LIST OF FRUITS. be tied to a small stake. To have fine, you must dig in the same manner in the autumn. STRAWBERRY. This plant is a native of the woods and fields. There are many sorts, and all are improved by cultivation. They are propagated from young plants that grow out of the old ones. In the summer, the plant sends forth runners. When these touch the ground at a certain distance from the plant, come roots, and from these roots, a plant springs up. This plant is put out early in the fall. To make a strawberry bed, plant three rows, a foot apart, and at eight inches apart in the rows. Keep the ground clean, and the new plants coming from runners will fill up the whole ground, and will extend the beds on the side. Cut off the runners at six inches distance from the sides, and then you have a bed three feet wide, covering all the ground. In November the leaves should be cut off with a scythe or reap hook, and there should be a little mouldy manure scattered over them. They will last in this way for many years. CULTURE OF GRAPE VINES. The best mode of raising the plants is by cuttings taken from the vines at the Fall pruning, and preserved in earth till Spring. These may be made either of one eye or bud, or of four or five, attached to a small portion of the two years old wood, forming a cutting in the shape of a small mallet. The 1st year.They may be raised in a small nursery bed, prepared of a good light soil-set in the ground six inches distant from each other, with the rows wide enough apart to permit them to be weeded with a narrow hoe; or, they may be put in the first instance, where they are to be reared, and left to grow, at the distance of five, six, or seven feet, or more, according to the wishes of the cultivator. In this latter case there should be three cuttings put into each spot six inches apart, to insure the setting of one. When this is ascertained with certainty, the two weakest may be withdrawn, leaving the rest of the three to grow. If the cuttings be of one eye each, they should be from the last year's growth, and a small piece of the branch an inch long should be left attached to the bud, and extending half an inch on each side of it. These should be planted two inches below the surface with the bud uppermost, and a small stake placed by the side of them that they may not be disturbed. If the cuttings are of several eyes, they should be laid in the ground sloping, leaving one eye level with, or only just above the surface. They should be kept moist, but not wet, as this will rot them. A spot which receives the morning sun till eleven o'clock, and not afterwards, is the best for a nursery bed for them, but for permanency they should be planted where they will receive the sun longest, and in this case they should be shaded at noon day until they have entirely put out. One bud only should be allowed to push from the cutting the first year; the plant should be kept free from weeds; the earth kept light around it, and as soon as the shoot has attained strength enough to produce laterals, they should be rubbed out, and the shoot tied to a small stake, by which means it will gain firmness, and the admission of the sun and air to the shoot will prepare it to bear the frost of the fall, and prevent its imbibing the moisture which it would otherwise be subject to, when covered with earth in the winter. By the first of November, the shoots may be cut down to two eyes, and by the middle of the month, if it be dry LIST OF FRUITS. weather, they may be covered over with earth, forming a slope to cast off the wet, and prevent the rains from penetrating-as the drier the plant is kept during the winter, in the better state it will be in the succeeding spring. The 2d year. The plants should not be uncovered in this climate till the middle of April. Those from the nursery should now be transplanted to the places where they are to remain; a shoot from each eye should be permitted to push, but as soon as you have ascertained which of the two will be the strongest and the best situated, you will preserve that, and rub out the other. The shoot preserved, you will be careful to tie up to a small stake as soon as it has length enough for this purpose, to prevent its being broken by the wind or other casualty. During the summer, the laterals from the four or five lowest buds must be rubbed out, and the shoot be carefully protected, by being kept tied every eight or ten inches. The next fall, you may cut this shoot down to two buds, (not counting the one in the crotch of the plant between the old and new wood) and cover as before. The 3d year.-You will allow shoots to push from both the eyes, and suffer them to grow, taking care of them as recommended above; but the bud in the crotch must be rubbed out. This year you must rub out the laterals from the five lowest buds, and nip in the other laterals to one eye, so that if the plant grows luxuriantly, the sap may burst from the buds of the laterals, and not from those of the main branch, as it would do if the vine was dressed too close. Be careful to keep the branches tied up, that they may not be broken. In November cut down the two branches as follows; the most feeble of the two, to two buds, to produce wood branches the succeeding season; and the strongest to three buds for fruit branches, and cover them as usual. The 4th year. If you keep your vines properly dressed, you may have your first fruits without injury to your plants. After this, the system to be pursued must depend on the strength of your vines, and this will depend on the goodness of the soil, and the care you take of your plants. But as a general rule, the following points must be attended to. 1st. The number and length of your fruit branches must always depend on the strength of your plant; the wood branches are always to be cut down to two eyes. 2d. No more branches should be left on the vine than it can nourish well, and abundantly; this will depend on its age, and the soil in which it grows. 3d. The branches should be cut in alternately for wood and fruit branches, observing to cut for wood branches as low down on the plant as possible, so as to renew your wood near the bottom, annually. No shoots should be permitted to grow from the old wood, unless wanted for this purpose. 4th. No more shoots should be permitted to grow, than can be laid in clear and handsome, and without confusion on the trellis, and so as to admit the sun and air freely among the branches. LIST OF FRUITS. 5th. The laterals should be rubbed out of the wood branches six or eight eyes high, and those that are permitted to remain should be pinched into one bud. The laterals on the fruit branches should be rubbed out from the insertions of the shoot to the uppermost fruit inclusive, and the others pinched in as above. If the shoots are very strong, the upper laterals may be allowed to grow, to take up a great portion of the sap; but this should not be done, unless there is danger of the eyes bursting in the main shoots. Be careful always to keep the shoots tied up near their top. 6th. Never leave more than five good eyes on a fruit bearing branch, unless your vine is confined to a narrow space, and you are obliged to preserve only two or three fruit branches; in this case the length of the branch must correspond to the nourishment it will receive from the plant. Select the roundest and fairest branches for fruit, and the lowest and most feeble for wood. The closer the buds are together, or the shorter the joints of the branch, the better they are for fruit; these may in general, be cut to three, four, or five eyes, according to their strength. But in vineries covered with glass, where two fruit. bearing branches only are left on strong vines:-twenty, thirty, and forty buds are sometimes left on fruit branches. The foregoing rules will be sufficient for any one to build up a vineyard sufficiently large to supply himself, his friends, and the market, with grapes. But to promote and forward their maturity and size, the following course may be pursued. The first of July you will be able to see the state of your fruit, which will be just formed. At this time select the highest fruit branches and those which have the finest appearance of fruit upon them, and perform the following operation on the two years old wood, from which these branches proceed, taking care not to cut below any of the wood branches. Take a pruning knife with a smooth edge, and hawk's bill, and pass it round the branch where the bark is clear from knots, cutting deep enough to reach the sap wood of the plant; at a quarter or of an inch below the first cut, make another, running parallel with the first: then make a perpendicular cut through this section of the bark, the same depth, and you may take out the rim of bark clear from the branch. This will not prevent the sap rising into the upper part of the branch, but it will prevent its descending below the cut, by which means it will be retained in and distributed throughout the upper part of the branch, in a greater portion than it could otherwise be, and the branch and fruit will both increase in size much more than any of those that are not thus treated, and the maturity of the fruit will be advanced very much. This has been denominated Girdling. If the plant is very vigorous, and the season is very favorable, the wound will soon be closed, so that it may be necessary to open it a second time. The process does not injure the plant, as you only girdle the fruit bearing branches, which you would in any case cut out at the fall pruning, to make room for the branches which you have been bringing forward to give you fruit the succeeding year. This may be kept up from year to year, and give you a succession of ripe fruit from the first of September to the close of The fruit on those branches which are not girdled, will the season. MANAGEMENT OF BEES. ripen the latest, of course, but neither these, nor those which have been girdled, should be shortened, as is customary on vines not thus treated. MANAGEMENT OF BEES. APIARY. By an apiary is meant a place where bees are kept, which may consist of a stand, shed, or enclosure appropriated for that purpose. This is an important appendage to every farmer's establishment, and a delightful accession to the premises of every horticulturist. The study of the domestic honey bee is eminently calculated to raise our thoughts of the wisdom of the Great Architect who has infused such "skill divine" into so humble an architect as the bee. "Besides, there is no branch of husbandry," says a writer, "the cultivation of which, furnishes for our own table a more innocent and grateful luxury, than that of the bee." It is not important what be the situation of an apiary, provided it be in a quiet and sheltered place, free from weeds, and within a convenient distance of pasturage, which abounds in trees, shrubs and flowers. Some writers recommend to give an apiary a southern, or south-eastern aspect; but this is considered by no means essential. BEE. The bee has two large round eyes, one on each side of its head; also, two teeth, by which it constructs its cells, and removes from the hive all obnoxious substances. A little below the teeth, is situated the proboscis, and within the mouth a tongue, which is quite long. It has four wings, and six legs. In the third pair of legs is a singular provision for conveying pollen, or the dust of flowers-viz. two triangular cavities, which are filled, and often more than filled, by means of a kind of brush, on each of the second pair of legs which are used by the bee to brush off the pollen, after she has rolled herself in it, and is thus conveyed to the hive. At the extremity of each foot are fangs, by which the bees strongly attach themselves to whatever they chance to light upon. Honey is collected by means of the proboscis. The stomach consists of two parts, connected by a kind of tube. In the first, or honey stomach, the nectar of the flowers is elaborated into honey; in the second, a portion of the honey undergoes the action of the digestive powers, and serves to sustain the bee. Two antennæ or feelers project forward from the head, which serve to convey to the bees a knowledge of one' another, and enable them to conduct the internal operations of the hive, even in the dark. Each swarm consists of three kinds of bees, viz. females, males, and workers, each of which will claim a more particular notice. FEMALE OR QUEEN BEE. Each swarm has one female bee, which takes charge of them, and from this circumstance is usually called the queen bee. She differs from the other bees in that she is about eight lines and a half long, while the males are seven, and the workers only six. Her abdomen is also longer, but her wings are so short, that she flies with difficulty. It is said that she leaves the hive but on two occasions-one, when she leads forth a swarm; the other for the purpose of being impregnated. She BEES. is the only one that breeds, and in her single personage resides the prerogatives of sovereignty, which are most scrupulously acknowledged by all her subjects. She enjoys their uniform affection, and is ever treated by them with the respect due to her exalted station. Some administer honey to her; others attend upon her as if to guard her: while others still, remove from before her any thing which might impede her progress. No sooner are cells constructed by a new swarm, than the queen commences laying her eggs, at the rate of two or three hundred a day; and probably at even a greater rate, according to the rapidity with which the cells are constructed. The cells designed for the production of workers are horizontal and hexagonal; those for the males or drones are more irregular; the queen, or royal cells are circular, and uniformly perpendicular. Workers arrive to maturity from the egg, in twenty days; drones in twenty-four; queens in sixteen. The growth of queens is probably accelerated by the superior attention which they receive, and the richer quality of the food or jelly administered to them. Eggs of each kind are hatched in three days from the time they are deposited. The worms are immediately supplied with pollen, or the farina of flowers, and this supply is continued so long as necessary. Royal cells exist in every hive; but in case of the loss of their queen, workers have the power of effecting a metamorphosis of one of their own species to supply her place. This is done by selecting a worm three days old, and sacrificing three contiguous cells for the purpose of constructing one of royal form and dimensions. The food designed for the royal worm, consists of a kind of paste or jelly, of a pungent taste. Although several queen bees are sometimes brought to perfection about the same time, but one only can hold the reins of government, and she that is strongest, claims this prerogative. No sooner does she mount the throne, than she thirsts for the blood of her royal sisters, and nothing can appease her but their death, which she effects with singular zeal. MALES OR DRONES. The number of drones in an average swarm, is estimated at about five hundred. They may be easily distinguished from the common or working bees, being both larger and longer. They are destitute of a sting. They make a much greater noise when on the wing, than other bees. Their proboscis is not adapted to collect honey. The precise office of the drones, has been a subject of much dispute; but it seems to be at length conceded that they are males, and serve the purpose of impregnating the queen. When this has been effected, they are of no further use, and are destroyed by the neuters, who sting them to death. They make but little resistance; and, as if they were aware of having accomplished the end of their existence, die without repining. Their destruction is usually accomplished in the months of July and August. In the May following, others are hatched to supply their place. WORKING BEES OR NEUTERS. This kind of bee constitutes the great majority in every swarm. "The average number in a swarm or hive," says a writer," is from fifteen to twenty thousand bees. Nineteen thousand four hundred and ninety-nine are neuters or working bees, five hundred are drones, and the remaining one is the queen, or mother. About five thousand bees weigh a pound. Hence it is easy to determine the number of bees in any given swarm by ascertaining the |