Farm and Garden.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 38, 14 October 1871, Page 8

Farm and Garden.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CULTIVATION of the GOOSEBERRY.

The gardeners about London plant the gooseberry in rows from eight to ten feet apart from row to row, and six feet from plant to plant in the rows. In that case, we advise pruning them in the begining of April; and the ground between may be planted with cabbages or beans for a spring crop ; by so doing there will not be any occasion to tread over the ground and hurt the cabbages in pruning the bushes, for before the gooseberries begin to shoot, the cabbages will be all cleared off the ground. After this time, or before, if you find it convenient, lay a good coat of rotten dung on the ground j then dig in and plant early potatoes, but not so near to the gooseberries as to hurt them. The roots of goossberries should always be*kept clear to admit the sun and air. In small gardens we would recommend planting them in a quarter by themselves, at a distance of six feet between the rows, and four feet from plant to plant, or they may be planted round the edges of the quarters, about three feet from the path j the ground will then be clear for cropping, and a man by setting one foot on the border can gather the gooseberries without injuring the crop. As gooseberries love a rich soil, they should be manured every year, or at least have a good coat of dung once in two years. Never plant under the shade of other trees, as it will injure the flavor of the fruit. It is a practice too common in pruning gooseberries, to let them branch out with great naked stems, suffering them to remain in that state for years. When that is the case, they should bo cut down near to the ground in the winter pruning; this will make them throw out fine strong healthy shoots, which will bear fruit the second year. Gooseberry bushes, in general, bear their fruit on the second year’s wood. Care should be taken in summer to keep the middle of the bush clear, so as to admit a free air into them, leaving the finest and strongest shoots from six to ten inches distant from each other. This will help to ripen and harden the wood. It is a practice with some gardeners to shorten the shoots in the autumn or winter pruning, this should be always near to a wood bud, which may be known, by its being single, whereas fruit buds are in clusters. The shoots may be shortened to eight or ten inches, according to their strength, some leave them at full length for three or four years, thinning those that are superfluous, Always leave a proper number to be trained up between the full length shoots, to succeed them when they are tired of bearing ; then cut the old ones down to the young ones that are to succeed them. By these means, you will always keep the bushes in a constant state of bearing.

It must be observed, that those branches which were cut the first year, will in the second throw out short spurs, which produce the fruit, and these should by no means be cut off, unless the branches are in a sickly state, and require to be cut close down, when the bushes are overloaded with fruit. It will then be necessary to cut a good deal of the old wood, in order to assist nature to recover herself, after producing so great a quantity of fruit, for in some years the bushes are so loaded that the branches are bent down to the ground. Gooseberries are well worth paying attention to, as they supply the table so amply, till the wall fruit comes iu. There have been considerable additions made in the varieties of the gooseberries of late years, from the great attention that has been paid by gardeners and the growers at Manchester and its neighborhood, to the raising of gooseberries from seed. The catalogues of the Manchester growers, now contain between four and five hundred sorts or varieties, but some are so very similar to each other, as hardly to be distinguished. By mixing up a rich soil to plant those in, which have been raised from seed, and by watering, shading, and thinning the fruit, they have grown to a size much larger than any that had ever been seen in the country. They have made it their principal study to improve this valuable fruit, and have given great encouragement, by establishing societies for distributing prizes annually, to those who raise the largest and finest new sorts. It must, however, be allowed, that some of the largest are much thicker in the skin and not so well flavored as some of the old sorts.

Great attention should be paid to the cultivation of the early and late sorts. In some old gardens in particular, there are very valuable sorts, that have been of late too much neglected, we should therefore recommend to those who live in the neighborhood of such gardens, to observe their time of ripening, and to cultivate those especially which are early and late

It is a practice with some to clip the tops of gooseberries with a pair of garden shears, as they would clip a thorn edge; this plan, we by no means approve of, as the fruit will not be half the size, nor of so fine a flavor, as when the bushes are kept clear of superfluous wood. Care should be taken in spring and summer to stock or grub up all the suckers from the roots of the bushes, leaving their stems clear and unencumbered.

Many of the Lancashire sorts are apt to grow horizontally and the branches frequently trail on the ground, which renders them liable to be broken by high winds, especially when they are loaded by fruit- In that case, we would recommend two or three hoops to be put round them, to which the brandies may be tied to support them, and prevent their being broken by the wind.

Those who wish to have their gooseberries very late should plant on south walls and palings between the other trees, and they may be removed when the trees begin to meet. If laid in time, they will bear very fine and handsome fruit. We would advise to plant the finest late sorts, as by this method the table will be supplied much longer than by the common custom of planting in quarters. SAND FARMING-. It is difficult to define what a sand farm is, bo as to unite a majority of farmers upon that definition ; some soils have so large a proportion of silica as to be comparatively sterile, or rather so coarse are the particles that vegetation that will subserve the wants of men and animals is difficult if not impossible to produce at a profit. We shall adopt as the opinion most likely to meet the greatest number of minds, that a sand farm is one of the particles of which are so comminuted, as to produce a medium crop of cereals when first brought into cultivation from its natural condition ; we say medium crops from the fact that sand may be so divided, comminuted, as to produce maximum crop 3 for a long term of years. There is no chemical difference in the sands of New England and those of the valley of the Wabash, the only difference being in the fact that one is coarse the other fine ; the former difficult to coax a compensation from for the labor performed, the latter, yielding some sixty, some a hundred fold, to the fortunate possessor. The writer has a portion of his farm now under the plough, and for twentytwo years past, which was estimated to produce 20 bushels of wheat to the acre the last season, and has produced over 100 bushels of Bhelled corn, and in that time never received a load of manure in exchange for its liberality, which land is sand full 90 per cent, but sand ground to powder by the elements and so fitted for compensatory returns. Other portions of the farm are equally sandy, in every respect like the above named, with the difference that it is coarser and consequently not as productive. How to make the poorer equal the better, is the study of every intelligent practical farmer ; how to reach this result from the farm itself, without capital from abroad, is equally necessary. Successful merchants have made rich farms, from capital accumulated in trade, and so serve the general farming interest by showing what can be done with the land under such favorable auspices. They act as stimulants to the general interests, and as such only. From remarks penned above, the inference would naturally be that whatever would divide the particles of soil would increase the fertility. Then the question. How shall this be best performed and with the least labor ? would be the practical one. It being beyond man’s power to perform such a result mechanically, none but the elements —heat, cold, moisture, summer and winter, and the other more subtle forces, acting not by the years but by the ages—can reach the end desired. To man it is given to wed these particles by the arts of husbandry—“ to make the wilderness bud and blossom with the rose.” The use of the plough and other implements in a very slight degree serves to reduce (divide) the particles, but more to induce that proper degree of moisture which serves to unite the particles or (more properly) fill the interslices, and so secure that condition found necessary to the growth of plants. The plough used in autumn, to expose new surfaces to the action of frost, is found to be the most potent element or power in the service of man for the purpose mentioned. The roller on a sand soil is an implement of great utility (on clay of absolute detriment) compressing the soil into that compactness found essential to t he growth of plants. Among the forces employed to fit sandy soils for maximum crops, the most potent and of longest duration, we have found wood ashes to be foremost, dividing, and at the same time furnishing enriching qualities to the crops grown. As no farm can increase in fertility without returning to the soil the elements taken therefrom, in some form, it becomes of the first importance to ascertain the sources from which they can be most easily derived, and also ascertain what crops take the least from the soils. The constant seasons, “ the early and latter rain,” the rest (in our northern latitude) of winter, furnish the larger portion of enriching material; then the weeds, and wild grasses going to decay, after having drawn from the subsoil nourishment not found near the surface, though often disregarded, are yet nevertheless useful and absolutely necessary to prevent general sterility —these all by a wi?e Providence given as helps to man without which he must cease to exist. The grasses consumed upon the farm by matured animals, such as sheep, neat cattle, afld horses, and a constant supply maintained, constitute without doubt the best special farming ; but as man cannot live by meat alone, it is essential to inquire after the best mixed husbandry. Among animals, we consider sheep the best adapted to sandy soils, from their peculiar adaption to compression—so great weight upon so small a surface, their hoofs being far superior to the best iron roller for compression of soil; then again distributing more evenly the manure than other animals; and their making quicker returns from the capital invested than from any other stock. These are a few things in their favor. Sandy soil is better adapted to the growth of clover and roots in connection with corn, and all these are peculiarly adapted as food for sheep. For winter, good straw for coarse feed, with one pound of corn per day for medium sized sheep, is ample for even fattening purposes, and thus returned to the soil in the best form, an article (straw) usually consigned to the flames in this western country. This, with gypsum applied to clover, one bushel to the acre, and with corn in rotation with the same, and sheep sufficient to consume the same upon the soil, we consider the best possible management for a sand farm. In connection with this, it may not be out of place to

say that good shelter in winter for sheep and for the manure, until the best time arrives to apply the 'Same, is essential to success. Should the condition of the farmer be such that grain must be the leading interest, then rye, corn, potatoes, particularly sowed corn, for winter feeding, with as large an area to clover as possible, to be ploughed in as a green crop, will be found the next best upon such soils. Again, if situated in the neighborhood of a cheese factory, a dairy which shall be largely fed in the stalls, first by rye, cut green, after that clover, followed in its season with sowed corn, in the winter with sowed corn cured with mangold wurzels and with two quarts of corn-meal and wheat-bran, equal weights, per day, and all the manure saved to apply to the soil, will increase fertility year by year.—“ American Cultivator.” MISCELLANEOUS. Progress. —The routine farmer often contemplates with noisy merriment the plans and doings of those he calls the amateur farmers ; but if all agricultural improvements introduced by the amateur farmers were now taken away we should be set back at least a thousand years. Seaweed. —Where seaweed can be procured it is the best manure that can be applied to land, as it possesses in its dry state about 14 per cent of nitrogenised compounds (nearly equal to guano). Many farmers in the west of England contend that forsome crops, especially early vegetables, one load of seaweed is worth two loads of stable manure. Cheese Factory System.— There are many very good reasons for encouraging this system in England, such as raising the standard of uniformity in the cheese; increase in the value of milk, and consequently improved value of land; the employment of a large amount of skilled labor in the factories instead of desultory and uncertain labor at home ; and last, but not least, a steady outlet for the farmer’s produce, which can always be disposed of at a better rate when placed on a systematic mercantile footing.—“ Food Journal. The prize list for the November stock show of the Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society has been settled, and £750 is offered in prizes. Among the extras are prizes for colonial cloths, leather, and boots and shoes. The “ Star,” states that the committee of the Smeaton, Spring Hill and Bullarook Agricultural Society contemplate the introduction at their next show of what appears a very desirable novelty—the bestowal of prizes on the best scholars amongst the pupils in the schools within the shire and borough of Creswick. Winchelsea, says the “ Advertiser,” intends to show Geelong the way, so far as growing sugar beet is concerned. No fewer than sixty farmers have accepted seedling from Mr Stirling, of Winchelsea, and planted from two roods to two acres each, in order to testthe capabilities of their soil. That there will be a beet sugar company established at Winchelsea there is Tittle doubt, as Mr Stirling and the leading wealthv spirits residing in that district have determined that a company shall be formed. They intend in any case, to form themselves into a company, and will find both money and machinery, and propose that farmers should take out payment for their roots in shares. Preserved Meat and Butter. —The “European Mail” says—The trade in Australian meat continues very much about the same as last month, but numbers of institutions are now commencing to use it, and doubtless before long the business in it will become more solid and permament. At a recent meeting of the tin-plate manufacturers they decided to advance their prices 2s per box on all quantities, which is not good news for the meat preservers. Large quantities of Australian butter have been taken off the market for shipment to Holland, where it is repacked and returned to this country as Dutch ; the price at which it is purchased here is very low, and will leave a loss to shippers. Colonial buttermakers have much to learn, their produce being badly made, too much buttermilk being left in it, which has a tendency to make it rancid.