THE BUBAL WEW-YORKER. 
MAY \% 
THE SEEDSMAN. 
How doth the busy nurseryman 
Improve each shlnlns hour, 
And peddle clone, sprouts, itnd seeds 
Of every shrub and flower, 
How busily lie ways his chin. 
How neat he spreads Ids store, 
And sells us things that never grew, 
And won’t grow any more. 
Who showed the little man the way 
To sell the women seed ? 
Who taught him how to blow and lie, 
And coax and beg and plead ? 
He taught himself, the nurseryman, 
And when his day Is done. 
We’ll plant him where the lank, rank weeds 
Will flutter in the sun. 
Cut, oh ! although we plant him deep 
Beneath the buttercup, 
He’s so much like the seed he sells, 
He never will come up. 
I Burlington Hawkcyc. 
NOTES ON F1UJIT.-N0. 1. 
I am beginning-to smack my lips in anticipa¬ 
tion of those Charles Downing, Triunipho <ie 
Gand, Monarchs of the West and Kentucky 
strawberries, grown on our own grounds and 
petted like favorite babies. The man w ho makes 
two strawberries grow where only one grew 
before, places himself in opposition to all tlio 
doctors and grave-diggers; l'or if this fruit was 
within the reach of all classes of the community, 
neither would bo so profitably employed. 
The above list of strawberries is probably as 
good as could bo named for general culture, 
after adding the old and honored Wilson’s 
Albany. The Monarch is the most promising 
new berry. It was reported at the last meet¬ 
ing of the Western N. Y. Hnrticnral Society, 
that the display of this variety at the Centennial 
Exhibition was remarkable, and members who 
had tested it, mentioned it with favor; yet it is 
not wise to set aside long-tried varieties for 
these newer candidates, which are often puffed 
beyond recognition. 
This has been a remarkable season here for 
planting—almost a month earlier than last; but 
no matter how early the season, the usual burry 
occurs, and the preparation or ground is liable 
to be slighted, It is of great importance to sot 
out plants early, and one will pay dearly for any 
neglect at this season. Thu ground should ho 
heavily manured, deeply plowed, and thoroughly 
harrowed and pulverized, if the plot has been 
kept clear of weeds the previous season, milch 
labor will be saved. When the soil is fitted, 1 
roll with a light field roller, thus aiding in mark¬ 
ing and planting, besides pulverizing many 
lumps. The roller should havo light cleats 
tacked the whole length, and set the proper 
distance apart to mark where each plant will 
stand in tbo row, say one foot, or eighteen 
inches, where plants are scarce. For the field, a 
horse marker, similar to that used for corn, is 
often used, but a line is to be preferred, as 
straight rows make less -work with the hoe. 
There is no more labor demanded on a plot 
deeply plowed, well manured and planted with 
choice varieties, than on a plot deficient in these 
respects. 
A drag-toothed cultivator is quite useful in 
working berries of all kinds, and can bo made by 
any one. Nothing will completely take its place 
in leveling the ground and making it fine with¬ 
out disturbing the plants. 
I planted a largo plot of strawberries last fall 
quite late, and I cannot see that one has diod. 
The plants w ill make a better growth than those 
set out Ibis spring; but the weeds will also 
make a better and earlier start, and the soil, 
having become hardened by settling in spring, 
must be loosened at some expense. On the 
whole, lull planting cannot be advised except 
for small plots lor family use. For most varie¬ 
ties we sot the rows three feet apart, and by 
running the cultivator the same way each time, 
close to the plants, permit only a few runners 
to take root, making a narrow but quite thick 
row. Other systems havo their advantages, and 
every grower has his fancy in respect to them. 
The Trioruphe do Gaud and some other varieties 
succeed much better by the hill system. 
A friend recently asked if we had the bearing 
kind of Wilson strawberry. He explained him¬ 
self by adding that he and his neighbors had set 
out the Wilson and it did not hear at all, and 
they concluded that the plants were all male or 
female. Now, no one ever saw a Wilson that 
would not boar. It often goes to such extremes 
in this respect as to die in the attempt to out-do 
all rivals. No ; my friend has not been hoeing 
the genuine Wilson or it would have treated him 
more generously, it being hermaphrodite -both 
I stamens and pistils present in the same flower— 
whereas his plants are undoubtedly imperfect 
blossoms or pistillates. which would bear were 
_D 
a few 7 genuine Wilson’s planted near or among 
them. 
While strawberries are so easily raised, is it 
not strange that not one in a hundred owners of 
lots or farms grows enough for his own use ? 
People invariably deem it a difficult enterprise 
in which few, and those of peculiar gcniuB, can 
succeed. Farmers have little opportunity to 
buy this fruit, and thus havo to dispense with 
this great health-giving luxury. No class need 
more or better fruit than farmers on account of 
their using so much salt meat, and the prevalence 
of a hill of fare limited in variety, though choice 
in substance; and yet no class of people enjoy 
so little. If fanners would have their boys con¬ 
tented on tho homestead, lot them he encouraged 
in growing an abundance of our hardy native 
fruits. Guam. A. Green. 
Clifton, N. Y. 
TREES FOR USE AND ORNAMENT. 
It is far too common a practice for those w'lio 
want a few or many trees about then 7 grounds 
to select those most easily and cheaply obtained, 
without taking into consideration their useful 
ness iu the future. A cotton-wood or Lombardy 
poplar may grow rapidly and give shade and 
make a good show in much less time than a 
hickory or maple, but what are t hey good for be¬ 
sides the shade and show 7 ? Of course, if cut 
dow n and tho wood well seasoned, it will burn, 
and if a man had enough of it he might keep 
himself and family warm and perhaps keep the 
pot a-boiling with such fuel, but it is a poor sub¬ 
stitute for a much better article of wood which 
might bo produced upon the same laud with 
really no greater outlay of money or labor. Now 
if a man plants sugar maples ho has something 
which is growing better aud more valuable for 
tho next hundred years, and can look forward to 
a time when ho or his children can tap the trees 
and make a few pounds of sugar annually from 
each. If a tree has to bo cut down because 
it crowds its neighbor, it will make excellent 
firewood and, if the stein is largo enough, good 
timber for various purposes. By planting shell- 
lmrk hickories he can ho assured of having the 
toughest of timber at hand w hen wanted, and 
the time will soon come when a few bushels of 
the nuts can be enjoyed at homo, or sold in mar¬ 
ket for cash. 
Black-Walnut is another tree which may be 
considered both useful and ornamental, and al¬ 
though one may have to wait a good many years 
before they have grown large enough to be of 
value for cutting up into lumber, btill the owner 
can have the satisfaction of knowing that every 
year they are coming nearer that point, whether 
they reach it in his day or not. 
Then there at e various species of oaks, which 
soou reach a size at which they can be made 
useful both for firewood aud timber for different 
kinds of farm implements. Even the common 
basswood or linden, although not very valuable 
for timber, 1 h a handsome tree and worth growing 
for the honey it yields, wherever bees are kept 
as a source of profit. 
Every person who is thinking of planting trees 
this spring should take a long look ahead, aud 
plant those kinds which are best for use as well 
as ornament. AH who do this may have occasion 
to thank us for tho suggestion at some future 
day, if not at the present time. 
A WOMAN’S ACRE. 
BY MRS. ANNIE L. JACK. 
No. TO. 
ROSES AHD STRAWBERRIES. 
It would seem as if, in the bonnie month of 
June, Nature puts forth all her skill, and, by one 
supreme effort, gives us, at one time, the choic¬ 
est perfumes of Dower and fruit. So associated 
are they in my mind, that the one hardly seems 
seems perfect without tho other, and my saucer 
of strawberries would be incomplete without a 
summer rose: but for a perfection of aroma give 
me, if you please, a sprinkling of the wild wood 
berry among my cultivated fruit. In growing 
tho latter for market we have, long ago, over¬ 
stepped the land contained in my ”aero," but 
the ridge of ground I planted in this favorite 
market berry has proved as profitable as any 
other. 
The soil selected w 7 as on the slope of the bil l, 
where celery had left olean culture, aud the land 
was unusually rich in manure. The rows being 
three feet apart, allowed room fora cultivator to 
pass between them—and I may say here, that 
nothing I have ever grown produces snob a heal¬ 
thy crop of weeds, so provokingly strong, and 
always ready to give extra trouble. Experience 
has proved to us that it is not safe to weed 
much after the plants are in bloom, and it is 
also a fact that the berries thrive among the 
weeds better than anything else I have tried, for 
profit. But oh ! I pity you, reader, if you leave 
them till the luscious fruit is all harvested, for 
then come the " tug of war,” and seeds enough 
of the pernicious enemies to pollute many acres. 
There is no doubt many of these weeds are de¬ 
posited in the manure or strawy 7 litter used for 
protection, and in order to obviate this as much 
aB possible we, of late years, give the children a 
day or two of pienicing in the woods, where they 
gather forest leaves that are brought down to 
the garden and spread over the strawberry beds, 
while a few branches—tbo pruning of apple trees 
— serve to keep them from being carried off by 
the wind, and In the spring being raked between 
the rows, the leaves form a natural mulch aud 
manure of Home value. 
When my "Seth Boy dons” and "Wilsons" 
first came into bearing, I was surprised to find 
myself quite popular in the eyes of the many 
visitors who came to admire my roses ; and at 
lust one venturesome damsel — my husband’s 
niece—expressed the wish of the others in the 
modest request, “ Won't you give us a straw¬ 
berry festival ’( It would be splenrlid!" Not 
being so hard-hearted as President IIayes, I 
could not refuse my husband’B relations, and 
sent out invitations for the last night in June— 
which came upon a Saturday,—stipulating, as 
my one romantic notion, that tho ladies should 
all dress in white. Need I state that my Invita¬ 
tions were accepted, or that 1 offered the first 
fruits of my strawberry-bod a willing sacrifice at 
tho shrine of hospitality ? 
The roses of Hillside bloomed their fairest and 
brightest, and one table was devoted to nothing 
but their fragrant loveliness; the pyramids of 
luHclouB berries, all overshadowed by the avenue 
of elms and maples, that are planted in a double 
row across the garden. Of that gay festival no 
profit remains, unless it bo in tho lesson taught 
mo in subsequent years, when strawberries wore 
a failure from winter-killing, and I found out 
that my roses lacked eorno of their annual ad¬ 
mirers. 
Shall I inflict on my readers the after-piece 
which found its way into print, that pleasant 
summer? It was simply this snatch of rhyme, 
all that is left of my sacrifice : 
Rosas and strawberries, ripe, rare ripe! 
Roses of uriuiHoU and white and pink, 
Boses of beauty in bud and blossom, 
Roses tor bloom unmatched, I think. 
Strawberries fragrant with rich aroma ! 
Strawberries pink and crimson and white. 
Strawberries never seemed half so tempting 
Till seen in the gloaming of Sat urday night. 
Roses and Strawberries. 
Girls iu the glory of maidenly beauty! 
Girls with tho graceful, the queenly air, 
Girls on (lie threshold of love’s emotion. 
Girls the witty, the sweet, the lair. 
Never a night of snob rare, ripe sweetness. 
Never a dream of such heart’s delight. 
Never had seemed mi eh a fairy enchantment 
As this in the gloaming of Saturday night. 
Hoses aud Strawberries. 
Bights ’moug the trees, where the bright lamps are 
swinging 7 . 
Bights from the fireflies that gleam on a flower. 
Bights ’mill the shadows where white robes are flit¬ 
ting, 
Bights from the moon beans, tiiat, shine on the bower. 
Love whispered softly, and tones were the truest, 
Bove told the story no darkness <•<>111(1 blight. 
Love sang its songs sweetest, bore ’mid tho roses. 
Pure, in the joy Of that Saturday night. 
Boses and Strawberries. 
Although 1 have remarked that the strawberry 
is the favorite market fruit, 1 do not think it the 
most profitable or easiest of cultivation. The 
difliculty of keeping the ground clean is much 
greater than with many other fruits, while the 
fact that, in this climate, they are often killed 
when frost meets frost, in March and April, is a 
drawback to extended culture. Nearness to mar¬ 
ket is of great importance, and we find, when 
sending them to commission merchants, that 
our berries bring three or four cents a box more 
than those that have been brought long dis¬ 
tances, simply on the score ol freshness; and 
wo have proved that tbo profit of an acre of 
strawberries averages Ad00 iu a favorublo season. 
It is an occupation that is not heavy or labori¬ 
ous for children, but it requires some discrimina¬ 
tion in assorting; as w 7 e prefer to keep the small 
berries separate, and sell them at a lower figure, 
rather than permit any unequal rnixiug, in the 
boxes. 
Each picker carries a basket in which are 
spread out eight or ten boxes, one of which is 
always kept for the inferior fruit, and although 
we eanuut persuade our workers to pick at so 
much a basket, it answers very well to pay them 
all they ask, which is forty to fifty oents per day, 
without board, and, as we work with them, their 
laudable pride prevents them from falling be¬ 
hind the example set. Our cases hold fifty-four 
of the quart boxes, aud are branded with full 
name and address, and the huckster who gave 
mo my first lesson in sorting is well pleased now 
if she can secure some of our fruit, sending to 
tho boat for it, and returning the empty cases 
promptly. 
And to every farmer’s wife in the land I would 
say, " Whether you grow thorn for market or 
not, let there be a strawberry plot for home ubo, 
—a cheap and wholesome dainty dish, for your 
family and friends,—and, once established, you 
will fed as I do—that June would lack its per¬ 
fection without ltoses and Strawberries. 
MY HOUSE PLANTS. 
I was very young when I first began to keep 
plants, and though my collection was small, in 
my ignorance I supposed I had nearly all the 
varieties in existence. Then one did not have 
as many helps as now, and 1 remember well how 
much 1 enjoyed the Floricultural Department in 
the Rub ab, and the weekly letters of “Daily 
Rural Life"—may his shadownever grow less! 
Now that I have usually over one hundred 
varieties, 1 feel disposed to tell some of the 
things I have learned by experience. I do not 
expect to help those who havo greenhouses and 
all the modern appliances which wealth can give, 
but I may aid those who, like myself, have noth¬ 
ing hut a farm-house and the common conve¬ 
niences for keeping plants. Thjs a great many 
ruraliats think an objection to cultivating flow¬ 
ers at all, as they dislike to be bothered with 
them. 
Plants, I find, are like people—hardly any two 
are alike; and if one would be successful, he 
mnst study their habits, since what may agree 
perfectly with one may bo very injurious to an¬ 
other. In the first place, the kind of soil is very 
essential, and I think preparing it according to 
the directions usually given in books, is a good 
deal like fanning by rule—tliose who make tbo 
rules often know the least about it. 
Zonale Geraniums, if I want them to bloom, I 
keep in small jars, and take soil for them from 
under the fence, shaving off tho top, mixing in 
the small fibers dug up, and a little sand out of 
the middle of the road. Change the soil in 
spring and fall, and if you put them out in the 
ground in summer, start, slips tu blossom in the 
spring. I use the same kind of soil for Pelargo¬ 
niums, and I think the whole secret of success 
•with them lies in the use of small jars. After 
they are done blossoming, cut back aud change 
the soil. Fusohias grow best in tho dark soil 
from the woods, mixed with a little sand, and 
they require larger jars. All plants, grown for 
foliage, need rich soil and ample room; while 
those grown for blossoms want poor usage. 
You need not be afraid of cramping their feet; 
it will only make their heads develop bettor. 
For Rose Geraniums, Finks. Abutilons, etc., I 
sometimes take part garden soil and part leaf- 
mold ; but for ordinary purposes, that from the 
corner of the fence is best. I never bake my 
soil; Nature never does. If any little worms 
appear, put on some lime, and they will leave. 
If tbo green fly affectB your plants, place them 
under a box, and put some tobacco on a tew 
coals aud set these under the box, and let them 
smoke a little while; then shower with warm 
water, aud the pests will die an easy death. 
Never water plants except when they are dry, 
aud then water them thoroughly. I used to kill 
more plants with water than iu any other way 
until experience taught me to keep them cool in 
winter. Our ordinary rooms are too warm and 
dry. Plants do better kept by themselves in a 
room opening out of a sitting-room iu which 
there is a stove, aud then keep it cool. Oalla 
Lillies will hear coal heat, but most plants do 
not thrive as w 7 ell with it as without it. Show¬ 
ering them is great help; they like to be kept 
clean. Pick off dead leaves. Sometimes one 
plant will need more water than another, just as 
one person eats and drinks more than another. 
There are a great many little things they like, 
such as stirring the soil, and watching when 
their clothes get too small for them, which one 
will soon learn if only he loves them. You must 
be interested iu anything you undertake if you 
would be successful in it, and this rule holds 
good if wo would make our homes beautiful 
with flowers. Amebia. 
Cayuga, N. Y. 
jlrimtifir anti (Useful. 
THE USE OF THE DIAMOND. 
The Boston Courier, in speaking of the use of 
the diamond, says: 
The services of the diamond as an ornameut, 
are so conspicuous that few people ever think of 
it as tin article of usefulness. With the one well 
known exception of the glazier, no tradesman or 
mechanic is supposed to put it to any practical 
purpose, or to estimate it by any other standard 
than that of beauty aud rarity. A scientific gen¬ 
tleman, well acquainted with mining operations, 
points out a very important use which is made 
of the diamond in sinking shafts and piercing 
rocks. Experience has shown that the employ¬ 
ment of an instrument so costly is amply justi¬ 
fied by the saving in time effected by substituting 
it for a cheaper and blunter weapon, aud the 
consequence is that in a great many mines and 
tunnels it is already used for boring the hardest 
rocks. The invention is by no means new, but 
few people know the exact nature of the modus 
operandi or its extreme simplicity. A cylindrical 
tube of steel is fitted at one of its ends with a 
number of stones set at regular intervals round 
