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CORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MAY 38 
From the Diary of a Centleman near Mew 
York City. 
PRUNING ORNAMENTAL HEDGES:. 
May 3.—Hedges of all kinds need more or 
less attention, but those raised exclusively 
for ornamental purposes require more care 
than others, because beauty is the first 
and principal object. One season’s neglect 
in pruning or culture will frequently result 
in injury which will require several years to 
mend. 
Evergreen hedges, such as Hemlock and 
Arbor Vitae, require pruning twice a year, if 
a close, compact surface is desired. It Is no 
easy task to raise handsome hedges and keep 
them in go >d order, and I fear few persons 
think of this when planting, hence tho too 
common mistake of setting out more than 
the proprietor can really afford to take care 
of in after years. Perhaps this is a too com¬ 
mon error in all kinds of gardening as well 
as in farming. It costs but little to sow and 
plant, but the main expense comes in culture 
and harvesting. Every spring and fall when 
my evergreen hedge requires pruning, I 
almost wish there was not quite as much of 
it, although at other times there is too little. 
A good job at pruning evergreen hedges 
cannot be done without a pair of hedge- 
shears made expressly for the purpose. This 
should bo undei stood by those who plant 
these kind of hedges. 
EORM Cf HEDGE. 
It is a common error to prune evergreen 
hedges with a flat or broad, oval top, upon 
which snows rest in winter, spreading the 
plants into an irregular line, even if it 
does not break them down. The top of such 
hedges should be almost pointed, to prevent 
the lodgment of snow in winter. My Hem¬ 
lock hedge is about fix feet in diameter at 
the base and about the same in flight, the 
sides pruned in what may be termed an 
acute oval, or egg-shape, and I find that it 
requires close pruning to prevent the snow 
from lodging on it in winter, Tho coarser 
kinds of evergreens, such ns the Pines and 
Norway Spruce, are difficult to keep in SUf 
flcuntly compact form to prevent snow lodg 
ing on them in winter, especially when grown 
in hedges. In groups or in rows, planted at 
some distance apart, they answer well as 
wind breaks, but are not as good as the 
Hemlock or Arbor Vitro for hedges. 
evergreen thorh hedoes. 
These have not. equalled expectations for 
hedges. The white-berried evergreen thorn 
(f ’yracantha alba] is somewhat better than 
the more common original species, but the 
leaves get badly scorched in winter, turning 
brown, even if they do not, drop off ; conse 
quently 1 think the Pyraa mt?ui8 will have to 
ne abandoned as hedge plants in the North- 
era States, although excellent for the Middle 
and Southern States. A deciduous plant is 
far preferable for a hedge to an evergreen, 
the leaves of which turn brown or yellow in 
winter. 
HEDOES Of COMMON F10WERIN0 SHRUBS. 
We have plenty of beautiful ornamental 
shrubs which would make excellent hedges, 
provided they are not expected to turn un¬ 
ruly stock. But for a fence along the •wood 
side, or for planting by the side of drives and 
walks, we may use almost any of our com 
mon shrubs to good advantage. The double- 
flowering Deutzia (D. crenata pleno) is an 
excellent shrub for this purpose, requiring 
very little pruning, as it grows quite erect 
and forms a dense bush naturally. The Rose 
cf Sharon, Synuga, Privet and Weigelas are 
all adapted to this purpose, and may be 
propagated by cuttings almost as readily as 
willows. A single clump or two may be 
seen in thousands of farmers’ gardens, but 
nedges of the same appear to be seldom 
thought of, even by those who claim to ap¬ 
preciate their beauties. “A little more of 
ttie same sort” would be a great addition to 
toe surroundings of many homes in the 
country, and spring is the time to make a 
siart in this direction. 
the earliest flowering shrubs. 
May 4.—The first shrub to bloom this 
soring is the P»nk Mezeron (Daphne Mezeron), 
and it is to day full of fragrant flowers. It 
comes In bloom so e^rly in spring that the 
l owers are sometimes cut off by frosts ; still, 
when planted in a half-protected situation, 
the greater part of the buds will escape, for 
a slight freeze does them little or no injury. 
O ir wild Mayflower, or Shadbush ( Amelan- 
elder canadensis), follows the Daphne very 
closely, for its white buds are already droop¬ 
ing from the ends of the small twigs, and a 
day or two of warm sun will bring them into 
full bloom. The Golden Bells (Forxythias), 
from Japan, will also hang out their flowers 
in a few days, and Join in the general wel¬ 
coming of spring flowers. We have had thus 
far a cold, backward season, but it la better 
to be thus than to have the flowers pushed 
and then cut off by late frosts. The fruit 
buds look promising as well as abundant, 
showing tint long-continued cold weather is 
not so injurious as a vacillating tempera¬ 
ture, which givcB rise to hopes of an early 
spring ending in blighted crops. 
PIANTINO RASPBERRIES. 
I have been planting a/etc more new' rasp¬ 
berries to-day — not an uncommon thing for 
me to do in spring. I have already tested 
about two hundred different sorts, but the 
perfect raspberry for our Northern climate, 
has not yet been found. We have many 
good varieties but there is still room for Im¬ 
provement. The hardy sorts of the red 
raspberry' do not equal in size and firmness 
the tender European varieties, although we 
are gaining a little in that direction every 
year. Our fruit growers have only to keep 
steadily at work raising seedlings to obtain 
the desired qualities at some future day. 
There are quite a number possessing consid¬ 
erable merit among our native sorts, but no 
one as yet brought out has all the desirable 
qualities combined. 
The Heretine, which, at the time of its in¬ 
troduction, was supposed to bo “the coming 
raspberry,” has proved to bo no more hardy 
or better than many of tho older sorts, con¬ 
sequently nothing has been gained in its pro¬ 
duction. It is a good variety, but the same 
may be said of dozens of others, much older 
and better known. 
Among the half-hardy sorts raised from 
the foreign species I have seen nothing better 
than the Clarke, especially for home use, the 
berry being rather soft for sending to mar¬ 
ket. Twelve years’ culture only confirms the 
opinion which was formed at the time I first 
saw it in bearing. But I urn looking for a 
variety as large and excellent in quality and 
color as the Clarke, which shall withstand 
our coldest winters without protection. 
There are r. great number in the market for 
which even more is claimed, but unfortu¬ 
nately not upon very good authority, and it 
is only to be feared that when the market is 
supplied with plants their wonderful merits 
wall have departed. 
The Wilmington, Kirtland and Turner are 
the best of the pure native red varieties 
which I have fully tested, but a few newer 
sorts promis e well if not better than those 
named, But the Amazon is not one of them, 
because we have had enough of the old 
“ Belle de Fontenay ” under new' nanv'-e and 
at extravagant prices. This old, twioe bear¬ 
ing, French variety has been turning up 
under new names almost anuually for the 
past twenty years, and it Is about time it 
was “cremated” or gotten rid of in some 
way ; for it is a pest that seems hard to kill. 
|tytur<rfet. 
FARM PROFITS. 
THE USE OF FLIES, 
Some time ago you expressed a wish in the 
Rural New-Yorker to hear from your read¬ 
ers in regard to their profits or losses in 
farming. Below you will find the product 
sold from 100 acres of land, too rough to be 
worked scientifically, but what was done 
was well done and in season. The amount 
is of aotual sales. Wo have on hand for use 
of team, family and seed, 100 bush, oats, 
100bush, com on ear, 100 bush, potatoes, 1300 
lbs. pork and beef ; also, hay ;-nd rough fod¬ 
der for wintering 10 head of cattle. 
EgC*.20C * <}<>* .. 
Potatoes. 09b. ¥ bush.«s.66 
Rye. S'.c. V hush.1J2-18 
Poultry, 1 ID.......... ‘5.00 
Buckwheat, *J V hush.06.01 
Oats, 50c. hush. 
Total.. 
Expenses for help. 
Rent and taxes... • ^ ^ 
' Profits.*439-81 
An Old Subscriber. 
Greenwich, Wash. Co., N. Y. 
•-- 
Flour for Bees —A correspondent of the 
Massachusetts Ploughman says As bees 
will not bu able to gather natural pollen 
much earlier than the 20th of April, they 
should have flour supplied them. This can 
be done by putting about a pint in a box 
eight inches deep, and placing in some 
sheltered spot where the sun will shine 
directly into it. 
Mr- Emerson, chemist, West Hartlepool, 
lately set himself to discover if there were 
any ends accomplished by that one drawback 
to the lovely summer months, the oommon 
house fly. He communicates his experiments 
to a local paper, and has since forwarded an 
account of them to us. Having secured one 
and laid him on his back, and glued his 
vn'ngs to the object glass of a microscope, he 
observed that the little animal was covered 
—legs, body and wings—with an innumer¬ 
able quantity of lice. “ 1 was ro disgusted 
(Mr. Emerson proceeds) wit,., what I had 
considered a pretty fly that 1 loosed hia wing 
and let the lousy fellow go ; after his depart¬ 
ure, however, I remembered that I had not 
got the information 1 desired, viz., his use 
and habits, so I caught another and put him 
into the same position as the former one, 
and to my dismay, found him as lousy as 
the first. I thought this very singular, but I 
was determined to have a close inspection ; 
I got part of a wing into sight which was 
beautiful, until 1 caught a view of the head 
of one of the vermin coming along to invade 
my pleasure ground with his unsightly body ; 
I shifted my glass to have a peep at the 
body, when one of the l*gs of the fly cailie 
dangling into view, and on the tin i auks 
were some of my old enemies. What is 
that I see ? A miniature elephant’s trunk 
now comes in view and licks up a quantity 
from the leg. I move the glass to have a 
look at the fly’s head, to see how he appears 
in his confinement; w'hat a splendid large 
eye I He is busy with his proboscis or tongue 
goiug rapidly in all directions, and by the 
expression of his eye, looks as if he was quite 
satisfied, and enjoying his meal. 1 move the 
glass again to examine in's body, which is 
covered with the vermin, and ever now and 
anon there wits a switch of the tongue, lick- 
ing them off ; these must, be her progeny (I 
had up to Lliia time treated my captive in 
the masculine gender), eating the offspring. 
1 gave liberty to my object, and was more 
than ever out of love with iny fly. I went 
into the kitchca to watch their gambols 
around the gas bracket, and to admire their 
swiftness through the air, and wondered if 
they were happy, With their young hanging 
about them ; but I had not lost faith in their 
iiuiocency, and also in the harmlesaness of 
their alighting on my bread and butter. I 
observed a piece of clean note paper lying on 
the dresser : presently two flies lit on it, and 
appeared to be licking something off it; I 
laid hold of tho paper and took it to the 
microscope ; I put a corner on the glass and 
t here were, some of the progeny of the fly on 
it. This set me thinking. 1 took a cloth 
and rubbed the paper well, then tried it 
again and found none on it. I took it into 
the kitchen again and waved the paper 
around, taking care that no flies touched it, 
went back to the microscope, and there 
found animalcules, same as on the flies. I 
had now arrived at something definite ; they 
were not the progeny of the fly, but animal¬ 
cules floating in tho air, and the quick mo¬ 
tions of the flies gathered them on their 
bodies, and they then went Into some quiet 
corner to have their dainty meal. Further 
experiments convinced me that I had found 
the real use of the flies. I afterwards caught 
one in a bedroom ; it was one of Pharaoh’s 
lean kine, examined it, and there were no 
animalcules on it, neither could I get any in 
the room. I then tried the yard near to the 
kitchen, and found very few there; then 
went into the back street, where it was 
neither very sweet nor cleau—that morning 
the scavengers had been cleaning out the 
ash-pita—got plenty on my paper there. I 
arrived at the conclusion that instead of the 
flies being a pest and a nuisance, they are 
the friends of mankind, and should not be 
slaughtered wholesale, as they generally are; 
for wherever there are the most animalcules 
there will be found the most flies to feed on 
the same. These experiments were made in 
sultry weather. I always found my sport 
spoiled after heavy rain and strong winds, 
for then I could not bag much game ; and 
when frost set in, I found none. 1 may say 
that I have tried an endless variety of disin¬ 
fectants and purifiers to overcome these 
animalcules, and that I found nothing so 
effectual as burning sulphur on a dust-pan, 
and carrying it about the place.” 
Mr. Emerson adds that he Is now investi¬ 
gating the spider, and is trying to discover 
what is the use of him. If our correspon¬ 
dent should conclude that the main use of 
spiders is to catoh flies, that the use of flies is 
to catch iioe, he will be in duty bound to pro¬ 
ceed to the remaining problem respecting 
the purpose served by the last named tribe, 
Whatever this may be, Mr. Emerson certainly 
deserves credit for his patient and skillful In¬ 
vestigation, and for his interesting and, we 
believe, novel observations-— Chemist and 
Druggist, London. 
►-*-*- 
WHAT THE MOLE EATS. 
Your correspondent, E. S. Carman, after 
throwing out some correct hints about the 
mole, asks for more information bearing 
upon the subject. I have long believed that 
the food of the mole was not vegetable, but 
insect or animal food. I know they are 
generally charged with the depredations 
committed upon our vegetables, &c. 5 under 
ground ; they are justly charged with the 
tearing up of the ground aud injuring the 
roots of shrubbery, flowers, &c., but the 
eating of vegetable roots, &c., is no doubt 
the work of ground mice which travel in the 
underground roads made by the mole. I 
have frequently thrown out mice when 
digging sweet potatoes and found many of 
the potatoes half eaten by them, li ole roads 
and sometimes moles are also found, but no 
doubt their mission wa« to destroy the 
worms and not the potatoes. 
I have found nests of these mice in potato- 
hills with their half-grown young and the 
hills of potatoes adjacent eaten up except 
the skins. If any one wishes to induce the 
mole to eat poison, better put in the worm 
or bug ; yet a better plan would be to set a 
small steel trap properly placed in his road 
with as little disturbance as may be, or sink 
a small tin box or tin fruit can in his track 
with the top on a level with the bed of the 
road, and cover over the top to keep it dark. 
They will in their travels drop in and, as they 
are very poor climbers, may be secured. 
Chester Co., Pa. Thos. Wood. 
GARDEN HINTS FOR MAY. 
In the Gardener’s Monthly for May, 
Brother Meehan gives the following among 
other “ Seasonable Hints,” which will be in 
season among many of our pai'ishoners for 
some weeks : 
In the cultivation of garden crops, the hoe 
and rake should be continually at work. 
Weeds should be taken in hand before they 
are barely out of the seed leaf, and one-half 
the usual labor of vegetable gardening will 
be avoided. Hoeing or earthing up of most 
garden crops is of immense advantage in 
nearly every case. One would suppose that 
in our hot climate flat-culture would be much 
more beneficial ; but a fair trial, say on 
every other row of a bed of cabbages, will 
show a great difference in favor of the 
earthed-up plants. 
Cabbage, Cauliflower, and Brocoli, are now 
set out for fall crops, and Endive sown for 
winter salad, Lettuce also for summer and 
fall use. This, however, must be sown in 
very rich soil, and in a partially shaded 
situation, or it will go to seed. Peas, Beans 
and other crops, should be sowed every two 
weeks. They do much better than when a 
large crop is sown at one times aud then 
have too many on at one time Bo waste. 
Melons, cacumbers, corn, okra, squash, 
beans, sweet potatoes, lima beans, pepper, 
egg-plants, tomatoes and other tender vege¬ 
tables that do not do well till the sun gets 
high, and the ground warm, should go into 
the soil without delay. 
Bean poles should be set before the beans 
are planted ; and near cities where they are 
comparatively high priced, their ends should 
be charred. This will make them last some 
years. Many flud them last as long when 
gas tarred. Mr. PerrLam of Michigan, uses 
no poles, but cuts off the runners as they 
appear, and the plants bear abundantly as a 
bush. Tomatoes do well tied to poles. 
la sowing seeds it is well to remember 
that though the soil should be deep and fine¬ 
ly pulverized, a loose condition is unfavor¬ 
able to good growth. After the seeds are 
sown, a heavy rolling would be a great 
advantage. The farmer knows this, and we 
have often wondered that the practice never 
extended to garden work. 
--- 
Blackberries and Raspberries, set out 
in spring, may kill themselves by overbear¬ 
ing. It is pardonable to wish for seme fruit 
the fix st year. If a tree seems to be growirg 
freely, some fruit may be left. Cut out black- 
j knotj or any symptoms of disease that may 
appear, and as they appear. 
aJ> 
