaped vines, 
clambering over arbors and trellises, which 
they would like to bring into better shape and 
more fruitfulness; but they don’t know exactly 
how to do it. There are several ways: First, 
lay down a good, vigorous cane on each side of 
the main trunk, burying it for two feet or more 
in length, with six inches of dirt. In one sea¬ 
son, or at most two, these canes wfill be finely 
rooted, when the old stump may be grubbed up. 
The new layered plants may afterward be train¬ 
ed according to any of the received methods. 
Another way would be to retain the old root, 
but to change the top by degrees. Cut out in 
the Fall, one fourth of the large canes on one 
half of the vine; train up the handsomest new 
shoot that pushes during the Summer; and in 
the Fall, cut away all others on that side of the 
vine. This shoot retained is to form a horizon¬ 
tal “ arm ” for training up perpendicular canes 
from. Next year, proceed in the same way with 
the other side of the vine. This work of re¬ 
newing the vine ought to be done gradually, and 
extend over a period of three or four years; 
since, if the old canes are cut away at once, the 
