A LAITDSOAPE HOTUEE. 
the CATSKILLS. 
Dr. WilUam Adams, in his heautiful home 
on Orange Mountain, had a pleasant way o 
® ... . . 1 _of. o. won- 
inviting his visitors to take a look at a won 
derful picture which he had, by the greatest 
of artists. Then he would throw aside the 
curtains of his large front window, which he 
had framed after the manner of a paintmg, 
and reveal to them the extensive, diversified, 
picturesque, and inspiring scene. 
I, too, am so happy as to possess one of 
the first works of that same incomparable 
artist, “who alone hath immortality,” says 
the venerable Dr. F. N. Zabriskie, in the 
Christian InteTiigencor. It is the view, not 
from, but of, a mountain, or rather of that 
long and lovely mountain range known as 
the Catskills. 
Immediately in front of my window are 
two tall and vigorous Maples, through whose 
leafy curtains I have to keep cutting tunnels 
of sight. They act in summer as fronded 
frames and as concentrating mirrors for 
oirAN GAHDEN 
the 
level, take a small ““f^^e^otsTy drawing 
inches apart, and op ^ in 
it across the bed. jjjg marker so 
the rows; then, ^ ^ay between 
that the teeth ivUl p the 
the rows, and drawing ^ 
seed will be nicely co , covered 
Tree seeds, as a ru , 
very w to all small seeds 
from view. TWs wdl api y ^ ^ 
i»g. »» uto 
to be too diy at gpriulder than 
pains to keep it mois 
“ rf^ •” 
never reach the flm 
which a shoot can push upward tin g 
soil before its vitality is exhausted vanes, 
"suaS; according to the size of the seeds; 
but in all cases it is very limited excepting 
the Walnuts, Oaks, and a few other kinds, 
which grow strong tap-roots. . , * 
The time for sowing most varieties is late 
fall or early spring—either, according o 
convenience. Those seeds which are liable 
to be iujm-ed by di-ying can be kept fresh 
through the winter by mixing them with 
sand and placing them in the cellar, or they 
can bo boxed up and buried in the gi’ouiid. 
Some varieties, not affected by frost, can be 
left on the surface of the ground, and cov- 
my pictures. In the nutumn they are gilded 
and crimsoned and purpled as Titian himself ' ered with a litter of leaves or straw. 
could not have done them, had he turned 
frame-maker. In the winter their springing 
and pointed arches and interlacing boughs, 
especially when outlined against the sunset, 
give my mountains the setting of a Gothic 
window. 
Thence the eye wanders down through 
garden and orchard and grain-fields, and 
across the broad idyllic meadows that every¬ 
where border the winding Rolokoke Creek, 
till it comes to Beecraft Mountain — which 
is a frog, but knows enough not to inflate 
itself into rivalry with the mighty Catskills. 
So it quietly lies down at their feet like a 
All the seeds of coniferous varieties are 
greatly benefited by soaking in warm water 
for four or five days previous to soNving, 
changing the water daily to prevent soiu’ing 
or fermentation. After having been soaked, 
as above recommended, to facdlitate sowing, 
they may be rubbed in dry sand to remove 
the surface moisture, and the sand sifted out 
with a fine sieve. The seed-bed should be 
gone over several times during the summer, 
and all weeds and grass carefully removed. 
Many varieties of tree seeds do not ger¬ 
minate until the second season from sowing. 
In such cases, small stakes should be stuck 
faithful hound, and disposes itself as grace- | at intervals along the rows, so that their 
fully as possible at full length before them, I location may be known at time of weeding, 
seed. All varieties planted in the seed-bed 
as the rugged step of a throne. 
Beecraft Mountain, albeit bare and rocky 
in places, especially on the summit, and 
resounding ever and anon with the blast- 
thunders of its stone quarries, is largely 
overspread with a covering of forest and 
farm, which in summer and autumn out¬ 
shines the Persian carpets or the Turkish 
rugs of the “gorgeous East.” And at all 
seasons they hold up against the backgi-ound 
their long green line of Pine and Cedar and 
Spruce and Hemlock points, which perform 
so indescribable a purpose both of ornamen¬ 
tation and illusion in a landscape. And back 
of all this rise my beautiful, billowy, sublime 
and kingly Catskills! ’ 
which do not attain a growth of say five 
1 inches the first season, should bo .allowed to 
remain there until after the next season’s 
growth. This will include about all of the 
evergreen v<aricties, and some of the others. 
Those which exceed five inches should bo 
ransplantcd into the seedling nursery after 
the first year’s growth, and all the others 
after two years’ growth.— Leaves. 
EAISIHG TEEE SEEDLm&S. 
All tree seeds which require careful nurs¬ 
ing, shading, or other special treatment, or 
which are adapted to being grown very 
closely together at the start, should bo sown 
in a well prepared seed-bed. Only a small 
piece of ground is needed for this purpose 
.and a portion of it should bo covered with 
open lattice-work, or in some other way 
prepared so as to partially exclude the sun’s 
rays and also admit the rain, to bo devoted 
to those small seedlings which need shade 
the first .season from transplanting. 
-AtoJtoUgdJas^ ^roooth and 
tpeili 
if. 
ASPAUAGBS otoxbee in pkanoe. 
Perhaps in no other locality is tlm n. n 
of Aspar,agus carried to so -/oat a n 
porfection as in the suburb 
oertam localities in tlio noighborhooro; n 
groat city. Asparagus growing, bS fo . 
young shoots and for the plants " 
prominent industry. Tim ,,m,i i "■ ''®’'y 
adopted there aro^n some 
dilTeront from ours While i 'f'l-o 
high-priced labor it vZw, of 
to expend the amount of 
vegetables that the Fmglish am 1 .,.?“!’ 
doners dn - - . - ° ‘ ana iirono], 
methods sometiines 
which.jwe can profit. 
The French are not in the habit of tr 
hig the soil for their Asparagus beds u'*' 
say it is entirely unnecessary. The r ^ 
the plant, they claim, have little ineCaP * 
to run deeply, so long as the surface soV 
well cultivated, and contains all the 
ment the plants can use. They agree T''' 
ever, that Asparagus requires very’ 
mainu-ing, and they use for this purpose a 
most concentrated natural manures thev 
obtain. 
In starting a bed, seedling plants one ye 
old .are always used when they can be oK 
tabled. These are considered superior to 
older plants. Great care is taken, however 
that the plants receive no check to the/ 
development, either through lack of nourish, 
raeiit or moisture. After having their bed 
thorouglily prepared, the Paris gardeners 
dig a shallow trench, about a foot wide and 
six or seven inches deep, for each row of 
plants. The rows are usually placed about 
four feet apart, and the plants set one to 
two feet apart in the row. They raise little 
moimds about two inches high, upon each 
of which a plant is placed, and the roots 
carefully spread out over this, so that they 
extend in all directions. They then draw in 
soil enough, so that the crown of the young 
plant is covered about an inch deep. The 
ground is always kept well cultivated, and. 
each autumn a liberal dressing of manure is 
given. The soil that is washed into the 
trench is carefully removed before winter, 
so as to leave the roots no deeper covered 
than they were in the spring. 
Every spring, the bed is forked over, always 
taking care not to injure the roots. The 
third spring after the plants are set, it is 
allowiible to gather two shoots from the 
more vigorous plants ; though it is consid¬ 
ered best to defer the cutting until the 
fomth year. 
French gardeners are quite whimsical, too, 
about the manner of gathering their Aspara¬ 
gus. They say that the neat Asparagus knives 
advertised in the catalogues are intended for 
delic.ate people who are afraid of soiling their 
fingers; and the only proper way is to piek 
the shoots by hand. They consider it quite 
important to break them off at the point 
where they are imited to the root, rather 
than in the ground above this point, as wo 
usually do. They remove a little earth about 
the shoot with the hand, then work the fore 
and middle fingers into the soil near to 
the point of attacliment, when a slight press 
uro of the finger under the base of the shoo 
causes the latter to snap off clean at the too • 
Tlioy consider a shoot of proper size u 
pick when the head is an inch above the soi • 
Win to Asparagus is considered morodolieo^^ 
in flavor by the .Parisian^ than that 
permitted to take on tlie groon color. 
former brings mucJi the higher price ia ^' 
markets. Salt is not used to any oonsi e 
able extent as a fertilizer for Asparagas 
the growers about Paris. j 
Althougli tho market gardener 
afford to practice all tho minutiro descri 
in tho family garden, it should bo our 
Bocuvo tlio best and tho earliest of vog® 
hies; and if by adopting the methods^^^^ 
others wo may improve tho 
oarliness of tho products of our own 
Wo can afford to take n little extra pains- 
of their 
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