1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
279 
scarcely a single shower during this whole period, that 
they nearly all have commenced re-growing, and the 
leaves have regained the usual green color. 
Planting Strawberries. 
As a general rule, the spring of the year has been 
found much the best season for planting out beds of 
the strawberry. But it often becomes necessary to per¬ 
form the operation during summer, or early in autumn. 
If, at this season, the weather should prove quite dry, 
a regular and abundant watering for several days does 
not always prevent the loss of a considerable portion of 
the plants. To obviate this difficulty, the writer has 
adopted the following very simple treatment, which has 
been quite successful even at midsummer, and in the 
midst of the recent extraordinary drouth. Nearly all 
the leaves are pinched off from the plants, except the 
central and half developed ones; the roots are dipped 
in a vessel of soft mud, giving them a thick coating; 
when set out, the earth is w^ll settled about them by 
means of a copious watering; and then about two inches 
of rotted manure spread upon the surface. This will 
keep the soil sufficiently moist with one daily watering, 
if the weather be very dry, and much less frequently if 
it be moist. 
Rawle’s Jannett. 
Having noticed a great many communications recent¬ 
ly, about the Rawle’s Jannett apple, I will mention a 
fact that may be of benefit to the growers of that su¬ 
perior fruit. A friend who has a large orchard of this 
apple, has ten trees upon one corner of the orchard 
which always produce fruit a third larger, and the fla¬ 
vor so much superior, that it was supposed by all who 
saw and ate the apple, that they were a superior varie¬ 
ty of the Jannett. This spring I examined the soil, 
and found that a vein of iron ore passed just under the 
ten trees, so near the surface that it had been plowed 
and worked up with the top soil. A variety of the 
large Blue plum growing upon the same ground, is also 
very fine; while grafts taken from the same plum trees 
and worked upon stocks grown on different soil, proves 
worthless. H. R. Robey. Hopewell Nurseries, near 
Fredericksburg , Va. 
Aphides and Ants. 
Eds. Cultivator —Having transplanted during.the 
past winter, an orchard of the most select varieties of 
fruit trees, I discover that at the present time they are 
infested by thousands of small red and black ants. Al¬ 
ready they have completely destroyed an ornamental 
yard tree, (the Magnolia glauca,) whether by their 
own depredations, or that of the aphides conveyed thi¬ 
ther by them, I am at a loss to determine. Fearing 
that the same effect will be produced on the trees above 
noticed, and having tried all the remedies mentioned in 
various vols. of The Cultivator, as well as those ob¬ 
tained from acquaintances, without success; such as the 
application of lime and ashes to the roots, soot to the 
leaves, and tar around the trunks, I would respectfully 
request that you, or any of your numerous contributors 
who may be in possession of a remedy for this evil, will 
make it public. 
I find that while the apple, pear and plum are com¬ 
paratively free from ants, the cherry, apricot, nectarine 
and peach, (particularly the last) are peculiarly liable 
to their attacks. Thomas C. Hines. Nansemond, 
Va., June 24, 1849. 
We are not aware that fruit trees are injured by ants, 
neither have we known ants to convey aphides to trees. 
The sweet substance called “ honey-dew,” exuded by 
aphides, is eaten by ants; and to obtain this, they fre¬ 
quent those parts of plants where the aphides are lod¬ 
ged. To destroy aphides, syringe the trees or plants 
with tobacco-water, or strong soap-suds.— Eds. 
Horticultural Items. 
Strawberry Culture. —The Farmer Mechanic 
gives the result of the experiments of C. H. Starr, of 
Groton, Ct., on half an acre of moist loam, manured 
10 cords with equal parts of sea weed and fish manure. 
Plants of Hovey’s Seedling, fertilized with staminates, 
in rows three feet apart, and 18 inches in the drill, set 
in the spring, yielded the second year 2000 quarts, 
some of the berries being 4^ inches in circumference. 
The expenses were, 10 cords manure, 20 dollars; 5000 
plants, 10 dollars; labor the first year, 50 dollars; tba 
three succeeding years, 80 dollars each; total for four 
years, 320 dollars. The profits would be 25 bushels 
of beets between the rows the first year, 10 dollars; 
6,000 quarts strawberries the three succeeding years, 
at 12 cts., 720 dollars. Nett profit on half an acre for. 
four years, 410 dollars, or 102 dollars per year. Th® 
experiment, however, appears to have extended to th® 
first year of fruiting only, and the expenses might, 
doubtless, have been much lessened by horse cultivation. 
Influence of Manure on Roots. —Hoare, in his 
Treatise on the Vine, states that a bone was placed in 
a vine border, surrounded by dry clay. The vine sent 
a root directly through the clay to the bone. In its pas¬ 
sage it threw out no fibres, but when it reached the bone, 
which -was rich in fertilizing material, it sent out minufc® 
ramifications, and by degrees entirely covered it. 
Hardiness of Sweet Apple Trees. —In Wisconsin, 
where the thermometer not unfrequently sinks to 15° or 
20° below zero, and where the fertility of the soil in¬ 
duces a very rapid growth in summer, the tenderer 
fruit trees are often severely injured in winter. A cor¬ 
respondent of the Prairie Farmer states that sweet ap¬ 
ples are, for the most part, more hardy than acid ones, 
and better adapted to very severe climates. Out of 
one hundred and fifty varieties, twenty-two were sweet 
apples; of the latter, eleven proved themselves mor® 
hardy than any other eleven in the whole list, and only 
three of the sweet apples appeared to be tender. 
Diffusion of Seeds. —In boring for water at a spot 
near Kingston-on-Thames, some earth was brought up 
from a depth of three hundred and sixty feet. This 
■was carefully covered with a hand-glass, to prevent th® 
possibility of any seeds being deposited on it, yet in a 
short time plants vegetated from it. 
THE DEPARTED. 
BY SIDNEY DYER. 
How sad to return to the home where, light hearted, 
We mingled in pleasures of friendship each year, 
And find from its halls those stars have departed 
Who once were the light and the life of its sphere. 
Their forms only granted awhile as a token 
Of love from their Maker, are doomed to decay ; 
Like cloud-wreaths at ev’ning which rude winds have broken, 
Their Vision-like beauty soon faded away. 
We hung on their lips as they gave their last greeting, 
And bade them adieu with a tear-mo,stened eye ; 
And sorrowed to think it would be our last meeting 
’Till we pass to their own starry home in the sky. 
Tho’ we hear not their songs, and beneath their light fingers 
The chords of the harp may ne’er thrill to their strain. 
Yet deep in the memory a melody lingers, 
And in its sweet echoes we hear them again! 
Farewell, dearest friends ! ye have left us benighted, 
Alone in the world our sad loss to deplore, 
And think on the days when we lingered delighted, 
To hear those loved voices that greet us no more ! 
Yet why should we mourn them though parted in sorrow, 
Or at the just judgments of heaven complain? 
But wait for the dawning of that promised morrow— 
In bliss we shall meet them to part ne’er again! 
Louisville Journal. 
