This section is from "The Horticulturist, And Journal Of Rural Art And Rural Taste", by P. Barry, A. J. Downing, J. Jay Smith, Peter B. Mead, F. W. Woodward, Henry T. Williams. Also available from Amazon: Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste.
We do not care where you are located, you will always find it advantageous to purchase your trees and vines in the autumn rather than spring. You will generally get better trees and plants in the fall - you will be more likely to get the kinds you want, and if you are not ready to plant out, the trees will be on hand ready for you on the first opening of spring.
The old bearing canes of raspberries and blackberries it is best to cut away before winter, and the sooner it is done the better, because they are constantly taking from the supply of those intended to fruit the next year, and hence they reduce the amount of vitality and strength of bud and cane and lessen its capacity to endure the climatic changes of winter.
In buying grapevines,make sure, if possible, of one thing, viz., that you buy a vine which fully and perfectly ripened its wood at the close of the season's growth. If the wood of a vine, by reason of late growth, does not ripen, the roots can not. The vine, if not removed, will probably grow the following season; but if taken up and exposed to the air in transplanting, nine times out of ten it will either die outright, or make so feeble a growth as to be of no value. We have tried this to our satisfaction.
YOUR volume for 1871 opens splendidly - is brim full of rich and racy matter for the horticulturist, - for everybody who loves rural life and has a taste for the beautiful. 0, that its readers could be counted by the million! And not bo much for your sake as for theirs. To say nothing of its contents, its beautiful green cover and its illustrations, are good for sore eyes, and ought to be peculiarly attractive to the pent-up denizens of the cities on the one hand, and the inhabitants of the broad prairies on the other. Glad of your ability to write the word success !
The best Epacris for winter bloom are Nivalis, Impressa variabilis, and Campanu-lata alba. E. grandiflora, when well grown, is one of the most splendid green-house plants, but it does not bloom freely, as early as the others.
One of the rarest sights of the summer season, in a floral way, is C. L. Allen's gladiolus preserves. This nursery is on the line of the Central Railroad of Long Island, about fourteen miles from Hunter's Point, and the route of the road is through the center of a fifteen acre field devoted to the culture of this beautiful flowering bulb.
The cabbage worm is said to be on the increase in some parts of the State of New York, to the extent that the crop will have to be abandoned, unless attacked by one or more parasites to check its progress. As a remedy, a correspondent of the New York Times says wheat bran or shorts is an effectual remedy. Examine the cabbage before they head, for the web of the caterpillar or holes in the leaves of the bud. If found, put a teaspoonful of the bran or shorts in the head. If hard rain follows, repeat the application. The worms seldom attack the cabbage after the head is well formed.
A correspondent of the Ohio Farmer speaks of a new worm that threatens destruction to the cabbage. He describes it of a pale green color, about an inch long, of rapid growth and ravenous feeders, and soon makes clean work of a field of cabbages.
 
Continue to: