1808 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
333 
delicately tinted that one is at loss for a name 
to describe the color; and the Long-flowered 
lily, L. longiflomm, low-growing,with long flow¬ 
ers of the purest white. All these are perfectly 
hardy. In making a collection do not forget 
our native species, so often entirely overlooked. 
—-«-^ ■ ■■■■■■ 
A Holland Mole Trap. 
A short time ago we noticed in the grounds 
of a horticultural friend a remarkably rustic 
mole trap. The gentleman’s gardener, “ Pete,” 
was formerly in the bulb gardens of Haarlem, 
and the contrivance in question was the same 
used there, and which adds essentially to the 
wages of the workmen on the bulb harms, as a 
bounty is paid for the destruction of moles. 
The'trap is made of rough sticks, which can be 
cut from any kind of brush, a string, and a few 
feet of fine wire. The illustration will show the 
manner of setting the trap. The mole run is 
trodden down to close it, and across it is placed 
the forked stick, B , about a foot long, which is 
held down by a hooked wooden peg (A), driven 
into the earth at each end. About two inches 
from this stick and parallel to it another one is 
similarly placed. Between the two is the trig¬ 
ger, (Z>), a stick placed between the two forks; 
one end of this has a notch cut in it, and passes 
under the crotch of a hooked peg. At the end 
of a spring-pole, only part of which is shown in 
the engraving, is fastened a string, to which is 
attached the little catch, C; both ends of this 
catch are wedge-shaped, and one end is placed 
in the notch in the trigger, while the other 
catches in a corresponding notch cut in the 
hooked peg. It will be seen that if the trigger 
is slightly lifted the catch will be loosened and 
the spring-pole fly up. Two pieces of wire, 
each with a loop in the lower end, are attached 
to the pole. These loops, which should be the 
size of the run, are so buried that the mole will 
pass through them. The earth is scooped out 
between the arms of the forked sticks, the 
loop placed in and covered with earth. If the 
mole comes in either direction, it springs the 
trap, and is caught and held fast by the wire 
loop. The trap is much less complicated than 
may seem from tire description, and can be 
made and set in less time than it takes to 
write out a description of it, and of how it works. 
Hogs in the Orchard. —At the July meet¬ 
ing of the Alton (Ill.) Horticultural Society, it 
was strongly advocated to put hogs in the or¬ 
chard. “Mr. Caugliliu said he turned about 25 
hogs into his peach-orchard last year, when the 
fruit was dropping; they ate up all that drop¬ 
ped. This year his peaches are very lair. Mr. 
Brown said he considered hogs a very great ad¬ 
vantage in the orchard; has one orchard that 
he could not fence for hogs, and the fruit in it 
is much more affected with insects than in the 
others where the hogs run. His hogs do well, 
and give him cheap pork. He intends to keep 
hogs in all his orchards. He recommended 
seeding orchards to clover.” 
--->—- 
Seeding Down Lawns in Autumn. 
The autumn is in some respects the most fa¬ 
vorable season for finishing a lawn. Lawn 
making really should take two seasons, one 
summer for grading, the autumn and spring fol¬ 
lowing for planting, the following summer for 
tillage; during which it may well be occupied 
b} r some properly summer 
crop which will leave the 
ground bare in August or 
early in September. If the 
manuring be liberal and the 
soil good, early sweet corn 
will be found a very profit¬ 
able crop near a market; 
corn sowed for green fodder 
will pay well anywhere. 
Oats may be sowed late after 
tree-planting time, and cut 
for fodder. The ground 
should be occupied by some 
crop, rather than by weeds; 
but regard for this crop 
should not prevent any desir¬ 
able spring planting being 
made, and if some summer 
grain be employed to cover 
the ground, the grass seed 
should not be sowed with it 
as is usually done, unless 
ample time may have been allowed for the fil¬ 
lings to settle, and to be regraded, and the surface 
soil to become homogeneous in character through 
tillage and weathering. Perhaps the best prac¬ 
tice on tolerably level and well-drained land is 
to keep it fallow during the second summer, 
plowing and harrowing it as often as a tinge of 
green shows itself, indicating a crop of weeds. 
The first of September, or at any rate a few 
days after, should see the land newly plowed, 
leveled off with a broad scraper, where dead 
furrows or undesirable depressions of any kind 
exist, and harrowed thoroughly. If two or 
three hundred weight of Peruvian guano be ap¬ 
plied and harrowed in, the effect will be satis¬ 
factory. Such land is in fit condition to receive 
the grass seed, and although it is almost uni¬ 
versal for farmers to seed down to grass with 
some small grain "crop, it by no means follows 
that this is the best way. 
Grass sowed on well prepared soil does best 
alone. The quantity of seed should be liberal, 
and, as a rule, only those kinds of seed should 
be mingled which harmonize well. The “ mixed 
lawn-grass” seed which is imported from Eng¬ 
land and sold by most seedsmen on account of 
its attractive name, and the idea that the great¬ 
er the mixture of varieties the closer will be the 
sod, is undesirable. Many of the kinds of grass 
will not flourish, and those which retain posses¬ 
sion of the soil do so after a struggle to oust the 
others. White clover is natural to most of our 
soils, so that it is rarely possible to keep a lawn 
clear of it. Still, as the beauty of a close shorn 
turf is impaired by spots of this plant, it is ordi¬ 
narily best to use a pound or two of the seed to 
the acre. There are certain commonly culti¬ 
vated grasses which are an abomination on a 
lawn; among them Timothy, Orchard grass, and 
Rye grass. Our closest pasture sods consist chief¬ 
ly of June or Blue grass, Red-top, Sweet Ver¬ 
nal grass, and White clover. We recommend, 
then, for seeding a lawn a mixture of June or 
Blue grass, and Red-top, in equal parts, a bush¬ 
el of each, White clover, as above stated, and 
a dash of Sweet Vernal grass, which, however, 
exists in abundance in most soils, throughout 
the Middle and Eastern States. This last is a 
pleasant addition, as it gives out a fragrance 
when drying, which is exceedingly grateful. 
On stiff soils which will be subjected to alter¬ 
nate freezing, thawing, and washing, it is well 
to sow a bushel of oats with the grass seed. 
Should the oats grow too rank, they can be cut, 
and they will, if not too thick, form an excellent 
protection to the young grass, and disappear in 
the spring. After sowing, roll the land evenly. 
-- — ■&!— - - -- . 
Cleaning up the Garden. 
We have noticed in the onion districts, that 
the best cultivators arc exceedingly careful in 
cleaning up the land, after the crop is matured. 
Hot only are all the weeds gathered that have 
escaped the hoe in the cultivation of the crop, 
but the whole ground is raked over and not a 
weed left to mature its seeds. They find it pays, 
in the labor it saves next year. It is partly on 
this account that onions are cultivated for years 
in succession upon the same land. It takes 
several years to get the weed and grass seeds 
out of the soil, and to give the crop the full 
benefit of the land. If the garden could have 
this thorough cleaning up, as fast as the crops 
are out of the way, it would make vegetables 
much cheaper. The peas are often out of the 
way in July, and the weeds have the ground 
the rest of the season. The potatoes and early 
cabbage are gone in August, and the weeds reign 
till frost comes. If you must have a crop to 
induce tillage, put in turnips. These will always 
pay where there is a pig or cow upon the 
premises. But with or without cultivated 
crops, keep every corner of the garden clean. 
Wilson’s Blackberry and the Small Fruits. 
Wilson’s Early Blackberry has been exhibited 
this season in great abundance, and of great 
size. One fruit grower assures the public that 
he has made it produce from 300 to 900 bushels 
per acre. At this rate of production, it will pay 
much better to grow blackberries than raspber¬ 
ries, which are thought to yield largely at 200 
bushels per acre. It would seem a fair infer¬ 
ence from the statement of cultivators, that 
blackberries will yield much more fruit to the 
acre than raspberries, and the price, judging 
from the retail market, is not much less. The 
truth is, with the single exception of strawber¬ 
ries, we have no adequate supply of the small 
fruits. Even whortleberries, that used to be 
dear at six cents a quart, are now retailed at 25 
cents, and currants, that might be grown so 
easily, are still dearer. Fuller’s Small Fruit 
Culturist ought to be sent on a mission to all 
the suburbs of our cities. We want to suggest 
to our Agricultural and Horticultural Societies 
the distribution of this work in special premi¬ 
ums at the fall fairs. It will do a good work. 
Published by O. Judd & Co. Price, $1.50. 
HOLLAND MOLE TRAP. 
