1850. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
141 
MARKET APPLES. 
Do you think the Tewksbury Blush would be 
profitable planted largely for shipping? What is 
the quality of the Northern Spy as compared with 
Rawle’s Jannet? The latter is a general favorite 
here. 5 ’ H. A. Burlington , Iowa. 
The Tewksbury Blush is valuable for being a very 
productive apple, and a long keeper—but it is not 
of the highest quality, and is too small to become 
extensively popular. It is hard as yet to compare 
the Northern Spy with Rawle’s Jannet. The Jan- 
net has been but little proved side by side with the 
Spy, the former having scarcely ever fruited in New- 
York, (where the seasons are probably too short for 
it,) and the latter having never fruited at the west. 
It is absolutely essential to test every thing of the 
sort by actual trial. The Spy comes slowly into 
bearing, which is the chief reason its adaptation to 
Western New-York has not been ascertained. It is 
a more showy apple than the Jannet. 
DISTANCE OF PEACH TREES. 
,l Will peach trees set ten feet apart, do as well 
as at twelve feet?” A. P. 
Peach trees which are not shortened-in, require a 
distance of twenty feet; but by keeping the heads 
compact, they will not interfere with each other at 
twelve feet distance. Ten feet would be rather too 
close planting. By planting near, we get a great¬ 
er number of trees to an acre, and consequently a 
larger crop of peaches from an acre. A distance 
of 12 feet will allow three hundred trees per acre; 
twenty feet only a little more than one hundred. 
The ground should be well cultivated in any case, 
and the nearer distance thus becomes the more eco¬ 
nomical. The more numerous the trees, however, 
the more rapidly the soil is exhausted. Hence, hea¬ 
vier manuring becomes requisite. 
The objection that the trees are kept too small 
by shortening-in the heads, is not valid, because the 
large unpruned heads only bear fruit at the ends of 
the branches. 
Productive Strawberries. 
A correspondent of the Michigan Farmer , who 
has raised 30 bushels of strawberries on one-third 
of an acre, has been most successful with Large 
Early Scarlet, Hovey’s Seedling, Boston Pine, and 
Hudson’s Bay. The Large Early Scarlet produces 
double the fruitlof any other sort, continuing a month. 
Hovey’s Seedling yields a fair crop, and much larg¬ 
er fruit than any other, having obtained single spe¬ 
cimens measuring 4| inches in circumference. 
The land is trenched 18 inches or 2 feet deep, and 
enriched with a mixture of well-rotted manure and 
mould from the woods—-the rows are 2 feet apart, 
and every third year, the runners are allowed to oc¬ 
cupy the ground between them, and the old rows 
are spaded in. 
Large Crop of Water Melons. 
Late in May I turned over a piece of green 
sward that had been in grass for mowing until it 
was run out. On the 30th of May, 1849, I planted 
upon a portion of it one hundred hills of water me¬ 
lons, without any manure, the surface having been 
slightly mellowed by the harrow. They grew very 
slowly during the six weeks drouth that occurred 
between June 28th and August 9th, during which 
they were hoed three times, watered frequently with 
fresh water, and twice with soap suds. After the 
August rains, they grew with great rapidity. I 
gathered in September, (beginning on the 7th, fif¬ 
teen weeks from planting,) six hundred and fifteen 
melons, besides which, numbers that were rotten or 
very small, were not counted. About one-fifth of 
the whole crop were decayed at the heart, a con¬ 
sequence, I suppose, of sudden chills, a liability 
which is the main cause of disease in all the tropic¬ 
al plants which we cultivate. The quality of these 
melons was very fine, but the sale was bad, partly 
from the lateness of the crop, and partly from the 
lingering fear of the cholera. They were mostly 
from about eight to sixteen pounds weight, though 
many were heavier. Another plat of water melons, 
forwarded in hot beds, and set in richer soil, were 
much larger and earlier, but not better than these. 
The varieties I cultivated were—the Black Span¬ 
ish, the Carolina Green , the White Cored , and Im¬ 
perial. 
A long hot season is indispensible for water me¬ 
lons, especially if raised in open culture. This we 
had this year. The other main favorable circum¬ 
stance was the fresh green sward. 
Test of the Ripeness of a Water Melon.— 
A water melon that has just attained its full growth 
is solid, and heavier than the same melon when fit 
for the table. Its subsequent maturity consists first 
in a chemical change of its juices to a luscious 
sweetness, and secondly in a mechanical change, i. 
e., a drying out of the centre so that the melon be¬ 
comes hollow. This last change does not take place 
when the fruit is picked prematurely, or when it ri¬ 
pens late. 
We are now prepared to understand the test of 
maturity. If the melon be moderately pressed be¬ 
tween the hands, or better between the hands and 
knees, it will, if ripe, yield a slight cracking sensa¬ 
tion, both to the feeling and the ear. This is in 
consequence of the yielding of the hollow sides to 
the pressure. Although an experienced eye can 
judge, with some degree of correctness, of the con¬ 
dition of a water melon, I know of no certain test 
but the foregoing. C. E. G. Utica. 
Early Vegetables. 
Hardy vegetables may be planted as early in 
April as the ground will answer to work. Radish¬ 
es, lettuce, cabbages, turneps, potatoes, peas, &c., 
for early use, may be planted on warm soils almost 
as soon as the frost is out. If very severe cold oc¬ 
curs after the plants are up, some straw or hemlock 
boughs maybe spread over them, which will be a 
sufficient protection, and may be readily removed 
when no longer wanted. 
The best early varieties of peas are the Prince Al¬ 
bert, Early Kent, Early June (or Washington,) and 
the Cedo Nulli. The latter is a dwarf variety, requir¬ 
ing but little space, is prolific, and comes to matu¬ 
rity in about as short a time as the Prince Albert. 
The Early Kent is very popular in this neighborhood, 
where it has been raised for a few seasons. A good 
mode of raising early peas was descrihed in our last 
volume, page 93. 
A good mode of raising early potatoes is to sprout 
the tubers in warm horse-dung. They may be pla¬ 
ced in layers with the manure, either on the ground 
or in a box or crate. If the potatoes, when pack¬ 
ed for sprouting, are laid on small pieces of tough 
sods, the grass side downwards, they may be plant¬ 
ed with the sods, without breaking the sprouts or 
roots, which will greatly facilitate their growth. 
They should not be started too much before plant¬ 
ing, as it is difficult to prevent the sprouts from be¬ 
ing bruised or injured, if they are much more than 
I an inch long. If planted very early, they should be 
