SUCCESSION OF SMALL FRUITS.

MUCH has been written on the value and use of fruit as food; but still it is evident that only a small proportion of our people practically understand the subject. How few we find, even among families possessing what are called good gardens, who enjoy any thing like a constant supply of fruits for the table throughout the entire season of warm weather! The consequence is, in most cases, the children are indulged quite freely in the use of strawberries, cherries, or whatever fruit may chance to be abundant for a time, and then deprived of it entirely, for weeks, perhaps, in hot weather, and supplied abundantly again when another kind comes into season; but, of course, the health of a family is more likely to be injured than benefited by such use of fruit.

Having been engaged in fruit-growing, more or less, for the past ten years, with a goodly number of thrifty "olive-plants" in my domestic nursery, I can testify, from happy experience, to the healthfulness and economic advantage of the constant use of fruit as a part of the daily food for the family during the summer and autumn months; and, for the benefit of the inexperienced who have not the advantage of orchards, I will give a few hints on the means of securing a succession of what are called small fruits, in distinction from those grown on trees.

Strawberries, of course, come first in order. With a little care in selecting varieties, and skill in their cultivation, a supply of this most wholesome and desirable fruit may be had, in ordinary seasons, for full four weeks, or the entire month of June, in Ohio. Among the early varieties of strawberries, there is not much difference between several of the well-known sorts. The Metcalf Seedling is one of the best I have tried. The handsomest and best for medium and late is the Jucunda, or "700" of Mr. Knox; though I have seen on his grounds fine berries a few days later, called Kitley's Goliath.

Raspberries occupy the month of July. They begin to ripen before strawberries are quite done, and continue till currants and blackberries come in. This fruit is quite popular with most families, and is better for preserving than strawberries; but,we do not consider it as valuable or wholesome as

strawberries or currants. A row or two of the Kirtland or the Philadelphia (perhaps the Clarke will prove better), and as many of the Doolittle and the Miami Black-caps, are all that I should deem important; though the season can be prolonged into autumn by the use of the Ohio Everbearing, or a seedling of it raised by Mr. H. B. Lum of Sandusky, O.

The Currant is a favorite with my family: and I am convinced that only few persons know any thing of the excellence of this fruit when well grown and fully ripe; for such is very seldom seen in our markets, or in the gardens of our acquaintances. The opinion has long prevailed that currants will grow anywhere without care or culture, and that the varieties are all just about alike; and this false notion has brought the fruit into such poor condition and repute, that there is very little demand for it in the markets, or taste for it among the people, when any other fruit can be had. But let any man read and put in practice the directions of Mr. Fuller in his excellent work on "Small Fruits," and then, with the Versaillaise and White-Grape varieties, he will produce such currants as will astonish and delight his wife and children, and command a high price in the market if he has any surplus. On a deep, rich, and rather moist soil (but not wet), the currant will hold its fruit in fine condition for several weeks after ripening, and with marked improvement in flavor, forming a most agreeable and refreshing dish for the table during the heated term of July and early August. The objection made by economical housekeepers, that currants require too much sugar for table use, is a mistaken one; for it is known that sugar itself is a wholesome and nutritious article of diet, especially for children, and, when used with other food, contains more nutriment, and costs less per pound, than butcher's meat.

Blackberries are now generally grown in all gardens of considerable size, besides being abundant in the fields and woods in most parts of our country: hence this fruit is an important staple in our succession. With good cultivation on deep and moist soil, the crop may be prolonged to the first of September, or till the earliest grapes are ripe. But, as this is the time when melons and tomatoes are in season, it is not a great evil if there happens to be a slight break in the succession, especially as most people can draw on their neighbors, if not on their own trees, for a few peaches or apples at this season. The Wilson Blackberry is an important acquisition for its earliness, and the Kittatinny is the best for the main crop.

Grapes are the latest and the best of all the garden fruits, the crowning gift of a bountiful Providence to those who follow the occupation selected by the all-wise Creator as best suited to man. No other fruit affords so much wholesome nutriment, and is so generally relished by old and young, as good, well-ripened grapes; and where such varieties as the Delaware, Iona, and Diana, can be successfully grown, this fruit ought to be furnished in abundance for the table during the entire three months of autumn. The Diana can be kept in good condition till Christmas if desired.

M. B. Batcham.

LEAF-MOULD.

The leaves should be laid in a heap, not very thickly; and, being left a few months, they will have decomposed sufficiently to be used for mixing with soil as compost for plants. If turned over occasionally, they will decompose more rapidly, and still more speedily if a little loam is mixed with them at each turning. Leaves at the end of twelve months are usually sufficiently decomposed for potting-purposes; but they are not thoroughly so until the second year. For bedding-plants, the compost should consist of two-thirds loam and one-third leaf-mould. Leafmould is too open, and becomes too close and saturated, owing to the frequent waterings, to be employed alone.

MARIGOLDS. There are no more useful flowers for autumn-blooming. The early frosts affect them but little; and they are bright and gay long after the dahlias, heliotropes, and salvias are black and withered. The French are better than the African, and seem to stand more frost; the English is more hardy, but less showy; and the new dwarf (Tagetes signata pumila) is best of all. Though their strong smell is disagreeable to many, yet it is only perceived when the plant is rubbed; and the flowers last for many weeks in water, preserving their colors perfectly, and may thus be kept in the house long after the frost has destroyed them in the garden.

VAN ZANDT'S SUPERB.

WE give an engraving of this excellent peach, which, though not new, is not much known or appreciated in parts of the country where this fruit succeeds well. It is one of the very best of dessert peaches; while it is very bright colored and handsome, not surpassed by any other of the whitefleshed varieties. It is an American şort; having been raised at Flushing,

L.I., by Mr. Van Zandt.

The fruit is of medium size, roundish, with a rather slight suture (sometimes one-half of the peach is larger than the other); the skin is whitish, but beautifully marked and dotted with red, the sunny side being very brilliant; flesh melting and firm, sweet and delicious; freestone; time of ripening, early in September.

COVERING FOR STRAWBERRIES. - Many of the best cultivators use coarse straw horse-manure; but care must be used not to smother the plants. We have used coarse meadow-hay to excellent advantage.

OLD AND NEW HOMES.

CHAPTER III.

Cultiva

New Work. Blackberries. Strawberries. - Raspberries. - Peaches. tion. The Weeds. - New Theories. — Raising Truck. Indoor Improvements. Our Advantages, Social and Literary.

VERY Soon there came on busy days for all of us, as well for the women in doors as for the men without. The farm-work must be first attended to, as the season was already far advanced, and much of the summer's profit would depend on the labors of the next few weeks. The early pease were up in some of our fields; and the outgoing occupant had left us hot-beds already made up, and planted with those tropical favorites, the egg-plant and tomato, while in others the sweet-potato was sprouting finely. Then, as I afterwards discovered, our farm was well stocked with fruit; and there was a large field of strawberries to be looked after. It seemed to me a great thing indeed; for there must have been ten acres of it,— more strawberries in a single field than I had seen in all New England. But it was only a fraction of what we subsequently learned our neighbors were doing, as some of them were cultivating as many as forty acres of the same fruit. There was also a large field of raspberries, the common " Purple Cane;" and an acre of that recently-discovered favorite, the "Philadelphia." From all these, the late tenant had forgotten to remove the last year's canes; and here was a new job of work such as a careful fruit-grower will invariably despatch as quickly as he can after the crop has been gathered.

Then there was a great peach-orchard of I never knew how many trees. Sound and thrifty they all looked; for the buds were already swollen, and showed plainly the bright red-and-white of the unfolding blossoms. Eut that solitary enemy of the peach-tree, the borer, had been permitted all winter to depredate upon their roots, and must now be taken out. The gum oozed away from the butts of one-half the trees, showing that no time was to be lost in exterminating the enemy. It was a great task to go over all the trees of a large orchard, and perform this indispensable operation; but my father had left his Northern grain and grass farm to practise fruit-growing, and felt inclined to neglect no precaution necessary to success. This