The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-05-23
THE FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Manuals for Farm and Garden.

Manuals 1Of Farm anu GarUen.
Fifty years ago it would have been almost
impossible to find a library of agricultural
works and the inquirer in that direction.
would necessarily have been limited to the
columns of few journals. Progress here,
however, corresponds with that made in ev-
cry other department now and we find valu-
able treatises devoted to every lewiston and
subdivision of husbanday, and even substan-
tial publishing houses confine themselves en-
tirely to that class of books. as-..
The comrnendable enterprise of dealers in
plants and seeds, has within a few years
brought out new kind of agricultural and
horticultural literature; although mainly de-
signed as an advertising medium, to secure
additional patronage. Some of these Gaia
logues, Circulars, Guides, ANIMALS, or what
ever their names may be, contain the con-
densed experience of florists, horticulture
lists and nurseymen who have devoted life
time to their special vocation; and therefore
are invaluable, and to beginners almost indis-
pensable. In them may be found complete
directions for the flower and vegetable gar
den, and for the cultivation of small fruits
embracing the selection Of soil its preparation
and tillage, proper fertilizers, garden pests
and antidotes, varieties of plants, suitable
Implements, modes of culture, methods Of
harvesting and marketing, and winter pro-
lection. The laudable competition which
has sprung up between the houses devoted to
these great specialties, has led to the explora-
ton of every nook and corner of the globe
for novelties, and to the multiplication of va
rieties by skillful h5bridization and by both
agencies the fora of our country has been
widely extended. 1t is almost entirely to
such instrumentalties, that the world
at large is indebted for the introduction of
some of the most valuable plants and fruits,
and for their rapid dissemination over the
face of the earth. AS an illustration we may
refer to the Early Rose potato, which was
first offered to the public by the Messrs.
Bliss of N. Y, in 1868, and has already gone
around the globe-more than year ago we
noticed that the agricultural press of Aus
tralia were congratulating their readers upon
such valuable acquisition. In their floral
departments many of these manuals are very
full and of especial value to the ladies of the
household, giving the common name of flow
ers, with their botanical names and Linnean
classification. For the correct nomen clature
of plants, flowers and fruits we know of no
authorities so accessible and reliable-as
many otherwise standard authorities not
issuing late editions, are not up with the
times. So far as typography and illustra-
tions are concerned many of these publica-
tons compare favorably with our best maya
zines; some are printed on tinted paper, and
contain hundreds of illustrations with here
and there choice colored engraving. Much
of the widespread taste for home adornment
which has been developed within a few years,
as well as the decoration of streets, parks and
cemeteries, may be rightfully ascribed to the
healthful influence of this annual literature.
We subjoin brief list of some of these pub
LEGATIONS, and assure our readers that il will
be for their interest to get one or more of
them. rsgrr A --+..s
Mr.. Reefs Manual is remarkable produc-
ton, as it is the work of clergyman with
parish on his hands, of novelist, some of
whose books have reached sale of twenty
thousand copies, and of a gardener who gave
an hour day to his garden, and yet sold
from its three acres $27OO worth of fruit and
vegetables in single year. He confines his
instructions to the culture of small fruits,
strawberries, raspberries, currants, goose.
berries and blackberries. 1t will be entirely
safe to follow his directions respecting yarie-
ties and modes of culture and marketing.
Mr. Root is a practical horticulturalist who
sells seeds, plants and vegetables and has
more than hundred acres under cultiva-
ton. His Manual has been largely quoted
from and commended by tae agricultural
press of the country. We recall two of his
ggestions-recommendi for pole beans,
sticks only four or five feet in height, and
the shortening in of the vines when they
have grown that length-and the use of rye
as green manure for the garden and farm.
He says, when turned under I cannot say
that it adds as much fertility to the soil as
forty loads of manure, but I do say that in
our droughty seasons, it produces as great an
increase of crop as forty two.horse loads of
good manure"
Messrs. Bliss are well known importers and
growers of garden and flower seeds, who,
some years since removed from Springfield to
New York on account of enlarged business.
They have made specially of potato growing,
sending to the Andes and procuring seed from
the wild plant in its original habitatlon-intro-
ducing most of the choice new varieties OBJ
tanned by MISUNDERSTANDING several
kinds in England that have secured medals
and certificates at International exhibitions.
and in our own country have obtained the lar
gest yield known from single pound Of seed.
Mr.. Wick needs no introduction as he is
well known in all households and makes a
speciality of almost everything. Whether
successful or not as business man we have
not learned, and it concerns us not now to
know; we think he deserves some order of
merit for the good he is doing to the world
at large, and on that account we trust that
his publications will be widely circulated.
Manual on the Culture of Small Fruits by E. P,
Rowe, Cornwall on the Hudson, N. Y. 80 cts.
Garden Manual and Seed Catalogue by j. B. Root,
Rockford, ILL., 10 cts.
B, K. Bliss g. Sons Illustrated Catalogue and Am
ateur's Guide to the Flower and Kitchen Garden
New York. 35 cts,
James vck's Flower and Vegetable Garden, 35 cts
and Floral Guide, 25 cts. Rochester, N. Y.
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