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flowers in long open spikes of a reddish pur

ple, blooms after other varieties.

Double pur

ple has a double row of petals.

The Lawton Blackberry.

MR. EDITOR: In the May No. of the FARMER is an article on the "Value of the Lawton Black

STRAWBERRY TREE OR BURNING BUSH-berry," from O. S. Willey, which I believe very (Euonymous).—A very ornamental large shrub or small tree, covered with scarlet fruit in

autumn.

SNOW BALL-(Viburnam Opulus).—A large and beautiful shrub with showy clusters of white flowers like snow balls. An old favorite, thriving everywhere. High Bush Cranberry, (V. Oxycocus) resembles the preceding, white flowers in early spring, followed by showy clusters of scarlet fruit of a pleasant acid taste resembling the Cranberry. Early White Lantana leaved, (V. Lantanoides). Has soft hoary leaves and large clusters of white flowers in May, retains its foliage very late.

CHINESE GOLDEN BELL-(Forsythia Viridissima).-A fine shrub with long dark green shoots and very deep green foliage, producing an abundance of bright yellow flowers very early in spring. To insure a good bloom in Wisconsin, it must be laid down at approach of winter and covered with soil or dry leaves. PRIVET.-A very ornamental plant with neat foliage and pretty spikes of white flowers, succeeded by bunches of black berries; it is almost an evergreen, thrives in all soils, makes a fine ornamental hedge, will bear shearing to

The

much misrepresents its value. I have found, by experience, that there is little difficulty in making it productive. The Lawton is a good fruit, but the trouble with some is, it don't pay. Now the Lawton is a rampant grower, requires good cultivation, and is, if rightly managed, just as certain a crop as the currant. The ground should be worked from twelve to twenty inches deep, and made good by manure. canes should be pinched during their growth so as to confine them within proper limits and make a tree or bush well branched, and finally, the whole ground should be well mulched.— Not a little bit of mulching around each bush, but all over the ground. The Lawton is rather troublesome in a small lot, but should have plenty of room; better adapted to Farmers' grounds than small gardens. The way to cultivate is as follows: A piece of ground, say twenty feet wide and as long as you wish, commence on the sides and plough until it is all turned over, then drag it thoroughly. Then plough again as at first and drag again, and so keep working until your centre or dead furrow is as deep as you can conveniently make it. Then plough all back again to a level; plant your canes in the centre and then cover it all with good coarse manure or half rotted straw, from twelve to eighteen inches deep. If you wish to do the work with a spade, the deeper you work the ground, the more and better fruit. The Blackberry makes better wine than any grape raised in this latitude. The fruit is a ALTHEA-ROSE OF SHARON.-Handsome, specific in summer or bowel complaints, both free-growing and free-blooming shrubs, desi- for children and adults. I find the Lawton rable for blooming in the autumn months; perfectly hardy as the wild black raspberry or flowers are white and various shades of pink, thimbleberry, and with proper cultivation they purple and lilac,-both single and double. are always productive. You can pile straw The Althea will not endure the cold of a Wis-around them if you please in the fall for proconsin winter without very thorough protect-tection and let it remain for a mulch the next ion, they may be grown in boxes or tubs and removed to the cellar at approach of winter, or taken up and holed in in the cellar to be replanted in the spring. The many good qualities of this shrub will repay this care and

any extent.

ST. PETER'S WORT OR SNOW BERRY.-A neat shrub with small delicate pink flowers and large white wax-like berries that hang on through winter.

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summer. The only reason people do not succeed is, they neglect thorough cultivation. The ground must not get dry, if it does, your fruit will be dry also. I have learned this by experience, my own bushes look well and are loaded with fruit.

BURLINGTON, Wis., Aug. 4th, 1862.

E. A. ROBEY.

Care and Taste in Planting.

A great deal of care and some taste is necessary in planting grounds, or our choicest treasures become evils, and those things which give much of grace and beauty to our grounds, prove a great injury. Persons are apt to have a special passion for particular classes of trees -some are fond of evergreens, and their grounds have a sombre, formal appearance, from the large number of this class of trees planted, while others are delighted with the weeping trees and obtain every variety possible, and give to their place a melancholy aspect far from agreeable. These trees should be used with caution. Mr. Barry gives the following excellent advice on this subject, which we commend to all who are planting ornamental grounds:

Re-Clothing Bare Spots upon Lawns. MR. EDITOR:-There are many complaints in the spring about lawns becoming overrun with moss, and the ground about the stems of trees getting bare. When such is the case with me, I have the moss raked up with sharptoothed rakes, and scratch the ground well, mix grass seed with a good quantity of mould, and sow it thickly over the bare spots. In a short time it springs up and keeps down moss for several years; a little lime or soot sown over it in fall prevents the growth of moss; and kills worms in the soil.

A good top dressing of rotted manure in fall is of great advantage; or super-phosphate in spring is equally good. The grass should not be allowed to get very long in spring for want of cutting, but during the heat of sum"There is something so attractive and so grace-mer it should not be too often cut nor too ful in the character of drooping trees, that they arrest the attention of persons who would scarcely bestow a glance upon the noblest and rarest trees of the ordinary upright habits of growth which prevail among the mass of forest trees. A Weeping Willow, common though it be, never fails to elicit admiration. In the hands of a skillful, judicious planter, no other trees are more effective in giving variety, character, and expression, to a landscape; but they must always be used sparingly, and with the exercise of good taste and a great deal of foresight. We have known persons so captivated with the elegance of the Weeping Willow, as to plant half a dozen immediately around their dwellings, stamping them at once with the character of mausoleums, more than that of the habitations of living beings.

closely cut, as by that the roots are too much exposed; but in cool, wet seasons, it should be oftener cut. When the ground under trees gets bare, I stir the surface with a rake with sharp teeth; then scatter some finely broken mould over the place and sow it thickly with grass seeds, (a good deal of white clover among it.) It soon becomes green, and keeps so all summer. About the first of April is the best time to sow the grass seeds, but even on to June will do. I had this ready to send you for this month's number, but neglected to send it, but better late than never, if it should be the means of reminding any of your numerous readers to do what in the hurry in spring they may have forgotten.-Cor. Farmer and Gardener.

PRESERVING DAHLIA TUBERS.-A correspondIt is equally in bad taste to plant largely of ent of the "Journal of Horticulture and Cottrees in which any particular character pre- tage Gardener," writes as follows: "May I be vails to a striking degree. At certain points permitted to offer a simple suggestion relative on the Hudson, the tapering Arbor Vitæ is so to the preservation of Dahlia roots during winthickly planted in some grounds that one can ter? Though carefully dried before storing see nothing else. These, the stiffest, most ar-away in the autumn, I used continually to lose tificial-looking, of all other trees, should be planted with the greatest caution. While two or three might produce a fine effect, entire groves or masses of them become monotonous or disgusting.

It is quite obvious that weeping trees, to produce any effect, must be pretty well isolated; for their streaming side branches are the source of their peculiar grace and elegance This points out the jutting edges of groups of trees, and the open lawn, as their appropriate situation. The Willows have a particularly fine effect on the margins of streams, ponds or other bodies of water. Those with stronger branches, such as the ash, elm, &c., are well adapted to farming arbors, and are much employed for this purpose. All the drooping trees are considered appropriate ornaments to cemeteries; the mournful expression which their drooping habit conveys, certainly renders them fitting objects for this purpose."-Rural

New Yorker.

them by the rotting of the crown, till at length the idea one day occurred to me that the mischief was occasioned through the decay of the long stalk left attached to the tubers: this becoming partially charged with fluid kept the crown constantly wet. My remedy has been not to leave more than four inches of stalk; from this to scrape the whole of the outer covering or bark, and at the base to make a small opening which permits any watery deposit to escape. The result has been that I have preserved the whole of my tubers, while experienced gardeners around me have complained of loss, notwithstanding that every precaution from damp or frost had been taken."

ERATA.-Mr. Editor: In the remarks on the Fall Stripe Apple, on page 300, August No., I report Mr. B., of Lodi, to say "Not Extra;" whereas it should be "No. 1 Extra," which is his own language. Yours, J. C. P.

American Seedling Gooseberry.

An American sort, similar to Houghton, of the east, but more upright. Has been termed by fruit growers of Illinois, an European sort, and labelled "Pale Red." The "Ohio Seedling" of Cincinnati, probably is the same variety. A very rapid, vigorous grower-an abundant bearer-hardy; never mildewing; small to full medium in size, pale red, pleasant flavor; valuable for cooking, and easily kept by bottling.

Plants are easily grown from cuttings, layers or division of roots. There may be a few English sorts not subject here to mildew, and 80 succeed in this climate; but thus far not

more than one in a thousand has done so, and the propagation of most, or all of them, have been abandoned by American growers; and well they may be, when we have such sorts as the aboveHoughton's Seedling and Downing's-originated by Chas. Downing, of N. Y.-not fully tested here, but spoken highly of where known.

Another of Emery & Co.'s engravings, which graced their wide awake paper not long since. O. S. WILLEY. MADISON, Wis.

Grape Growers' Maxims.

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We find a few good items inder the above heading in the N. J. Herald. They are from the pen of our frequent and valued contributor, A. S. Fuller, and are well worth remembering. The only point on which we do not agree is the kind of manure recommended. It is certainly true that well decomposed manure is better than long, undecomposed manure, but our experience has convinced us that whatever general manuring the soil may have received, both wood and fruit are materially improved by the free use of phosphates and potash as supplied by wood ashes.- Working Furmer.

1. Prepare ground in the Fall, plant in the Spring.

well decomposed; for fresh manure excites 2. Give the vine plenty of manure, old and growth, but does not mature it.

3. Luxuriant growth does not always insure fruit.

4. Dig deep, but plant shallow.

5. Young vines produce beautiful fruit, but old vines produce the richest.

6. Prune in the Autumn to promote growth, but in the Spring to insure fruitfulness.

7. Plant your vines before you put up trellises.

8. Vines, like soldiers, should have good arms.

9. Prune spurs to one well developed bud, for the nearer the old wood the higher flavored the fruit.

10. Those who prune long must soon climb. 11. Vine leaves love the sun; the fruit, the shade.

12. Every leaf has a bud at its base, and either a bunch of fruit or a tendril opposite to it.

13. A tendril is an abortive fruit bunch-a bunch of fruit a productive tendril.

14. A bunch of grapes without a healthy leaf opposite, is like a ship at sea without a rudder-it can't come to port.

15. Laterals are like some politicians; if not often checked they are the worst of thieves. 16. Good grapes are like gold; no one has enough.

17. The earliest grape will keep the longest; for that which is fully matured is easily preserved.

18. Grape eaters are long livers.

19. He who buys the new and untried varieties should remember that the seller's maxim is Caveat emptor.-Let the buyer look out for

himself.

Horticulture in Japan.

from the sun and air. It is the manure-water which nourishes the plant and keeps it in a growing state.

Mr. Veitch found a new tree (fern) in the garden of the great temple of Osakusa, which thrives well in the open ground, and will, he thinks, prove hardy in England. Again he says: "The quantity and splendor of the timber trees in the neighborhood of Yeddo far exceed anything that can be described." Mr. Veitch took measurements, finding pines three feet from the ground, with a circumference of 10 feet; beech, 15 to 20 feet; spruce (very common), 10 to 12 feet; evergreen oak, 15 to 25 feet; gingko, 15 to 28 feet; cryptomeria (tens of thousands of them), 12 to 15 feet.

Exterior Signs of the Quality of Pears.

Pears, pyriform, uneven or gourd-shaped, with thick skin, sometimes wrinkled, of green color, with more or less russet, passing to golden yellow, and tinted more or less with carmine on the sun side: with skin entirely brown, russet or green bronze, or yet burnt earth of sienne color, (rich brown) light or pale green united or relieved and tinted with vermillion or shaded with sienne, are generally those which may be judged to be buttery, melt

Mr. Veitch, Jr., son of the eminent London nurseryman, is now in Japan, investigating the condition and method of horticulture in that country, with a view to the selection of novel-ing, and of the best quality. ties, &c. In a recent letter to the Gardener's Chronicle, he states that the Japanese possess great horticultural skill, and far exceed the Chinese in this respect. The Japanese nurseries are very numerous and extensive, presenting many varieties of trees, shrubs and flowers. He says: "Chrysanthemums are especial favorites with the Japanese, and at this season of the year are every where in full bloom, scarcely a window in the town (Yeddo) but has a plant or two, and each establishment devotes a piece of ground to their culture. They are grown to great perfection, and many varieties, exclusive of the ordinary large flowering ones, and Pompones, are met with. The fan shape is the favorite mode of training them, the finest specimens averaging 3 to 4 feet in hight, and often having from 25 to 30 expanded trusses of flowers on them. The great characteristic mark of a Japanese nursery is its peculiar neatness, everything clean and in order, not a weed or a pot out of place to be seen. Their mode of pot culture seems to consist:-1st, In confining the roots of their plants in as small pots as possible; 2d, in using a light open soil, generally the same for all classes of plants; 3d, supply them with unlimited quantities of manure water. Their success in dwarfing trees is mainly to be attributed to the last named cause. The soil acts merely as a means of protecting the roots

Pears oviform, stem slender, long, with fine skin, shining, very finely and thickly studded with small brown dots, are usually melting fruits, acid, astringent, ripening very quickly, and finally of the second or third order, passable or bad.

Pears with thick skin, dark or raw green, shining, thickly dotted where the reddish brown is placed in patches on the side which is struck by the rays of the sun, passing or not to ochre yellow and red at the latter end of the season, indicate generally fruits capable of long preservation, and suited for cooking.

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* Laterals are shoots which start from either side of the

main bud, at the axil of every leaf; if they grow unchecked they destroy its vigor; if entirely removed, the bud itself shoots permaturely.

Observation has enabled us to state these facts, which have very few exceptions according to us.-J. DE LIRON D'AIROLES, in Revue Horticole.

Two Valuable Hardy Apples.

Amid the desolation among those orchards planted on low and poorly drained lands, previous to the winters of '55 and '56, we find here and there a few specimens of those very hardy varieties, which fortunately went through unscathed, and remained as anchors, to the fast waning hopes of tree planters.

These trees stand as monuments of past labors; way marks to guide us in the direction of complete success.

In remembering this lesson we bring before

you a rough drawing of a variety which stands, sometimes singly, sometimes in pairs, or the full row; but always there, all and the original number that was first planted out, and perhaps the only survivors of the fifty or one hundred set.

This variety is only one of more than twenty old and new, that stand nearly equal in those combined qualities which render them " cessful," "adapted" in their different seasons and localities:

suc

of the Fall Wine Sap, and more sharply serated, shedding them fully on the approach of winter. Its outline resembles that variety, except being more conical and consequently basin more abrupt.

Successful in all soils, especially on the rich dry rolling prairies.

Fruit medium to small, conical, mostly bright
red; flesh fine grained, tender, juicy, sub-acid.
January to March.
J. C. PLUMB.
MADISON, Wis.

Bastard or Barren Raspberry Bushes.

M. Hubbard, of Bennington, set out a plot of the American Black Cap Raspberry several years since, and they were thrifty and prolific, but they now send forth "bastard" suckers-slender stalks, that never blossom or bear. Is there any remedy short of rooting them out and setting new plants? What is the cause of the evil complained of?Can it be prevented? How?-L. S., Attica, N. Y., 1862.

Mr. Doolittle, after whom the Doolittle or Improved Black Cap is named, has given much attention to the culture of the fruit, and has fairly brought it before the public and the fruit growers as a market fruit. We have often obtained his opinions, and observed his practice, and may therefore be enable to enlighten our Attica correspondent.Mr. Doolittle states that the Am

FALL WINE SAP.-Tree, very vigorous, ir-erican Black Raspberry, in its wild state, or regular grower; forming a beautiful orchard tree, with many pendulous branches; wood, a dark brown, with many greyish patches after two years old; leaves, large and broad, many of them remaining on the tree till mid-winter; very hardy and productive; fruit, medium size, round, conical, pale green, often bright blush on sunny side; stem, medium, cavity, wide, smooth, deep; calyx, closed; basin narrow; core, small, seeds large, flat; flesh, white, tender, juicy, mild, vinous, good. October to January.

WINTER WINE SAP-Syn: Wine Sap of Elliot-Wine Sap of the West.-Very vigorous, hardy, spreading grower; distinguished by its polished dark colored wood, and many short spurs which put out from the young vigorous wood; its leaves are much smaller than those

as usually propagated, produces but two or
three crops, and often but one, before it be-
comes barren, and that no extra cultivation or
manure will prevent this. Many plants are
almost entirely barren, producing but a few
scattering, seedy, deformed berries the first
year, and afterward nothing. The barren hills
or plants he is enabled readily to detect from
indicated by the vast number of small canes,
their appearance. The barren form of hill is
and from the fact that they are thornless, while
the leaves are small and generally covered with
yellow rust. The healthy or fruitful form of
hill, is shown by a few large bearing canes.-
The number and size, or bulky form of the
thorns, furnish to an experienced eye a sure
index of the yield and quality of fruit to be
Black Raspberries will show the barren form
An examination of any plot of
expected.
prevailing more or less, in hills two or three
years old. Some hills will have part barren
canes and part partially barren-that is, the
canes may be quite large, but are almost or
quite destitute of thorns. The way to avoid

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