A. B., Worcester, Mass

-Taking into consideration hardiness, size, beauty of form and color, flavor, productiveness, and length of time during which it is in eating, what is the best strawberry to raise for home-use alone? What kind of soil is best suited to it? Does it need high culture? Is one kind of dressing better than another? if so, what is the. best? Should it be kept in hills? or should it be allowed to run? If in hills, at what distance should they be from each other? or if in rows, at what distance should the plants be set from each other in the row? and how far should the rows be apart? Do they require covering in winter? if so, when should the covering be applied? when removed? and what is the best material to use as a covering? Is it necessary to set new plants every year to secure the best crop possible? At what season of the year should the plants be set to stand the best chance of success? In setting them out, shall I be likely to get better results if I dig a hole for each plant, make a cone in the centre, and spread the roots carefully around it before filling in the earth about them, as I have somewhere, at some time, seen advised in print?

Hovey's Seedling is the best for your section, and best answers your requirements. A good, rich, and tolerably moist soil is best adapted to it. It needs high culture to realize the very best results. There is a difference in dressing, of course. The best we have found is old, well-rotted horse-manure. It should not be grown in hills: it does not do well when so grown. It should be allowed to run. Plant the rows four feet apart, and the plants in the row three or four inches apart. Some plant a double row, and put the plants six inches apart each way, breaking joints. We have seen the Hovey's Seedling planted in rows eight feet apart, and the plants four inches apart; and they covered all the land at the end of the season. The land was manured at the rate of four hundred dollars' worth to the acre. They ordinarily do much better if covered in winter. We have known beds left without covering to do well when they were covered with snow most of the winter. It should be applied about the 1st of December, or before the weather becomes very cold; and removed from the 1st to the 10th of April, after the ground ceases to freeze. The best thing we have ever found is coarse, strawy horse-manure. Care should be used not to cover them too deeply. When strawberries are grown in beds, and allowed to run, we think it is very much better to plough them up after one year's fruiting. The best time to set out plants is the very last of April, or first of May. At this season of the year, all the plants live, and the frequent showers of spring help them to become quickly established. A separate hole should be dug for each plant with the fingers or with a trowel; but we should not advise any person to take the trouble to form a cone or mound on which to set the plant: we doubt if it will pay to take so much trouble. We like to have the roots spread out as nearly as possible as they were before being taken up. Some careless planters simply make a hole, and force in the roots all in a bunch, and then wonder that it takes so long for the plants to get a start. We wish our friend the best success; and, if he wants to plant another variety, put in a few of the Brighton Pine. If a variety is wanted for market-purposes merely, then plant the Wilson; for there is not probably a strawberry in the whole list that will pay better than this.

B., Portland, Me. - How can I improve my tomatoes so that I may be able to get them earlier than I do now? - By saving the seed of the very earliest fruit each year: much can be accomplished in this way. It is said that the Keyes Prolific ripens one or two specimens to a plant several days before any other variety; and any person, by selecting these very early tomatoes, will find in three or four years that he has an improved variety. Many vegetables may be greatly improved in this way.

HARTFORD, Conn. For several years, my cranberries have not kept well in winter; and I wish to know if there is a better way of keeping them than the one I have practised, — spreading them in a cool, dry place? — A cool and dry temperature is the best for keeping fruit of any kind; but there is danger that it may be too damp or too dry at times. We have kept our cranberries in the house-cellar in water, and have had no trouble. They are as fresh-looking in the spring as when gathered in autumn. The water should be changed once in three or four weeks. Cranberries are shipped in tight casks with water.

PROVINCETOWN. -Our lands on the Cape are composed of sand, that blows about with the wind, as you may know. What is the best way to form a proper soil for a garden where vegetables and the small fruits can be raised successfully? It is a rather hard question to answer. If you can get clay from the beach or elsewhere, it will do well; marsh-mud will help; fresh meadow-muck is good. All these, mixed with the sand, would form a good soil, where vegetables would thrive. If you can get some fresh loam without too great expense, it would be good to mix in.

E. M. G., New Jersey. Shall I manure my vineyard? and, if so, what dressing shall I use? The vines are three years old, and two years set. If the land was properly prepared when the vines were set, they should not be manured If not, then apply old well-rotted horse-manure in limited quantities, bone-dust, or ashes; always avoiding coarse, unfermented manures. The dressing should be applied in autumn or early spring. We have had the best success with grapes on the poorest land, less mildew and rot, and earlier fruit.

now.

INQUIRER, Thetford, Vt.- Has the Early Goodrich Potato proved to be good? Would you advise me to plant it ?· It has proved to be hardy, resisting the rot where many other varieties failed. It grows to a good size, and is called a very good eating potato; though last season it did not prove equal to our expectations. You cannot probably do better than to plant it, if you can get the seed.

S. K., Sherborn, Mass.-The roots in my cellar begin to throw out leaves soon after they are harvested. What is the cause? and how shall it be prevented? - Your cellar is too warm. Possibly you put too many of them in a heap, and they heat some: if so, they will soon decay. Keep them as cool as possible without freezing.

Succession of Crops.

Blackberries.-The Agency-system. - Advantages of Posi

By the 20th of July, our pease had been gathered, and our early potatoes dug; and their places were at once filled by cucumbers for pickles: for the season here enables us to grow two and three crops the same year. At this time, also, we were gathering daily from our tomatoes, sweet-corn, squashes, and cucumbers, with now and then an early egg-plant. Our melons looked well, and the watermelons were already as large as a child's head. The squash-bugs had made their appearance, as usual: but a prompt dressing of plaster of Paris had put an end to their depredations; and the drought, which had somewhat shortened our raspberry-crop, had been just the thing for them. Our acre of Lawton blackberries was ripening nicely; and again the pickers found employment day by day, while we were busy

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in arranging the fruit for market. The berries were very large and sweet; and several times a week our chests were shipped to the New-York agent, who had given entire satisfaction by his prompt attention and punctual returns. The empty chests came back safely by the returning freight-trains, and were delivered at our station in good season for a subsequent picking. Indeed, this business of transporting fruit to market has become so systematized, that an agent on the railroad finds enough employment in attending to the taking-up of the produce on one train, and delivering the returned fruit-chests and truck-baskets on another. As the number thus transported is so immense, some, of course, may be lost, or never returned to the owner; but these occurrences are rare.

We now understood why New Jersey was said to be so desirable a farming field, and why its profits were so large; for its markets were the two great cities at either end of the line; while the supply, great as it was, and increasing yearly, could never keep pace with the demands of those vast populations. These things were altogether different from other commodities, such as manufactured articles, which, however universal in their popularity, are not consumed and renewed daily. The public appetite for provisions was never satisfied; or, if satiated one day, it needed as much more the next. No matter how high the price, there were always hosts of purchasers ready to take all that was offered; and, if these middle-men made their profits as well as the farmers, they probably deserved them.

This agency-system was a great convenience to the working-farmer, who must, of necessity, be present on the farm at the busy season of ingathering, and could not well spare any of his hands to superintend the selling of his crops. In the hurry of getting them early to market, a day was of more value to him than the trifling commission charged by the agents. They were, in fact, necessary to each other's success; and though the charge to each farmer was apparently small, yet, in the aggregate, the profits well repaid these middle-men, and constituted a splendid business. I have heard of one or two who cleared their thousands in a single season from the peaches alone. Of course, this sounds like a large sum; but many farmers will prefer to sell their entire harvest for a moderate price in advance, rather than take the numerous risks attending the ripening, gathering, and getting to market, of a rather precarious crop like this. If the

agent's profits are thus large, it is plain that the proprietor of the orchard makes money in corresponding proportion.

As I have said, our blackberry-field yielded a very respectable product ; but our peaches, for various reasons, were not so promising. The ravages of the borer had made a serious impression upon the trees, which told upon this season's harvest. By another year, we trusted that the effect of our precautions in eradicating these enemies would become apparent in an increased quantity of fruit. But, if our peaches were of inferior quality, the price obtained was quite large; for, owing to one or two late frosts, many larger orchards around us had produced only half-crops. This, of course, had a tendency to enhance the value of that which remained; and so ours brought us as much, perhaps, as if the yield had been above the average. Every thing rises in value in proportion to its scarcity, as every merchant and farmer can tell.

It was now the first of September, and our watermelons and citrons were doing finely. They ripened splendidly in the hot sun; and we shipped many a wagon-load to market, besides indulging freely ourselves. Then this was the season for canning and pickling. There were several large establishments in Burlington and in the neighborhood which absorbed all the tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers that we could produce. It was really wonderful to look at our tomato-vines, and see the abundance of gorgeouslooking fruit which ripened so rapidly. On these things we were saved ali expense of commission for selling, since our own wagon could deliver them directly at the consumers' doors. So it was with our peaches; for these huge canning-houses were ready to take all that we offered, at fair market-prices. They had wisely located themselves in the very heart of the fruit-growing region, where supplies were easily obtainable. The great

cities would be the ultimate market for distribution, and these canned fruits

were as salable as the fresh ones. My mother made sure of a good supply both of peaches and tomatoes for our own use in winter; putting them up in ordinary glass-jars, and covering the tops with pieces of strong muslin, on which had been spread a thick coat of cement, made by melting together one ounce of mutton-tallow and one pound of rosin. We prepared this in an old iron pot; and, when once made, it lasted the whole season : we had only to set the pot on the fire until it was melted, and then it was