teenth of June, twenty-six boxes of the pine apple strawberries were gathered, and four of the roseberry. On the seventeenth, thirteen boxes of the pine apple, on the eighteenth nine, and and on the nineteenth eight; after this it was neglected to notice the quantity, but there were at least fourteen boxes more picked, making seventy boxes, or nearly nine quarts to each row of the pine apple.*

I have cultivated many varieties of the strawberry, and am entirely satisfied that the pine apple has a decided preference. It is very prolific, the fruit large, beautiful, sufficiently high flavored and aromatic, but not quite so rich, or possessing the fragrance of the Chili or roseberry. But the Chili is a shy bearer, and but a small portion of the blossoms of the roseberry produce fruit; still it may be called a prolific and most valuable kind. The Chili claims attention from its size, as I have raised them four inches in circumference,— but more especially for its powerful aroma, delicious flavor, and being later than the others. The scarlet is very prolific, but inferior in size, flavor and perfume to the other three kinds; still worthy of extensive cultivation as it continues longer to produce fruit than the pine apple or roseberry, if the season is wet.

For the roseberry and pine apple I am indebted to John Lowell, Esq. to whom we are all under the greatest obligations, not only for numerous additions to the products of our gardens, fields and orchards, but for a fund of interesting and valuable intelligence, which he so liberally disseminates, on all the branches of agriculture and gardening.

The most celebrated writers in Great Britain recommend planting the runners in beds, three feet apart, with three rows in each, two feet apart, and the plants eighteen inches asunder; and if the mode I have practised should be adopted, I recommend that the rows be three feet apart; for if the ground is made rich, and well tilled, the plants grow so luxuriantly as to require more room than two feet between the rows, to cultivate them properly and gather the fruit, without injury to the vines.

But to cultivate strawberries successfully, irrigation is indispensable. In Great Britian, where this delicious fruit is

We are credibly informed that a gentleman in Dedham has raised about 4000 boxes of strawberries the present season; which, if sold at only 15 cents a box, would bring $600-affording proof that the cultivation of this plant is well worth the attention of every one who can conveniently attend to it.-ED.

raised in the greatest abundance and perfection, the climate is remarkably humid, and drought is rarely experienced; still every precaution is taken to insure an ample supply of water to the plants. Various modes have been adopted to accomplish this with the greatest ease and certainty, as will be perceived by the following extract from Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening.

'BRICK BEDS FOR STRAWBERRIES. These were observed in a small garden near Chatham, and are thus described. The beds were upon flat ground, each about three feet wide, and between them were trenches about nine inches wide, and four inch walls of brick on each side of the trenches, to keep up the earth on the sides of the beds. These trenches were about the depth of two or three courses of bricks laid flat, without mortar, and were intended for the purpose of holding water, which was supplied from a pump, whenever the ground was dry, while the plants were in fruit. By this method, a much greater crop of fruit was obtained, and the plants continued bearing much longer than in beds where there were no trenches for water.

'In Devonshire, strawberry beds are constructed against the side of a hill or bank, by building up beds in steps, with rough granite at the front, to keep up the earth, each step being about two feet high and three feet wide. These steps were filled with good loam, and the surface of each was covered with rough pieces of granite, bedded into the loam, leaving openings between the stones, just sufficient to put in the plants. The surface being covered with granite kept the ground longer in a moist state, and the fruit always clean.

'I have found a great advantage in keeping the fruit clean, by laying a row of common bricks on each side of the rows of strawberry plants; I tried plain tiles but found bricks answered better, as the tiles are apt to be broken in gathering the fruit.'

In this country we have almost a cloudless sky and fervent heat, while showers are very uncertain, and commonly not sufficiently copious, from the time strawberries commence blossoming until the period of their ripening has passed, and too often half or two-thirds of the crop is lost from the effects of drought. The plants suddenly wither, and the fruit is either not formed, or prematurely dried up or shrivelled.

If the beds were so situated that a shallow trench between the rows could be filled with water every evening, when rain

does not fall in sufficient quantity, the result would fully reward the care and extra labor of the cultivator.

A few years since I had six rows of strawberries which promised a great crop, until the fruit began to ripen, when the weather becoming hot and dry, there was great fear of the consequence. As they were at a considerable distance from the pump, all of them could not conveniently be watered, but as an experiment, two rows were bountifully supplied, every evening, until all the fruit was gathered, and they yielded nearly twice as much as the remaining four rows.

We have received most of our information on horticulture from England, and have introduced many of their modes of cultivation, without sufficiently considering the difference of climate. There they have frequent showers, or damp, cloudy weather, with but few clear, and seldom any hot days; while in this country we gradually suffer from excessive heat, and such as is never experienced in Great Britian. These artificial means are resorted to for obtaining the requisite heat to mature many garden vegetables and most of the fruits which ripen here in the open air. Here there is usually a superabundance of heat, and a lack of moisture, which must be supplied by art. We must imitate the cultivators of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Asia and Egypt, where irrigation is considered so indispensable that it has occasioned an adage as old as the histories of those countries, that There can be no garden without a fountain.'

Damp, cold land will not answer for strawberries; it should be mellow and warm, but not elevated and dry, unless proper means are taken for complete irrigation.

Many of the writers on the cultivation of the strawberry recommend that the runners should be carefully cut off. It no doubt would tend to increase the size of the fruit if effectually done; but from an experiment made a few years since there did not appear to be such a favorable result as was anticipated. To produce the largest fruit from the most magnificent varieties, the runner should doubtless be eradicated.

THE SIPHONIA.

NATURAL ORDER-Euphorbiaceae, resembling the euphorbia in flowers and medicinal properties; cathartic, mild emetic. CLASS-Monacia, having stamens and pistils on separate flowers on the same plant or house. ORDER-Monadelphia, having flowers with stamens united by their filaments in one set or brotherhood. GENUS-Siphonia, comprising siphoniæ. SPECIES-Elastica, exuding an elastic gum. Staminate flowers-calyx, perianth scarcely manifest: corol 1-petalled, funnel-form; tube very short; border 5-parted; divisions, roundish; filaments, ten, oval-shaped. Pistillate flowers-calyx 0: coral 5-petalled, rosaceous: pistil, germ roundish, 3-furrowed; styles, three, bifid stigmas, simple; perianth, capsule roundish; 3-celled: seeds solitary.

THIS tree is a native of Guiana, Quito and Brazil, particularly in Para, where it is called Massaradub, Madagascar, and many of the East India islands.

Abbé Rochon describes the tree which yields the elastic gum in Madagascar as twenty feet high, the leaves eight inches long and two inches broad, the fruit resembling a round fig and full of small seeds.

The first account which we have of the elastic gum or resin, or caoutchouc, as it is called by the Indians to the southeast of Quito, is in the memoirs of the French Academy for 1751, and in his relation of the river of Amazons in 1745. This tree grows along the banks of the Amazon, and is very common in the forests of the province of Emeralds to the north of Quito, where it is called Hheve, and whence Aublet has taken his generic name of this tree.

The tree is described as very lofty and straight, and quite naked up to the head, which is very small; the trunk of the largest is only about two feet in diameter. It is an evergreen not unlike that of the cassavi. The fruit is triangular, inclosing three seeds. These seeds or kernels, peeled and boiled in water, yield a thick oil, which the Indians use as butter with their food. The wood of this tree is light and suitable for masts for vessels.

This tree takes its generic name from siphon, a pipe used for the exudation of the Indian rubber.

From the account of Condamine, we learn that the substance called Indian rubber, caoutchouc, or gum elastic, oozes from this tree under the form of a vegetable milk, from inci

sions made in the tree; and that it is gathered chiefly in the time of rain, because, though it may be collected at all times, it flows then most abundantly. The means employed to inspissate and indurate it, M. de la Borde says, are kept a profound secret. M. Bomare, and others affirm that it thickens and hardens gradually by being exposed to the air; and as soon as it acquires a solid consistence it manifests a very extraordinary degree of flexibility and elasticity. Accordingly the Indians make boots and hats of it which water cannot penetrate, and which when smoked have the appearance of real leather. Bottles are also made of it, to the necks of which are fastened hollow reeds, so that the liquor contained in them may be forced through the reeds or pipes by pressure. One of these filled with water is always presented to each of the guests at their entertainments, who never fail to make use of it before eating. Flambeaux, an inch and a half in diameter, and two feet long, are likewise made of this resin, which give a beautiful light, have no bad smell, and burn twelve hours. A kind of cloth is also prepared from it, which the inhabitants of Quito apply to the same purposes as our oil and sail cloth. It is formed, in fine, by means of moulds, into a variety of figures for use and ornament; and the cess is said to be as follows:-The juice, which is obtained by incision, is spread over pieces of clay formed into the desired shape; and as fast as one layer is dry, another is added, till the vessel is of proper thickness; the whole is then held over a strong smoke of vegetables on fire, whereby it hardens into the texture and appearance of leather; and before the finishing, while soft, it is capable of having any impression made on the outside, which remains forever after. When the whole is done, the inside mould is picked out.

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Among us, this gum is used by physicians for bandages and for injecting liquids; by painters for rubbing out black lead pencil marks, &c. and is much worn in the winter season for over-shoes. It also makes an excellent varnish for covering balloons. Spirit of wine makes no impression on this substance, but it dissolves in ether and linseed oil, or in nut-oil, digested gently in a sand bath: there are also other oily substances which affect it very sensibly. It is said that the Chinese have been long acquainted with the art of dissolving it, and of giving it a variety of colors.

Various attempts have been made in Europe to discover some method of dissolving it in such a manner that it would assume different figures, with equal ease as when in its original