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LIBRARY

OF THE

MASSACHUSETTS

AGRICULTURAL

COLLEGE

SOUR cE-A-lu-tr'AU — -4- unck . .

THE

GARDENERS' MONTHLY

AND

HORTICULTURIST.

DEVOTED TO

HORTICULTURE, ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS.

EDITED BY

THOMAS MBEHAN,

STATE BOTANIST OF PENNSYLVANIA,

FORMERLY HEAD GARDENER TO CALEB COPE, ESQ., AT SPRINGBROOK, AND AT THE BARTRAM BOTANIC

GARDENS, NEAR PHILADELPHIA. GRADUATE OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW (LONDON),

ENGLAND. MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. AUTHOR

OF "AMERICAN HAND-BOOK OF ORNAMENTAL TREES,

" FLOWERS AND FERNS OF THE U. S.," ETC.

VOLUME XXV, 1883.

PHILADELPHIA :

CHARLES H. MAROT, Publisher,

No. 814 Chestnut Street,
188',.

CHAPEL

ILX-iXJSTI^^TIOlsrs.

V, 2 S"

Portrait of John J. Thomas,

AcrocUnium roseum flore pleno, 2 cuts,
Adiantum tetraphyllum gracile,
Annual Growth of Wood, Cross Section Showing
Anthurium insigne, ....

Aphelandrapunctata, . . . .

Apple, Lord Nelson, ....

Begonia Davisi, ....
Begonia Hofgartner Vetter, Double
Begonia Socratina, ....
Bowiea volubilis,

!• i"ontisj)iece.

B

20

249
203

138
120

Canna Ehmanni,
Crinodendron Hookerianum,
Croton Cronstadtii, .
Croton elegantissimus,
Cypripedium albo-purpurcum,

Dieffenbachia amcena, .
Dieffenbachia carderi,
Dieffenbachia Leopoldii,
Diplanderia carissima,
Duthie Park, Aberdeen, Scotland,

Plower Garden Design,

Flower Garden Design, Dropmore,

Fresh Water Sponges,

D

38
109

-77
3-9
1S4

77
II
12

356

65

34
30S

Grape, " Black Corinth,"

Grape Vine, Large, Mr. Blodget's,

240
334

Lastrea Richardii multifida,

Leea amabilis, . . . ,

Lilium auratum, A monstrous, .

Maratana nitens, . . . .

Odontoglossum \exillarium,

Panax plumatum,

Peach, "The Schumsker,"

Petunia nana compacta,

Pothos aurea, ....

Rose, "Andre Schwartz." colored plate,

Schizmatoglottis longispatha.
Steam Heating, 4 cuts,

Tropa;olum " Hermine Groshoff," Double,
Twe dan Fa (in Chinese characters),

Vegetable Garden, F"rogmore, Plan,
^Veranthemum annuum superbissimum,

M
O
P

R
S

V
X

88
170
310

373
42

140
1 1 1

129

299
102, 103

3J

93

S3

THE

GARDENERS' MONTHLY

HORTICULTURIST.

DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE. ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS.

Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN.

Volume XXV.

JANUARY, 1883.

Number 289.

Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground.

SEASONABLE HINTS.

Asking a friend, who had a beautiful rural resi-
dence, why she did not plant vines, or creepers as
the English would say, over the walls, she replied
by referring to a mutual acquaintance who had
done so with the result of making the walls so
damp that the vines had to be cut away. It so
happened that we knew all about the affair. The
vines were allowed to cover the eaves, over the
gutters and push their way in under the shingles
of the roof. Thus obstructed, the water made its
way down into the wall, from the top under the
roof, and of course the wall was wet. Vines
should always be kept cut down below the roof
It is a little trouble to do this once a year, but we
cannot get even our shoes blacked without some
trouble. Those who know how beautiful and how
cosy looks a vine-covered cottage will not object
to the few hours' labor it requires to keep vines
from stopping up the gutter. Vines really make a
wall dry. The millions of rootlets by which they
adhere to the wall absorb water ; and an examina-
tion will prove a vine-covered wall to be as "dry
as an old bone." One great advantage of a vine-
covered cottage, not often thought of, is that it is
cooler in summer and warmer in winter than when
there is but a mere naked wall. There are only a
few vines that will cling of their own accord.

These are the varieties of the English Ivy, the
Trumpet vine, and the different kinds of Ampelop-
sis ; and even the Enghsh Ivy will not stick to
smooth walls. But if the Trumpet vine or the
Ampelopsis be planted with the ivy, the latter will
cling to the other vines as well as to the wall,' and
then keep safe hold. The evergreen Euonymus
makes a good self-climbing vine, though not as
much used as it really deserves to be. In order
to have the beauty of variety which the great
number of fiardy vines affords, it is best to have
trellises over the face of the walls. These are best
made of strong galvanized wire. Iron hooks
should be fastened, by melted sulphur, into stones
sunk under ground, and others up under the eaves,
and the wires attached to these. Cross wires can
then be fastened to these, so as to make the meshes
about a foot apart. Properly done these wires will
last a lifetime, and the vines will, with a very little
help, make their way of their own accord up the
wires. Recently tTie writer noted a plant of the
red-berried Pyracantha trained up over wires in
this way. Evergreen, and covered by bright red
berries, few things could make a cottage wall more
gay. Wires, trellises, and other preparations can
be made for this vine planting before the spring-
time comes. •

The chief enjoyment in this department at this
season, lies in planning out the necessary improve-

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

ments, arrangements, and work to be done during
the next active season. ' In gardening there are
two styles of flower-growing, — one which looks
to the enjoyment of beautiful flowers individually ;
the other for the effect which color gives to the
beauty of one's ground. In the first place, hardy
herbaceous plants, annuals, bulbs and such like
plants, are to be employed, and the flower-beds for
them 'must be arranged with this view, so as to
afford opportunities for individual examination.
There is nothing better for this than long, narrow
borders ; such, for instance, as the narrow belts
along the walks of a vegetable garden.

In thinking of what might be done to render the
garden more interesting, one might resolve to pay
some attention to the improvement of some com-
mon garden flower. All we have to do is to take
note of some possible improvement we desire, and
select the seed of such as come the nearest to the
ideal. This is the way florists get their new races.
Take for instance the petunia. As a rule it grows
in a very straggling manner. We want a more
bushy and dense grower. Among our plants we
note one which is less rampant than the rest. We
save seed from this, and again the next season
select the least straggling, and so on, from year to
year, till the desired result has been gained. This
has really been done with this petunia. Herewith

Petunia nana compacta.

is an illustration of what we suggest with the
petunia in the hands of Haage & Schmidt, of
Erfurt, who, in common with other Prussian flor-
ists, bestow ^reat care on improving everything.
They call it Petunia nana compacta ; but anyone
may get " nanas" or " compactas" with other gar-
den flowers, as this firm has with petunias.

Pruning should be completed as soon as possi-
ble. Some judgment is required in pruning flower-
ing shrubs, roses, &c., although it is usual to act as
if it were one of the most common-place oper-
ations. One of the most clumsy of the hands is
commonly set with a shears, and he "goes
through " the whole place, clipping off every thing
indiscriminately. Distinction should be made be-
tween those flowering shrubs that make a vigorous
growth, and those which grow weakly ; and be-
tween those which flower on the old wood of last
year, and those which flower on the new growth of
next season, as the effect of pruning is to force a
strong and vigorous growth. Those specimens
that already grow too strong to flower well, should
be only lightly pruned; and, in the same individ-
ual, the weakest shoots should be cut-in more
severely than the stronger ones. Some things, like
the Mock Oranges, Lilacs and others, flower on
the wood of last year. To prune these much now,
therefore, destroys the flowering ; while such as
Altheas, which flower on the young wood, cannot
be too severely cut-in, looking to that operation
alone.

In pruning roses, the fall-blooming kinds, which
flower on the new growth, may be pruned as se-
verely as we wish ; in fact, the " harder" they are
cut-in the better. In this class a.r-c the Noisette,
Bourbon, Tea, China and Hybiid Perpetual and
Perpetual Moss. Without considerable experience,
it is difficult for the amateur to distinguish these
classes. The best way to get over the difficulty is
to obtain the catalogues of the principal rose-
growers, in which each kind is usually classified.
Amateurs should pay more attention to the scien-
tific— if we may so term it — study of the rose, and
its classification and general management. No
class of flowers is more easily understood, and no
one affords so rich a fund of perpetual interest..

COMMUNICATIONS.

NOTES FROM TORRINGTON.

r.V JAMES MORTON, (;ARI:)KNI:R to HON. L. w.
COE, TORRINGTON, CONN.

To most readers of the Gardener-s' Monthly,
the name Torrington will in no way be associated
with horticultural pursuits. The rugged hills and
frowning rocks of western Connecticut iinply but
little, in the way of gardening progress. The in-
cessant humming of machinery and the noise of
the builder's hammer would be more impressive

AND HORTICULTURIST.

upon the mind of a visitor among us than the
floral embelhshment of many of our Ijomes. It is
to be regretted when one meets with such taste as
a house of snowy whiteness, bhnds of a verdant
hue and endowed with the neatest styles of archi-
tectural skill, surrounded with a fence that depicts
a painter's talent, that inside chick-weed should run
rampant, and purslane and the milk-weed luxuriate
in unwonted freedom to the delight of crickets and
grasshoppers. But thanks to the enthusiasm of
many of our townsmen, and despite these happily
now isolated scenes, there is even here now in the
vicinity of Torrington much for the student of
nature to look upon in her wild and unassisted
state. How sweet to meet her at early morning
when the sun beams forth its rays of golden light
among the brambles and through the thickets,
changing dewdrops into pearls and revealing the
beauties of the woodbine and clematis as they
twine around any available- support that comes
within their reach, and imparts a living richness
of verdure and beauty to many an uncouth rock
or lagging fence. Polygonatum multiflorum (Sol-
omon's seal), Ariscema triphyllum (Jack in the
pulpit) are to be seen waging a war for existence
as they push their way through a dense mass of
vegetation. Ferns of many forms adorn the wood-
land dells and bedeck the brows of many a crum-
bling precipice. Side by side by the stately pine,
the button-wood and the sumach, lives and reigns
throughout the vagaries of our climate that beauti-
ful maiden hair — Adiantum pedatum — in all its
frailty and gracefulness. Pteris tremula and aqui-
lina, Athyriums, Polypodiums, Lastrseas, Blech-
nums and many others find dwelling places, if not
on terra firma, imbedded in the bosom of some
towering rock or peeping down from the limbs of
some aged woodland tree. The wild flowers that
array the wayside, the hill-tops and glen in gar-
ments of orange, pink and white are also a study in
themselves. But these wild scenes are not all we
have here now, for in few places has gardening
made more rapid strides than here under the
guidance and through the indomitable energy and
enthusiasm of the Hon. L. W. Coe, who now owns
one of the most charming residences and possesses
as rare and varied a collection of plants as is to be
met with in the district, and all has sprung up
within the past two years on a site that before
gave place to dwelling houses, barns, miry
swamps and gravel banks. A greenhouse and
two graperies now stand, where but a brief time
since, was a commodious homestead. The scene
is now changed. All has vanished — not a vestige

remains. Figs, grapevines and roses now flourish
over the spot where the maternal parent might
possibly have admonished an unruly child or
watched with delight the juvenile freaks of her
mirthsome progeny ; and a bed of smilax now
graces a corner where might have been a bed-
stead, a bureau or perchance the favorite resting-
place of the family cat. The banana, the orange
and lemon, the date palm and pine apple now
thrive within a circle once hallowed by the sweet
communion of family intercourse. The green turf
now clothes where recently toads and innumer-
able amphibious creatures disported themselves in
joyous revelry. Rockeries, fine foliage beds, ger-
aniums and choice shrubs give an appearance to
the place that hitherto knew no beauty. The
dahlia stoops its haughty head to receive the
homage of the honey bee. The tuberose and
heliotrope shed their fragrance on the surrounding
air. The hollyhock, the sunflower and lily of
aesthetic fame, weep over the unhappy fate of their
less captivating floral gems. The Humea sways its
feathery plumes, and the Hydrangeas bend their
laden heads ; while the Agave stands unmoved.
Such revolutions as these, wrought in so brief a
period of time, but faintly illustrate the taste and
determination with which the beautiful art is now
pursued on the part of the worthy proprietor.

Our extent of glass at present is one conserva-
tory, two graperies and propagating or starting
house, with more in contemplation. The grape-
vines planted in January have this summer made
canes from eighteen to twenty feet in length, and
promise well for future fruition. In the conserva-
tory and greenhouse we have the following collec-
tion of plants brought here at considerable expense
within the past twelve months :
Aiianassa sativa variegata Chorozema ^<l)et•tal)ilis
Allamanda Hemlertsouii Cleroilen(lr( m Balt'oiirii

" neriifolia Cyperuf; alteniifiiliiis

Antliuiium Scheitzeriamiiii (.'yeas revoluta
" giaiulis " oircinalis

Alocasia Machoriza Cdrdylina Veitcliii

" luetallica C'yaiiopliyllum iiiagniflcuiu

Arala fllicifolia Chamierops humilis

Ardisia crenulata '■ Fortunii

.lEschynanthus Lolibii "• excelsa

Anthericum repens Caladhim argyrites

Acacia pubesceiis " Bellymeii

Bilbergia brachystachya '• Mad. Heine

Bertolonia guttata " Wightii

Bougainvillea glabra '• AUjcrt Edward

Begonia.s of many sintfi " bicolor Splendeus

Cissus discolor " Meyerbeer

Corphya Australis " Excellent

Curculigo recurvatuni Cyclamen persicum

Campsidium tilicifoliuui CaLla ^tliiopioa

Croton variegatuni Dionaea muscipula

■• Weisiiianiii Dipiadenia amabilis

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

Diefifeiibachia Baumaiiii

Dracaena terminalis
" Shepherdii
" ferrea
" Cassanova
" regina
" Guilfoylei
" Hendersonil

Diplaciis grandiflorus

Euterpe ediilis

Euphonbia splenden.?

Lapageria rosea
Latania borbonica
Musa Cavendishii
Medinilla magniflca
Meyenia erecta
Mimosa pudica
Myrsiphylluni asparagoidee
>[aranta Zebrina

" Mackoyaiia

" tubispatha

" rosalineata

" Jacquiniaeflora Nepenthes hybrida maeulata

Eucharis Candida " Rajah

" grandiflora Pilea muscosa

Erica hyemalis Passiflora princeps

" autiiinnali.s " (iiiadrangularis var.

Eugenia albiflora Pandanus Veitchii

Epiphyllum, 6 sorts Phyllaiitlms rosea picta

Ficus elastica Plioenix dactylifera

" repens Peperoiua argyreia

Gardenia florida l*;iuicum variegata

" Fortunii Plumbago capensis

Gloxinias, many sort Reedia glaucescens

Hoya carnosa Russelia juncea

Habrothamnus elegans Rivinia tinctoria

Hibiscus rosea sinensis Rhjniehospermum j a s m i n -
Imantophyllum miiiiatum oides

Ipomte.a Horsfalliie Seafortliia elegans

Isolepis gracilis Stephanotis floribunda

Ixora Lobbii Sarracenia Druniniondii alba

" Javanica Tillandsia zebrina
" purpurea " leopardinuni

" cuneifolia Tecoma jasminioides

" accuminata Tradescantia zebrina
" amabilis '' discolor

Jasminium grandifloruni " lucida var.

" de Bitean Thyrsacanthus rutilans

Kalosauthes coccinca Vallotta purpurea

Luculia gratissima Yucca recurva
Libonia floribunda

ORCHIDS.

^Erides japonicuim Epidendrum vitellinnni majus

Brassia verrucosa Lajlia autumnalis

Broughtonia sanguinea Maxillaria picta

Calanthes Veitchii Oncidium flexuosuni

" vestita " sphacelatum

Caelogyne cristata Odontoglossum maculatum
Cattleya citrina " Rossi majus

Cypripedium insigne " pulchellum

" Harrisianum Peristeria elata

" venustum Phajus grandiflora

Dendrobium nobile Stanhojiea tigrina
Epidendrum fragrans

FEKNS.

Acrolepteris nidus avis Lomaria ciliata

Adiantum Farleyense Nephrolepis davallioides
" Capillus veneris " exaltata

" gracillimum Polypodiiiiii orleanum
" macrophyllum " cambricum

" pentedactylon Pteris cretica albo-lineata
" pubescens " hastata

" concinnum latum '• longifolia
Athyrium filix-foemina •' scaberula

Asplenium viviparum " serrulata

Blechnum Brasliensis Selaginella Wildenovil
Cibotium regale " caesia

Davallia canariensis " caulescens

Gymnogramma chrysophylla " japonicum

" Wettershallianum " Mertensii

Lomaria gibba " viticulosa

" " erispa Woodwardia radicans

Exclusive of this collection, we have a good as-
sortment of -cactus, camellias, azaleas and most
of the nursery adjuncts for floral gaiety. And I
now ask, is it not a good twelvemonth's work to
bring this lot together? Palms from Astoria,
pitcher plants from South Amboy, camellias from
Waterbury, cactus from Utah, lilies from Hono-
lulu, century plants from Mexico and Achimenes
from England beyond the seas.

I would go more into the appearance, arrange-
ment, &c., of many of these plants, but am induced
to keep reticent on that matter, lest some of your
readers might think I craved for egotistical fame.
My maxim is " Honor to whom honor is due,"
and as a gardener and a lover of all belonging
thereto, I could not let the efforts of my employer
in the furtherance of my calling pass unnoticed.

j GARDENING NOTES FROM NEW ORLEANS.

i BY MR. M. H. LESTER, XEW (ORLEANS, LA.

i Having a few spare moments 1 thought a few
notes might be interesting to some portion of your
readers.

Owing to the example of some people of taste,

1 gardening has assumed very respectable propor-

j tions in this city in the last few years, and several

gardens " up town" will compare favorably with

those of any city in the Union.

Some people have got the impression because
orange and magnolia are used here for sidewalk
trees that everything else will grow quite easily ; but
the sooner that impression is modified the better.
Some things of course do better than in other places,
Pittosporum tobira, Cycas revoluta, Hedychiums,
Crinums, all the Ficus, including Parcellii, palms
and roses — teas and hybrid teas, all do well in the
open ground, and splendid specimens of each are
to be met with.

Here, on this place, bulbs, such as hyacinths,
anemones, ranunculus, and oxalis have the space
allotted to them nearly covered ; iris and gladiolus
well up and will be all cleared away to make room
for something else before you can break the ground
with a crow-bar in the North. This class of stuff
was scarcely known here a few years ago.

Seeds, in spite of all that has been said and
written concerning them, are still inclined to be
mean, particularly if they are choice, and you have
only a few. They mostly came up splendidly, but if
they get too dry one will probably lose them ; if
they get water at the bottom we are liable to lose
them ; and if they get water at the top we are sure
to lose them ; and when one does happen to get

1883.

AND HORTICULTURIST.

5

them all right they have a fashion of getting small
by degrees, and beautifully less, until there is noth-
ing left to remind one of their once happy existence
but the label and the pot. Truly they are like the
ways of Providence — past finding out. I find I do
better with such small seeds as begonias, lobehas,
mimulus, &c., by using a handful of small crocks,
bits of charcoal, or rough peat, on the top of the
pot or pan. Sow the seed and water with the rose.
I find they seldom need anything more until they
are fit to handle, but even then they are not safe,
for about this time along comes a swarm of cater-
pillars and bugs, snails and slugs, and I often won-
der we don't all go crazy at once and be done with
it.

Pansies, Viola, Petunias, Dianthus, Coreopsis,
&c., are all pricked off in boxes to be stowed away
from frost — if we have any — and planted out
about the middle of January, some to do duty all
summer, and others to be burned up as soon as
real hot weather comes.

The thermometer has not registered lower than
60° outside at six A. m., this season, as yet (No.v.
15); Pointsettas are ablaze outside in the ground,
roses in basketfuls, and coleus look better than they
did in July or August.

EDITORIAL NOTKS.

Single Dahlias. — The new race of Single
Dahlias, which is commanding so much attention
in Europe, has not yet made its appearance to any
extent in our country, but Mr. Wm. Falconer writes
to the American Garden for November, from Cam-
bridge, Mass., that "Mr. Cullingford, of London,
an amateur horticulturist of most refined taste, sent
me, last spring, some seeds of single dahlias saved
from his own collection. These seedlings are now
in blossom, and display a general beauty and ex-
cellence at once gratifying and surprising."

Philadelphia Fairmount Park. — Philadel-
phians cannot boast of the high condition of many
of her public works, but they take comfort in con-
sidering that they get more for their money than
people get elsewhere. Horticultural Hall and its
beautiful surroundings, only cost the city of Phila-
delphia $15,000 in 1882, and the whole of Fair-
mount Park only $95,000, though it has 2200 acres.
On the other hand, Central Park, New York, only
one-third its size, had $400,000.

Roads and Traveling Comforts in China.
— Mr. Maries continues in the London Garden his

remarkably instructive sketches of Chinese travel.
Of the roads he says : " I went by steamer to Kui-
kiang and was favored with the use of a nice bunga-
low^ on the mountains, inland from that place. There
are are no decent roads in China ; the main path is
generally only about six feet wide, and often paved
with irregularly shaped stones, or rather was once
upon a time ; now there are a few stepping stones
for a few feet, then a few yards of mud. If a horse
or coolie chair comes along, one has to either step
down into a mud rice field or dispute the way with
the comers. Near Kuikiang the Chinese are not of
the best disposition, and I avoided the villages and
generally turned off the road if I saw many people
coming. I was stopped several times by the na-
tives and told I had no right there, or that I must
go back. Once I had all the plants I had collected
taken from me by a priest and a gang of cut-throat-
looking fellows. I, however, fetched them again at
night. Once I was surrounded in a village, and I
thought the curiosity of the natives would have re-
sulted in stripping me of all I had. The frightful
diseases with which some of the Chinese are
afflicted, it is sickening to behold. The miserable
wretches had made me almost mad to be clear of
them. Most indescribable skin diseases, others
just recovered from small-pox, others with toes and
fingers completely rotted off with disease. I have
many times walked two and three miles to avoid
the villages, and even then a crowd would follow
me, shouting "foreign devil," etc. The Kuikiang
Mountains extend from north to south of the
Poyang Lake."

Rose Centenario des Camoens. — The Jour-
nal des Roses is very enthusiastic over this new
rose.

New Golden Feverfew. — We can put up with
a Latin generic and specific naine, in consideration
of the many advantages of an uniform system,
though the name be hard ; but " Matricaria eximia
nana aurea crispa compacta flore pleno " seems a
little too much of a good thing. It is among the
latest of German novelties.

White Tigridia. — Everybody knows the pretty
summer flowering bulb, the Tigridia or Tiger
flower. We have the red Tigridia pavonia, and
the yellow conchiflora. The white, according to
Revue Horticole was raised and recently sent out
by M. Hennequin, of Angers, France. In habit
and general aspect it is said to be similar to the
older variety T. conchiflora, from which it seems to
have sprung. Its flowers are large, of a dead or
pearly-white color, marked at the base of each

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

division with large spots of a reddish brown or
chestnut color on a yellowish ground, forming a
fine contrast with the white of the petals. The
style column is of a bright yellow, of the form of a
long hollow sheath, terminated by three mottled
plates enclosing the style within them. This should
be quite an acquisition to our summer borders and
a good companion for the already known and ad-
mired varieties of this showy family.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

EuoNYMUS RADiCANS. — It is surprising that for all
the attention which has been called to the creeping
burning bush, there should yet be so little inquiry
for it. A correspondent says : " I should be glad
to know that its value for walls was appreciated.
I am told that there is a two-story house in Nash-
ville completely covered to the eaves with it, and
that it is very beautiful."

Datura arborea. — A lady of Charleston,
S. C, writes that she saw near that city a plant of
Datura arborea fully ten feet high and broad in
proportion, literally covered with fragrant blossoms
and buds in great quantity. Such a plant~i's

naturally a treasure to its owner. This plant is
often grown in northern gardens as a tub plant, to
be protected in winter from frost, and is always
appreciated. It deserves, however, a still wider
popularity.

Transplanting Seasons. — " R. O.," Philadel-
phia, writes : "Will you be kind enough to inform
me which season you consider best for transplant-
ing trees — spring or fall ? It is held by some that
fall is the best time, while others claim that spring
is preferable."

[This is one of the questions that can never be
finally decided. If trees are in good condition
when planted, and are planted properly, they will
only die from what happens to them after they are
planted. If the weather which follows is "awful,"
there may be ill-success with the planting. It may
be a terribly cold winter, or a terribly hot summer.
As we cannot tell in advance, one season is about
as safe as another. One thing we all know, which
is that spring is a more busy season than fall, and
on this account in our own practice we plant all
we can in fall. On this account it is the best for
us, and, when the winter does not prove too
severe, we find it the best on all other accounts. —
Ed. G. M.] .

Greenhouse- and House Gardening.

SEASONABLE HINTS.

The temperature of the greenhouse at this season
should be maintained at about 50^, allowing it to
rise loP or 15O under the full sun, and sink 10°
or so in the night. Though many of our practical
brethren differ from us — men, for some of whose
opinions we entertain the highest respect — we do
not recommend a very great difference between
night and day temperature ; we think 10° ample
allowance. It is following nature, no doubt, but
we would rather strive to beat nature. She can
not make the specimens we do, nor flower them so
beautifully or profusely ; and in many other re-
spects we think the practical gardener can much
improve on her red tape notions and old-fashioned
courses.

Many plants will seem to be full of roots, and

the temptation to repot will be very great ; but if a
plant is desired to flower freely, the fuller of roots
the pot is the better. Continual pot — tering is the
bane of plant culture. If the soil is so very much
exhausted that the flowers are likely to be small
and poor, a half inch of the old soil in the pot, on
the surface, may be replaced by a top-dressing of
rich compost. But watchfulness must be after-
wards exercised, or the plant will get over-dry, as
the loose soil on the top will often appear wet
when, in reality, all below is as dry as a powder
horn.

In iTiany greenhouses we have noted lately more
attempts at a tasteful arrangement of the plants,
than used formerly to prevail, when the only object
of a greenhouse seemed to be a mere store place
for border flowers during winter. This is very
commendable, and might be much improved on.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

Every few weeks the plant may be reset, and the
house made to appear quite different. In the end,
where the lowest plants once were set, now the
taller ones may be placed — here a convex group,
and there presenting a concave appearance.
Drooping plants on elevated shelves, and hanging
baskets from the roof, make little paradises of va-
riety in what was once unbearable monotony.

Gardeners often wish to know the secret of
maintaining a continued" interest on the part of
their employers, in their handiwork ; and this is
one of the most potent — continued change and
variety in the appearance of everything. Beauti-
ful flowers, graceful forms, elegant combinations,
all developing themselves with a healthy luxurious-
ness and everchanging endlessness, will wake up
an interest in the most indifferent breast.

The ability for this tasteful arrangement is often
one of the chief differences between a good gar-
dener and a poor one. Before us is a photograph
kindly sent us by Mr. Charles Joly, of Paris. It
represents a group arranged by the gardener to
Baron A. Rothschild, and, though of materials
found in most first-class greenhouse collections, it
is rarely that one sees such a beautiful combina-
tion from the same materials. As far as we can
judge from the photograph, the mass represents a
cone about seven feet high. It is capped by what
appears to be a plant of Alocasia metallica ; around
under the leaves of this, so as to hide the pot of
the Alocasia, are some half-dozen baskets of Ne-
penthes. On the ground there are arranged broad
leaved Caladiums and narrow leaved Dractenas
and Pandanuses, with Diefifenbachias, Pothos, and
other plants, which not only by color, but by the
contrasts with the leaves of different sizes, are
made to give harmonious variety to the whole
group.

It is impossible to conceive of anything more
effectually arranged, and we do not wonder that
our kind correspondent, Mr. Joly, thought it worth
photographing and sending across the Atlantic.
All may not have these plants of course ; but our
idea is to call attention to the fact that great beauty
of arrangement may be contrived out of very sim-
ple things.

The more freely a plant is growing, the more
water will it require ; and the more it grows, the
more sun and light will it need. In all cases, those
which seem to grow the fastest should be placed"
nearest the light. The best aspect for room plants
is the south-east. They seem like animals in their
affection for the morning sun. The first morning
ray is worth a dozen in the evening. Should any of

our fair readers find her plants, by some unlucky
calculation, frozen in the morning, do not remove
them at once to a warm place, but dip them in cold
water, and set them in a dark spot, where they will
barely escape freezing. Sunlight will only help the
frost's destructive powers.

COMMUNICATIONS.

. BOUVARDIAS.

BV MISS W., QUAKER HILL, .\. Y.

I would like to recommend to all lovers of beau-
tiful fragrant flowers the Bouvardias Humboldtii
and candidissima. They are such clean hand-
some-looking plants and their fragrance will per-
fume a room. A. Neuner is beautiful, but if I
could have but one shoot I would choose one of
the former. They are all profuse bloomers. Will
some kind reader of the Monthly please inform
me how to propagate them ? Also the best way
of heating a ver.y small plant-room ? If anyone
has succeeded in using a coal oil stove for the
purpose, please state the kind.

[Bouvardias are raised by making cuttings of.
pieces of the roots about this time of the year.
The small plants are set out in May, and make
strong blooming plants by fall.

There is so much uncertainty about the best
way to heat small rooms or plant-houses, that we
should be glad if some reader who has had actual
experience would reply to the lady's question. —
Ed. G. M.]

IMPROVEMENT IN ACROCLINIUM.

BY J. C. SCHMIDT, ERFURT, PRUSSIA.

I have taken the liberty to forward to your ad-
dress, by to-day's parcel post, a bunch of Acroclin-
ium roseum, and roseum flore pleno (J. C. Schmidt),
the latter being a novelty which I succeeded
in raising.

The single roseum (AcrocHnium Hooker), a na-
tive of Texas, was imported to our country not so
very long ago, and immediately gained the favor of
nearly every one who saw it. Especially our flor-
ists found it to be a very good addition, and used
the little pink-colored, charming flowers freely to
fill baskets, arrange bouquets, and for general
flower work. Already — six years ago — I discov-
ered amongst the Acrocliniums which I cultivate on
a space of ten to twelve acres, single plants, the
flowers of which showed a small inclination to fill.

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

These few plants I picked out, and with the great- In a botanical point of view the improvement
est care I selected again and again the proper will have a special interest. Even those with little

plants to produce,
by-and-bye, a double-
filled flower.

Now I have suc-
ceeded in getting this
novelty nearly con-
stant— about twenty-
five per cent, of seeds
only, sown last har-
vest from good filled
flowers turned out
single flowers — and
after a period of six
years' unceasing care,
I ofi'er my new Acro-
clinium roseum flore
pleno (J. C. Schmidt)
as a very valuable
addition to the class
of everlasting flow-
ers.

The single Acro-
clinium being a very
favored flower, with-
out which the com-
position of flower-
work can not be
thought of, the new
Acroclinium roseum
flore pleno will doubt-
less obtain double
the favor from consumers, similar to Helichrvsum so large

Acroclinium roseum flore pleno (J. C. Schmidt.)

FKESH Cl'T FLUWEKS.

botanical knowledge
know that a compos-
ite flower, such as
this, asters, dahlias,
and so on, is not a
single flower, but a
mass of small flow-
ers. To form a com-
pound flower, we
may imagine a long
branch, with a flower
in the axil of each
leaf twined in a cir-
cular manner round
the branch ; but in
the compound flower
nature draws the
elongated branch
down, and coils it
around, as we would
make a coil of rope
on the floor. We
may assume that the
flowers would not be
as large as if they
had been left to grow
on an elongated
branch, nor is the
leaf in which the
flower would be ax-
illary expected to be
Indeed, in many composite flowers all

and Xeranthemum, of which flowers the
varieties are always preferred
to single ones.

The demand for material to
work wreaths and bouquets of
dried flowers is increasing from
year to year, and every good
novelty in this department is
generally accepted with great
joy.

[Mr. Schmidt is in error in
regard to this pretty plant being
a native of Texas. It is an
Australian. In America those
who prepare annuals for bed-
ding out in May , often makegood
use of the Acroclinium. It is
.very beautiful even in its natural
condition. In its present shape
it will be still more desirable.

filled

trace of the leaf is lost, and in others it only
exists as a mere scale beneath
each floret. In the original
Acroclinium we find the original
leaf at the base of each floret ;
in this improved form this pri-
mary leaf, or scale, has devel-
oped until it is very nearly as
large as the first tier of meta-
morphosed leaves, usually
known as the involucre.
Usually in making "double"
flowers nature operates on
stamens or petals. In this
case the flowers are un-
changed, but the leaf scales
have grown up among the
florets. It is the only case of
the kind we remember in the
vegetable kingdom. The

KIED FLOWER.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

original single flower is not shown in Mr. Schmidt's
article.— Ed. G. M.]

COST OF STEAM HEATING.
BY AUGUST D. MYLIUS, DETROIT, MICH.

I have had many inquiries about heating with
steam during the summer and autumn. To an-
swer all would take much time, and perhaps
would not satisfy every one. I can say that steam
heating will, I think, give more satisfaction uni-'
formly than hot water or any other form of heat-
ing. At least, I am well satisfied with mine. I
have two boilers in use now. It is best for those
wishing to put in steam to get a good steam-fitter
to do the job, and have him warrant everything to
work satisfactorily. 1 had my steam-fitting done
by a good mechanic who warranted his work to
give satisfaction, and so it did. There are good
steam-fitters in every city who can do the same.
The price for steam heating is about one-third less
than hot water and gives just as good or better
satisfaction. Those who intend to put in steam
should see or write to a steam-fitter, tell him how
many and how large are the houses you wish to
heat. Better to show him the houses before
making a contract; then he can give an exact esti-
mate of cost to fit them with steam. The boiler
should be ordered by the steam-fitter, who knows
just what is needed. One of my boilers is from
Pierce & Co., Buffalo, N. Y. It is an upright,
extra made for heating purposes. The other is a
horizontal boiler, made in Detroit by Stephen
Pratt. The first cost, complete, #400 ; the second
cost (boiler alone, no fixings) $200. Of course the
first heats double as much as the other. The two
heat six large houses. All complete in heating
order, pipes, boilers, &c., cost me for the six houses
about $1,500. The houses are 64x24 feet each.

PHARBITIS LEARII.

BY CHARLES E. PARNELL.

Pharbitis Learii, or as it is more generally known
and cultivated under the name of Ipomoea Learii,
is a splendid evergreen climbing or twining plant,
belonging to the natural order Convolvulacae. It
is a native of the beautiful and fertile island of
Ceylon, from whence it was introduced in 1839.
It is a beautiful evergreen species, attaining a
height of from twenty-five to thirty-five feet, the
shrubby stem being covered with a hairy pubes-
cence. The leaves are variable in form ; most
frequently they are cordate, but occasionally they

are three-lobed and of a deep green color above,
while underneath they are covered with a whitish
pubescence, and the beautiful deep purple-blue
flowers are produced in clusters from the extremi-
ties of the lateral shoots. They are very abund-
antly produced during the season. In color they
are of a rich deep purplish-blue, with five con-
spicuous bands of a lighter hue.

Although this plant is usually described as a
greenhouse climber, yet for training on pillars or
trellis work in the open air during the summer sea-
son its value is beyond all question. Good, strong
plants, placed in a well-prepared border, grow with
extreme rapidity and great luxuriance, and soon
cover an extensive space and produce flowers in
immense quantities ; and it is a fact worthy of re-
membrance that this plant will stand our hot, dry
summer without sustaining the least injury, and is,
moreover, perfectly free from all insect pests.

In order to flower this pretty climber to perfec-
tion in the open air during the summer season, a
good, strong plant should be placed in a well-pre-
pared border about the tenth of May, where, with
a little attention as to training and watering, it will
soon produce very satisfactory results. On the
approach of frost it can be cut back, taken up and
carefully potted, and if placed in the greenhouse in
a temperature of 48^ or 50^* and a light situation, it
will be found to be of value for another season.

The Pharbitis can also be grown as a green-
house chmber where it will produce very satis-
factory results, if given an abundance of room
for its roots, a compost, of two-thirds well-rotted
sods, one-third well-rotted manure, and during
its season of growth an abundance of water at
the roots. At this time also it should be freely
and frequently syringed. After its flowering sea-
son is over it should be well cut back, and during
the winter water should be sparingly given.

The Pharbitis can be easily propagated both by
seeds and cuttings ; cuttings are best taken from
the extremities of the flowering shoots. By this
method the plants will flower much sooner, for if
the cuttings are taken from the lower branches
they will be found to require a considerable quan-
tity of space before they produce many flowers.
The seed can be sown in a well-drained pot of
light sandy soil at any season of the year, the
preferable time being March or April. Keep the
soil moist and shade from bright sunshine, and as
soon as the young plants become strong enough
to handle, carefully transplant into four-inch pots
and keep close and moist until well established ;
then gradually expose to the air, shift into larger

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

pots as often as it is necessary and plant out in the
open air, when all danger of frost is over.

[Mr. Parnell does not in the least underrate the
beauty of this fine plant and its great merits for
summer decoration in American gardens. It be-
longs to the class popularly known in America as
the " Morning Glory," from its early blooming
peculiarities. It usually closes before midday.
The editor has not seen a plant for many years.
His recollection of it as a greenhouse plant is that
it was a great favorite with red spider. — Ed.

G. M.]

-«-■ » —

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Chrysanthemums at Fairmount Park, Phil-
adelphia.— The collection at Fairmount Park de-
serves more than the passing notice of the daily
papers. On a recent visit we found them to com-
prise probably the grandest collection in America.
We believe it embraces nearly two hundred varie-
ties, some having flowers actually six inches across,
and others as small as an English daisy. There
was also every conceivable shade of white, pink,
yellow, red, and purple among them. The plants
were remarkably well grown, being trained up to
single stems, but pinched back in their earlier
growth stages to make them bushy. Some were
three feet high, and nearly as wide. The Gardener,
Mr. Minguey, is justly proud of his success as a
grower of Chrysanthemums. The grand display
is made in one of the large houses devoted to bed-
ding plants in the spring. The effect on Chrysan-
themum culture in Philadelphia is very marked,
and the florists who grow Chrysanthemums have
been more than usually patronized.

Fairmount Park, comprising 2200 acres, is so
large that the money for maintenance and improve-
ment would form but a thin spread if laid over the
whole. The plan of the landscape gardener, Mr.
C. H. Miller, to have at least a few points very supe-
rior is a very good one. His beds of foliage plants
in high keeping, have been highly praised by the
citizens the past few seasons, and this effort with the
Chrysanthemum has been another illustration of
the value of doing at least some things well.

Diamond Tuberose. ^Our readers will remem-
ber that it was charged by Mr. Thorpe and Mr.
Henderson in our columns, that they had good
reason for believing that the " Diamond " was noth-
ing but the " Pearl " under a new name. As about
that time the introducers thought proper to with-
draw it from sale, in order to test it another year,
we did not think it necessary to print the articles

sent us in full. But as we see the plant again ad-
vertised, it is only proper to remind our readers that
the original charge has not been cleared away.

Potting Plants.- — This is an operation which
every beginner considers himself skilled in, but
which is, nevertheless, often badly performed even
by practical gardeners. The first point to be no-
ticed is properly draining the pots. When a suit-
able outlet for the superfluous water is not made it
is hopeless to expect success, for no plant can thrive
in sour soil. In draining the smallest sized pots
one crock (piece of broken pot) over the hole in
the bottom, with the concave side downwards, cov-
ered with the roughest of the soil, is generally
enough. Indeed, a little rough soil in the case of
strong-growing, strong-rooting plants is often
enough. For plants in 6-six pots one large crock
covered with rough lumpy soil may be enough for
Balsams, or even Fuchsias, when growing rapidly.
For Heaths and plants of a similar nature, small
crocks carefully arranged to the depth of fully an
inch should cover the central one, and over the
small crocks a little moss, or the fibre from the peat
or loam, is necessary to prevent the soil stopping
the drainage. For a 12-inch pot from three to four
inches depth of drainage will be necessary, and
more according to size.

Having drained the pots, the next thing is plac-
ing in the soil. When the smallest pots are used
for potting cuttings or seedlings enough soil should
be placed in the pots, and pressed firmly down, that
when the roots of the plant to be potted rest lightly
on it the part of the stem which was at the surface
of soil before may be fully a quarter of an inch be-
low the rim of the pot. Holding the plant in this
position, in the centre of the pot, with the left hand,
soil should be placed into the pot with the right,
and pressed down firmly and level, the surface of
the soil being a quarter of an inch below the rim
of the pot. This space is for holding water. When
the plants are to be taken out of cutting boxes each
should be lifted out carefully with a good ball of
earth, and only as much being carefully removed
without bruising the roots as will reduce the ball so
that it may be easily introduced into the pot in-
tended for it.

When plants are to be shifted the same rule
should be observed. Plants do not need shifting
unless the soil in the pots is well occupied with
roots, and it is considered desirable or necessary to
increase the size of the plants. When the plants
are turned out of the pots the drainage should be
removed, and any unoccupied soil carefully picked

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

off. It should then be placed on the soil (which ; the ball breaking, and so destroying the roots,
has been put in the pot and well firmed down previ- When a plant is potted the new soil should always
ously), and fresh soil packed, either with the fingers, be put in as firm as the old ball is, or when the

Dieffenbachia Carderi.

(See page 12.)

or a blunt piece of wood, rather firmly. Loose 1 water is applied it will run through the loose soil
soil holds too much water, and when plants which ! and leave the firmer portion, where the roots are.
are potted loosely are turned out there is danger of too dry. — London Journal of Horticulture.

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

NEW OR RARE PLANTS. i bachias and Caladiums, but, as they have usually

' a difference of habit, it is a convenience to plant

Two Beautiful Leaf Plants — Dieffenba- j cultivators to keep them separate. A great variety
CHiA Carderi, and D. Leopoldii.— We do ncft ! of beautiful foliage is found among the Dieffen-

know whether botanists generally are disposed to j bachias, and they are among the handsomest of
admit any substantial difference between Dieffen- j this class of warm greenhouse plants. They were

AND HORTICULTURIST.

13

both introduced by Mr. Wm. Bull, of Chelsea,
London, from South America, a few years ago, and
proved very acceptable to English plant lovers.
D. Carderi is described as having oblong-ovate
leaves, spreading or becoming somewhat deflexed,
of a rich dark green, strikingly blotched and varie-
gated. Owing to the ground color and the variega-
tion being about equally distributed, the plant is
exceedingly striking and attractive. D. Leopoldii
is a plant of resplendent beauty. The leaves
are oblong-ovate, of a rich deep lustrous satiny
green, traversed by a broad and stout ivory-white
rib, which is bordered on each side through its en-
tire length with a whitish band, and shows in strong
contrast to the color of the leaf surface, producing
a marvellously fine pictorial effect. It is one of
the most handsome of the Dieffenbachias yet intro-
duced, and was one of the twelve new plants with
which Mr. W. B. gained the first prize at the Royal
Horticultural Society's show, held at Preston in
1878, and the first prize at the International Horti-
cultural Exhibition, held at Cihent in 1878.

Double Gloxinias. — The latest novelty in
double flowers, is announced by the Revue Horti-
cole, as Double Gloxinias. They ought to be highly
prized if the double character is in any regular
form. They were raised by a gardener in Hun-
gary.

■«-»-»

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Spruce Oil Liquid. — Mr. G. Geduldig, of Nor-
wich, Conn., writes that he has used the fir tree oil

introduced by Mr. Rolker, on plants infested with
Scale, and finds it to "work like a charm."

Azalea Miss Buist. — One of the last of the
"late Robert Buist's many contributions to improved
garden flowers, was a seedling azalea, the stock of
which was purchased by Mr. B. S. Williams, of
London. It has just been placed on the market,
and is described as of the amoena type, but is pure
white " and a model as respects form."

The Double Bouvardia. — R. L. Templin, Cal-
la, O., writes: "A few days ago, while visiting a
neighbor florist, 1 was shown a very fine bed of
A. Neuner Double Bouvardias, containing 150 or
200 plants, that were propagated from root cuttings.

There was not one single flower in the whole lot.
Is it generally known that the double varieties will
come true from root cuttings ? When I received
my first plants from the originators, they sent me a
card stating that they could not be grown from
root-cuttings, as they would come single. I would
be glad to hear from some others who have tried
growing them from root cuttings."

[As a general rule plants which originate in
branches, known as sports, will not come always
true from root cuttings. Many kinds of variegated
plants will not reproduce the character by root
cuttings. It would be well for an originator of a
new variety in this way to caution, that disappoint-
ment might not arise from root-cutting plants. As
regards this Bouvardia, we have known them to be
raised from root-cuttings, and always so far, with
the reproduction of the double form. — Ed. G. M.]

Fruit and Vegetable Gardening.

COMMUNICATIONS.

CELERY CULTURE.

BY PETER HENDERSON.

I notice at page 366, of the December number of
the Monthly, an article on celery growing by Mr.
A. D. Mylius, of Detroit, Michigan, in which he
says that he sows the seed in a hot-bed the ist of
March. That practice is no doubt perfectly cor-

rect for his section of the country, but he should
not have set that date as the proper time for sowing,
without a warning that in any other section where
the season is longer and the temperature higher,
that if sown in a hot-bed on the ist of March the
crop would be destroyed by its running to seed.
Our practice in the vicinity of New York is to sow
in the open ground about the 1st of April, and
plant not sooner than the 15th of June, and in par-
ticularly fine growing seasons we find that even

14

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

when sown at that date a few plants will run to
seed, and I am satisfied that if sown in our latitude
or in any similar one, in a hot-bed on the ist of
March, a large proportion of the crop would
run to seed. In Britain the practice is almost uni-
versal of sowing in hot-beds about the 1st of March.
There of course it is a necessity, because the tem-
perature is so much lower that it requires a longer
season to mature. There is no doubt that the
European practice of sowing in hot-beds is the cause
of a great deal of mischief here from the fact that
our great variety of climate is not taken into con-
sideration by gardeners who have had European
experience. I think it is safe to say that we have
at least a score of complaints every season of celery
running to seed from seeds purchased of us and
other seedsmen. In nearly all cases, however, we
find that the seed has either been sown in a hot-bed,
or, in some of the extreme Southern States, sown
too early in the open ground. Hence in giving ex-
perience in a special locality one should always be
careful to state that that practice may not be proper
for another section.

Michigan is pro\ing to be an excellent latitude
for celery culture. Last season large quantities
grown at Kalamazoo were sent to the New York
market — and perhaps also from Detroit — that was
ahead in quality of anything we had raised here
that season, owing to the unprecedented drouth.
As a rule however, celery would not pay to ship
that distance, because it is rare indeed that our
crop fails in this vicinity. I have only seen it fail
twice — as it did in 1881 — in thirty years.

BEET WINE.

BY M. AUGUSTE UELEl'IL, GARDANNE-LES-MAR-
SEILLE, FRANCE.

All the world knows of the ravages which the
Phylloxera has made on the European grape for
some years past. The depredations of this terrible
pest have been in no ways exaggerated. Ingredi-
ent on ingredient, process on process, have been
tried, the experimenters having little more than
their labor for their pains. In view of this evident
result, some, with the encouragement of some
learned societies, have had the courage to propose
the total abandonment of the culture of this once
precious plant, because they have discovered all
they desire to replace it in another vegetable. This
is neither more nor less than varieties of the com-
mon Sugar Beet, which there is now no doubt for
wine-making purposes, can be made to succeed to
the famous heritage of the vine. The beet fur-

nishes a first class alcohol. The red beet, strong
in sugar, produces by fermentation a wine which
has been found fully the equal of any produced by
the grape in the meridian of the Southern Cross.

In all worldly troubles there is usually something
occurs to give relief, and it will only be another in-
stance of the beneficence of this law, if now, with
the inevitable fate of grape culture in the old world
clearly before us, the beet should arise for all the
purposes of wine-making, to give relief to the dis-
tressed grape grower.

SOME REMINISCENCES OF THE CALADIUM
ESCULENTUM.

HY MRS. D. M. W., CHARLESTON, S. C.

On my arrival in Charleston, S. C, more than
forty years ago, Tanyas, " Caladium esculentum "
were commonly sold in the Charleston market as a
vegetable ; and among other things sent by a friend
as gifts to us as strangers, on our first going to
housekeeping, was a bag of tanyas. What was I
to do with them ? My Irish cook declared them to
be nothing better than rotten potatoes, she " knew
the nasty things well." So they laid on the floor
of the piazza till my husband came in ; he said they
were very nice — " Boil them a long while as you
would potatoes, and eat them with plenty of butter;
make them into soup with a good piece of beef."
All was done as he ordered, a great dish of greyish
white mealy balls appeared on the dinner table,
enormous things, tinted with blue and red — very
discouraging to look at, worse to eat.

The next day tanya soup was carefully boiled
with all sorts of condiments to make it palatable ;
that was better, but two or three spoonfuls were
sufficient, and we have never tried tanyas as vege-
tables since, though I planted in my garden what
remained of the brown rough balls and reaped a
harvest of delight in their lovely growth, which I
had then never seen in Europe.

On what is called the King Street road, the same
summer, on the edge of a very muddy ditch, inter-
sected by another equally black and oozy, grew,
apparently wild, a magnificent growth of tanyas.
Year after year they increased and multiplied, till
they covered both ditches and much of the sur-
rounding field. In those far-off times of which I
write the negroes had a legend that tanyas were
originally brought by them from Africa, and cer-
tainly to this day they are eaten by them, and a
patch may always be found in their gardens.

[The editor's recollection of roasted tanyas is not
unfavorable.]

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

15

EDITORIAL NOTES.

A New "Yellows" Disease in the Peach.—
English journals have a good deal to say about a
new disease which has recently broken out among
peaches, and which they call "the yellows." As |
it has always been stated that what Americans call i
" the yellows " does not exist in England, it may
be as well to note here that what they now call by
this name is not the American disease. It is thus
described in the London Jcnirnal of Horticulture :
"The trees were afflicted in many instances with
the ' yellows' — that is to say, the points of the
young growths were yellow instead of a dark
healthy green color. This may be thought a rather
singular name for a complaint, but those who are
acquainted with the symptoms know the crops
obtained from such trees are of comparatively little
value till these same ' yellows' are prevented. The
trees when in this condition, unless too far gone,
flower freely and set good crops of fruit, which
appear to stone well, but the majority drop when
apparently near perfection."

In order to prevent confusion it will be best to
call their trouble " English yellows" when we are
referring to it.

Peach Yellows Law of Michigan. — Mr. T. T.
Lyon supplies the following piece of history : "A
previous Legislature had enacted a ' Yellows Law'
applicable only to the counties of Van Buren,
Allegan and Ottawa ; and difficulty arising from
its non-applicabihty to other adjoining localities,
and from the alleged insufficiency of some of its
provisions, a movement was in progress to modify
this law and make it general throughout the State.
The State Pomological Society was appealed to,
at the annual meeting in December, 1877, at Paw
Paw, to perfect a draft of the proposed law, and to
bring it before the LegislMure with its endorse-
ment. It was after the discussion of the motion
to refer this matter to a special committee, that
Hon. N. H. Bitely, of Lawton, read an abstract of
the facts elicited during the discussion, in which he
stated it to be his conclusion that it seems inevitable
nothing but a stringent law for the destruction
of the diseased trees, applicable to the whole State,
diligently and energetically enforced, will prevent
the loss of every peach tree in the State. Without
such a law we may bid a long farewell to this most
luscious fruit which has so long been both a source
of pride and revenue to the State of Michigan.
With such a law, so enforced, the future of the
peach will be more hopeful. Mr. Lyon adds that

this can only be taken as the conclusion of Mr.
Bitely. We are confident, however, that it ex-
pressed (perhaps not in a sufficiently guarded man-
ner) the dominant feeling of those in attendance,
that the proposed application of the law respecting
nuisances to this disease, was legitimate and
proper ; and that, if we would escape the calamity
I that had already nearly or quite ruined the peach
I plantations of an entire county of our ' fruit belt,'
prompt and earnest action must be had."

Earliest Peaches in Texas. — T. V. Munson
j says Musser and Ashby are the earliest. These
are followed by Baker and Alexander, Wilder and
Excelsior following.

i Japan Persimmon in the South. — It is now
j some six or seven years since the Japan Persim-
mon was first introduced into Mobile by distribu-
tions made by the LTnited States Commissioner of
Agriculture-. It has fruited three or four years in
succession in the vicinity of Mobile and Pensacola,
I and found to do well there. Mr. Delchamps has
a flourishing orchard in the lower part of the
county, and Mr. Langdon has another in the upper
part. Mr. D., who is perhaps the pioneer, in
experimenting with this new fruit, says that he has
three hundred trees, all doing well, and Mr. L. has
about one-third as many — his orchard including
no less than thirteen varieties, namely, Tanenashi,
Hiakume, Nihon, Hatsiga, Yamato, Kurokuma,
Royal, Daidaimara, Mikado, Gosho, Goshomara,
Imperial and Mino.

Hardy Apples in Ohio. — Judge Cheney, of
Winchester, says that the most hardy are the
Roman Stem, White Winter, Pearmain and Milam.

American Peaches in Europe. — We reprint
from the London Garden the following letter of a
French correspondent, which we are sure will be
read with much interest by American peach
growers :

"M. Raymond Aurrau, the proprietor of this
estate, who, for his remarkably successful cultiva-
tion (especially of American vines), has just ob-
tained the prize of honor at an exhibition at Dra-
guignan, was one of the first to plant on a large
scale that remarkably early peach, Amsden's June,
of which some thousands of young trees have been
imported from the United States. In the spring of
1879, a hundred trees were planted at Docapris on
the same piece of ground in which a number of
Jacquez vines were at the same time planted. In
the rich and deep soil of Decapris the Jacquez
vine makes the most luxuriant growth, but the
growth and development of Amsden's June peach
on the same soil is quite extraordinary. Planted
three years ago, as one year's grafts of ordinary

i6

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

strength grafted on peach stocks in America, these
trees now have stems with an average circumfer-
ence of 8^ inches. The heads of those grown as
standards, about 3 feet high, measure over 5 >^ feet
in average diameter. These heads take naturally,
and almost without any pruning whatever, the
most regularly rounded form. 1 saw these trees
on the 28th of June last, and I may say, without
exaggeration, that I have never seen, except in
America, peach trees in the open air so well devel-
oped at the age of only three years. I never be-
fore had an opportunity of witnessing such exuber-
ant growth and such an abundant crop. Every
tree this year bore at least 105 pounds of fruit, and
there were some on which the crop must have ex-
ceeded 140 pounds. At this time (June 28th), at
D&capris, where the winter temperature is lower
than that of Hyeres and of the sea coast, and
where, consequently, fruit does not ripen so early,
Amsden's June peach had been gathered more
than ten days. The fruit, although too numerous
on every tree, was, however, tolerably large, weigh-
ing on an average 2 % ounces each. It was par-
ticularly well colored, and I ascertained that it was
disposed of at the market in Paris at a very remu-
nerative price of from £7 to ^8 per 100 kilo-
grammes (about 350 }1)S. ). At even half this price
the entire crop of these 100 peach trees at Decapris,
which are only three years old, would yield the
very handsome sum of from ^120 to ^160. If we
take into account, as we should do, that these trees
were laden with far too many fruits, and that the
thinning out of the half or three parts of them a
fortnight or three weeks after flowering would have
had the eftect of increasing the size of those re-
maining to such an extent that the sum total of the
endre crop would have lost nothing in weight, we
are led to affirm that the amount realized would
have been much more considerable. The fact is,
that the fruits would have ripened sooner if they
had not been so excessively numerous, and would
have attained the normal size and the usual
weight of Amsden's June, viz., from 3'^ ounces to
4 ounces. Earlier and larger fruit, as is well known,
command far higher prices, especially in the Paris
markets. 1 may mendon that the same vigorous
growth displays itself under the same conditions
amongst other early American peaches more recent
than AiTisden's June, which have also been intro-
duced into cultivadon in France, and especially in
the south. Of these, Alexander, Cumberland,
Musser, Waterloo and Downing are just as vigor-
ous in growth as Amsden's June. They all come
from America, grafted on peach stocks raised from
seed."

The Latest New Strawberries. — A corres-
pondent sends the following account of the latest
remarkable new seedling strawberries to a New
York paper. It is to be remarked that the descrip-
tions sent are wholly in the public interest, and not
from any selfish motive on the part of the writer,
as he has not a solitary plant for sale, and does not
expect to have for several months to come :

" ' Heliogabalus Double Early,' is a large squat

berry, with blue eyes and a coy, winning mouth,
bursdng all over with coquettish sweetness. It is
a good grower, but requires Judicious tickling with
a straw to awaken it to a generous enthusiastic in-
terest in its own cultivation.

"'Reddy the Blacksmith Round Top Seedling,'
is a good family berry ; but of no use in general
society. The last crop was a failure, owing to the
name, which we'ghed heavily on the berry, and re-
tarded its growth.

"' Blue Jeans Late Canadian Songster' used to
be fine, but has fallen into dissipated ways, and is
more or less stunted, and has an acid flavor, like
an old maid whose last hope has just been carried
off by a red-headed girl with freckles.

" ' Calithumpian Aurora ' is a beautiful boarding-
house berry, much admired by dealers. Owing to its
modest and retiring habits which impel it to grovel
on the cold, cold ground, it is enabled to pick up
and retain large quantities of sand and dirt, on
which account it is sometimes called 'Triumph of
Real Estate,' or 'True Grit.' This berry may also
be used by careful housekeepers in the place of
bath brick.

"'Tuscarora Conquest' promises to develop to
such wonderful proportions that two of them,
adroitly manipulated by street venders, could be
made to fill a box with bottom located about half way
to the top. It also promises that each would be
sufficient for a short cake. However, it is not great
in size. It is probably as small as Conkling's
chances of becoming President. 'Tuscarora Con-
quest ' is a slender, low-necked specimen of its kind,
and, when feeling well, is producdve as a spring poet.
The best way to raise it is with a pair of ice-tongs.

" ' Fur Tippet ' I consider one of the finest berries
I have ever seen. This berry is so phenomenally
intelligent that it can be trained to jump through a
hoop and do light chores about the house. "

Ju(;l.\ns Pr^kparturiens, or Early Fruiting
Walm't. — The California papers have been intel-
ligently discussing this variety of walnut. It has
been thought to be a dwarf — probably because
small or young trees are full of fruit. Mr. Felix
Gillett sums in the Rural Press, all that has been
said of its dwarf character in these words : " In
my opinion, however, the Juglans Pra^parturiens of
France, and the English Dwarf Prolific of America,
are the same thing, though it is not clear in my
mind why the Pra^parturiens or ferdle walnut has
gone in America under the name of Dwarf Prolific.
As to who gave it that name it seems that nobody
knows. The name is far from being appropriate,
and serves only to bring confusion in names, and
gives a false impression as to the habits of growing
of the tree." *

As regards the value of the variety in California,
Mr. John Rusk remarks: "We will soon see the
day when no other sorts will be planted than grafted
chestnuts and Prtepaturiens walnuts. To wait
from twelve to twenty vears for walnuts from

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

17

common sorts will not do when you can have them
ni bearing in three or four years."

The "Earliest of All" Pea. — There have
been " Early " peas, and " Extra Early," and per-
haps " Double Extras," but now Mr. Saxton has
raised one he calls " Earliest of All." As the
patriot says of his flag, " long may it wave." Still
we fear there will be some still earlier, for during
the past two hundred years the interval from the
sowing in February or March to the gathering in
May or June, has not yet been bridged. There has
been, to be sure, an " early six weeks," but why
not an "early six days?"

Flax in Mexico. — Mexico is progressing rap-
idly, and our exchanges show that numberless in-
dustries are being earnestly nurtured. Flax cul-

ture is receiving attention. In an article before us
the "Dodder" is classed among "insects injurious
to flax " — not a bad idea, for Dodder, though a
plant, affects other plants much as an insect would.

White Elephant Pot.\to. — Cuts on English
circulars represent this as about the size of an old-
time plantation negro's foot. Large vegetables are
often more curious than profitable, but those who
have to scratch for a living, find much more weight
in a bushel of large than a bushel of small pota-
toes.

Feast's Scuffle Cultivator. — This vigorous
contrivance, first cuts up the weeds, and then by a
roller fork behind, shakes out all the earth from
the uprooted weeds, by which they are laid out so
as to soon dry up.

Forestry.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Forestry in America. — It is rather surprising
that while you may find a hundred men who will
write and talk that " something should be done" to
increase our forest area, scarcely one looks at the
matter practically, to see what can be done, and
endeavor to aid those who are actually trying to
do something. Such men as Sargent, Warder and
Douglas, deserve much more respect from their
countrymen than they have hitherto received.
They look closely into the actual details of Ameri-
can forestry, and spread the information necessary
to set people practically to work to remedy what
may in the future be a short timber supply. One
may talk till he is hoarse about the patriotism
which should plant trees because in a couple of
centuries the land will be a desert if they be not
planted, when he could get a thousand-acre plot
started by a ten-minute talk.with one who could see
some immediate interest therein. He may write a
learned essay elucidating what European govern-
ments are doing ifi the way of planting forests, and
yet not take five minutes to remember what is best
to be done in a country where every man is, or
desires to be, a king.

To our mind there is little more needed in our
country, than practical knowledge, in order to

encourage forest planting. Sargent has made it
plain to us just where the forests are. There is
yet a good stock in some places, provided we can
get railroads profitably to the locations before they
rot away. Warder has indicated what trees will
grow rapidly, and make profitable timber in less
than a very short lifetime, but beyond all Douglas
has demonstrated what it will actually cost to plant
forests, and is willing to go to any part of the
United States, and for stipulated figures, to either
plant and stop, or to engage to care for the planta-
tion for several years. In order that we might
write this paragraph understandingly, we asked
Mr. Douglas to give us somre facts. The letter he
sends us is a private one, but in the interest of
forestry culture we believe he will not object to our
giving the following extract :

"We plant this section for the railroad company.
They pay the actual cost of breaking and cross-
plowing the prairie, which costs $4. an acre. We
prepare the land, furnish the trees, plant them four
by four feet, and grow them till they are four to six
feet high, and shade the ground till they require a
further care or cultivation, and are to deliver 2,000
trees four to six feet high on each acre, for which
we receive ^30 per acre. In taking contracts for
the future we will charge ^5 per acre for breaking
and cross-plowing the land, as the cost of getting
the teams together, seeing that it is properly done,
measuring for the different plowmen, paying them,

i8

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

&c., costs considerable and actually stands us about
$^ per acre.

" Then labor has advanced since three years ago,
so that we shall add $5 per acre, thus making, in-
cluding breaking the raw prairie and everything
till the trees are delivered over, $40 per acre, get-
ting the $5 per acre at the time of breaking, $20
per acre when the trees are planted, and $15 per
acre when they are delivered over.

" When the trees are delivered over they are to
be four to six feet, but most of them are much
taller, and two to two and a half inches in diame-
ter at the butt, perfectly free from weeds, and not
the least particle of danger from fires, as the
catalpa leaves are very much Uke pumpkin leaves,
and rot down. They need no pruning as 100,000,
four years planted, ten to fifteen feet high, are now
shedding their under branches, or at least they are
dead and will soon shed off.

" I was to select land for another plantation when
I was out last month, but the land that could have
been bought three years ago at $2.80 per acre, is
now worth S12 to $1 5 per acre, and on this account
he concluded not to purchase. This would not
make so much difference as it appears to, as the
land will keep on increasing in value.

"We think this a reasonable price, taking all the
risks and care ourselves, and if any railroad com-
panies or forest planting associations should under-
take it, it would certainly cost more. Of course
we would take the contract to plant without the
further care — that is, $20 an acre for the trees and
planting, or $25 if the prairie is unbroken."

Now, one thing is clear from an effort like this
of Mr. Douglas, that he cannot continue to do, as
he is doing, unless some one sees that he has a
continuous succession of contracts. To get the
trees and to prepare the machinery for planting
some thousands of acres a year, and then have
two or three years of idleness-^his young trees go
to the bonfire, and his whole machinery disorgan-
ized, will not do at all for cheap forestry planting.
He must charge more than it is worth for whathe
does to cover the risk, or abandon the business.
It ought to be the business of local or state agri-
cultural associations, or forestry conventions, to
look up railroad or mining companies, ship-build-
ing or large lumber interests of whatever class
they may be, show them that there is a way out of
their soon-to-be embarrassments, by profitably
planting more, and that a man like Douglas is
ready to do the job for them. If any legislation
is needed to encourage forestry planting, it is that
men Uke Douglas, who prepare millions of trees,
and men to plant them, should be reimbursed by a
bounty for the seasons when they fail to get any
contracts for their work, and have to let the trees
spoil and the labor machine rust for want of use. It
is in these directions, at any rate, it seems to us prac-
tical encouragement of forestry should take shape.

Mahogany in San Domingo. — In consequence
of the demand for mahogany of late, it has been
feared lest the supplies should fall short ; we are
assured, however, in a report of the Vice-Consul
at Puerto Plato, San Domingo, that the diminution
in the exports of mahogany is by no means to be
attributed to a scarcity of the wood, for the forests
are apparently inexhaustible ; but it is to be ac-
counted for through the absence of suitable ton-
nage for charter in the neighboring colony of
St. Thomas throughout the year.

The Census Forestry Report of Virginia
and West Virginia will now, we suppose, be
made as complete as those of any other of the
States. In our May number, page 67, we published
extracts from a letter from Prof. C. S. Sargent,
Special Forestry Agent of the Census, in which he
wrote us that for want of funds he feared he "must
defer indefinitely, if not abandon, the proposed in-
vestigation" of the forest resources of the Virginias.
We not only commented on the injustice that
would be done these states by such a treatment,
but went in person to Washington and laid this
matter first before Senator Davis, of West Virginia
(who has a business way of taking hold of all
matters that affect the development of the Virginias
that always leads to practical results), and then
with him before other Senators and Represen-
tatives from these States. In consequence, action
was taken that secured an appropriation, by means
of which a forestry report on the Virginias could
be made, and now Prof. S. P. Sharpies, the assist-
ant of Prof. Sargent, is in West Virginia and Vir-
ginia gathering the facts for this report ; he has
already visited the white pine and black spruce
region at the head of Greenbrier and Cheat rivers,
the great tulip-poplar, black walnut, white oak, &c.,
country on Cabin creek and Big and Little Coal
rivers of the Kanawha, and on Guyandot waters
in Kanavvha, Boone and Lincoln counties. West
Virginia, gathering additional information from
parties informed in such matters about the timber
resources of all the Great Kanawha basin. He
has also inspected portions of the Blue Ridge and
Piedmont regions of Virginia. At this writing.
Prof. S. is on the head-waters of the Potomac,
along the West Virginia Central & Pittsburg R. R.,
looking into that finely timbered country.

We anticipate valuable results from these explo-
rations, and hope Prof. Sharpies will be given
ample time to work up fully a report of the forest
resources of these States. Each of our railway
lines should see to it that he has opportunity to
visit its tributary forests. — TAe Virginias.

AND HORTICULTURIST.

19

Natural History and Science.

COMMUNICATIONS.

CAN WHEAT BE CROSS-FERTILIZED?
BY A. VEITCH, NEW HAVEN, CONN.

In. the Monthly for November, 1882, Mr. Car-
man writes : "During two seasons past, I have
spent much time in crossing wheats. I have been
very careful to remove the anthers from each
flower while yet they were immature. Whenever
they (the anthers) showed a tint of yellow, an indi-
cation of approaching maturity, I have destroyed
the anthers. Nevertheless, seventy-five per cent.
of the heads from plants raised from the crossed
seed could not be distinguished from those of the
mother plant."

The attempts at crossing as recorded above do
not seem to have been successful, and if statements
long since given to the public are true they could
not have been otherwise. The cause of failure is
owing to the tact that wheat, in common with other
members of the grass family, is cleistogamous,
in all of which cases fertilization takes place
while yet the flowers are within the folds of the
sheaths. This characteristic can be seen in Vilfa,
Leersia and Sporobolus, as well as in wheat ; and
the remarkable fact also that when the terminal
flowers of spike or panicle escape confinement they
are less productive of seeds than those which never
reach the light.

As having a direct bearing upon this subject, we
may be permitted to quote a sentence or two from
an article on the cross-breeding of plants by the
late D. Beaton, written at the request of C. Darwin.
Mr. Beaton says :

"No kind of wheat has ever been naturally
crossed, and never can be. When the Royal
Agricultural Society talk about the wheat being in
blossom, they are' just one month behind nature.
But what they and the bulk of the country people
take for the flowering of the wheat is one of the
most beautiful contrivances in nature as means to
an end. A departure from the law of nature, as it
were, to preserve food for man. The wheat is in
full flower, and the seed is fertilized while the ear
is yet in the folds of the sheath, before the wheat is
in ear. At that period the anthers might be said
to be sessile, or to have hardly any length of sta-

mens under them ; but as soon as the pollen is
shed, the husk of the anther might rot in such close
confinement, and endanger the safety of the staff of
life, now having just received vitahty. To prevent
famine for lack of wheat, however, nature alters
her common process in this matter. As soon as
the anther is emptied of the pollen the filaments be-
gin to grow, and to push up the husk of the anther
away from the embryo seed,, and by the time the
ear is seen the husk is well-nigh out of the scales
which enclose the seed, but stops not then nor till
the husk is dangling from a white thread, far off
from the entrance to the seed-case ; and when all
dangers are thus provided against, the faiiner con-
gratulates himself if the weather is propitious, for
his wheat is in blossom ! "

Thus it will appear that Mr. Beaton recognizes
no middle ground upon which to meet those who
believe that cleistogamous flowers can be cross-fer-
tihzed, and from the evidence adduced he does not
seem to be much mistaken. I cannot speak author-
itatively in regard to wheat, but having bestowed
some attention upon several of the grasses which
belong to this class, more especially the different
species of Vilfa, it is safe to say, there is not one
chance in ten thousand that they ever cross. Even
this slim chance may meet the requirements of
those who believe that crossing is a necessity in
nature, although taking place only at very long in-
tervals. But there is an uncertainty about this
which must be removed, before we can see clearly
how much or how little species depend upon cross-
fertilization for their continuance in pristine vigor.

THE FERTILIZATION OF CALOPOGON
PULCHELLUS.

BY FRANK L. BASSETT, HAMMONTON, N. J.

This plant though not as grotesque as some of
the orchids, is not one that will lack admirers. The
lover of flowers is charmed by its beautiful appear-
ance, both the- single specimen and the general
effect in the meadow, while the botanist finds it a
subject for no little study.

Probably its nearest relatives are Pogonia ophiog-
glossoides and Arethusa bulbosa. It differs in the
spiral development of the flower, which brings
the lip — the lowest division in its relatives and

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

most other orchids — in our plant to be the upper
lobe. When carefully examined the lip will be
found a subject of no little interest. It has near its
base a kind of hinge upon which it turns so as to
cover the top of the column. In freshly expanded
flowers the lip is found quite firmly erect and if
bent down with the finger will spring back. But
see what it has done, hei-e are the pollinia attached
to it. Let us take another flower and watch the
operation. Notice how it draws them from their
cells and across the stigma. Now take an older
flower and we find the lip has dropped spontane-
ously. From such an operation we would suppose
it had something to do with self-fertilization. Last
season I tried the experiment of covering a few spikes
of buds with gauze nets to see if they would be
fertilized. After flowering every pod began to
grow and for a time looked as if they would ripen
seed. Then all but one began to wither and fall ;
this one grew and matured. Is it not possible that
the lip in this and other orchids was for this pur-
pose originally ? We see in the two other genera
mentioned as related, the .same " beautiful beard "
which so nicely draws out the pollinia. These may
have once had the same relative position as the
Calopogon, but as they are now they could not fer-
tilize themselves this way, the lip being at the lower
part.

But this is not a question that can be decided
without further experiment. Next year I intend to
experiment more carefully and fully on the subject.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

On the Annual Growth of W^ood. — A few
months ago we were called on to notice Dr.
Hough's Elements of Forestry, and we stated that
cuts made to illustrate one point, did not always
represent the whole case accurately. Reference
was made to a cut of two year old wood of Eng-
lish oak "borrowed from Rossmasster's work."
which showed only four "hairlines" in one annual
circle of wood, when there should be a very much
larger number ; and that the dots should be on the
inner instead of the outer circle of the commencing
season's growth. In regard to this latter statement
two correspondents have written to us, one kindly
suggesting that the remark was " inadvertently "
made. But it was deliberately written, and was in
the writer's .mind chiefly from personal examination
made during the Centennial year, in comparison
with Japan and other woods. That there must
have been some mistake the writer now believes

from the fact that though very much difference ex-
ists in the appearances, the little holes or dots seem
always larger in the courses which commence the
season's growth than in those which follow, some-
times almost wholly disappearing before the
season's growth ends. In other respects, however,
the criticism seems just, and we give the following
illustration which we have had made for this
note. It is from the leading shoot, two years old,
of a ten year old English oak, grown at German-
town, and enlarged to a little over double its natu-
ral size.

This cut represents with tolerable accuracy a
cross-section of a two-year-old piece of wood. The
star-shaped outline of the pith is well represented,
then we have eighteen " hair-lines " to the apex of
the convex bend, and twenty-four to the concave
portion of the line. Small dots of uniform size are
scattered freely over the whole surface, though in
more or less perfect radial lines. When the next
season's growth commences the ducts are larger,
and seem to be arranged in a more or less broken
circle. In endeavoring to show this larger sized
duct, the artist has placed the "hairlines" together
closer than they are in the copy given him, and
this makes the commencement of the annual
growth appear of a darker shade than the other
portion of the wood. There is really no difference
in the color of the wood, or in the width apart of
the "hairlines," and there is nothing whatever to
show where the growth of one year ends and the
other begins except the more circular arrangement
of the dotted ducts, their greater number, and
slightly larger size. Those who are fond of look-
ing into nature for themselves will find a study of
wood with a good pocket lens very fascinating.
No two species will be found the same in respect to
the arrangement of these ducts, nor what for pop-
ular comprehension's sake we have called the
"hair lines " as seen in this cut. In some cases the
dots are of equal size, spread almost equally over
the surface, and giving not the faintest clue as to
where the growth of one season ends, or another

AND HORTICULTURIST.

begins. Sometimes we may be able to tell with
considerable certainty the age of a tree from its
" annual rings," but many trees will not give it ac-
curately, and we are not sure but those which seem
to give us the data with considerable regularity,
often vary from their plan.

In the cut will be noted some features which we
do not remember to have ever been referred to by
those elementary works which treat of the forma-
tion of wood. It will be noted that the outline
given by the bark is formed of segments of five
circles, and that the bark is of double the thickness
and forms a parallelogram where these segments
meet. These rectangular blocks of bark are op-
posite the bays in the star formed by the pith in the
center. The center of the arm of the star corres-
ponds to the center of the arc in the outline of the
wood. From each sinus in the star to the rectan-
gular blocks of bark, are two nearly parallel lines.
The whole piece of wood is thus divided into five
sub-triangular segments. The little "hair lines"
crossing the two parallel ones, do not connect with
the lines enclosed by the triangle, but they are uni-
form in number with them.

It would be foreign to our present purpose to go
into any explanation of the morphological interpre-
tation of the pentamerous plan on which the trunk
of an oak tree is seen to be formed. All we have
room for is to give a brief explanation of what the
" hair lines " mean. There has been a great deal
of unnecessary mystery thrown around the forma-
tion of wood. We are told about the annual con-
centric " layer" of wood, and the cambium "layer,"
and other "layers," as if a new plaster of material
was placed over the old wood, which in time be-
came a solid layer stuck over the old one. The
idea is much as we might gather from the making
of a candle. The wick is first dipped into the
molten fat, then drawn out to cool — then dipped in
and out again, every time getting larger by the ac-
cretion of the cooling liquid. But wood is not
made in this way. There is no evidence that any-
thing which has life came directly from inorganic
elements. That which is alive came from that which
had life before it. All things spring from an egg,
and the cells out of which the trunk of a tree is
formed are no exception. Every living cell sprung
from a parent cell, and the cells out of which this
season's wood is formed, came in a direct line from
the cells of the year before. The mass of mucilage
between the bark and the wood, called by Grew
" Cambium," and which is supposed to generate
the cells which are to form a new " layer " of bark
and wood, does nothing of the kind. It furnishes

simply food for the new cells which pysh out from
the mother cells just behind them. Now the
"hair lines" in the cut show the successive
generations of these cells during the growing
season. In our piece of two year old wood, there
are twenty-four concentric circles in the year in-
stead of merely " one annual layer," in the sense in
which this expression is usually understood.

We have purposely avoided in this little sketch,
using the language of science to describe this pro-
cess of forming the annual growth of wood. The
object is to convey to those who are unacquainted
with this language, some idea of what they may
know more about if they care to pursue the study
further as a matter of science.

Male and Femalk Flowers. — The especial
purposes for which the division of all living things
into separate sexes was designed, has been stated
by the writer of this, in former writings and dis-
courses, to be evidently as part of the plan which
makes continuous variation lie at the bottom of the
continual growth of new species in the world.
Further, the writer has shown that the law which
operates to produce the separate sexes, is in close
alliance with nutrition. There have been enough
illustrations given to show that the rule is for the
female flowers to be placed where they are the best
nourished, and just in proportion as the amount of
nourishment to any particular part of a plant pre-
vails, will the number of female flowers in that part
excel.

It is always, however, the part of the true
searcher for truth to make as prominent observa-
tions which seem to oppose his conclusions as
those which do. Usually in begonias we find the
rule prevail which we have indicated — that is, the
male flowers appear on weaker stems than do the
female. But we have now a species which seems
to go on the contrary side. The female stems ap-
pear much weaker than the male ones. The female
ones can be readily seen by the young seed vessels
which are placed at the base of the petals. The
male flowers have no such protuberance. A sep-
arate male and female flower is given, enlarged,
at the base of the picture, the larger one with the
numerous anthers in the centre being the male,
and the smaller, with the pistils in its centre, being
the female.

We have not > et had a chance to see this species
in cultivation. It was introduced recently by
Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, who say of it:

"Begonia Socotrana, a species of remarkable in-
terest both in its scientific and in its horticultural

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

Begonia Socotrana.

aspect, discovered in the island of Socotra by Dr. j " B. Socotrana is a plant of very neat habit, with
J. B. Balfour, from whom we acquired our stock. I erect stems eight to twelve inches high, furnished

J-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

with orbicular peltate leaves four to seven inches
in diameter, and producing a profusion of bright
rose-pink flowers, of which the males are fully two
inches in diameter. Its great recommendation is
its very free blooming, character, and its flowering
in the depth of winter, when other begonias are at
rest, thus prolonging the decorative season of these
beautiful plants."

Tubers from Gr.\fted Tomatoes. — We have
recently noted that the statement that Dr. Beal
was authority for the production of tubers from a
stem of potato on which a potato had been grafted,
was scarcely accurate. From a note in the Gar-
deners' Chronicle, it appears that the experiments
were by Mr. Maule and Mr. Alexander Dean "some
years ago." Without at all disparaging the state-
ments made, it does seem as if a few more experi-
ments would be desirable.

M. Carriere records in a recent number of the
Revue Horticole a. case wherein he grafted a Jeru-
salem Artichoke on to the stem of the sunflower.
A curious result followed, viz., the formation of
tubers on the stem of the sunflower, no tubers
being found below-ground, although se\eral were
found on the stem just above-ground.

M. Carrifere is a botanist of distinction, and re-
garded* as a very careful and accurate observer.
It seems incredible that he should say that "he"
performed the experiment and noted the results as
stated, and yet there be any mistake in his conclu-
sions. The observation is one having such a very
close relation to the important practical question
with fruit growers of the influence of graft on the
stock, that we feel there cannot be too many of
these experiments, and we hope they will be re-
peated next year.

The Hvbrid Cotton Plant. — We were not
among those who ridiculed the idea that two
distinct genera, like the okra and the cotton would
hybridize. Unlikely as we think such a circum-
stance to occur, we like to hold ourselves open to
the chance of finding seeming impossibilities pos-
sible. The okra and the cotton are not distantly
related, and hence we were quite willing to say to
those who professed they had found such a hybrid,
"Well, prove your case." The gentleman to whom
we wrote for such evidence declined to respond, and
we concluded it was a case wherein darkness was
preferable to light. This gentleman of course had
no right to respond unless he chose ; but as he had
taken the newspapers into his confidence, it was
but natural to expect he would have been glad of
the opportunity to tell all he knew.

We do not know now but this Southern hybrid
cotton, is really the myth we have hitherto sup-
posed it to be — but happening to take up recently
an account of the botanical congress held in Am-
sterdam, in the spring of 1877, we find a statement
by M. Del Chevalerie, Inspector of Agriculture at
Cairo, Egypt, that such a cotton had made its ap-
pearance among a mass of okra growing at
Chibinel-Kom, in Lower Egypt. It has the habit
of the okra plant in every respect — making a
straight, scarcely branching stalk, from eight to ten
feet high, but yielding cotton instead of the usual
kind of okra seeds. The plant is said to produce
double the amount of cotton to the acre of the or-
dinary cotton, though not equal in quality. The
plants and cotton were exhibited at Amsterdam,
and though none of the botanists present seemed
to offer any opinion as to whether it was a true hy-
brid, beyond what the facts of its surroundings
when discovered might suggest, there was no dif-
ference of opinion as to its being a totally different
form of cotton to anything yet known.

Origin of the Treeless Prairies. — The ori-
gin of treeless prairies seems to be referable to an-
nual prairie fires, by the growing consent of those
who patiently investigate the matter, and thus one
of the great philosophical questions of the past age
is being finally set at rest. Up to, say, a couple of
years ago the belief of Professor Whitney prevailed
that there was something in the finely comminuted
soil of the prairies which so firmly enveloped the
seed as to prevent the necessary action of the at-
mosphere in inducing germination. Other hypoth-
eses— all, however, tending to the physical impos-
sibilities of tree growths — were in favor. In the
" Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia," for February, 1881, probably the
first philosophic attempt to show the futility of all
these hypotheses appeared. It was there shown
that there was no more reason why the seeds of
strong herbaceous plants should grow and form the
well-known flora of the prairies than the seeds of
ligneous plants ; that herbaceous plants or annuals
which could flower and commit their seeds to the
earth before a fire flew over them, could spread in
spite of prairie fires ; but that ligneous plants,
which required several years of growth before
seeding, could not spread when annually burned
down ; that, as a matter of fact, trees were being
raised by the million on the prairies by nursery-
men, and that wherever prairie fires were prevented
from occurring, the woodlands did actually en-
croach on the grassy prairie. This view now re-
ceives all the confirmation that is necessary from a

24

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

paper by Robert Ridgway in the " Proceedings of
the National Museum," wherein he shows that the
forest area of the Wabash basin has extended to
such an extent that numerous small grassy prairies,
which were common at the first settlement of the
country, have become transformed to woodland,
and that, owing to this encroachment, the forest
area of the valley is greater than it was fifty
years ago. There are now huge trees of oak and
hickory, eighty feet high, on what certainly was
grassy prairies fifty years ago. The question of the
origin of these prairies being definitely settled, the
anthropological one connected with it derives a
new interest. As the natural condition of the North
American continent is to be covered by a forest
growth and this forest growth has been kept down
by the agency of annual Indian fires, the Indians
must have been here before the subsidence of the
waters which covered the prairies, and the annual
fires following the regular subsidence alone kept
the forests from springing up. It is an excellent
illustration of the fact that the settling positively
of one important question only leads to the intro-
duction of other and often greater ones. — Inde-
pendent.

Temperature and Hardiness. — We ha\e often
called our readers' attention to the fact that the
hardiness of plants does not depend on temperature
alone. An evergreen will endure a much lower
temperature in England than it will in America,
while a deciduous tree, killed by a few degrees of
frost in England will endure zero in America. In
our climate one of the most delightful of very
hardy shrubs is Callicarpe purpurea. We have
known it to endure i8' below zero, and how much
more we do not know. In contrast with this we
have the following from the London Garden : " In
one of the houses in Messrs. Veitch's nursery there
is a fine specimen of this old, but uncommon plant,
with its long, slender shoots completely wreathed
with dense clusters of bright purple berries, a little
larger than gun shot. We ha\e hitherto seen this
plant grown in a greenhouse, but here it has been
grown with great success in a warm and moist
house. We have never seen a finer example, and
it well shows what a beautiful plant it is when
grown well. It will retain its berries throughout
the winter, and will be highly ornamental.

Foretelling the Weather by the White
Pine. — The Illustrirte Garteti-Zeitung, of Vienna,
Austria, says it is the easiest thing in the world to
foretell the weather by observing the common
American white pine — Pinus strobus. If we are

to expect rain or snow within a reasonably short
space of time, the branches of the last two seasons'
growth will be pendulous. If such weather be a
long way off, the branches will be raised rather
than drooping.

Colored Flowers in the Carrot.— At a
recent meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia, Mr. Thomas Meehan remarked
that the umbellule of colored flowers in the center
of the umbel of the carrot, was represented as
usually fertile in Europe and sterile in the United
States. He had always found them sterile in the
United States until this season, when he discovered
that those in the center of the first umbel of the
season were fertile. Those in the umbels from
lateral shoots were sterile. This had no doubt
always been the case, the laterals probably being
the only ones examined in former investigations.

Progress of Plant Knowledge. — Hippo-
crates described 234 species, Theophrastus fol-
lowed with 500. Pliny knew, as well as can be
made out now, 800. Tonmefort, at the beginning
of the last century, described 10,146. Many of
these had to be united as not distinct enough for
modern science, till at the death of Linnjeus 7,294
had been described. De CandoUe, in the Theory
of Elementary Botany, made 30,000 named species.
Lindley, in 1853, gave the number as 92,920. Now,
in the neighborhood of 1 50,000 species are known,
with possibly an equal number not yet known.
Thus figures the Revue de F horticuliure Beige.

The Relation of Heat to the Sexes of
Flowers was discussed before the Philadelphia
Academy of Natural Sciences last year, as noted at
the time in these columns, and the important princi-
ple developed that it takes less heat to bring forth a
male flower, or the male parts of a flower, than it does
in the case of the female. This explanation is being
found the key to much that was supposed to be
among the " unknowables " before. In Europe,
or at least, the northern portion of it, where the
winter temperature is low till the spring actually
arrives, the male flowers, or organs of plants, re-
main inactive till the weather is warm enough to
bring forward the females also, when they receive
the necessary pollination requisite for fruitfulness.
In other countries, where there are occasionally
warm days or warm periods, the male flowers in
monoecious or diascious plants are brought forward
to maturity, while the females, desiring a still
warmer temperature, linger behind. As a result,
some trees, like hazelnuts and walnuts, which pro-
duce regularly crops of nuts in some countries, be-

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

25

come barren in' others. In our own country it was
shown, in the items which h^ve been already given,
that the hazelnut or filbert often fails in this coun-
try, for this reason. It now appears that the same
law operates on the production of walnuts in Cali-
fornia. Mr. Gillett, of Nevada City, has recently
written an essay on this subject, showing that the
climate of that State advances the male flowers,
while the females remain quiescent. The male cat-
kins are all overblown and have fallen long before
the female flowers have been brought forward ;
and, hence, they are usually barren. In order to
secure successful walnut culture in California, they
have introduced a variety called the Juglans prs-
parturiens, which requires, both for the male and
female flowers, a higher temperature before the
flowers push. In other words, the variety blooms
later. With this they have great success. — Inde-
pendent.

On Beauty in Birds* Nests. — At a recent
meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Mr.
Meehan exhibited a nest of the wood pewee, and
remarked that, contrary to the statement of most
authors, it was evident that no glutinous material
was used by this bird in nest-building, but that the
structure was held together and bound to the sup-
porting limb by means of cobwebs. He com-
mented upon the adornment of these nests with
lichens, and considered the occurrence and uses in
such cases of mere decoration without any appar-
ent utilitarian intent.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Oranges and the Weather in Florida. — A
correspondent from Orange county says : " I have
seen nearly all the large orange groves in the State
and find the crop medium to fair, and in great
demand @ f.-^ to $\ per bo.x, ready for shipping.
The country is overrun with buyers, and commis-
sion merchants predict a great scarcity and very
high figures before spring. We have had two
sharp frosts, which singed the pine apples and
guavas a little ; bananas have their tops blackened."

Lawsonia inermis. — "J. W.," Houston, Texas,
writes : " I enclose a small branch of a plant I
found in a garden here, said to have come from
Havana. Will you please name it through the
G.\RDENERs' Monthly. The plant is not hardy
here ; gets killed to the ground by the first white
frost, but would be apparently shrubby. The
petals are very curiously incurved and wrinkled ;
it has somewhat the appearance of Lythracete, but
I have no works to refer to."

[The reference to Lythraceae is correct. It is the
Lawsonia inermis, and is the Henna plant of the
Egyptians, and is known to have been a favorite
with them for possibly three thousand years. They
make from it a dye with which to stain the points
of their fingers a pretty pink. We have an im-
pression that the plant, from its fragrance, is known
in some part of the South as the " Mignonette
bush" or "tree."— Ed. G. M.]

Literature, Travels and Personal Notes.

COMMUNICATIONS.

LETTER FROM M. MAURICE VILMORIN,
PARIS, FRANCE.

It was my brother Henry who has received a
long deserved distinction by his recent promotion
to the Legion d' honneur, of which your most
devoted servant is not a member, and will not be
for a good many years yet, if he must earn as many
times the reward as his brother has, before he was
promoted.

I will acknowledge your kind mention of my
name, by a piece of interesting intelligence for the

readers of the Gardeners' Monthly. Our French
National Society of Horticulture are studying the
project of an international show, to take place in
Paris in May, 1884. The affair is not quite decided
upon yet, as the society is not wealthy enough to
take the necessary expenses upon themselves, and
co-operation from the Government, City of Paris,
&c., secured to them. Still there are a good many
chances that the scheme will result into the suc-
cessful achievement of the long thought of idea.
Will you kindly insert a few lines in your exhaust-
ive paper, merely relating the fact as an on dit.
No international exhibition of horticulture is yet

26

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

announced for the spring of '84, that I know of,
and it is important to us to let people know that
something is contemplated in Paris.

[As our readers will no doubt perceive, the above
was not intended for publication just as received,
but it contains so much that is of interest to us all,
that we are sure of pardon for giving it just as it is
to our readers. — Ed. G. M.]

ACROSTIC EPITOME OF HORTICULTURE,

In Oeleliratidii ol' this .^rao■;lzilu■'s Twcnty-liftli Ycav nt
U.sefulness.

BY W.M. T. HARDING, MOUNT HOLLY, N. J.

The rosy-tinted morning

has dispell'd the shades of night ;
His quick'ning beams the warm sun threw,

in golden rays so bright;
Early in creation's dawn,

when Nature saw the light.

Gardening, the first pursuit,

e'en since the world began,
Amused the famous Homo,

the historic primal man ;
Roseate, seem'd the new-born world,

baptized in vernal showers,
Delights sprung up on every side,

with Eve among the flowers ;
Eve, angelic maid, who first

assayed the charmer's part,
Naively, coy and beautiful,

enthralled her Adam's heart.
Eden's leafy garden then,

celestially serene.
Refulgent, gay and gladsome,

was a paradisic scene ;
Such was the fragrant flow'ry spot,

so blissful, yet^ terrene.

Marred by mischance, weeds began

t' usurp the place of flowers.
Oh sad the change it brought about

in Eden's happy bowers 1
No more could sw^eets be gather'd then,

without severest toil.
To labor's curse consigned was man,

to cultivate the soil.
Happily, rich rewards still yield,

to delving spade and plow ;
Life's hopes remain to cheer us on,

though sweat may damp the brow ;
Yet just so much of Eden's left,

to make us happy now.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Portrait of Mr. Barry. — A distinguished
Western horticulturist writes: "The portrait of
friend Barry is excellent. He is certainly worthy of
the honor you confer upon him. To him I owe my
first lesson on fruit growing. I then bought and

still have the " Eruit Garden," by P. Barry, 1863.
It was a good book then, and is a ijood book still."

SwiNDLiNc; AciKNTS. — Our readers will remem-
ber that the publisher of the Gardkners' Monthly
put himself to the trouble and expense of capturing
and prosecuting a fellow who took money from
people under pretence of collecting subscriptions
for the Gardkners' Monthly. It was only sixty
days' imprisonment for several years' stealing, and
the publisher thought it was hardly worth, at this
rate, all the trouble to protect people from their
own imprudence. It now appears that some such
a fellow has been making a grand haul in the in-
terior of the State, collecting for the American
Agricultiinst.

It is amazing that any one will pay money to a
stranger, before he gets the goods. Even the most
conscienceless tree-agent takes orders only, and
generally delivers something before he gets paid.
It is wonderful that there should be any money in
a fraud like this of the "Magazine agent."

Thk Lath Mr. Edward Meehan. — The writer
of the brief sketch in the last number, was not
without some fear that it might be considered par-
tial, as being dictated as much by affection as pub-
lic merit. He has therefore thought it might not
be without interest to the reader to copy the fol-
lowing from the pen of the Re\"erend Henry Ew-
bank, the well known writer on flower garden cul-
ture, to the London Garden, of Nov. nth, 1882:

"This neighborhood has just now sustained a
loss which, I think, should have a tributary notice
in your columns. I refer to the death of Mr. Ed-
ward Meehan a few da)'s ago at the ripe age of
eighty-four years. For more than half a century
he has been in charge of the beautiful gardens at St.
Clare, which are rather more than a mile from
R)de. For considerably more than forty years he
was in the service of the late Colonel Francis \'er-
non Harcourt, formerly member for the Isle of
Wight, and latterly he has been in that of his
brother, Mr. Egerton Vernon Harcourt. Mr,
Meehan has passed away from us among the sin-
cere regrets of his numerous friends in this place.
It was impossible to know him without forming a
great regard for him. He had a kindly open-
hearted sort of way which was very attractive.
But it is more especially as a gardener and very
devoted lover of flowers that this reference is made
to him. Mr. Meehan lived for his trees and his
plants, and they paid him back in full. It was
very interesting to walk with him through one of
the most beautiful gardens in the kingdom — his
own creation under his master's eye at St. Clare —
and to hear him tell how fifty years ago he turned
out some magnificent tree — when yet a sapling —
from a small pot, or planted some striking shrub
which has now attained to great size. There is a

1883.

AND HORTICULTURIST.

27

Pinus insignis in these grounds which looks as
though a century had passed over its head, and
which Mr. Aleehan remembered when it was only
a foot high. And in addition to this a Judas tree,
which is quite worthy of the environs of Smyrna
itself; a Paulownia imperialis, which is smothered
in a cloud of innumerable bluish blossoms in early
spring ; an Pldwardsia grandiflora which grows
over the south side of the house in golden profu-
sion ; Fuchsias which are now of towering dimen-
sions ; Myrtle trees in abundance ; Magnolias
which seem to have been cheated into a belief that
they are in the Southern States of America ; Ca-
meUias doing well in the open air ; Rhododendrons
that must be from twelve feet to fifteen feet high,
and which arch over one's head, so as to form a
canopy over a broad gravel path ; some Arbutuses
of the rarest sorts — all these and other things far
too numerous for mention in this place, were for
many years the subjects of his fostering care, and
they were like children in his hands. But it is also
as a successful grower of roses, and the winner of
the highest prizes at the local shows, that Mr. Mee-
han will be remembered in the Isle of Wight. The
rose was his favorite flower, and no one could per-
manently wrest from him the supremacy to which
he attained in cultivating it. The St. Clare stand
for cut blossoms used to be unrivalled in its way,
and a very enchanting sight it was when it had
just been set up with the greatest assiduity and
skill. But all this has now come to an end. The
trees and shrubs will not be less beautiful in the
gardens of St. Clare than they have been in by-
gone years, but the voice of the interpreter will no
more be heard among them. Mr. Meehan had a
strong scientific turn about him, as well as much
practical knowledge. In his early days he was
very fond of the study of botany, and he gave a
great deal of time to it. It was curious to note
how, when mind and memory failed him towards
the close of his life, the sight of a favorite flower
seemed to quicken his drooping faculties at once.
When he had begun to take little notice of what
was passing around him, and old and familiar
things were slipping from his grasp, he was often'
able to give with accuracy the botanical name of a
plant, and to say a good deal about it. His kind
employers, Mr. and Mrs. Egerton Harcourt, knew
full well how to bring a smile on the old man's
face. The best roses of the season were the truest
cordials for him, and they were freely sent to him.
Quite up to the end roses and other choice flowers
were strewn in profusion over his bed, and he
seemed to be all the happier for the solace they
gave him. His was no perfunctory round of duties
carried on for a livelihood, and only for that ; it
was the devotion of mind and heart to a favorite
study of which he never tired through life. It
should be noted here that Mr. Meehan has handed
on the torch of science to his son. Professor Mee-
han, a well-known botanist of the United States,
and editor of the Gardeners' Monthly, a valu-
able work on American horticulture. He has left
behind him a family of several grown-up sons and
daughters, and more than one of them is treading
in his steps. The gardening fraternity have as-
suredlv sustained an immense loss in his death.

and the Isle of Wight in everything that has to do
with trees or plants will not soon meet with his
equal."

Another correspondent adds :

" ' H. E.,' in his obituary of the late Mr. Edward
Meehan, omitted to mention that he is succeeded
by his son, Mr. Charles Meehan, as gardener at
St. Clare. The latter is a devoted horticulturist,
and has many of those genial qualities so happily
possessed by his late much lamented father. —
F. E. Goudge, Clapton."

Return of Mr. and Mrs. Lemmon. — These
energetic botanists have returned safely from their
very dangerous expedition to the Huachuca range,
in the mountains of Arizona. The plants collected
are now ready for distribution.

Darlev Dale. — This is what the printer should
have given it in Mr. Harding's interesting sketch
in the last Monthly, where it reads " Darby Dale."

Dr. Asa Gray. — The following sketch of this
estimable man is from Bowditch's American Flo-
rist, and will probably be new to most of our
readers. In regard to the criticism on "School
Botany" — or F. Y. and G. Botany, there is this to
be said of it, that it was written under a great pres-
sure for want of time, and while the author was
preparing for a long journey to the old world.
Still though not equal to the other works of Dr.
Gray, it has been of great service to those for
whom it was written :

" Probably every person in the United States and
in the British Provinces of North America who
has any knowledge of botany, has heard of Dr.
Asa Gray and has some idea of the work he has
done for his favorite science. At the present time
the masses of educated people have a much
greater respect for botany than they had twenty or
thirty \ears ago. They have learned that botany
does not consist simply in hard names ; that there
is something more to learn about a ])lant than its
name and description.

" No person in America has done more to bring
about this respect for botany than the subject of
this sketch. He has done much to show how
plants are constructed, how they grow, and how
they behave. He has frequently pointed out some
of the relations of botany to agriculture and horti-
culture, and the relations which plants sustain to
all of the organic and inorganic world. He has
done much to make botany popular, by his essays,
by his books, and by his teaching in Harvard Uni-
versity. In 1836, his first text book appeared and
was called 'Elements of Botany.' Since then at
various times, have appeared others, till now we
have ' How Plants Grow,' ' How Plants Behave,'
'Lessons in Botany,' 'Manual of Botany,' 'Field,
Forest and Garden Botany,' and the ' Structural
, Botany.' These are all good, but the best of them
it seems to the writer, is 'The Lessons,' and the
poorest , 'The Field, Forest and Garden Botany.'

28

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

A new edition of the ' Structural Botany ' has
just appeared. This has been ahnost entirely
rewritten ; much matter has been dropped, much
added, and the book brought up to the dmes.
He has omitted most that pertains to the anatomy
and physiology of plants, and also the illustrated
accounts of the prominent natural orders. The
work is adapted to advanced students, and it is the
best work we have in the English language on the
subjects on which it treats.

"In 1842, he was elected Fisher Professor of
Natural History in Harvard University, and has
occupied that chair ever since that time — a period
of nearly forty years. Until within about five
years, he taught the classes in botany at Harvard.
It may not be generally known that his name ap-
pears as first among the list of Professors appointed
in the University of Michigan. This position he
never filled, but soon resigned to go to Harvard.
As a teacher his greatest forte is in directing the
studies of his special or advanced students. He is
extremely fond of plants and everything that per-
tains to them. He admires their beauty ; he likes
to study all of their adaptations to the rest of the
world. It is almost impossible for any person to
work under his direction and in his presence, with-
out catching some of his inspiration. Nearly all
the leading Professors of Botany in the colleges of
the United States have been students of Dr. Gray
for a greater or shorter period.

" By many he is known for his valuable text
books just enumerated, but these constitute but a
small part of his work. He has described and
nameda vast number of flowering plants which
have been collected in numerous exploring expedi-
tions. These descripdons appear in numerous gov-
ernment and state reports which need not here be
enumerated. These are very valuable contribu-
tions to science, but they are almost lost sight of
by the mass of people. One of his greatest contri-
butions was a work on grasses, sedges and the like,
the former of which are of such great value to the
farmer. One of his greatest works is ' The Flora
of North America,' begun in 1838. The first two
volumes were prepared jointly with the late Dr.
Torrey. They extended over the Compositae. Dr.
Gray has lately renewed the work and alone printed
part first of a third volume. In 1848 appeared the
the first volume of his 'Genera of the Plants of the
United States.' The object in this work was to de-
scribe a prominent species of each genus of plants
in North America. These were accompanied by
detailed drawings by Isaac Sprague, the best bo-
tanical artist in this country. These drawings are
marvels of accuracy and have never been excelled
in any land, and probably they were never equalled.
The text was prepared with great care. The work
only passed through two volumes. It is now rare
and costly. Dr. Gray was ready to continue the
work, but the artist could not be induced to do so.
He thought his drawings were not appreciated.

"In connection with his other work. Dr. Gray
did considerable towards maintaining and increas-
ing the botanic garden, greenhouse, etc., at Cam-
bridge. In the early part of his studies, he was an
■ industrious collector of plants, and he laid the
foundation for the great herbarium at Harvard.

He has made valuable contributions to botany in
a host of miscellaneous papers and reviews con-
tributed to the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, to the American Journal of Science and
Arts, North American Review, Atlantic Monthly,-
Transactions of the American Pomological Society
and to the numerous Journals of Agriculture and
Horticulture.

"In 1837 — 45 years ago — appeared the first con-
tribution we find in the American Journal of
Science and Arts. This was a paper read before
the Lyceum of Natural History in New York,
October 24, 1836. The subject was "Vegetable
Fecundation." Then soon follows other valuable
papers — one on synonymy of several plants of the
orchid tribe, notes on European herbaria, and a
botanical excursion to the mountains of North
Carolina. In 1853, Dr. Gray appears as associate
editor of the journal last named, and has held this
position up to the present time — a period of 28
years. One of his ablest articles was that in which
he points out the relation of the Flora of Japan to
that of Eastern North America. Almost every
work of any merit on botany that has appeared in
any country within the last twenty-five years, has
been ably reviewed by Dr. Gray in the American
Journal of Science and Arts. His own works were
reviewed by others. He has taken up many
knotty problems in botany, and has lived long
enough to see most botanists fall in with his con-
clusions on the subjects investigated.

"Asa Gray was born in Paris, Oneida county.
New York, November 18, 1 8 10. He graduated as
Doctor of Medicine at Fairfield College in 1831 ;
received the degree of LL. D. from Hamilton Col-
lege in 1 861. For some years he was president of
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and
in'i872, president of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science. He is honorary or
corresponding member of any number of leading
foreign scientific societies. His name stands above.
that of any other American botanist, and ranks
with the best of those in Europe."

Tithes in Canai).\. — It is not generally known
that tithes are collected by law from the Roman
Catholic cultivators of the soil in Quebec. The
Illustrated "Jourjial of Agriculture says that one
tvventy-sixth of the grain the farmer threshes, by
law goes to the church. The only way by which
he can escape the tithing process is by a written
declaration, signed and sealed, that he has ceased
to regard himself as any longer a member of that
church.

Thk Tanvah and Abo. — W'm. Bartram, in his
"Travels" published in 1791, notes that on the
plantation of "Jonathan Bryan, eight miles up the
Savannah River," he observed the "Abo, or Arum
esculentum in a low, wet place in the corner of the '
garden. It is much cultivated in the maritime
parts of Georgia and Florida for the sake of its
turnip-like roots, which are excellent boiled or

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

29

roasted." He then goes on to say, "they have
likewise another species of the esculent Arum,
called Tannier, which are large and beautiful
plants, and much cultured and esteemed for food,
particularly by the negroes."

. From this it appears that about one hundred
years ago the Tanyah was not considered the
same with Arum, or Caladium esculentum, as it
is now, and that there were two distinct roots of
this class known. What is this second plant?

The Virgin Mary's Tree. — A "Sycamore"
tree, probably Ficus Sycamorus, grew new Heli-
opolis, by Cairo, in Egypt, which was long re-
garded as a tree under which Joseph and Mary
rested in their flight from Palestine to Egypt. It '
was supposed to be an old tree at that time. It
died in 1665, and another planted in its place in
1672. It is said to have got through the recent
militar\" troubles without injury.

The Eglantine. — The writer of this was
brought up among people who ought to know
what they meant when they spoke of the Eglan-
tine. This plant certainly was the Dog Rose, or
Rosa canina. American authors insist that the
Sweet Briar is the Eglantine, and, when the sub-
ject was discussed some years ago, so many "au-
thorities" were brought out that it did seem that
perhaps the writer was wrong in his belief. The
matter is brought to mind afresh by a chapter on
Rosa canina, in Revue Horticole, by Mons. Ph.
Petitcoq, who remarks "its common name is
Eglantine." As Eglantine seems evidently of
French origin, a Frenchman should be some au-
thority on a native name.

White Grapes. — "Propriety" writes: "Why will
horticultural papers continue the absurdity of call-
ing green grapes 'white.' It is many years ago
since I first called attention to the absurdity, but
still the farce goes on."

[It certainly is disheartening. Let our friend try
his hand on human nature in another shape, he
may have becter success in that quarter ; for in-
stance, why should we say, "the white man." To
our mind few of them are white. Many are
rather red than white, especially their noses in
some instances. — Ed. G. M.]

Legend of the Rose. — According to mythol-
ogy, the Rose was originally white, and some of
the prettiest ideas of ancient poetry are in connec-
tion with the origin of the red rose. The blood of
Venus, the blood of Adonis, and the blood of
Cupid have been severally credited with originat-
ng this beautiful flower. Theophrastus seems to

be the authority for the Adonis version. "Venus,
looking through the woods for Adonis, ran a thorn
in her foot, and from her blood entering the ground
around a white rose bush, changed the whole to
red." This is the story which seems to attract the
greater number of modern believers, in so far as
there are believers in these ancient stories.

Another story is that Venus, irritated at the mis-
chief Cupid was continually making in the world,
gathered a rose branch and whipped with it the
mischievous boy. She whipped him till the blood
came, and red roses sprang from these drops of
blood, but the incorrigible little rascal still pursued
his pranks.

The white rose is dedicated to silence. Cupid,
forgetting the castigation Venus gave him, was
caught by Harpocrates toying with a nymph.
With some dread of another whipping, Cupid
offered him a white rose in order to engage
him to keep the flirtation c][uiet, and thus to this
day Harpocrates is represented holding a white
rose which he presses to his lips.

Napoleon Weeping Willow. — An erroneous
impression prevails that the Napoleon Weeping
Willow is something distinct from the Babylonian
or common weeping willow. It is simply the com-
mon weeping willow raised from the tree which
grew over Napoleon's tomb in the island of St.
Helena. Mr. John Smith, ex-curator of Kew Gar-
dens, says it came into special public notice in
1825, on account of a twig having been received at
Kew taken from a twig growing over Napoleon's
grave at St. Helena. To see* this twig the crowd
was so great, that one Sunday before the hour of
opening the gates were burst open. The twig grew
into a fine tree forty feet high.

The Oleander. — It appears from Pliny's de-
scription, that the Rhododendron of the ancients, so
poisonous to animal life, was what we call olean-
der. It still goes by the name of Laurier rose, or
rose laurel, on the continent of Europe. They
value the plant highly and have red, white and
yellow, of many forms and shades, and doubles
and singles of all colors.

History of the Lombardy Poplar. — Names
are often misleading. People have often endeav-
ored to trace soine relationship between the curious
variety of poplar and some European species, on
account of its name. But the Lombardy Poplar is
only so called from its having been introduced to
England from Lombardy. It has been traced
from Persia, where it abounds, and from the Him-
alayas, to the banks of the Po, and thence to the

30

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

margin of our English streams. About a hundred
years ago Lord Rochfort imported from Turin the
first cuttings of the Lombardy Poplar, which in-
troduced here the novelty of a pole clothed with
foliage.

Travels of the Indian Corn or IVL\ize. —
The Gardener s Chronicle notes that " it is not sur-
prising, therefore, that this prolific grain should
have accompanied the colonists of various nations
over the whole of America from Chili to the chain
of lakes. It was introduced into gardens on this
side of the Atlantic within fifty years of the first
voyage of Columbus. It entered the Mediterra-
nean by way of Spain, and before the death of
Queen Elizabeth and her counsellors — two of whom
were noted gardeners, it reached the Levant,
where it became an important item in the trade of
the Venetians. Jt afterwards passed up the Dan-
ube to Hungary, and traveling eastward with the
merchandise of caravans, it gradually entered the
rice countries, and reached China and Japan."

Industrial Schools. — In a recent address in
Philadelphia, the Hon. Richard Vaux sa*id : "The
time will come when the people will demand that
appropriations shall be made for the establishment
and maintenance of mechanical schools, so that
from them may be graduated young men whose
diplomas will show that they are educated and
skilled in the arts, and the peers of any other men,
no matter what their profession."

The fact seems to be overlooked that very few
lads come to love the trade or pursuit in which
they have been trained. We have agricultural
schools, and it is a well known fact that a very
small percentage of those who go to these schools
ever become farmers. Nurserymen know that of
the great number of those young boys who are
placed by their parents, or who get opportunities
to learn the business, it is extremely rare to find
one who finally cares for it. The great bulk of the
most successful in any employment are those who
took to it in comparatively later years, from the
love of it and not from early training.

So far as systems of education shall permit of
the development early in life of a love of industry
and mechanical pursuits in a general way, Mr.
Vaux's idea is well enough. Those who love
labor will soon find how to put it into useful prac-
tice.

Free Railroads .\nd Canals. — It may be
well worth considering when we suffer whether
the remedy is not worse than the disease. There
are few people who suffer more from what appears

to them unjust railroad discriminations, than farm-
ers and gardeners. But it may be questioned
whether this is to be remedied by some methods
proposed. New York State has resolved to try
the experiment of free canals. Instead of the
people who use them paying for their use, about
one million dollars will have to be annually raised
by taxation to pay interest on bonds and running
expenses. This is intended as a blow at "rail-
road monopolies." This good, however, will re-
sult that we shall have a chance to see by experiT
ment how the rule of free roads in the hands of
State politicians actually works.

New Chicago Florists' Houses. — Mr. E.
Sanders describes in the Prairie Farmer, the new
houses of Mr. F. F. Canda, all heated with hot
water in the best manner, using two pipes or steam
boilers and some 7,000 feet of four-inch pipe. The
houses, three in number, are built east and v.-est,
1 50 feet long by about 20 feet wide, and attached
with a fine take of roses and carnations, along with
a smaller stock of a mixed class of plants.

Miller & Hunt, of Chicago. — Mr. E. San-
ders says in Prairie Farmer : " Miller & Hunt, on
Halsted street, in Lake View, have acres under
glass, including eleven new houses erected this
year in Terre Haute, Ind., on purpose to get into a
good rose growing soil. Their houses are part
north and south, six in number and about 250 feet
each. Then a range lot of several more at right
angles to these, and some 300 feet in length. The
most of the heating is done here by steam, although
a portion is hot water, and the great forte is
roses."

The Floral Cabinet — Published by the La-
dies' Horal Cabinet Company, of New York. We
noted some time since that Mr. C. L. Allen had
accepted the editorship of this magazine, now in its
ninth volume, and that this fact promised a new
lease of life in a magazine that had already done
good service. It has now changed its form to one-
half less, with the same amount of reading matter,
and has been changed in other particulars, which
more than ever adapts it to the floral wants of
ladies of culture and refinement. It promises to
be a very useful aid in the progress of intelligent
gardening.

Pennsylvani.\ State Horticultural Asso-
ciation, 1882. — From E. B. Engle, Secretary,
Chambersburg, Penn'a. This is one of the best
reports which come to our table, chiefly because
the secretary happens to be one who seems to have
the rare knack of catching the point of a speaker's

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST,

31

remarks, and giving the substance in a few words.
The colored lithograph of a Seckel pear, and the
old Seckel pear free is poor ; but the illustration of
Pennsylvania fruits in plain work very well done.
Of these there is the Cumberland Triumph cherry,
a magnificent fruit, quite equal to the Black Tar-
tarian, and the York Stripe and Pyle's red winter
apple. It is a good idea for a state society to rep-
resent its state fruits, especially when they are of
such a superior character that they will last for
many years, in all probability, before they become
obsolete.

Transactions of Massachusetts Horticul-
tural Society, 1882. Part I. — From Robert
Manning, Secretary. We learn from that excellent
report that rose culture seems to be growing in
popular estimation in Massachusetts. ^^3,050 was
the sum appropriated for premiums for the season.
The papers and discussions refer to the taste for
ornamental trees, which, the general remarks of the
speakers indicated, did not grow near as fast as the
ability of modern nurserymen to supply the want.
Apple and pear culture seemed to indicate much
the same. There are numerous varieties in exist-
ence far better than many which are popular. The
great want seems not so much the encouragement
of new varieties, as better means of making known
the great number of good things which we already
have. Flower culture, especially hardy flower
culture, was freely discussed, and an immense
number of good things pointed out as suitable for
the latitude of Boston. .An interesting paper on
the yellows in the peach is by Prof. Pcnhallow.
He found fungi at every stage of the disease, and
described the species he found ; but the discussion
which followed showed that Prof. Penhallow's able
paper had not the slightest effect on the minds of
those who listened in inducing them to believe that
the yellows was caused by fungus. Indee{i Dr.
Goessmann, who immediately followed, remarked
that " the disease may be due to atmospheric influ-
ences ; on a sultry day, when evaporation cannot
be carried on, stagnation may result and cause
disease." It would be just as well to show, by
experiments, that there is no evaporation on a
sultry day, as to rise in a public meeting and say
it "may be" so. It is, however, but justice to say
that Prof. Penhallow's paper only deals with what
he found after the disease''appeared. There is no
doubt but the fungus, which.,^causes the disease, is
at work for a year before there is any evidence
afforded by the appearances on ^the tree, and that
this disease can be communicated by digging up a
mass of fungus-infested roots, and placing it in the

ground about a healthy tree. This evidence,
already given in our pages, is worth more as
indicating the actual fungus origin of the disease
than any microscopical examination can be.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

To Intelligent Correspondents. — All com-
munications relating to advertisemettts, subscrip-
tions, or other business, must be addressed to the
publisher, 814 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

All referring to the reading matter of the maga-
zine must be mailed to the editor, Germantown, Pa.

No express packages for the editor received un-
less prepaid ; and marked " Paid through to Ger-
mantown, Pa."

Fertilizing Moss.— Mr. E. A. Caswell writes:
" Permit me to thank you for inserting my reply to
Mr. Henderson. .Although the foot-note seemed
to you requisite, it seemed to me quite to warp
my meaning. The word " impartial " was in no
wise meant to attack Mr. H.'s judgment, it meant
merely that the plants should all be under simi-
lar conditions throughout their growth. I wrote
a letter to Mr. H. so stating, and disclaiming
the intention, by the word, of caUing him in ques-
tion. I have a pleasant letter from him saying
that he took no umbrage at my article and deemed
the phrase " sneer " hardly called for. This mat-
ter having been pleasantly settled, Mr. H. and I
propose to have a competition under suitable con-
ditions. Perhaps you will find it legitimate news
to tell your readers that the Dumesnil moss had a
medal (bronze) given by the Massachusetts Hor-
ticultural Society, and that a bronze medal was
given to it Saturday by the American Institute Fair,
and also by them one for plants grown in it. Hop-
ing to find some day as much favor in the eyes of
agricultural journals as we have before these other
tribunals, I remain yours with thanks."

Advertisements. — Charles E. Parnell writes :
" Since the publication of the paper on single
dahlias in the December Monthly, I have received
many inquiries as to where they can be obtained.
I did not write the paper in question, and moreover
have not as yet cultivated them, so I cannot give
the desired information. I have answered all who
enclosed stamps for that purpose, but those who
sent postal cards remain unanswered, as it is
enough for me to reply without having to prepay
postage on queries that should be sent to the
editor. "

32

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[January,

[It is singular that so many should take it for
granted there is but one " P. " in the world.

The paper was written by one of our English
correspondents, and we always take it for granted
that when a writer fixes an initial and not the full
name, the reason is that he does not desire corres-
pondence about the matter. Hundreds of people
write solely for the public good, and without their

full name purposely, that they may not be charged
with using the columns of a public journal in mere
advertising interest.

We suppose leading seedsmen have or will have
the seeds to offer. These are the ones to write to,
but not the editor — as our correspondent suggests
— who, as editor, knows nothing of advertisers. —
Ed. G. M.l

Horticultural Societies.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Discriminative Premiums. ^ — Over and over
again we have suggested a reform of the manner
in which premiums are given at horticultural soci-
eties. They lose half their value to the receiver
because no one knows why they receive them.
The public does not care to be told that Primus
had the first premium for cauliflower, or Secundus
for beets. It cares a great deal more to know what
the premium articles looked like, and we feel cer-
tain that modern horticultural societies, which in
many cases are now dragging along a miserable
existence, will never revive till they do something
to bring widely before the public the real merits of
the successful exhibits.

The Germantown (Phila.) Horticultural Society
was first founded on the old plan ; but it got down
so low that it became entangled, as it seemed hope-
lessly, in debt. It could not even pay the premi-
ums it promised, and even these premiums were
scarcely thought worthy of being competed for
by good horticulturists, whether professional or
amateur. At last scarcely a score of persons at-
tended the monthly meetings. A new departure
was inaugurated about four or five years ago, the
main effort being to make the exhibits as instruct-
ive as possible. The result is that the society is
now out of debt, increases its premiums, has better
exhibits than it ever has had, and its rooms are
thronged during the meeting by all the best gar-
deners of the vicinity, as well as by numerous
ladies and gentlemen of the highest social stand-
ing. At the last meeting a new feature was intro-
duced by Mr. David Cliffe, Chairman of the Com-
mittee on Awards, in the direction indicated at the
opening of this paragraph. In announcing the

decisions of the committee he explained to the
meeting the various points of superiority, in other
words the reasons for the awards. It was highly
appreciated by the thronged assemblage, who
warmly applauded Mr. Cliffe at the conclusion.
It is something to have such instructive decisions
given verbally, and we are sure that that society
which shall be the first to go to the trouble and ex-
pense of giving such reports to the public, will gain
so much in the estimation of exhibitors, that it will
never need to go begging for something to fill the
hall.

Penn. State Horticultural Society. — The
annual meeting will be held at Harrisburg, Jan.
17th and 1 8th, 1883, and there is every indication
of an unusually full and interesting meeting. Ex-
cursion rates over the Pennsylvania, N. Central,
Phila. & Erie, and other roads, have been granted,
and orders for the same can be had upon applica-
tion to the secretary. Tickets can be bought from
January i6th to i8th inclusive, good to return until
January 20th inclusive. Circulars with fuller an-
nouncement will be issued soon by the Secretary,
E.B. Engle, Chambersburg, Pa.

Our Present System of Competing for
Prizes. — The London Garden accurately describes
the present system for premiums as the "victory of
the least bad," When judges shall be expected to
give their reasons for awarding premiums we may
know wherein the merit of the victor lies. It is
really remarkable that the old lazy system should
prevail so long.

Hall of the New York Horticultur.\l So-
ciety.— This flourishing society has purchased the
" Church of the Disciples " near Broadway, which
is to be converted into a horticultural hall.

THE

Gardeners^ Monthly

HORTICULTURIST.

DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE, ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS.

Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN.

Volume XXV.

FEBRUARY, 1883.

Number 290.

Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground.

SEASONABLE HINTS.

Just now we note much being said against the
use of knife or shears on ornamental trees and
shrubs. There are some who would not cut a tree
under any circumstances. Everything should be
natural. There can be no greater advocate of
nature, or perhaps it would be best to say of natural
ways in gardening, than the Gardeners' Monthly.
What has been termed the topiary art — the trim-
ming of trees and bushes to resemble everything
under the sun — was pushed to extremes. But
without great violence being done to true taste,
some such art may surely be permitted. We all
like a neatly trimmed box edging wherever it is
proper to have an edging of box at all, and the
neatly trimmed live fence or hedge is also agree-
able. If, now, we allow some of the trees of which
the hedge is composed to grow up and form a
neatly-trimmed arch over a gateway, we cannot
see wherein good taste is seriously violated. In
the Tower Grove Park at St. Louis the music-stand
is surrounded by a grove of osage orange, which
is sheared so as to allow numerous gothic openings
through the walls. One might say if a wall is
wanted, why not make it of boards or stone at
once ? But nothing will equal the luxury of sitting
under a leafy bower, while the air is actually cooled
by passing through the foliage. To our mind, this

foliage room, with its numerous window openings,
is one of the many successes of this pretty park.
Take, even, some gardens which have been criti-
cised ; as, for instance, the Italian garden at
Wellesley, where nearly everything is cut to some
form or other, while a whole garden served in this
way would be almost intolerable, as a contrast to
other parts it is peculiarly pleasurable, and it is
doubtful whether the many landscape pleasures
of these famous grounds would be half as enjoy-
able without the Italian garden. While the uni-
versal cropping and shearing which often takes
place at this season gives good excuse to those who
write down the entire use of the knife in this way,
the better course will probably be to use the knife
judiciously. The rule of good taste is expression.
If we were to find a tree or shrub growing entirely
naturally, and taking on some singular shape, there
is no doubt it would be as much an object of inter-
est as profile rocks against mountain sides, or the
features of scenery in the great caves. Just how
far art may help these appearances good taste
must suggest.

In like manner there is rebellion against carpet
bedding, and the formal arrangement of flowers in
masses, or in beds of formal shape. Of course
this is often pushed to the extreme, but when we
see hundreds of thousands enjoying them, it is evi-
dent there must be an underlying element of natu-

34

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

ral feeling somewhere beneath such an edifice of
art. It will probably be a long while before this
style of gardening is abandoned. There are some
figures for flower beds which look out of charac-
ter. The figures should harmonize with the sur-
roundings. For a circular spot there are few
things prettier than the old " Dropmore Pear beds."
In old times this " Dropmore flower garden "
was popular for affording masses of four different
kinds. The walks between the four pear-shaped
beds were of grass or shells, or small cobble-stones.
Since carpet-bedding, a close form of mosaic work
has become popular, the walks are made with
stone-crops, or kinds of house-leeks, or of some
kind of neutral colored leaf plant. Besides this a
border of some other color is placed round the

whole thing, which gives it a pretty finish. We
give with this an illustration of what we mean.

The straight lines are only temporary, to aid the
drawing of the figures desired on the ground. To
make the larger circle of the pear-shaped outline
the compass or string has one end placed at b. For
the two smaller circles at a and c.

COMMUNICATIONS.

THE GOVERNMENT GROUNDS, DOMINION
OF CANADA.

BY AVM. ROBERTSON, SUPERINTENDENT, OTTAWA.

Those grounds, from their natural position, ele-
vated as they are over three hundred feet above
the Ottawa River, make a grand impression on all
who have visited them. A finer view is seldom

seen. Looking from them to the southwest, you
have the Chaudrie Falls, Suspension and C. P.
Railway bridges, and as far as the eye can reach
the river wending its way upwards, dotted with
wood-covered islands. On the background, in the
distance, runs a chain of mountains covered to the
top with various sorts of trees, evergreens, &c. On
the opposite side of the river lies the city of Hull
with its vast piles of sawed lumber. On the north-
west, at the bottom of the slope, is the Rideau
Canal, Major's Hill Park, and the lower portion of
the city ; in the distance, peeping from the woods,
is the Governor's residence, with the river flowing
downward. This river is the scene of much activ-
ity in Summer, from the vast quantities of lumber
passing by raft and barge to the different markets.
The grounds contain an area of about thirty
acres, without its surrounding slopes. About
thirty feet from the top of this slope, which is very
steep, runs a walk called " the Lovers'," beauti-
fully shaded by trees. At its center is a fountain
of water, with seats where the weary may drink
and rest. This walk runs all round the back,
which is formed somewhat like a D, the straight
portion being enclosed by an ornamental walk
and railing, in which is the entrance gates from
a street of the city.

The grounds may be considered as two flats ; on
the upper stands the Parliament building and Li-
brary ; on the lower two blocks of the Department-
al Buildings, facing as it were, and forming three
sides of a square, apart at the corners about two
hundred feet, in the center of which is about six
acres of grass. Down the center runs a walk fifty-
five feet wide, with two others running from the
upper part to the corners ; they are fourteen feet
wide.

On the upper part of this square stands a para-
pet wall, straight in the center, but sweeping
around and falling at both sides, to the side build-
ing. Back of this again, sixty feet at the nearest
point, runs two short walls which catch the eye
looking from the front, where the front wall be-
gins to fall at both sides, giving an elevated ap-
pearance to the building which stands above.
Between those walls at each side is a carriage
drive and sidewalk, rising to the upper flat with a
piece of lawn on each side, in which are ten flower
beds, five on each side.

The upper portion on the top of the slope has a
cedar hedge (arbor-vit^e, Ed.), inside of which
runs a foot-walk. On this upper portion is the
greatest decoration of flower beds, embracing
thirty-six in number ; with two large borders, re-

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

35

quiring thirty-six thousand plants to fill them,
which may be called of three sorts — motto, design
in flower, and mass. The first is entirely made of
low-growing plants, which I will try to describe.
One is at the junction of two sweeping-walks, and
forms somewhat of a triangle, in the center of
which are the words "God Save our Queen,"
in Alternanthera amoena, carpeted with Sedum,
surrounded by a border of Alternanthera aurea.
In a sort of fancy scroll work, apart from this, is
another of Pachyphytum aurem, filled between
with Echeveria Cahfornica. Next to the grass
border is another, running in a line with this bor-
der, of Leucophytum Brownii, filled in with various
plants, as the second border divides it into sections.
Another is a circular bed, twelve feet in diameter;
in the center is a circle of Alternanthera with four
points running to the outer border, and the words
•"Be true." The center and points are carpeted
with Sedums. Between those points is another
device bordered with Silver Thyme, carpeted with
Oxalis trifolioides ; the outer circle is Echeveria
secunda. The third has also a circle in the cen-
ter with the words " Be kind," having eight points.
The circle and points are bordered with Golden
Feverfew ; center carpeted with Sedum ; points
with Oxalis trifolioides. Between these points are
figures bordered by Alternanthera, carpeted with
Sedum, with an outer border of Sempervivum.
Much attention is given to bring out contrast by
the color of the plants used.

My flower designs are made with flowering
plants, which grow as near a uniform height as pos-
sible, always taking care that the tallest is in the
center. One of the simplest that any one can
make is one I had this year. The bed is twenty
feet diameter, circular, with four points running
out five feet long, and the same where they leave
the circle. A Pandanus in^ the center, a circle
of Centaurea gymnocarpa eight feet diameter;
around this plant was filled rose colored Phlox
Drummondii, then a band of Phlox outside the
Centaurea, Fire Ball three feet, another of Snow
Ball, then a line of Teilanthera ; the outer a bor-
der of Cerastium tomentosum. Following around
the points forming an edging those points were
filled with Ageratum John Douglas. This is what
may be called a ribbon bed ; but 1 carry out many
designs in flowers, having various ways to keep my
lines distinct, which is a necessity for proper eftect.
My method of doing this I will describe at some
other time. For massing I use such as Petunias,
Zinnias, Portulaca, &c. All those beds are cut
in the grass in Gothic style, corresponding with

the order of the buildings. I always use some dis-
tinctive plant in color from the grass. All beds
have a border of some sort.

The grounds require a staff of fourteen active
men to keep them in order. They are divided ac-
cording to their different tasks, and soon become
very expert. Some trim the beds, which job is
done once a week, never allowed to get out of
shape, but as it were training them. Others attend
to the mowing of the grass. About fifteen acres of
this is done by a horse mower, and a hand one to
cut corners and slopes where the horse cannot go.
Some, again, clip the edges, and sweep the walks ;
others the watering. Every one has his portion
to attend to, and is expected to do it. These lawns
are mowed all the summei" — at least once a week ;
in fast growing times twice, and never allowed to
show signs of burning for want of water. They
are always as green as a spring day morn-
ing, even in the month of July. Some of our
horticulturists who have visited them say that
they are equal to the best of theirs. My method
of treating these lawns I will give you afterwards.
The task has been a most difficult one, owing to
their high, unsheltered position, largely excavated
from the rock, and the nature of the soil found on
them, all mixed up with the debris from the build-
ings at their erection — sandstone cuttings and such
hke.

My facilities for propagation for my beds have
been very limited, having only two greenhouses.
One, forty by twenty, contains a specimen of most
plants of a tropical nature, that I can find worthy
of growing. The other is sixty-seven by eighteen,
and contains all greenhouse plants that are to be
found in catalogues, on this side of the ocean.
This lack of glass, although very inconvenient, has
had its good results, as it has driven me to try
many plans, and I am now able to keep a large
stock of plants in a very small space. In public
places no one ever stops to enquire whether one
has proper facilities to do the work properly or not,
but would put him down as incapable if the work
be not done right.

Besides this, I use twenty hot-bed lights for the
raising of annuals, which are pricked out as soon
as ready, into spaces furnished with bottom heat
by manure, so that they can be covered up at night
for fear of late frosts. From this I get much har-
dier plants than from under the glass, and it en-
ables me to do much with this small quantity of
hot-beds.

The grounds have been the admiration of every
one during past seasons. To use the common ex-

36

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

pression of the many who have seen them — some
of whom have traveled through Europe and seen
much — it is the prettiest spot they ever put foot
upon.

THE AMERICAN BANNER ROSE.

BY PETER HENDERSON.

I see in your Editorial Notes, in the December
number of the Monthly, page 357, you state
that the American Banner Rose, "like all other
sports of this character, is liable to take self color
at times." This I think is a mistake. I have grown
it largely for the past three years, and have never
yet failed to see a flower come striped. In fact it
is not only the flower that differs from the plant
from which it is sported — Bon Silene — but the
foliage is entirely distinct, and has no resemblance
whatever to any other rose, being peculiarly veined
and of a leather-like texture, showing its whole
character to be unique and distinct — distinct
enough almost to be classed as a species. The
rose has been grown largely by the Dingee &
Conard Co., of West Grove, Pa., and by C. A.
Reeser, of Springfield, Ohio, and as far as I can
ascertain their experience has been the same as my
own ; that no plant has ever run back to the ori-
ginal. Nor do I think it ever will, as its character
is seemingly as firmly fixed as if it had been a
seedhng instead of a sport.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

The Philadelphia Public Squares. — The
filthy condition in which the several little parks or
squares with which the city of Philadelphia is stud-
ded, has long been a surprise, not to say disgust,
to intelligent visitors to this city, and has often
been commented on in this magazine. Last year
there was some improvement, for which we gave
credit to the Commissioners of City Property.
This year they were wretched as ever. In regard
to these squares the public prints have the follow-
ing account of the proceedings of the Finance
Committee of City Councils, considering the appro-
priations for 1883 :

"The appropriations to the Department of Mar-
kets and City Property was next taken up. The
total amount asked for was $179,283, an in-
crease of $40,321 over the appropriation of this
year.

"The items in the bill were approved until that
for the improvement of public squares was reached.
It amounted to $70,000, subdivided as follows :
Franklin, $20,000 ; Logan, $20,000 ; Rittenhouse,
$20,000; Jefferson, $10,000.

" Mr. Wolverton moved to strike out the whole
item, saying that the city's finances were not in a
condition to stand such an expenditure.

" Mr. Lex seconded the motion, stating that he
hoped that the squares could be improved out of
the surplus fund this year.

"Gen. Snowden moved to except 'Franklin
Square, $20,000,' from the motion to strike out.

"The motion was agreed to, making the total re-
duction in the bill of $50,000."

If these squares could only be kept decent, so
that those who believe that cleanliness is next to
godliness might have some encouragement, they
would not look so very bad, even as they are. Still
if they are "improved," they may have to be kept
cleaner, and it is a gain that even one a year falls
into the line of decorum.

Notes from Staunton, Virginia. — By an ac-
cident for which we are sorry, the following chap-
ter of good hints has been in the " wrong box," for
several months, till recently discovered :

"Thanks for the ' Seasonable Hints ' that opened
the June issue of the Gardeners' Monthly and
Horticulturist. If you will indulge in a few
more such, perhaps the barbarisms that we see on
every side may be curtailed. That is, provided
people will ever learn.

" 'Twas only two weeks ago that I passed some
public grounds where the officer in charge was
busily engaged in trimming (rather butchering)
Conifera; — some of them handsome specimens — •
from the ground, so as to leave a bare stem of over
five feet, and, to add to the beauty of the grounds,
was topping — perhaps you would say rounding off
— some beautiful English Lindens. At the same
time the vineyard, consisting of Catawbas, Con-
cords and Delawares, were being trained on the
principle we Southerners adopt for growing the
Scuppernong.

"The season here in the Valley of Virginia has
been exceptionally cool. At this date, June 5th,
the mercury at 50- F. Roses just opening ; Co-
leus, Lantanas, Ageratums, Sec, wilting under
the cool winds. Have you or any of your corres-
pondents any experience with the Pyrethrum as
a destroyer of the cabbage worm ? If so, how
should it be applied ? "

Rapid Chiowing Street Trees. — It is a great
mistake to choose the Silver Maple and different
Poplars for street trees, merely because they grow
fast. In a few years they are objectionable be-
cause they are so Aery large, and have to be re-
moved or hacked down. Such moderate growers
as Horse Chestnuts, Norway and Sycamore, or
Sugar Maple are much better, even though a trifle

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

37

less rapid in growth. Few people complain that
they are too large for the streets.

The Spring Beauty of Conikkrous Treks. —
Some one having stated in the Gardeners' Chroni-
cle that coniferous trees were monotonous, Mr. D.
T. Fish comes to their defence, and says : " Mo-
notony of color indeed ! It is all very well to bring
this charge against Conifers in the autumn or win-
ter, when their leaves have reached maturity or
have begun to enter the sere, if not yellow stage.
But not our best deciduous trees can rival the rich
interest and variety of Conifers in the springtide.
Take for example such a Silver Fir as P. Pinsapo ;
its catkins glow almost with the brilliance of coral,
and its grey shoots are soft and rich with verdure
that must be seen, as it is beyond description.
Then such Spruces as the Smiths and Douglas are
of the richest shades. The cones, too, of these
and many other trees, such as Pinus cxcelsa and
others, add a new feature of interest and beauty.
These added to the catkins, the showers of golden
pollen, the curious growing points of the wood,
soft and apparently as succulent as juicy Aspar-
agus at times, also, as in the case notably of P. Sa-
biniana, contrasted with the brown-grey masses of
sere and falling leaves, form a combination of light
and shade, interest and beauty, that can scarcely
be found among deciduous trees. And the odors
given out by Conifers are among the sweetest, and
perhaps the most wholesome in nature."

Mr. Fish's point is a very good one. The purple
male flowers of Table ]Mountain Pine, and the red
or scarlet of the Lawson Cypress are very attract-
ive, while the reddish brown of the new growth of
Alcock's Spruce may truly be characterized as gay.
There are few flowering plants more beautiful.

The Sack or Bag Worm. — The time is coming
when that fearful enemy to the Arborvitae especially
will make its appearance. Though we have kept a
continual warning against suffering it to eat on,
without molestation, it will do good service by
again referring to it. The following good sketch
is from the pen of Prof. Rathvon in the Lancaster
Farmer. Hand-picking is the cheapest remedy :

"The spindle-shape cocoons you sent us some
weeks ago — evidently taken from an Arborvitae
tree — are the habitacula of a Lepidopterous insect
known under the names of ' Sack-worm,' ' Basket-
carrier,' ' Drop-worm,' ' Sack-trager,' and other
names, but in scientific language it is called Thry-
ridoptery xephemoeriformis, a name almost 'as long
as the moral law.' Perhaps if it knew the space
its name occupies in natural history, it would be
better mannered than it is. It is notorious as a
tree defoliator, especially cone-bearing trees, and

most especially, perhaps, the Arborvitae. It may
have a choice, but it is by no means restricted by
that choice, and will attack almost any kind of a
tree. We have known it to be abundant on lin-
den, maple, elm, apricot, plum, locust, apple, pear,
various species of pine, quince, oaks — in short on
nearly all kinds except the ptach, and we have
heard that it has been known in a 'strait' to attack
the peach. Many of the follicles now found on
trees are the deserted habitacula of the males of
last season, but a goodly number are those of the
female pupa filled with eggs, and now before the
trees have put forth their leaves, is the tiine to col-
lect and destroy them. If the season is favorable,
between the ist and 15th of May, the young will
be hatched from the eggs that have remained in
the sacks or baskets of last summer. If they are
left undisturbed until the last of May or the begin-
ning of June, the trees will be in full foliage, and
for a month or two the foliage will be too dense to
see them. Each female deposits one hundred or
more eggs, and these eggs possess the possibilities
of the same nuinber of caterpillars. These cater-
pillars are never nakedly seen, for as soon as the
young are excluded from the eggs they begin to
form their sacks, and these they carry with them
wherever they go, only protruding the head and
the three thoracic segments of the anterior part of
the body. No liquid or powdered remedy can
reach them, nor can birds dislodge them from their
habitacula. If these insects are permitted to con-
tinue on the trees to their injury, the responsibility
must rest with those who own the trees they infest ;
for we know of no insect that is more accessible,
especially during late fall, winter and early spring."

NEW OR RARE PLANTS.

A New Hawthorn — Crat.egis brachvacan-
THA. — In 1832, Drummond collected in the Red
River region, a hawthorn which has never been
properly made out. Mohr and Sargent also col-
lected imperfect specimens, and recently the fruit
has been collected by Letterman. These trees
looked at a distance like plum trees, with small
blue fruit ; the ground under them (August 19,
1882), was covered with fallen leaves.

It is a tree twenty to thirty feet high, in very old
trees with rough bark, spines usually about six
inches long, curved. Leaves about two inches
long, lanceolate oblong, short pctioled, leathery,
serrate, shining, with ribs almost obliterated.
Flowers among the smallest of the genus.

Canna Ehem.\nni. — There are few things more
beautiful in American decorative gardening than
the various forms of cannas, and good service is
done by those who endeavor to improve them.
Mr. H. A. Dreer sends us the following account
of a new one just introduced :

38

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

'The most distinct of all Cannas on account of

Canna Ehemanni.

which place it foremost among decorative foliage
plants. Its most striking feature is the splendid
carmine red flowers produced on flower stems of
great length that unfold about twelve flowers to
each of the smaller branches. These flowers are
very large, and are used to advantage in bouquet-
making, or producing splendid effects on the
lawn."

'Ampelopsis JAponica. — Under this name the
Gardener s Chronicle says is being cultivated in
Europe our common Poison \ ine, Rhus toxicoden-
dron.

The Douhle Eschscholtzia. — Many double
flowers do not produce many seeds, but it is said
the double form of this pretty Californian annual
produces some seeds, which reproduce the double
form.

Weigela canijida. — This pretty white variety
noticed before in our pages in connection with the
nursery meeting at Rochester, and which will
probably supersede the old Hortensis nivea, forms
a colored illustration in EUwanger & Barry's

the large oval usa-Ensete-like soft green leaves ; new descriptive catalogue.

Greenhouse and House Gardening.

SEASONABLt HINTS.

This is the season when many things will require
re-potting. Many have a set time and season to
do this ; but some things require re-potting at
various seasons. The best time is just before they
are about to make a new growth. Camelias,
azaleas, and many plants, for instance, start at this
season. It is not necessary to re-pot so often as
some think, especially if bloom, and not very large
specimens, is chiefly wanted. If the pot is very
full of roots, and the plant growing weak, it may
need re-potting.

In potting, see that some provision is made for
allowing the water to readily escape, by putting
broken crocks o\ er the hole. I'se soil rather dry,
and ram it firmly about the old ball. Prefer pots
only a little larger, to very large shifts, as less liable
to accidents. Trim the plants in a little, if un-

shapely, to encourage the new growth where
wanted.

Sometimes the plants get "sick," which is known
by unhealthy,, yellow leaves. This is usually by
over-watering, generating a gas, or, as gardeners
term it, a " sourness," destructive to the roots.
The remedy is to cut the plant back a little, shake
out the soil, and put the plant in a small pot with
new soil and place the plant in a house only mod-
erately warm, and which is naturally moist, so that
the plant can live for a while without requiring
much water. It will generally recover.

Many who have but small houses and wish to
have a variety, are troubled with valued plants,
becoming too large. To keep them low, as soon
as the plant has matured its growth, cut it down
as low as may be desired. As soon as it shows
signs of breaking forth into a new growth, turn it
out of the pot ; shake or tear away the old ball of

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

39

roots and put it into a small pot as it can be got
into ; and when it grows again, and fills the pot
with roots, re-pot again as Ijcfore.

COMMUNICATIONS.

LARGE COXCOMB.

liV S. W. WEBi;, CHARLESTON, S. C.

During the past summer my attention was
drawn to some " Celosias " growing in the garden
of an amateur in this city. There were only two
that grew to any size. The largest measured 30x18
inches. The plants in height were not over two
feet and a half, and were ne\er transplanted.
During their entire growth they received no atten-
tion save the driving of a stake to support the
flower. Seeing a description of the Chelsea cox-
comb in the Monthly, I thought I would write you
about this South Carolina one.

CARNATION— JAMES A. GARFIELD.

BY AUGUST D. MVLIUS, DETROIT, .MKHKiAN.

The best colored carnation I have at present is
President James A. Ciarfield, a seedling raised by
Messrs. Breitmeyer & Sons, of Detroit. The plant
is very robust, and proves to be the best for win-
ter blooming of all colored sorts, on account of its
sweet scent and very large flowers, it being double
the size of other carnations. In e\ery way this
carnation is perfect, and 1 am sure in a short time
it will take the place of the kinds now used for
winter blooming. In fact there can not be too
much said in praise of this carnation. The color
is a rich vermillion. This firm raised another good
carnation which they named Mrs. Carfield. The
color is like a Chinese pink.

pipe for the purpose of radiating heat ? How many
horse power boiler is required to heat such a house
(100x20 feet) ? Can three or four such houses be
heated in the same proportion, that is if it requires
a five-horse power boiler to heat one house, will it
require a twenty horse power to heat four such
houses ? Is steam heating cheaper than hot water,
regardless of the cost of pipes ? Does steam heat-
ing work as well in an ascending as it does in a
descending pipe, or would the condensation of the
steam in the pipes cause trouble in keeping up the
circulation of steam in the ascending pipe ? Can
a steam boiler be safely left at ten o'clock at night
until seven o'clock in the morning, or is it neces-
sary to watch it more closely than fo^- hot water
boilers ': What style of boiler would you recom-
mend where economy is an important item. Any
one who has had experience in steam heating (for
it is experience that we want), that will kindly
answer the above questions through the columns
of the C.ARDENERs' MONTHLY, I think will confer
a favor on a large number of its readers.

HEATING GREENHOUSES WITH STEAM.

MY E. HOLLEY, HI DSON, X. Y.

Having been very much interested in reading
the various articles which have appeared in the
G.\RDENERs' Monthly during the last year, and
wishing more information on the subject, I would
now like to ask those who have had experience the
following questions :

How many radiating pipes of one inch or two
inch size, are required on each side of a hundred
foot greenhouse, and twenty feet wide, to easily
keep up a night temperature of 65 when the ther-
mometer goes down to i 5 below zero ? Are two
one-inch pipes as good or better than one two-inch

THE MEALY BUG ON COLEUS.

BY WALTER ELDER.

The mealy bug has got among the Coleus fam-
ily, and done damage the past three years, threat-
ening to drive them out of culture. Propagators,
by whose carelessness the bug spreads in this way,
will be the first to suffer by the calamity, and it is
time to look into it to save their customers from
disappointment and themselves from loss. The
bug is fond of the heat and moisture of a propa-
gating house, and multiplies fifty times as fast as
Coleus plants do. It can easily be destroyed.
Make a weak solution of carbolic acid soap and
Paris green or sulphur. When the cuttings are
prepared for planting, dip them in the solution, all
but the lower cut ends. Hold them there for a
minute in bunches; then la\ them upon their sides
and shade them from sunshine and dry air. Let
them lie a few hours with the lower cut ends open.
They will not lose by evaporation while wet ; the
end cuts will partially callous, and will not be so
apt to rot when planted. After being well rooted,
and transplanted singly into small pots, dip them
in the solution as before, but not the roots. Cover
them wholly for shade, and when partially dry^
plant them. Once a week after that, syringe them
with the solution.

To purchasers, 1 would say before planting, dip
the plants in the solution, spread the fingers- over
the mouths of the pots, and turn the plants under-

40

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

most. Then dip the plants (not the pots) ; set
them in a warm, dark place, or shade them. In
two days afterwards set the plants in the beds to
grow. To those who do not know the bug and its
ways of multiplying, I may say it locates itself at
the forks of stems and leaf-stalks, and is very dif-
ficult to dislodge. When a white down appears on
the plants, it means that there are hundreds of
eggs to hatch young bugs. They are almost as
minute as are the spores of mildew. Brush off
the down with a very small painters' brush, or
make a brush of horse hairs to do it. It will then
be well to syringe the plants with the solution once
a week for awhile. That may not kill the live
bugs, but will check their ravages, and may kill all
the young breeds from the eggs. Gardeners who
have garden frames with glass sashes, may set the
plants in them after dipping ; then put on sashes
and shade the plants one day and night. Keep
them there two weeks ; dip them again and
plant them out ; examine every plant carefully. I
have not seen the bug upon any of the other orna-
mental foliage plants.

[Mr. Elder's warning is well-timed, for the mealy
bug has undoubtedly shown a growing taste for
the Coleus. For hard woody stems the following
has recently been recommended by the London
Journal of Horticulture. It would probably not
be so for soft wooded plants, like Coleus, but
every good hint in the warfare against insects is a
gain: "Common gas tar that was used here, about
a fourth of tar to equal quantities of clay and
water, one man keeping it well stirred during the
time that another man was applying it to the vines,
rubbing it well over all the cane, eyes included.
We had some Lady Downe's more affected with
bug than any others, and were prepared to remove
them in spring if they suffered from the treatment
we gave them. In their case the tar was used
much stronger than the quantity given above, but
the dressing had not the slightest ill eftect, as the
eyes broke as freely as those on the ether canes in
the same house. We paint all the wires and raft-
ers in the vineries with paraffin oil, as it is no use
trying to get rid of mealy bug on vines by cleans-
ing the vines onlv." — Ed. G. M.l

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Large Greexhousks. — Mr. Charles Joly, in a
paper on the Glasgow Botanical Gardens, notes
that the greenhouse at the Crystal Palace, at
Sydenham, is 535 metres long; one at the Indus-

trial Palace at Paris, 192 ; Palm house at Kew, and
a house at Laeken, each 120; the new one at Glas-
gow, 106. A metre is about 3 1-3 feet.

LiLiUM Harris:. — Lilium longiflorum, or rather
as has been already noted in our columns, L. ex-
imium Harrisi, is being introduced with great favor
among English floriculturists.

Electric Light in Plant Growing. — Some
time ago the newspapers were full of the wonder-
ful accounts from England that plants could be
made to grow all night by using the electric light,
and this would be a great aid in forcing fruits and
flowers in winter. It was noted at the time in
these columns, that plants had been found in
America to grow almost as freely by night as by
day, and that however valuable in England, we
could hope for little advantage from it here. It
now appears that it has been tried in France, with
no difference between the ordinary growth and
that with the light.

Fra(;ranceof the Gardenia. — This once pop-
ular flower is likely to be superseded by the double
Tabernaimontana, which is just as sweet, just as
waxy, and in every way as conspicuous, yet pro-
duces flowers more freely and more continuously
than the (lardenia. The foliage also has some
resemblance to that of the Ciardenia.

Soil for Fuchsias. — Gardening Illustrated
says : P'uchsias like a rich soil freely drained con-
sisting of turfy loam, old thoroughly decayed ma-
nure or leaf-mould in about equal portions, with a
good sprinkling of charcoal dust and sand, and, if
at hand, a handful of bone-meal may be added at
the last shift. Should they be required to bloom
for a long time and continuously, they must be
well fed. They are often well grown under vines,
the moist atmosphere necessary for their proper
development and the partial shade of the vine
foliage seeming to benefit them materially ; bear
in mind, however, that where the vines are closely
trained and the foliage becomes dense, the shade
will be too much for the fuchsias.

An Indoor Frame. — A lady furnished a de-
tailed account to the Gardeners' Chronicle of her
contrivance for starting seedlings in early spring
in place of a hot-bed, the substance of which is as
follows : A stout wooden box was made about
twenty inches square and about eighteen inches
deep. This was supported on four legs, a hole
was made in the bottom and boxed round ; then
about two inches of cocoa-nut refuse was placed
over the bottom of the box, and packed round a
common tin baking dish ; on this were placed two

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

or three strips of wood to support a sheet of per- |
forated zinc with a hole in it, through which was :
let in a common two inch draining pipe in a ver-
tical direction, so as to enable water to be poured
into the dish. Over the zinc cover was a layer of
broken pottery, and over that a quantity of fine
sandy soil, filling up the box to within six inches of i
the top. An ordinary square garden hand-light, j
with upright sides and pyramidal top, was put over
the whole apparatus, and a lamp was placed under j
the hole in the bottom of the box. The seeds were \
sown in small pots, which were sunk in the soil to
a greater or less depth, according to the amount of
heat which they required. The steam from the
hot water passed through the holes in the zinc, and
kept the soil moist and warm, raising the tempera- |
ture at the surface to about yo'^ Fahrenheit. Of j
course the water in the baking dish required to be |
renewed to replace the loss occasioned by evapo-
ration, and a little practice soon taught how often
this should be done. As the frequency must de-
pend on the depth of the baking dish, &c., each
experimenter must ascertain for himself, by occa-
sionally putting a stick down the draining pipe, and
noticing the depth of the water below ; for if by
carelessness he allows the water to entirely evapo-
rate a hole in the tin will be the result. As the
young seedlings grew it became necessary to pro-
vide more room for them in a longer box, or one
two feet wide and four feet long, not heated with a
lamp, but with a special tank to be filled with hot
water every twenty-four hours, and with a tap for
drawing off the water which had cooled, and a
bent pipe at the side for filling it, which, being no
higher than the top of the tank, prevented danger
of over-filling. It was covered with sliding lights.
This box, not being so warm as the other, answered
well for receiving seedlings already started.

Prize Orchids. — The orchids which obtained
the chief premium at the New York Horticultural
Society in October were grown by Mr. \V. H.
Clements, gardener to Mrs. M. J. Morgan, and
were : Odontoglossum Roezlii, Cypripedium ni-
veum, Cattleyea Trianae delicata, Oncidium vari-
cosum Rogersii, Cattleyea labiata pescatoria and
Cattleyea Exoniensis.

A Good Rose. — Referring to the florists' es-
tablishment of Miller & Hunt, of Chicago,
Mr. E. Sanders remarks, in the P7-airie Far-
7ner : " A fine' little rose for bedding and cem-
etery work, pure white and always in flower, dwarf
and pretty, called Mille Annie Marie de Montraval
(a most unfortunate name, and Frenchy), that we

think is well worth extensive trial. Such kinds as
Niphetos, Corneha Cook, Duchess of Edinburgh,
and Perle des Jardins (the crack roses of the day)
are grown in immense quantities, while the total
number catalogued is something like two hundred
kinds.

A Good List of Greenhouse Ferns. — The
following is the list of Mr. F. Roenbeck, of Ba-
yonne, N. J., which obtained the first premium at
the October exhibition of the New York Horticul-
tural Society : Adiantum Haysii, Adiantum Mun-
dulum, Adiantum Aneitense, Adiantum Roenbeckii,
Adiantum Wigancii, Adiantum denticulata, Adian-
tum Bausii, Adiantum gracillimum, Adiantum ste-
latum (new seedling), Adiantum decorum cuni-
forme, Adiantum Farleyense al<;icorne. Gleichenia
flabellata, Gleichenia dichotoma, Gleichenia d»-
carpa, (Gleichenia spelunca;. DavalliaTyermania,
Davallia canadensis, Davallia canariensii, Davallia
alpina. Polypodium plumula, Nathrodium con-
taminans. Hyminodium crinitum, Nephobolus
Lingua, Nephobolus corimbiforum, Nephobolus bi-
color, Thamnopteris Australasica, Thamnopteris
Nidus, Lygodium dichotoma, Platycereum grande,
I Platycereum Willenka, Platycereum Wollenkii,
' Platycereum majus. Aspidium aristata.

NEW OR RARE' PLANTS.

The Diamond Tuberose. — Our readers will
remember that on the appearance of the " Dia-
mond " tuberose last year, evidence was offered
us tending to show that it was the Pearl under a
new name. As the introducers withdrew, in order,
as it was stated, to "fairly test it another season,
before sending it out," it seemed but justice to give
them the chance before saying anything more
about it. No opportunity has been aftorded us to
judge of the dift'erence between the two, but we
note that the stock has been placed on the French
market, while it is denied to our own.

Under these circumstances we feel justified in
expressing our belief that the French are going to
pay dearly for a " novelty " in the name of the
Diamond, which they could get in the shape of
Pearl bulbs for perhaps half the price.

Odontoglossum ve.xillarium. — The increas-
ing taste for orchid culture in America will render
: the following representation of a very beautiful
j species particularly acceptable to a great number
1 of our readers, and even those who never saw an
orchid house, or an epiphytal orchid growing, will
enjoy looking at a picture of that which they would

42

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

certainly love to possess. The name Odontoglos- j cies is the largest, and perhaps the showiest of this
sum is hard to pronounce, but means simply the ' very beautiful genus.

Odontoglossum vexillarium.

tooth-tongued orchid. It is one of the most beau- It was introduced a few years ago by Mr. Wm.
tiful of the great family of orchids, and this spe- , Bull, from Columbia, in South America.

I883.J

AND HORTICULTURIST.

43

A New Water Lily.— Mr. E. Sturtevant has
raised a nejv variety of lily from Nymphaea De-
voniensis, which, though not a species, Dr. Asa
Gray thinks may be called N. Sturtevanti, provided
a cross (x) is placed before the name in writing it.
According to the description the flower is paler
than the original. N. Devoniensis was produced
from N. dentata, which is a white flowering spe-
cies, N. Devoniensis being dark red.

Camellias and Roses. — Since the taste for
winter roses grew so wonderfully, the Camellia has
been undeservedly left far in the background.
There are few more beautiful sights than a well-
grown and well-formed Camellia. It is the gen-
eral impression that there will be a reaction in fa-
vor of this beautiful flower before long. The
English seem to foresee this, and among the an-
nouncements of new plants by Mr. Wm. Bull we
note " Camellia Don Pedro " has a prominent place.
A colored lithograph adorns the December Florist
and Pomologist.

New Chinese Primula. — The new Primula
which Mr. Maries collected for Messrs. Veitch, at
Tchang, will probably be useful for hybridizing pur-
poses on account of its distinct habit ; no other
cultivated Primula that we know of possesses fo-
liage which lies, as it were, flat on the soil. The
delicate mauve-tinted flowers with their bifid petals
will doubtless become larger, and hence more at-
tractive under cultivation. — The Garde?i.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

R.\isiNG Fine Seeds. — A correspondent from
Sarnia, Ontario, writes : " I find a good plan to
sow small seeds like Begonia, &c., on a very soft
brick, dug out enough to hold say one-quarter of
an inch of soil. Place the brick in a pan of water.
The brick draws moisture enough to keep the soil
in a nice condition. If this is any use, publish it.
Have been a subscriber for three years, and am
much pleased with your paper."

[This is also a capital way to raise ferns, orchids
and other fine seeds. Sown on a shallow brick,
set in a pan of water, they will be almost sure to
grow, the only care required being to see that the
water is always kept in the pan. When done in
the usual way, these fine seeds are sure to be
washed away by the watering pot, no matter how
carefully the watering is tended. — Ed. G. M.]

Chrysanthemum Maywood. — Mr. James Tap-

lin, Maywood, N. Y., writes : " I have to-day
mailed to you flowers of my new single Chrysan-
themum Maywood, which received a first-class-
certificate at a recent meeting of the New York
Horticultural Society. I sent with it flowers of the
ordinary Marguerite, or Paris Daisy, that the two
might be compared."

[These were semi-double, and a great advance
in improvement on the original. — Ed. G. M.]

Fir Tree Oil.— Mr. Robertson, of the Govern-
ment grounds, Ottawa, Canada, writes : " I have
also tested the Soluble Fir Tree Oil Insecticide, and
think that its merits cannot be too well known. I
have used it on the most tender plants, diluted to
about half a pint to one gallon of water, and it not
only cleanses the plants from insect life, but adds
appearance to many foliage plants. I do not wash
it off, as I have seen recommended, and as yet
have been unable to see any injurious effect from it.

" It must be of great value to those growing
house plants, or where greenhouses are attached to
a house where smoking cannot be done. I would
recommend it to such people. In it they will find
a remedy that they have much longed for."

Seedling Carnations. — "J. S.," Louisville,
Ky., says: "I send you this morning a sample of
a Seedling Carnation that I raised two years ago.
I have tried it out of doors and in the greenhouse,
and find it to bloom better in either situation than
any other I know of. It has a very compact habit.
The flower spikes get about fourteen inches high.
It is a free, robust grower, and is easily cultivated.
I have about one hundred strong plants on a bench
which are loaded with buds and flowers. There
are fully one-half more buds on them than on any
Carnations I have seen or raised. What do you
think of its shape and color ? "

[These appeared to be fine flowers, but being
addressed to the publication office in Philadelphia,
instead of to the editor in Germantown, they were

nearly rotten before they came to hand. Ed.

G. M.]

Aiding the Draft of Flues. — Under date of
December i8th, a correspondent from Sarnia, On-
tario, furnishes the following excellent hint: " About
this time many a poor florist will be grumbling if
he has smoke flues — how they smoke. Stop it by
making a small hole in the chimney, say for seven-
inch thimble at the base. Put a few handfulls
of shavings in the chimney. Light them. Then
start the fire in the furnace, ani everything will
work hke a charm. No smoke and good draft."

44

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

Besides this it may be of service to remind the
reader of the admirable plan of Mr. Harris, of
Philadelphia, as described in our magazine by Mr.
Peter Henderson, in which the flues after going the

round of the house, takes its upright position right
above the furnace. This is practicaJly a perpet-
ual bunch of burning shavings at the outlet of the
flue.

Fruit and Vegetable Gardening.

SEASONABLE HINTS.

When fruit trees are grown with root or other j
crops, it is well known that such root crops will |
not do without manure. In this operation the
trees steal a little intended for the root crops.
Hence trees so grown are very likely to have a
green, nice color, in strong contrast with neglected
trees in grass. It must not be forgotten that trees
need as much food as any other crop, and that
there is no better way to feed them than by apply-
ing at this season on the surface ; give them some-
thing, if only ditch cleanings. Pruning of fruit
trees should be completed as soon as possible, and
as a general thing the least pruning the better. In
apple or pear trees, strong stout sprouts are apt to
come out along the main branches of the tree.
These are best cut out, as in time they take to
themselves the food destined for the branches be-
yond, and in this way injure those branches. At
other times a branch for some time bearing becomes
w^eakened by some cause, in which case it is often
a benefit to cut this off back to a vigorous sprout.
This is particularly the case when bark gets what
the gardeners call hide-bound. In this case
the branches are bettered by slitting the bark long-
itudinally, or by cutting back to a young sprout as
aforesaid.

Some have found injury to the trees from slitting
hide-bound bark. The writer practiced it for
years on apple and pear trees, and always with ex-
cellent results. In pruning dwarf pears cut out the
weaker branches where pruning is beheved to be
at all desirable, even to thinning out the spurs,
rather than cut back the strongly vital wood which
many do.

The grape is very apt, when trained on trellises,
to get its bearing wood weakened. In this case it

is always wise, in pruning, to watch for a chance
to get a strong young branch from near the base
as a renewal cane.

Manuring of grapes should be regulated by the
nature of the soil. If it be damp — in most cases
a bad condition for grape growing — stable manure
in great quantities means diseased vines. In dry
ground, it has a beneficial effect. Many persons
of small places have grapes in damp ground, or
can have none. They must take care to keep the
roots near the surface ; never crop the ground
about them to destroy the small fibres, if it can be
avoided ; and even good may often follow, when
the vines seem failing, to carefully follow up the
roots, lift near the surface, and encourage, as
much as possible, those remaining there. Wood-
ashes, bone-dust, and such like fertilizers are best
for grape vines in low ground.

In the vegetable garden the work for February
will for the most part consist of preparations for
future operations, and particularly for dealing with
the manure question*. All those kinds that are
grown for their leaves or stems, require an abun-
dance of nitrogenous manures ; and it is useless to
attempt vegetable gardening without it. To this
class b'elong cabbage, lettuce, spinach, &c. The
other class which is grown principally for its seeds
or pods, as beans, peas, i^c, do not require much
manure of this character; in fact they are injured
by it. It causes too great a growth of stem and
leaf, and the earliness — a great aim in vegetable
growing — is injuriously affected. Mineral manures,
as wood-ashes, bone-dust, etc., are much better
for them. For vegetables requii-ing rich stable
manure, it is best that they have it well rotted and
decayed. Nothing has yet been found so well fitted
for the purpose as old hot-bed dung ; though to the
smell no trace of "ammonia " remains in it.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

45

COMMUNICATIONS.

market. The tree is a strong grower, and appears
to be very hardy.

THE LORD NELSON APPLE.
BY CHARLES A. GREEN.

While there is no dearth in the varieties of apples
now before the public, I have thought there was
room for the Lord Nelson, of which the cut given
herewith represents an average specimen. Though
well known in England, I have never seen it men-
tioned in any catalogue in this country. It was
brought to my notice by my neighbor, whose father,
being a man of remarkable fancy for fine fruits

„«'-•»?- tK ESi-S:3^_

^<'

Lord Nelson Apple.

and flowers, brought the scions to this country
when he adopted it as his home. Though an early
winter apple, I first tested it late in January, and it
will keep later. It is growing in an orchard with
nearly all of our leading varieties, and is notice-
able for abundant yield of good sized, fair, mer-
chantable fruit, peculiarly free from worms and
other defects. Charles Downing identifies it with
the Lord Nelson of the English books. John J.
Thomas says if it is always as good as the speci-
men he has seen it is worthy of cultivation, its
beauty adding much to its value.

Fruit large, oblate, yellowish skin, shaded and
streaked with red and russet. Stalk long. Cavity
medium. Flesh white, crisp, tender, juicy, some-
what aromatic, mild sub-acid. Quahty good to
very good. It is an apple that will be prized for
eating out of hand or for cooking, and sells well in

IMPROVEMENT OF THE PERSIMMON.

BY H. F. HILLENMEYER, LEXINGTON, KY.

I have sent to-day by mail samples of persim-
mons for your inspection. They are not ripe, and
of course not edible, though they will house-ripen,
like pears. A ripe persimmon is not suited for
shipment, being so tender, and the object of send-
ing these is simply to call your attention to the
marked difference in the three samples. The seeds
from which all our bearing trees
were raised were gathered from a
tree in an adjoining county, in the
^K. autumn of 1863 or '64. The trees —

^^^ some two hundred — were permitted

to fruit in nursery row, and then
,JJ\ such types as pleased us best were
\w*J saved. Though seedlings from one
^^R'" tree, there were strongly marked
TT* ' differences in size, quality, color
and time of ripening.

The sample with bright blush is
an early variety, the fruit being
nearly gone, having ripened gradu-
ally since the last of August. The
other sample, of similar shape, is
just beginning to ripen, and the
green, egg-shaped ones will not be
fit to eat before Christmas. The
first when ripe is so tender that it
must be eaten from the tree, while
the third is fully as firm in texture
of flesh as an Early Rivers peach.
The persimmon is, I think, one of the neglected
native fruits. The samples indicate how readily
changes from a type may be obtained, and I think
that the same care that has developed so wonder-
fully the oriental species, would work a like result
in purs.

In our next fruiting of seedlings grown from the
very best specimens, we hope an improvement in
fruit quite as marked as between that of the first
seedlings and the fruit of the original tree.

I will also send you shortly some seedless per-
simmons, in which I feel a great interest. Should
this feature prove constant — a fact that we hope
to determine next year— ^I think it will be a great
step gained.

Even though we do not improve this fruit fur-
ther, it still has merits to recommend it. Our trees,
in the twelve or fifteen years that they have been

46

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[Eebruary,

in fruitage, have never failed to yield full crops.
At this writing the earlier varieties bare of leaves,
but gorgeous in their wealth of fruit,— crimson and
gold — are as attractive as the most brilliant trees
grown for the beauty of their autumn fohage. I
do not especially love this fruit myself, but I
do enjoy the gusto with which my little ones visit
this department of the orchard months after apples
can no longer be found, and even after chipmonks
have gathered the last stray nut.

[It is a good idea to try to improve the native
persimmon. It is likely the original Japan persim-
mon was no better than our own, while the supe-
rior hardiness of the American would give it great
advantage over its Asiatic ally. Those sent by
Mr. Hillenmeyer exhibited a wide range of varia-
tion.—Ed. G. M.]

Duchess. — Not fruited here. Vines very vigor-
ous, healthy and hardy.

Pocklingtoti. — A strong, rampant grower, wood
and leaf of Concord type.

FRUIT NOTES FOR 1882.

BY E. B. (iOOD, MANCHESTER, YORK COUNTY, PA.

Keiffers Hyb?id. — Fruited here for the last three
years, and a more worthless pear I never tasted. I
could never yet ripen one fit to eat. For pickling
they answer admirably.

Brighton Grape.- — This grape has done perfectly
well here thus far, ripens early and keeps a long
time on the vine, and the fruit is simply delicious.
The bunches should be thinned out to about one.
half, as it is liable to overbear.

Lady Washington. — This superb grape fruited
here for several years, and to my taste is perfection.
The vine is a strong, vigorous grower, and seems to
be perfectly hardy. Bunches very large, and when
ripened in paper bags, the berries are nearly trans-
parent. If this grape holds out on further trial as
it did so far, it will be one of the most valuable
grapes we have.

Prentiss .—¥ vmied here for the first time the past
season ; a vigorous grower and healthy. Bunches
of medium size, very compact. Not of best quality
in my estimation, although it may prove a valuable
market grape.

Jefferson. — Not fully tested, but the vine is a
strong grower and perfectly hardy. Fruit of first
quality.

Moore's Early. — This grape has disappointed
my expectations. Bunch small ; many bunches
will set only a few berries, and the fox odor is
much more prominent than in the Concord or
Worden's. This latter is a much better grape in
every particular, though about a week later.

Black Eagle. — For an amateur grape I have
great faith in this one.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Bad Seeds. — It is an old story that a bad work-
man is the first to quarrel with his tools. If a tree
does not grow or a seed come up, it is not uncom-
mon to remember that the tree had poor roots, and
to feel sure that the seedsman must have given
roasted or old seeds. Mr. Thomas Christy, in a
recent work on the Cinchona, thus gives his ex-
perience with different gardeners on the same lot
of Cinchona seeds. He says :

"There is much more intelligence required in
the germination of seed than many people attach
to it. For instance, I took some Cinchona out of
a packet that had arrived and handed it to three
men. One lot of seed came up as thick as possible to
■be, hardly a seed failing to germinate. The second
man's pan had a fair sprinkling of young plants,
but the third man's pan had no. signs of any Cin-
chona plants in it at all. All three men were pro-
fessional gardeners, and nothing was said to them
about the experiment ; each did his best."

Phylloxera in France. — Reports as to
whether the French are finding any positive relief
from the phylloxera are contradictory. The fol-
lowing extract from a French report partly ex-
plains the contradiction:

" In the department of Herault, which produces
between a fifth and a sixth of the entire French
vintage, thanks to the energetic efforts of its vine-
growers, who have had recourse to American
vines for the purpose of replacing the vines which
have died from the effect of this insect scourge,
this department is fast recovering from its first
scare, and is rapidly regaining its old position and
former confidence. In the Charentes, the great
cognac producing districts of France, unhappily,
the same is not the case. There the proprietors
appear to have resigned themselves to what they
have come to regard as inevitable, and cereals are
fast taking the place of the vine. On inquiring the
reason for this we were informed that of the two
most generally accepted remedies for the destruc-
tion of the phylloxera, one, that of the employment
of insecticides, such as sulphur of carbon and
sulpho-carbonate of potassium, has been found too
costly ; while, owing to the rocky nature of the
soil and the small surface of earth, the land is
said, on the other hand, not to be suitable for the
planting of American vines."

Texan Prosperity. — The wonderful growth of
some Western towns may be fairly rivalled by
others in Texas. In 1873, the writer visited Deni-
son, which was then limited to about a score of

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

47

newly erected buildings. Now we see by a Texas
paper it has a population of 7,000, and is the seat
of numerous industries. Of gardening it is said
that " within five years the annual revenue from
fruits, wine and vegetables, shipped from Denison,
will reach at least a half million dollars a year ;
125,000 packages of peaches, apples and plums
have been shipped this year, besides twenty or
thirty thousand quarts of blackberries, sweet and
Irish potatoes, and other vegetables in large quan-
tities ; 20,000 pounds of grapes have been shipped
since May 18. Early in the season, the shipments
go North ; later, they go to Southern and South-
western Texas. A great many melons are also
shipped North from Denison. In short, the fruit
interests of Denison are simply immense, and it is
just now getting fairly started."

Our correspondent, Mr. T. V. Munson, is
credited, in the paper from which we quote, with
having much to do with this great gardening pros-
perity.

Autumn-bearing Raspberries. — The literature
of fruit culture has become so thoroughly occupied
by the market growers, that we are apt to forget
that there are other delicious things in the world
besides those which have good carrying properties,
and that autumn bearing raspberries are among
these good things. To grow them well they must
be cut down to the ground in spring, and the
suckers kept down. They bear from the end of
the young wood. We notice that the Enghsh mag-
azines regard the Belle de Fontenay, and the
Marvel of Four Seasons as different. This is not
American experience.

-Americ.'Vn Apples in England. — The Garden
says : " The prospects were never more favorable
for shipments from America to England than they
are this year. The American apple trade, formerly
monopolized by Liverpool, has during the last few-
years (in consequence of direct steam communica-
tion), been gradually diverted to London, which
market now competes favorably with that of Liver-
pool.

The Primo Strawberry. — This variety is re-
ceiving praise in various quarters for its behavior
the past season.

The White-fruited Versaillaise Currant.
— Under this name a new variety has appeared in
France, raised by M. Bertin, of Versailles. It is
said to resemble the original in every respect, ex-
cept that the fruit is a little less acid than that.

The Waste Bones of a Large City. — At a
recent meeting of the Franklin Institute of Phila-

delphia, Baugh & Sons presented the Institute with
samples of products from animal bones made at
the Delaware'River Chemical Works. They stated
that Philadelphia produced daily from 80,000 to
100,000 pounds of bones, all of which, by the art
of the chemist, are converted into useful materials.
Bone oils, ammoniacal Hquor, bone black, carbon-
ate, sulphate, nitrate and muriate of ammonia, fer-
tilizers and sizing glues are among the products,
samples of which were exhibited.

Substitute for Cotton.— Mr. Thomas Christy,
Fellow of the Linnsan Society, kindly sends us an
account of some new commercial drugs and plants,

which have achieved some note in England the

account printed on some very beautiful paper pre-
pared from the fibre of the "white fir" (Abies),
which is probably what is known in this country as
the silver fir (Abies pectinata). This wood, he says,
can be delivered in England, enough to make a ton
of pulp, for |2o, while a ton from the famed Es-
parto grass costs ^80. Cotton costs over |ioo per
ton. Cotton machinery will do to spin fibre from
fir as well as from flax and other fibres. These
are separable into fine film by a new chemical
process. We fancy the great difficulty would be in
keeping up a cheap supply of fir fibre. It may be
cheaper than cotton now, but it takes many years
to grow as much fir wood as we could grow cotton
in one year, from the same acreage, and this must
tend to increase the price to the continuous de-
mand, while cotton is already at its highest price.

Dandelion Rum.— As is generally known the
product of fermented sugar is rum. By mixing
sugar with chips, old leather, potatoes, parsnips,
currants, rhubarb, cabbage, the rum is flavored,
and we get as many varieties of " domestic wines "
in that way as one can desire. The dandeHon is
the latest addition to the list of these flavored rums,
and is prepared as follows, according to the Lon-
don Journal of Horticulture :

" To make four gallons, pour four gallons of boil-
ing water over the heads of one gallon of dande-
lion flowers, let it stand till cold, then strain off ;
add three pounds of loaf sugar with half of the
peel of four lemons and four Seville or sweet
oranges ; boil half an hour the other half of the
peel with the oranges and lemons sliced put in at
new-milk heat with a little yeast ; let it stand three
or four days to ferment ; then place it in the cask.
In a week add half a pint of brandy and stop up
the cask. In six months either bottle or draw from
the wood, and if it is desired, add a few more dan-
delions."

Large Celery.— G. D. Moore, of Arlington,
Mass., raised a stalk of celery the past autumn.

48

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

which weighed seven pounds. It was thirty-eight
inches long and twenty-four inches round.

Good Peas. — In a discussion on peas before the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Mr. Ware
said : " Among peas, the American Wonder, which
originated in Canada, is rightly named. The vines
are very small indeed — there are more peas than
vines ; it is a sweet, wrinkled variety, and a great
acquisition. A succession of green peas is neces-
sary to a perfect table, and this can be obtained, as
with corn, by planting a succession of varieties.
For the earliest, Mr.* Ware recommended Dan
O'Rourke, or any of its class, then American
Wonder." Mr. Atkinson remarked that there is
very little difference in the ripening of Carter's First
Crop and the American Wonder peas ; the latter
is much superior to the former, and he would plant
only the latter. After the first planting he would
plant only Champion of England. Hon. Marshall
P. Wilder had planted ten or fifteen varieties of
peas, and found Dan O'Rourke a little tlje earliest.
Breck's Excelsior is a splendid variety — about as
early as the Dan O'Rourke. His selection of peas
would be the same as Mr. Ware. John B.
Moore could not conceive how any one could
eat any other than a wrinkled pea. The Ameri-
can Wonder is all that has been claimed for it, and
so nearly as early as the Dan O'Rourke that it is
not worth while to plant the latter. McLean's Ad-
vancer is good. Yorkshire Hero is more satisfac-
tory than Champion of England ; it is of equally
good quality, a better cropper and not so tall.

The Favorite Tomato. — This is a new West-
ern introduction, and dares to place itself in com-
parison with Paragon, Acme and other popular fa-
vorites.

The Cabbage Butterfly. — A correspondent
of Gardening Illustrated says : " Wash the cab-
bages well with strong soot and water, and on the
first dry day dust the ground about the cabbages
with quicklime, and pick as many of the caterpil-
lars off as you can find ; and during the winter
gas-hme the land and leave it in ridges to catch
the frost, and very few insects will trouble you
again. The odors emitted from gas-lime are so
pungent that neither moth, butterfly, nor mole will
remain on land that is dressed with it."

Ornamental Vegetables.— Tricolored Cel-
enac. — Sentiment seems to be a necessity of ex-
istence. That which we eat and that which we
admire, can only center in the same individual
with violence to human feelings. Yet there are

some who can eat without compunction the horse
which has been petted, and Prof. E. D. Cope has
recently expressed his disgust that " a foolish preju-
dice " keeps wretched Arctic explorers from eating
one another in order to save a portion of their lives.

However, sentiment goes on, and real lovers of
flowers will, we suppose, to the world's end, regret
that so much flower garden beauty should be ruth-
lessly destroyed by a mere white frost.

Little by little, however, we can introduce flow-
ers which after petting and loving for a season,
we can turn to and devour, if we follow Prof.
Cope's Arctic advice, or the lead of the hippophagi.
Cabbages and beets for floral decoration have
already been introduced, and now we have a pretty
turnip-rooted celery. The Erfurt raiser of it says :

"Amongst the numerous ornainental-foliaged
plants, so important for the picturesque character of
modern gardens, the above variety has been ad-
mired as one of the most beautiful by many cus-
tomers, who visited my establishment. In general,
it resembles the old well-known soup celery, but
its vigorous leaves of a dark glossy green are richly
and most elegantly streaked with a silver-grey hue in
the midst of the leaflets and decorated with a
broad creamy-white edging. This arrangement of
colors fits that variety admirably for effective
groups, the beautiful appearance rendering it a
striking contrast to other plants, especially in
autumn, when the petioles get a violet-red tint, so
that the plant grows a true quadricolor.

" Besides, my Celeriac comes nearly true from
seed, giving at least eighty per cent, of variegated
plants, and finally it is fit for kitchen-use, particu-
larly for the decoration of dishes and fish-plates."

Improved Cucumbers. — The following extract
gives an idea of how these ijmprovements are
carefully studied out :

" I received this new frame cucumber from a
man who is known as one of the most skillful
and successful vegetable growers, and therefore
can recommend it confidentially as a very supe-
rior improvement. I am told that he was not satis-
fied with all the introductions of frame cucumbers
of the last years, and therefore he busied himself
in endeavoring to raise a more profitable variety.
He succeeded in a surprising manner by crossing
Noa's forcing with Queen of England. It ramifies
more than Noa's forcing, and produces twice as
much cucumbers, attaining every one a length of
two feet and more. The flesh is very firm, ex-
tremely delicate, the peel being agreeably green
with some clearer stripes. But the greatest value
of this new variety is its extraordinary longevity ;

AND HORTICULTURIST.

49

it blooms and fructifies from spring till autumn
without ceasing, wherefore it was called as above."
In America, where cucumbers are raised by the
millions, these little points are not appreciated.
Long Island farmers alone grow for the New York
market three millions a year.

Poison in Mushrooms. — An article in a late ,
number of the London Medical Times, asserts that j
all mushrooms are more or less poisonous, and ,
that the washings which they usually undergo in i
cleansing them, and the subsequent cooking, have
the effect of removing the poison, but the water in
which they are cooked is pronounced "highly poi-
sonous." i

It is surprising what an amount of nonsense is 1
started by papers which ought to know better. '
Mushrooms are rarely washed, but simply peeled, j
and then cooked. Gardeners when working among i
mushrooms, often eat them raw — in quantities. ;
No one was ever known to be injured thereby, j
In stewing mushrooms the water in which they are '
cooked is used with the vegetables. No one ever i
died from eating stewed mushrooms.

There are poisonous sorts of mushrooms, but we
are writing of the edible kind.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Good Keeping Plums. — An Abingdon, Va.,
correspondent writes, under date of November
25th. 1882 : " I send you by mail a small box con-
taining one-half dozen plums. They have been
gathered more- than a month — picked up on the
ground under the tree the 20th of October, and
laid away in a paper box. One or two of them had
rotted, but I think those I send you are sound.
They grew on a tree I grafted two years ago on a
stock of a wild plum growing in a clump. I don't
think they are fair specimens ; have seen the fruit
one-third larger. The tree from which I obtained
the grafts grows in this country, and as far as I can
find is undoubtedly a seedling — an old tree gi'ow-
ing on a clump of rocks. They are used by the
parties in the neighborhood for preserving and
jelly making, and said to be fine for the purpose ;
good to eat, too, when ripe. I saw the tree once
only ih fruit, about the middle of October, and
there were ripe plums on the ground, and on the
tree both ripe and green. The family where they
grow say they have picked them up off the ground,
under the leaves, at Christmas. I send you some
of the leaves also. I call it the Campbell, after
the family where it grows. What do you think

of it ? Is it worthy of propagation ? I had in-
tended to send them when first ripe, so as to show
you the true flavor, &c., but neglected until now."

[We find it difficult to decide what to say about
these plums. It is certainly very late to have plums.
The leaves and wood indicated that the plant be-
longed to the common American red plum, but the
fruit was rather'like improved European "sloes."
—Ed. G. M.]

Seedless Persim.aion. — H. F. Hillenmeyer,
Lexington, Ky., says : " I send by mail to-day sam-
ple of seedless persimmon. The tree is some forty
years old, and has always borne such fruit — not
one in a hundred having seed. The tree is heavily
loaded this season, and the samples are hardly as
good as last year. We hope to fruit this variety
on our own place next year, and if among other
trees, bearing and non-bearing, the peculiarity be
preserved, I think it will be quite an advance."

[The common persimmon varies in the number
of its seeds in different trees. Sometimes we find
four or more, sometimes two only, and in some
rare cases none. The matter is of some interest to
physiologists, who often wonder whether the fleshy
envelopes of fruits can mature in the absence of
poUinization. As the seedless persimmon could
probably get pollen from other trees, it would per-
haps indicate that the flowers were pollinized, but
that some latent weakness prevents the ova-
ries from perfecting, though fertilized. As to
the practical worth of a first-class persimmon with-
out seeds, there could be no question. It would
rank with the seedless grape, as well as the currant
of commerce, which is a small grape without seeds.
—Ed. G. M.]

Tangerine Or.\nges. — A Palatka (Fla.) corres-
pondent says : " I send you by this express some
1 extra fine Tangerines, raised by Mr. F. C. Coch-
\ ran, of this place. The tree is three years old, and
bore 260 fruits."

[They weighed five ounces each, were dark red
and flattish, and in flavor delightful. — Ed. G. M.]

Boardman's Tree Paint. — There are a num-
ber of washes that will kill insects on the bark
of trees, and otherwise guard the bark of trees from
insect attack. It is not always convenient for peo-
ple to have these ready mixed to hand, and it is
therefore an advantage to them to have something
; safe at once to apply, though it may cost more
than simple remedies. Boardman's Tree Paint is
well spoken of, though it has not come under our
direct observation.

Seedling Pears from California. — We re-

5°

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

ceived in the fall a box of pears from Mr. A.
Broeck, of Santa Clara, most of them russetty,
some very large, and all of them of delicious qual-
ity. It is, however, extremely difficult to distinguish
the exact difference between pears grown in a dis-
tant part from those with which we are famihar on
our own grounds. We selected two looking like
Sheldon and Clairgeau, and sent them without ex-

planation to one of the best " pearists " in our
country, who pronounced them first-class speci-
mens of the two varieties already named. It so
happens that the grower has those two kinds on
his own grounds, and is therefore fully qualified to
judge of their difference. We can only congratu-
late California on these first-class accessions, fol-
lowing on the heels of Mr. Fox's great successes.

Forestry.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Seeds or Plants for Starting Forests. —
Whether it is best to sow seeds in beds, and to
transplant for forests, or scatter the seeds on the
ground and leave the rest to nature, seems to be
one of the valuable questions to come up in the fu-
ture of American forestry. Though no doubt
there will be cases where either one may be better
than ihe other, as a rule plants will be better than
seeds. Governor Furnas, of Nebraska, is of this
opinion. He was among the first to make tree cul-
ture on the pi-airies a great success.

Woods and Forests of South Australia. —
Annual Report of J. Ednie Brown, Conservator of
Forests. The expenses during the year, ^5,787,
and the receipts ^5,581, showing that the depart-
ment has been nearly self-supporting. 189,710
trees were planted, and young saplings in
natural growth cared for by clearing brush from
around them. At the end of the year, including
both classes, 212,560 young trees were living and
doing well ; 239,336 acres of land reserved for for-
ests, have yet to be planted. The amount of acre-
age planted is 4,042. The number of trees doing
well from the Board's work is 440,000.

An experiment was made to sow seeds broadcast
instead of setting out young plants. Pinus pinea,
Pinus insignis. Eucalyptus globulus, and E. ca-
lophylla were employed. The only result is "a few
nice plants of the Eucalyptus and the Pinus pinea,"
but the failure of the experiment " may have been
from unsound seed." It is surprising that such a
suggestion should be made, as any one should be
able to tell whether the seed was unsound before
sowing it. But the "experiment is to be repeated

with the best seed only." The kinds of trees
used in timber-planting are chiefly from the many
species of Eucalyptus or Gum trees. Among
European trees, Pinus halapensis, Pinea, maritima,
Austriaca and laricio, are used to some extent.
Pinus insignis of California seems to be very
largely grown and other Californians being tried
on a limited scale. Of a thousand Catalpas
tested last year, the report speaks highly of its
drouth-resisting qualities. Though the dryest sea-
son ever known, the loss among them was only
5 per cent. The American ash is also growing in
favor. A most remarkable commentary on popu-
lar names is that white cedar in this report is
Melia Azederach — the China tree of our Southern
States.

Forestry Laws. — We have a circular protest-
ing against a duty on foreign lumber from Mr. M.
C. Read, of Hudson, Ohio. In it he says :

" In the Dominion of Canada are millions of
acres of land which, from the nature of the soil,
must be perpetually devoted to forest growth.
They constitute the natural sources of a supply of
lumber for the productive arable and pasture lands
to the south of them, in the United States as well
as in Canada.

" The time is at hand when we shall be wholly
dependent upon this source of supply, or upon the
artificial growth of timber in our own country, if
the present rate of destruction of our forests is con-
tinued.

"The increased price of lumber, caused by atarift'
upon importations, benefits only the lumbermen.
It tends to the development of no other industry.
It does not increase by a single foot the amount of
lumber we are capable of producing, but, on the
contrary, diminishes the amount by tempting the
lumbermen to now cut trees which, if spared,
would rapidly increase in value, while it imposes a
needless burden upon every man in the country

AND HORTICULTURIST.

who is not directly interested in the profits of lum-
bering.

" It imposes a burden upon the people now, and
promises a greater burden in the future, when they
become wholly dependent upon the foreign supply.

" If the tariff upon lumber is continued, the
work of our Forestry Associations will be vain
and fruitless ; for pecuniary considerations and the
immediate money results will control those who
own forests which can be converted into salable
lumber."

We are not disposed to say much about tariffs in
the Gardeners' Monthly, because we wish to es-
chew everything that bears on partisan politics.
People can get all they want of this elsewhere.

But we may say without prejudice to this unpar-
tisan attitude, that we mistake the American For-
estry Association, if its work is simply the preser-
vation of old forests. At one hundred years old a
forest is ready for the axe. The lumber decreases
in value every year the tree stands after that. It
is far better for the country that where there is no
chance to get a two hundred-year-old forest to
market, the wood should be girdled or burnt off,
and the land put to agricultural uses. Forestry
associations should bend their efforts towards
planting new forests instead of merely protecting
old ones ; and if in this view a duty on lumber
should encourage forest planting among us, it may
be well worth even a Forestry Association consid-
ering how far it would be judicious in the nation
to go.

It is now generally conceded that it would be
quite proper to "protect" forestry planting, but just
what that protection should be, we must leave to
the politicians.

Duties on Mahogany and Rosewood. — A
Canadian correspondent sends the following : "Can
anything be less in accord with the spirit of the
age, which is supposed to favor the reduction of
taxes as much as possible on articles affecting the
poorer classes, while collecting duties on more ex-
pensive articles of luxury ? On examining the
lumber tariff I find that exactly the contrary rule
obtains, for the same duty is imposed upon spruce
and the inferior qualities of pine, costing at the
mills from six to eight dollars, as upon the clear
and finer quahties, costing five times as much,
while mahogany, rosewood and satinwood, costing
hundreds of dollars per thousand, are admitted
duty free. This is the country for the poor man ;
for the lumber to provide shelter for his family he
must pay from twenty-five to thirty per cent, duty,
while the rich man can finish off his mansion or
palace in mahogany or rosewood duty free 1 "

As far as the mere politics involved in " duties
on lumber" are concerned, we must leave that to
other papers. We will only say {hat in this part of
the world the poorest people buy articles made
of mahogany and rosewood — as much, perhaps,
in proportion to their incomes as rich people do,
and the rich man buys as largely of pine and
spruce, in proportion, as the poor man does. We
fancy the duty has no reference to the wants of
rich or poor, but has reference to the encourage-
ment of the home production of timber. The rea-
son why mahogany and rosewood are duty free, is
probably that no amount of " protection " would
lead to their culture in the United States.

Perhaps a duty on foreign lumber leads to a
more rapid consumption of native trees than is
immediately desirable, but if it lead to planting of
new forests, it will do no harm in the end.

Spark Arrestors. — The intimate connection
which sparks from locomotives have with forest
fires renders every attempt at improvement of in-
terest to the forester. We recently noted the
praiseworthy efitorts of a Boston railroad in this
direction. We now have to record that at a recent
meeting of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia,
a paper was read, describing Rufus Hill's spark
arrestor for locomotives, which has been put upon
213 locomotives built at the Baldwin locomotive
shops, and has been found to work well. Mr. Hill
is master mechanic of the Camden and Atlantic
Railroad, a road always foremost in endeavoring
to meet popular demands for railroad comfort and
convenience.

Habits of the Aspen. — Mr. Douglas notes the
curious and very interesting fact that in the Rocky
Mountains the aspen only seems to make one in
forest succession after the forest fire has been over
the ground. The following from the Gardeners'
Chronicle also has a similar bearing on this point :

"The aspen trembles all through Europe. It
may have commenced its curious habit in the Cau-
casian range, where it is still a prominent tree, but
historically it has always been dispersed over Tur-
key and Russia as far as the Frozen Ocean, and
there is nowhere such a trembling of aspen leaves
as in the woods around Moscow, where innumer-
able seedlings sprang up after the conflagration of
1813. The aspen is found in the bogs of Denmark
at all depths, while the alder, birch and hazel do
not occur below the oak level. Like the Scotch
fir, therefore, it is one of the primaeval trees of
Europe. It is also a native of the woods of Inver-
cauld, near Braemar, where it ascends to a height
of 1,600 feet. It travels into Sutherlandshire, loves
moist situations and woods, overhanging the High-
land lochs. The margin of Loch Katrine and the

52

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

islet of the ' Lady of the Lake ' are its favorite
sites."

OsAGK Orange for Silk Worms. — Col. M. B.
Hillyard, who, perhaps, niore than any living man
has devoudly given time and money in building
up Southern industries, says : " But I warn every
one against hoping for any success in a business
point of view, in the use of the osage orange. The
difficulty in securing sufficient leaves, by reason of

thorns ; the dangers of the succulent leaf, at the
late stages of the silkworm, aside from any mooted
points on this food, ought to prevent any one using
the osage orange, except to learn on. The food
answers for a year as food, while you learn silk
culture, and until your mulberry trees can be used ;
but I think the great authorities will agree that, ex-
cept as a diversion, silk culture on osage orange
will prove a failure."

Natural History and Science.

COMMUNICATIONS.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

CROSS-BREEDING WHEAT.

BY MR. E. CAR.AIAN, NEW \-^RK CITY.

Mr. Veitch, replying to my remarks regarding
the cross-breeding of wheat, says that " the cause
of failure is owing to the fact that wheat is cleisto-
gamous," and that necessarily fertilization takes
place while yet the flowers are within the folds of
the sheaths. There was no failure in the first
place, and in the second if there had been'it would
not necessarily have been due to the fact of the
flowers being cleistogamous. A sharp-pointed
stick serves to part the palets and glumes, thus re-
vealing the pistils and stamens. If then the an-
thers be removed, while yet immature, and pollen
be introduced from other varieties of wheat, any
seeds that form must be cross-bred.

The peculiarity I noted in the remai^ks to which
Mr. Veitch refers, was that so many of our cross-
bred seeds should so closely resemble the mother
parent. 1 have crossed no less than 2,000 flowers
of wheat, and we have now growing thirty kinds,
which are different from either parent. All the rest
have been rejected because they could not be de-
termined from the mother variety.

It is very plain to those who have tried to cross
wheats that they cannot cross through natural
agencies — wind or insects. But it is just as plain
that a cross can be easily effected by carefully
spreading apart the sheaths, removing the green
anthers and inserting other anthers when ripe
(or gathered pollen), when the stigmas are re-
ceptive.

Spiral Growth. — Vegetation, as is well known,
grows in a spiral direction. Speaking of animals,
and in relation to the development of different
forms, in a recent lecture in the hall of the Acad-
emy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Miss
Grace Anna Lewis remarked: "There is also a
tendency to ascend in a spiral, arising from the
conflict of these two forces, so that we find why
animals rise in grade from lower to higher, and
why they must continue to do so as long as the
animal world is in existence. There also appears
to be a balance of forces between the different
branches, one presenting clusters different but
complementary to the others. Thus, on the whole,
the animal kingdom appears to arise by systems or
pairs of branches, by what is termed a method of
bichotomus branching."

Eyaporation from Dead Branches. — The
iVew York Tribune is reported as giving its readers
"the novel discovery of Professor Bessey, who has
demonstrated that the evaporation from a moist
piece of dead wood was exactly like that from a
living leaf. Now, when a dead branch is large
enough to keep continually moist in the interio", it
will in dry air constantly lose water by e^'aporation
from its surface.' This water so lost is taken from
the tree, and must have been supplied directly or
indirectly by the living portions. Moreover, it
must be remembered that a living branch is well
protected against loss of w-ater through evapora-
tion, by the epidermis which covers all its surface
when young, or the impervious corky bark which

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

53

is always found on it when older. When a branch
dies, these protecting devices soon fall into decay,
and the water, so carefully guarded by the living
parts of the plant, is wasted by evaporation."

If the Tribtmc had read the Gardeners'
Monthly, it might have given that news to its
readers long, long ago.

Double Trop^eolum, Hermine Grosshoff. —
Mr. Henry A. Dreer sends us specimens of a new
double Trop^eolum of which we give the following
illustration. The old double " Nasturtium " or
Tropaeolum, was of a light red color ; this is border"
ing on the crimson. Besides its great value as an
ornamental plant, it is one of those interesting va-
riations from a normal type which lovers of natu-
ral historv love to studv. As everv one knows the

Double Tropaeolum Hermine Groshoff.

common "Nasturtium" has a long spur projecting
from the calyx. The scarlet or zonale geranium is
very nearly a Tropaeolum, and has a spur like it,
but it is united with the flower stalk, and can only
be well detected by cutting the stalk aci^oss. In
the case of this Tropaeolum the spur has disap-
peared with the doubling of the flower. The same
thing occurs in the doubling of Aquilegias or
Columbines.

Defence IN Birds' Nests. — "T.," Wilmington,
Delaware, says : " Noticing your remarks on the
nest of the wood pewee, I would ask if you have
seen that of the great green-crested fly-catcher ?
The former decorates with lichens, the latter inva-

riably with a snake's skin. I have seen hundreds
of the nests, and have never seen one without the
snake's skin. The lichens serve to conceal the
nest of the pewee, as they do that of the humming-
bird, which always uses them and conceals its nest
effectually, but why does the fly-catcher use the
snake-skin ? Is it to terrify robber birds ? It
builds in a hole in a tree, often not far from the
ground. The skin is woven in around the margin
of the nest, and is made very conspicuous."

American Habits of Earth- Wor.ms. — At a
recent meeting of the Academy of Natural Sci-
ences of Philadelphia, Mr. Meehan commented
upon a collection of leaves inserted by earth-worms
in their burrows in the manner described by Dar-
win, who, it will be remembered, states that such
lea\cs arc drawn in by the worms either by the
ape.x or petiole, as may present the least resistance.
The collection had been made by Mr. Edward
Potts, from his own grounds, and consisted of wil-
low leaves, although peach leaves were sometimes
employed in the same way. These leaves being
lanceolate, or a^ much tapering at the one end as
the other, were inserted indifferently at the petiole
or at the apex. It was supposed that their use is to
line the burrows, and thus protect the worms from
the cold and moisture of the earth, although por-
tions of the leaves are evidently softened by the
secretions of the worms and used as food. A wil-
low leaf will be drawn entirely into a burrow in the
course of three days. The habits of earth worms
as illustrated by the specimens exhibited were
commented on by Messrs. Heilprin, Potts and
Leidy.

Xeranthemc.m annuum superbissimcm.— Re-
ferring to Acroclinium in our last, it was noted that
in a composite or aster-like flower, there were many
method's by which the flower became, in popular
language, "double." We give here a case where
another of the " immortelles " has become double,

Xeranthemum annuum superbissimum.

but in this case by the tubular florets in the center,
taking on a broadly ovate form, as in some dahlias.
Besides the instructive lesson it affords, it is a

54

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

across at half a dozen places, and take any one
side of the trunk for examination, we shall find
the "annual ring" of any one year varying in
thickness. One section would tell us it rained that
year like a deluge, while another section of the
same tree would tell us that particular year was the

highly ornamental plant, and is pronounced by

Haage & Schmidt, the Erfurt seedsmen, as the

best of all the Xeranthemums."

Handsome Birds' Nests. — A correspondent

suggests that the wood pewee covers its nest with

lichens to disguise it — to make it look like a dead

branch— that its enemies may be deceived, and , dryest on record. However, if this is not sufficient,

not that it has any love for beauty. i it may be as well to add that Sir Herbert Christi-

j son, the great Scotch chemist, has made some cu-
rious observations on the effects of a cold wet
season in diminishing the normal growth of trees.
He found on careful measurement that, comparing
1879 with 1878, eleven deciduous trees — not oaks
— made on an average 41 per cent, less growth in
last year than in the year before. Of seventeen
pine trees, the average deficiency was 20 per cent.,
so that heat appears to have more to do with" the
making of wood than moisture has. It is strange
that the growth of the oak, which drops its leaves.

Pine from the Arctic Region. — Among the
interesting souvenirs of the De Long Arctic Expedi-
tion, are sorne pine cones, which do not seem to be
of the known American species. They have been
placed in the hands of Mr. Josiah Hoopes, author
of the Book of Evergreens, for determination.

Formic Acid and Honey. — Honey, according
to A. Vogel, says the Scientific American, contains
on an average one per cent, of formic acid. Ob-
serving that crude honey keeps better than that
which has been clarified, E. Mylius has tried the I seems less dependent on heat than that of the pine,
addition of formic acid, and found that it prevents 1 which we usually associate with very cold regions,
fermentation without impairing the flavor of the

honey.

City Smoke. — Smoke will soon be at a premium.
From 2,800,000 cubic feet of smoke given out by
say 1,000 cords of wood, 12,000 pounds of acetate
of lime, 200 gallons of alcohol, and 25 pounds of
tar may be obtained.

Absorption of Water by Roots. — Prof.
Goodall in a recent lecture, says: "Aquatic plants
absorb water through the surface of all sub-
merged parts. Plants fixed in the soil absorb
water through the superficial tissues of the young-
est roots ; and chiefly through root-hairs. Leaves
of such plants absorb no moisture, even when wet

Variation in Cotton Pl.ants. — A writer in by rain. When a plant is torn roughly from the

the Dixie Farmer, says there is as much trouble in ! soil, nearly all these root-hairs (which are delicate,

keeping a breed of cotton pure, as a breed of corn j elongated cells, thickly clothing a short portion of

or melons. There is a constant tendency to vary j the youngest roots just behind the root tip), are

from the type. He beheves it to be caused by the \ left behind, and the power of the plant to absorb

visits of insects. water is ended. The idea that the tip or spongiole

,,, ,j, f^ ~ absorbs water has been exploded bv experiments,

Wet Weather .\nd the Growth of Trees. \ f . i' >

T^ - -J ^u ^ ■ ^-c • -. t. • i- ; as also the idea that when these root-hairs, or the

— It is said that some scientific society has insti- '
^j . r ■ .i.izj,.-^i.r' portions of the root which bear them, are torn off,

tuted a series 01 experiments to find out in the tar \^

^ , . , ., ^ A -u- -u *u water is absorbed by the wounded part. The whole

away past which were the wet and which were the ' ^ ^

J 1 u ■ ■ A ^u ^\ ■ \ work (except in the case of coniferous trees, which

dry seasons, by having examined the thickness^ ^ ^ ^ ,

have no root-hairs, and absorb water by the newer
parts of the root, but never by the tip) of forcing
water into the plant, against a pressure of 3 to 5
atmospheres, is done by these minute and delicate
root-hairs.

of annual growths of wood in old trunks. It is
surprising that any intelligent body in these days
should not know better than this. Wood is not
plastered over the old series, as a painter would put
one coat on the coat which had gone before, but is
an act of vital power proceeding from the cells of Heliotropism in Sun-flowers. — Mr. Thomas
wood of the preceding year or season's growth. Meehan exhibited flowers of Hehanthus mollis,
The amount of wood deposited depends very much ; and remarked on the popular fallacy of sun-flow-
on the food to be had in the vicinity of the little cells i ers turning with the sun. The original " sun-
which have to make the new mass. If, say, at ten i flower" connected with the 0\idian stories of Cly-
feet from the ground, there be a little branch with [ tie and Phoebus, was the European Heliotrope, and
leaves having a chance to make food, the annual J even that did not turn with the sun in the modern
ring of wood will be thicker just below than at two popular sense. It simply grew where the sun
or three feet lower down. In fact if we cut a trunk loved to shine, and the plant did not flower till the

•J

AND HORTICULTURIST.

sun had reached its summer solstice. The mytho-
logical story is founded on the fact that the plant
continued to open its flowers as the sun declined,
or, as Ovid might say, its affection for its beloved
was in proportion as the lover fled from her to his
winter quarters. The Helianthus was named sun-
flower simply because the flowers resembled the
sun, and there is no relation between it and the
sun-flower of mythology.

Yet there are peculiarities worth noting. Trav.-
elers across the American plains, where sun-flow-
ers abound, have often observed a great propor-
tion of flowers facing one direction, but there were
always some in others, and these exceptions seemed
to prevent any generalizations as to special points
of the compass being favored more than others.

He has growing in his garden plants of Helian-
thus mollis, from seeds gathered by him some
years ago from near Odin, in Illinois, and the flow-
ers always seemed to have, to a great extent, a gen-
eral southern leaning, but until this season he had
not thought to make exact figures early enough tobe
satisfactory. This season he found the first flowers
open on the 7th of August. The upper portion of
the flower stalk is curved, so that when the flower
opens some quarter of an inch of stem is at right
angles with the lower portion, and the face of the
flower is exactly horizontal. It was subsequently
found that the flower remained in this horizontal
position till the last disk-floret had expanded, occu-
pying about three days, when the whole head com-
menced to take an erect position, taking about
three days more to fully accomplish. Commenc-
ing to open on the 7th of August, by the i ith there
were sixty-eight flowers expanded, all facing ex-
actly southeast on opening, but on the evening of
this day three were found which had changed
round to northeast, with a slight tendency up from
the horizon. On the 14th there were seventy-
three flowers open, twenty-one of which faced
northeast. On examining the matter carefully the
inclination to the north was found to be due to a
slight spiral or uncoiling growth during the ad-
vance from the horizontal rest to the erect position.
All do not do this, but uncurve rather than uncoil.
While this accounted for the northward advance,
often as much as ninety degrees in so many flow-
ers, it still left the reason for the original facing of
the flower to the southeast among the many prob-
lems of plant life yet to be solved.

He referred to the several reasons offered in ex-
planation of polarity in the leaves of the compass
plant, pointing out the unsatisfactory character of
all of them.

Crossed Asparagus. — We see it stated that the
Gardeners' Monthly is opposed to the idea that
asparagus can be crossed. Nothing is further
from the fact. The Gardeners' Monthly was
really the first to show, even many years ago, that
the asparagus had separate sexes, and that it really
could not seed at all unless crossed ; that is to say,
that one plant must have the pollen from another
plant in order to produce seed. The position of
the Gardeners' Monthly simply is that there
cannot be any special variety, such as some
named plants have been sent out. But there is no
reason why there may not be an improved race.
If, for instance, a female plant which is a strong
grower and delicious eating, is fertilized by a poor
wiry plant, the progeny may be expected to be in-
ferior. If fertilized by one as good itself, the prog-
eny would be superior. There can be no ques-
tion about which seed would produce the best re-
sults. The plants would not be uniform, but there
would be a general superiority. There can be no
special variety of asparagus, but there can and
there ought to be great care in the selection and
isolation of plants intended for seed, if one wishes
to keep at the top of the heap with first-class as-
paragus.

Oil from Plne. — An important industry, ac-
cording to La Nature, has sprung up within the
last few years in the French department of Landes.
It consists in extraction and applications of oih
from pine. These oils are of two sorts, the heavy
(pinoleum), obtained by distilling the reSinous
wood at a low temperature, and used for painting
and wood-preserving ; and the light oil for illumi-
nation, got by distilling in special apparatus, and
purified with chemical agents. This light oil has
the same chemical composition as oil of turpentine
(CjoHie), and distils at the same temperature (150^
to i6o'^), but has the advantage of not resinifying.
It contains neither pinic nor sylvic acid. As it.
does not emit vapors except at a high temperature,
its use for lighting purposes is quite safe. Its lu-
minous intensity is greater than that of petroleum ;
it contains 88 per cent, of carbon, while petroleum
has 82 per cent. Two similar burners showed the
pine oil to have an advantage of 33 per cent, in
luminous intensity ; the consumption was also less..
In the department of Landes roots and old stumps
of pine, formerly unutilized, are now made to ren-
der considerable quantities (jf oil.

Fertilization of Flowkrs hv Insect
Agency. — Nehemiah (irew, in 1682, first suggested
fertilization as the use of pollen by flowers. Cam-

56

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

erarius in 1694, and Vaillant in 171 7, completed
Grew's observations, but the doctrine was not uni-
versally admitted till 1729, when Linnaeus pub-
lished his excellent treatise " De Nuptiis et Sexu
Platitarum et Spcmsalia Plantarum. Kolreuter,
1 761, was the first to suggest cross-fertilization,
through the agency of wind or of insects. Spren-
gel, in 1793, submitted that the fertilization of a
hermaphrodite flower In its own pollen was the
exception. Andrew Knight, 1799, ad\ocated that
a plant would not continue fertile by its own pol-
len through many generations. Robert Brown
confirmed many of these views by observations on
Asclepiadacese and Orchidaceae. In 1862, Darwin
issued his work on the "Fertilization of Orchids,''
and the evidence he offered has been confirmed by
the observations of Hildebrand, Axell, Delpino,
Muller, Lubbock, Slade, &c. Since then Haekel
and others have believed that the views of the
others claim more for the relations between color
and insects, than the facts warrant, but the subse-
quent observations of M. Musset seem to indicate
that Haekel's views arc unsound. — Abridged from
Revue de I' Horticulture Beige.

Honey Dew. — We give place to the following
from a correspondent of the London Garden, in
order to call attention to a question we regard as
by no means settled :

" Bee-keepers will rejoice greatly at what they
regard as honey-dew, the deposit. of which is very-
heavy this year, as aphis are more than usually
prevalent, the undersides of the leaves of hmes,
sycamores, cherries, and most other trees, being
quite covered with them, and, as a natural conse-
quence, the foliage below is heavily coated with
their excreta, which they exude in such quantity as
to form a glutinous paste, and varnish the leaves
quite over. Many look on this so-called honey-
dew as a sort of distilled sweetness brought about
by atmospheric influence, and never dream of
aphis, or think it is the discharge from any insect,
else they would not be found, as I have seen them,
licking the nectar off, and appearing to enjoy it,
till they knew from what source it came, when they
soon showed disgust, and a violent fit of expecto-
rating seized them. Hop-growers, and those con-
nected with gardening, know only too well what
honey-dew means, and when they see it are well
aware that the enemy is at work sucking the vital
ene;gies out of the plants, and crippling their
growth. What is wanted now is a good down-
pour of rain to wash the foliage, and cleanse it of
both parasites and honey-dew ; for though the latter
may be good for the bees, and go far towards as-
sisting them to fill their hives with honey, it stops
the pores of the leaves, and prevents free respira-
tion, and thus interferes with their health."

Now many of us have seen honeyed liquid ex-
creted from aphides, and are therefore quite ready

to agree with the notion of the animal origin of
honey-dew as generally accepted.

But the writer is quite sure he has seen numbers
of cases where trees have swarmed with aphides
without any honeyed surface to the leaves below
them, and on the other hand some few cases, espe-
cially on the linden, where no trace of any aphides
existed. Only last season he saw the whole brick
pavement beneath the shade of two American
plane trees in front of the Wills Hospital in Phila-
delphia, covered with stains from drops of liquid
which had fallen from the trees. Myriads of flies
were feasting on the sweetness wasted there. So
far as the eye could tell at that distance from the
ground, no aphides were visible. By the aid of a
sun umbrella handle, some of the lower leaves
were gathered, but there were neither aphides be-
neath or any appearance of varnish on the upper
surface of these shaded leaves. Across the street
were other plane trees, the branches almost reach-
ing those on the other side, but no sweet liquid was
under these as in the other case. It is inconceiv-
able that trees so near together should swarm with
aphides in one case, and have none in the other.
These street trees were left with regret that they
were not growing nearer where some close atten-
tion might be given towards unraveling the mys-
tery. It seems, however, inconceivable that even
though aphides should have been in extraordinary
numbers on the tops of these trees, they should be
able to excrete enough honey, not only to cover
the myriads of leaves with a gloss below them, but
have still some to spare to splash the brick side-
walk as with a hose. Though we have to give
some sort of an assent to the aphid origin of
honey-dew, wc cannot help feeling there is some-
thing back of it all not yet explained. — Ed. G. M.

The Lacquer Tree of Japan. — The precise tree,
which produces the gum used to make the peculiar
lacquer work of Japan, is now ascertained to be
from the Stagmaria verniciflua, a tree genus closely
allied to the Rhus or poison vine family. There
are vast plantations of the tree in Japan. Each
tree is tapped, and duringfour months juice enough
to fill a three-ounce bottle exudes. One thousand
trees yield about 12,000 gallons. It is said that
the exact manner of its preparation has not yet
been discovered by Europeans.

Migrations of Birds. — An Illinois friend says:
" I take great interest in everything touching the
habits of small birds. I have no doubt the food
question has much to do with their migrations. The
robins left us very early last fall, owing to tlie fruit
and late berry crop being a failure."

AND HORTICULTURIST.

57

Literature, Travels and Personal Notes.

COMMUNICATIONS.

NOTICE CF THE LATE JAMES HAGGERTY,
OF POUGHKEEPSIF.

II V \\ B.

Sunday afternoon, December 17th, 1882, James
Haggerty, the celebrated rose grower and florist of
Poughkeepsie, New York, departed this life. Fif-
teen years ago he began to complain, and during
that whole time he did not enjoy many well days.
He was mostly alwa) s troubled with dumb ague,
supposed to be inalaria, but this last year he suf-
fered severely from a bronchial disease. A trip
across the ocean helped him somewhat, but after
he came home it was the same thing o\ er again.
A visit to the famous Catskills last summer, and
the pure air of the Adirondacks, failed to restore
his health, and death pursued his victim until he
relieved him on the abo\e mentioned day from all
earthly troubles.

The funeral took place at eleven o'clock on Wed-
nesday morning next. It was largely attended.
Florists and friends from all parts came to pay their
last tributes to the deceased. An eloquent funeral
sermon was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Hear. A
black pall covered the casket. Large silver
handles hung from the sides. .\ plate with name
and age (51 years), together with some beautifully
arranged designs in choicest flowers, covered the
top. While waiting for the services to take place
we took a run through the establishment which the
deceased had erected with such ingenuity, con-
ducted with such prudence, and diligently attended
to at all times. A side hill with a number of ter-
races, one aboxe the other, about 10 feet wide and
200 feet long, is planted with all leading vari-
eties of the best roses, most successfully grown
and literally covered with buds. Nothing less than
an acre of ground is covered with one glass roof,
and by the pillars supporting the roof.

Marechal Niel and other best running roses are
trailing from pillar to pillar, and large numbers of
this queen of flowers are cut daily. Bougainvillea,
with their charming blooms, Bignonia venusta,
with large bunches of golden trumpets, change off
with the running roses, and are loaded with flowers.

The sides are planted with bouvardias and smilax
in beautiful festoons. Four large houses, over 100
feet long each, are planted with Gen. Jacqueminot
roses and look \-ery promising. One house with
Pearl des Jardins roses, healthy and productive.
Two houses with carnations, full of flowers, and
one with violets, (S;c.

These are the principal buildings. It looks as if
it would cost a fortune to run this concern; but it
has so far paid expenses, and by proper engineer-
ing thousands of roses and other flowers have been
cut and sold daily and resulted in large profits.
By his works, as a self-made inan, the deceased
created for himself a monument which will be re-
membered as long as Poughkeepsie's histor\ .

Trusting that the widow, three boys and two
girls, proxe themsehcs worthy of this famous
property, which stands superior to anything of the
kind in the State, if not indeed in the United States,
we close these few well merited remarks regarding
a dear friend whom we esteemed \ery highly.
■ Koijuiescat in piiee.''

UNDER THE HAWTHORNS— No. II.

liV W.M. T. ll.A.RI)ING, MOUNT HOLLY, X. J.

It is doubtful if any writer of prose or poetry
ever had the graphic power to vivify rural scenery
with a reality so true to nature as had the gifted
Burns, and his happiest efforts are often mani-
fested when delineating the wild and picturesque
scenes so peculiar to the romantic features of
Caledonia. His ardent admiration for trees and
flowers, is often expressed with a fervor akin to
adoration; and the "milk-white hawthorn bush"
seems especially to have been one of his arboreal
favorites. And with a descriptive eloquence un-
surpassed, how exquisitely in poetic metaphor he
pictures an old hawthorn, as it appeared to his
vivid imagination in the gray dawn of the early
morning, and charmingly invests it with an interest
bordering on veneration. As an instance of his fe-
licity of expression, I quote his sentimental allusion
to the hawthorn, in the idiom of Bonnie Scotland —

•' The liawtliorn I will \m\ wi" its locks o' siller gray,
VVlien like an aged man it stands at break o' day.''

5«

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

His comparison of an ancient thorn, drooping
like an old man with the weight of years, is an apt
one. And whoever has looked upon one, after the
manner of the poet, will readily recognize in the
imagery the bending form of a gray-haired sire,
and possibly tbe ideal of "John Anderson, my Jo,
John," whose "locks are like the snaw."

It occurred to the writer when examining some
very old hawthorns while in England, in 1881, how
much several of them bore a resemblance to
Burns' figurative tree.

It was on a blithe May morning, "when nature
painted all things gay," I quietly meandered along
a well-worn foot-path, by the side of hedgerows
flecked with pretty flowers, and which in irregular
lines divided the green meadows, to a spot where
I had, when a little urchin attending school, spent
many a happy hour. The same old hawthorns I
had in boyish eagerness often climbed up to gather
the red ripe haws from, were still growing there,
and to all appearance as vigorous as they were
more than fifty years ago. The destructive fingers
of time seemed to have touched them gently,
and during the long interval which has elapsed
since I last saw them, their familiar features had
scarcely changed. And yet, while remaining the
same old trees I knew in days gone by, there was
undoubtedly an increase in the circumference of
their deep furrowed trunks, the largest of which
measured more than eight feet in girt. On this oc-
casion the heads of these venerable old thorns
were each beautifully covered with its annual
crown of white blossoms, so fragrant and fair.
And as I viewed their well-remembered forms, the
floodgates of memory seemed to open and pour
out the pent-up recollections of the many strange
mutations of the past. To secure a souvenir
seemed as natural as ^le suggestive language of
Burns was to prompt my desire " to pu' its locks of
siller gray," which I devotedly did, to keep in re-
membrance.

The verdant fields were prettily bespangled with
a variety of spring flowers, from which I brushed
the morning's dew, as I leisurely left the old haunts
of my youthful days. Continuing my pleasant
peregrinations, 1 soon reached Dunstall Park, to
view the handsome groups of the various species
of hawthorn for which it is famous.

In this paper I shall omit mentioning the usual
variety of interesting large-sized old forest trees,
and splendid collections of ornamental low trees
and shrubs, or beautiful landscape effects usually
found in such like places, and confine my remarks
to the very comely kinds of Crataegus oxyacantha,

or poet's hawthorn, which pleased me most of all..
And methought, as I looked around, how gratified
must be the owner of such exquisite scenes, " where
every prospect pleases."

Near by where I stood were several thrifty
handsome common English hawthorns, which
have been the subject of many a sentimental
theme by both ancient and modern writers, with
whom it always seems to have been a favorite. A
little distance off grew some excellent specimens of
C. o. alba plena, or double white thorns, and pure
and pretty indeed are its superb companions, C. o.
rubra plena, or double scarlet, with its single sister,
the well-known C. o. cocci nea, or common scarlet
thorn, which is an old and much admired little
tree ; while another member of this interesting
family is C. o. rosea, whose rosy blush is not so
high colored as the two preceding kinds, and of
which the planter had made liberal use in the ex-
tensive park around. Another red variety of
striking appearance, known as C. o. rubra splen-
dens — well named, and of vigorous growth — made
pretty clusters here and there, while near by the
margin of an ornamental lake, standing singly,
was a bush of the very distinct C. o. Douglasii.
Its peculiar though pleasing habit will always se-
cure it a place where only a few kinds are grown.
Its handsome foliage and great profusion of flow-
ers and fruit enhance its value.

Among these most effective park or lawn orna-
ments, I noticed C. o. filicifolia, or fern-leaved
thorn, a very curious kind ; and C. o. variegata,
which specially commends itself in either of its
three interesting phases of foliage, flowers and
fruit. C. o." rotundifolia, a round-leaved kind,
formed very pretty objects, as did the more robust
C. o. grandiflora, with flowers grand enough for
either bridal wreaths or May coronal. C. o. tana-
cetifolia, the tansy-leaved kind, was one of the
many remarkable varieties around me. And form-
ing agreeable contrasts with their interesting com-
peers, was a fine specimen of C. o. platyphylla,
with its handsome broad leaves, and C. o. macro-
carpa, remarkable for its large haws and excellent
habit.

There were several other beautiful kinds inter-
spersed about and worthy of mention, but to avoid
being tedious to the patient reader, will refer to but
two others, C. o. stricta, which assumes a close,
upright form of growth, and its contrasting com-
panion, C. o. pendula, of drooping or pendulous
habit. There were many fine examples of Ameri-
can species, but having previously referred to and
described them in the November Mo.nthly of

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

59

1 88 1, will conclude my remarks with the type I
began with.

That the neat and graceful hawthorn should I
elicit admiration from all intelligent beholders is
not surprising, when we consider how much its
picturesque form has contributed to make replete
the charm of many a fine landscape. And that
scenes of social enjoyment and domestic happi-
ness should often occur about them, is most natu-
ral. Being such a companionable little tree, fre-
quently found about our"homes, we are apt to re-
gard it with kindly feelings wherever seen, as a re-
minder of some cherished spot. And when
found, as we often come upon it in the seclusion
of some forest recess or deep sequestered glen,
where its extreme loneliness claims attention, we
feel as though we had discovered an old familiar
friend. And while poetic lays, romantic legends,
pleasing narrative and authentic history have the
power to charm, will the legend of the Glaston-
bury thorn ever fail to interest the reader.

In quoting the following account from Loudon's
Arboretum et Fruticetum, of 1854, I will briefly
premise it with the statement that I have been a
frequent witness to the peculiarity of the remark-
able subject at issue, having seen it bearing blos-
soms and fruit at the same time in December, Jan-
uary, February, March, April and May.* It is
known as C. o.proeco.x, the early flowering or Glas-
tonbury thorn, and which, according to the Ro-
mish legend, once formed the staff of Joseph of
Arimathea, and still exists within the precincts of
the ancient Abbey of Glastonbury :

" It is said that Joseph of Arimathea, after the
burial of Christ, came to England, attended by
twelve companions, to found the first Christian
church in this island, and guided by Divine im-
pulse he proceeded to Glastonbury for that pur-
pose. It was Christmas day when he arrived at
the spot where he had been commanded to build a
church to the honor of the Virgin Mary, and find-
ing that the natives did not appear inclined to be-
lieve in his mission, he prayed to God to perform a
miracle, to convince them. His prayer was imme-
diately answered, and, striking his staff into the
ground, it immediately shot forth into leaves and
blossoms. And still blossoms annually on Christ-
mas day."

While dwelling on this romantic subject, I can-
not refrain from giving the historical account of the

C. o. regina. Queen Mary's thorn. "The parent
tree is in a garden near Edinburg, which once be-
longed to the Regent Murray. It is very old, and its
branches have somewhat of a drooping character.
The tree is thirty-three feet high ; the trunk di-
vides into two limbs at fifteen inches from the
ground, one of which is one foot four inches in di-
ameter, and the other one foot. The tree is healthy
and vigorous, though if it be true Queen Mary sat
under its shade, it must be nearly three hundred
years old."

Both Greeks and Romans honored the hawthorn,
having dedicated it to " Flora," whose festival be-
gan on May. day. And in many parts of rural
England "Merry May-day " is still annually cele-
brated with innocent amusements, such as dancing
round the Maypole, decked with garlands of haw-
thorn blossoms. And I pleasantly remember hav-
ing seen a pretty little maiden, the village beauty,
crowned with May or hawthorn blossoms, while
her lovely young maids of honor sang the happy

refrain —

•• With pleasu! e> Mliounding.
The May-poU' Minounding,

We crowu her the Queen of May-day; <fcc.''

I would like to continue the subject, but as this
is my second attempt to interest the gentle reader
in behalf of the hawthorn, I must reluctantly leave
much unsaid. I would fain add to the theme ;
but if my desultory remarks may only persuade
the good tree-loving people to plant them about
their homes, I shall have accomplished my pur-
pose.

From a Germantown nursery catalogue be-
fore me, I see an excellent selection may be
be made of hawthorns, suitable for beautifying the
home surroundings.

*A11 of the many hawthorns raised from this remarliable
tree retain tlie peculiar habit of lilossoming and fruiting at an
untimely season, often to the amazenaent of the credulous
rustics, who regard them with superstitious awe.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Gardening and Business. — We have occasion-
ally heard malicious remarks when some amateur
horticulturist failed in business, that "gardening-
would ruin any man." It is often forgotten that
hundreds will spend on one evening party, or some
other luxury, what few amateur gardeners spend in
a year. When Mr. Mechi, the celebrated agricul-
tural experimenter failed, the ill-natured wrote of
the " natural result of so much experimenting,"
that it " took a farm in the city to keep his farm in
the country," and so forth. His daughter has at
length been provoked to a reply in the London
Times. A Mr. Pell had been rehashing the old
dish of scandal, and the lady replies :

6o

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

"Alluding to the circumstances of my father's
death and connecting them with his farming oper-
ations, Mr. Pell says, 'the result was not a suc-
cess.' I beg to state distinctly that my father's ruin
was attributable solely and simply to the failure
of the Unity Bank, in which, as a shareholder, he
lost more than every shilling he possessed. To his
successful farming, among other causes, he owed
the delay of a catastrophe which had for some
time been inevitable. It must remain a question of
taste whether Mr. Pell has done wisely in affixing
a stigma of ' agricultural loafers ' to the many high-
minded and honorable men who from all ranks of
society have attended the Tiptree gatherings and
witnessed the experiments conducted at them. In
conclusion, I may add that during the last suffer-
ing days of my father's life his thoughts were not
so much with himself or his troubles, not so much
with family or friends, as with the cause he had
long served faithfully and loved so well."

Giant Horse Tails. — When some geologists
tell- us some sorts of coal may have been formed
in times when there was little wind by the falling
on the ground of the spores (the analogue of pollen
in flowering plants) of cryptogamic pllants, we
naturally think of our small ferns, hprse-tail and
similar plants, and wonder as to how such things
should be. But the plants were large, and prob-
ably the spores sized accordingly. The GardenefS'
Chronicle aptly remarks :

"Representatives of the marsh vegetation of the
ancient coal period would appear still to exist in
South America ; at least specimens of Equisetum
giganteum from Brazil, which is said to have aerial
stems of thirty feet, were exhibited by Mr. W. T.
Thiselton Dyer, at the Linnean meeting on June
15. A forest of these would certainly carry the
mind back to the time when our now coal beds
were luxuriantly flourishing in the marshes of the
period."

Sub-Tropical Plants for Industrial Culture
or Naturalization — by Baron Ferdinand Von Muel-
ler, has been translated into the German language.
It shows alike the interest of the German people in
all that relates to industrial improvement, as well
as their appreciation of the work of the distin-
guished Australian botanist.

The London Journal of Botany — announces
that unless better supported it will step out at the
end of another year. In contrast with this is the
support given to the two American magazines, the
Botanical Gazette and the Bulletin of the Torrey
Botanical Club, which though a long way from
being gold mines, add to the number of their
readers from year to year. With botanical taste
growing continually, it is amazing to hear of poor
support to botanical magazines. But the fact is
that there is so much new in the " New Botany,"
that readers expect more than a mere chapter or

two, in the old style. The advanced botanist in
these days, can scarcely go to the fields or woods
for an afternoon jaunt, or take up a dried specimen
without seeing something new and worth telling,
and this is what the modern subscriber expects to
read about.

Varied Tastes in Food. — A reporter of the
Philadelphia Press called on Mr. Murrey, the chief
cook of the Continental Hotel of this city, and
gives us the following sketch of taste in cookery :
" Mr. Murrey is an enthusiast in this matter. He
has read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation,
and carefully conned every word written therein
about food ; Shakspeare is his constant companion,
and he has collated over three hundred extracts
' from his writings referring to different dishes, prin-
cipally salads ; agricultural reports, which are too
often to others a waste of paper, he scrutinizes with
\ anxious eye to discover whether the tomato has
been successfully grafted on the turnip, or if
the carrot could not in some way be combined
j with the succulent cucumber ; farmers' journals,
giving the latest discoveries in the cultivation of
fruits and vegetables, are to him precious presents,
and, in a woi'd, any book bearing upon food is of
, more value in his eyes than if it were on finance.
j And so, when the Press reporter approached Mr.
: Murrey with a request to be allowed to look at his
, collection, that gentleman, with evident pleasure,
: willingly agreed to submit it to inspection. And,
■ in truth, it is a remarkable collection. He has, in
i one series of volumes, over ten thousand bills of
fare, and in his library over five hundred books on
cookery, and on matters appertaining to that sub-
I ject. ' You are cjuite an enthusiast in this matter,'
remarked the reporter.

I " 'I am,' was the ready response. T have been
fifteen years making this collection, and if I live
eighteen more it will be the finest in the world.
I May I ask you if you are interested in the subject."
! The reporter stated that he was — practically. That
settled it. Instantly Mr. Murrey opened his book
\ cases, emptied one shelf after another, piled up
English, French and German works on cookery
and pastry making, and so forth, and then to cap
the climax he ordered up the reserves in the shape
of the ten thousand bills of fare above referred to.
'There,' said he, with honest pride, 'there is a col-
lection of which I am proud — where is its equal?'
"The writer gave the conundrum up and then
went to examining the bills of fare.

"There were menus from Philadelphia, New
York, Boston and Chicago; from Paris, from Rome
j and from Berlin; from St. Petersburg, from Vienna
1 and from Copenhagen ; bills of fare printed on
I white satin ; on plain commercial note; on delicate
j tints, with letters of gold. There were bills of fare
i where royalty had sat at the table, where states-
men had dined, where heroes had wined ; there
' were bills of fare which recalled the days when
I Daniel Webster was entertained at the great dinner
in the Revere House, Boston, on January 18, 1856;
j when John Welsh departed to England as the
American minister; when the Grand Duke Alexis,

I883-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

6i

of Russia, was entertained in New York ; when the
foreign comniissioners to the great Centennial had
their farewell banquet in St. George's Hall, with
President Grant in the chair ; bills of banquets,
public and private ; of great hotel dinners in the
Old World and the new ; of restaurants, American
and continental; of dishes ranging all the way
from plain 'pork and beans' to 'sante de daisans
au fumet de Gibier.' Some of these bills of fare
are well worthy of the closest attention, whether
regarded from a literary or an epicurean stand-
point; and, as a curiosity, the following bill of fare
at the banquet to His Imperial Majesty the Sultan
of Turkey, served at the Guildhall, London, during
his visit, is worthy of some study :

"Potage poutoise a 1' Albion ; potage a la Vic-
toria.

"Ris de veau a la Lucullus; filets de poulets a
I'ecarlate; cotelettes aux haricots verts; croustades
a la reine.

"Cailles a la Macedoine; crevettes en caisses,
aspics de foies gras de Strasbourg; salade a la
Russe; filets de soles a la Venitienne; buisson de
truffes de Perigord ; chartreuse a la Pariseinne;
homard a la Venitienne.

"Saumon a la royale; galantine de volaille aux
truftes; pate a laFrancaisc ; jambon ; pulets rotis;
lanuge de boeuf; carre d'agneaux aux concombres;
filet de bceuf a la Choisy.

"Celestine de fraises; peches a la Belle .Vue;
gelee au vin de Madere ; gateau a la Princesse ;
ananas aux croutons; compote d'abricots.

" ' I find ' said Mr. Murrey, as the writer hastily
closed the last of his volumes of his collection of
bills of fare, ' I find that there is even great differ-
ence in the tastes of Americans who come from
various sections of this country. Now a Phila-
delphian will call for terrapin, calve's head a la
secret, fillet de boeuf, etc.; the Bostonians, although
it sounds so like' satire to say so, do actually want
pork and beans, when away from home ; if not
that, then rare roast beef seems to be their favor-
ite diet ; the Western men, too, are great beef-eat-
ers, and are fond of fowl and game — solid food
generally ; Southern men are, as a rule, vegeta-
rians. They are great salad eaters, and they can
appreciate a salad when it is well made. Lamb is
a familiar dish with them, and they can ask for it
in a score of different ways. By-the-by, how many
kinds of salads do you think there are ? '

"The reporter guessed a dozen.

"'There are hundreds,' continued Mr. Murrey,
enthusiastically. 'Yes, hundreds. Why people
know scarcely anything of this subject. Do you
know that over one hundred dishes in different
styles can be served of Indian corn ? Why this
subject is inexhaustible.'

" The reporter admitted the latter proposition.
"Mr. Murrey continued: 'Men come in here
who have traveled all over the world, they ask for
a certain dish, and not one of the waiters can im-
agine what they mean. They come to me. There
are thirty-six hundred different dishes, and it is
hard to keep the run of it. But we find it out. Oh,
yes ; we have all kinds of men to deal with. When
Dom Pedro was here he asked for some queer
dishes, but he always expressed himself delighted.

People have got over that old idea of crowding
a hundred dishes on one bill of fare. It is not
considered en regie now. A few clever dishes,
well cooked, and of the very finest quality that
can be got, is what is wanted now. Ten dollars
per head is about the outside price for a banquet
nowadays, but twenty was not considered exorb-
itant three or four years ago ;• of course that in-
cludes wines. And speaking of wines — '

" At this point the reporter begged to be excused.
The sight of ten thousand bills of fare and five
hundred cookery books was enough in one after-
noon, and the wine question was postponed. The
interview, however, demonstrated that Philadelphia
contained the champion collector — so far as is at
present known — in this department of literature."

Mss. Typographic.\l Errors. — Annoying as
they must always be to the author, are not always
without a show of excuse on the part of the compos-
itor. " Had " can be written so as to be perfectly
made, and yet have the appearance of "has" to'the
typo, and "e'er" to look exactly like "e'efl." Of
course, if the compositor thought of anything else
than to pick up each letter, he would know right
from wrong by the sense. But when there is a
choice, the wrong, path is generally chosen ; and
this is what happened in Mr. Harding's acrostic.

Early History of Garden Flowers. — The
.Flofist and Pomologist, in a kindly notice of the
late Edward Meehan, remarks : " He was one of
the earlier improvers of the fuchsia and other gar-
den flowers. His son. Professor Thomas Meehan,
is Professor of Botany in the Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia."

It may be worth noting that the improvement of
the dahlia was among the earliest of his hobbies.
" Springfield Rival," perhaps, among the first to
bring this flower up to the florist's standard, was
one of his raising.

He used to experiment largely with seedling
chrysanthemums, but he took one called " Web-
ber's Queen " as his standard of excellence, and
could never feel that he raised one equal to it.

The first hybrid fuchsia ever raised, was proba-
bly "St. Clare." Fuchsia fulgens was introduced
from Brazil about 1840. At any rate, in 1841 it
bloomed at St. Clare, and was used as the male
parent. The female parent, Fuchsia longiflora,
was still standing, making a plant probably fif-
teen or twenty feet high when the writer saw it
four years ago.

The seedlings bloomed the following year, " St.
Clare " being considered the best of them. So
strict was Mr. Median's idea of honor that he re-
fused money offers for the plant, because the
work on it was done in his employer's time, and it

62

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

was given to a leading nurseryman in exchange
for new or rare plants, as were all the other good
things he raised. The beautiful Clianthus puni-
ceus was raised by him from seed brought home
by a New Zealand missionary, and the Diplacus
aurantiacus, set down in botanical works as of
" origin unknown," was a cross of his between Di-
placus glutinosus and D. puniceus.

He was among the first to start the present pop-
ular race of silver-leaved geraniums. There was a
loose growing variegated kind known as the
"Mangles" long in cultivation, and an old scarlet
known as the " Salmon." This last was the male
parent. From this cross came "St. Clare," which
was such a decided advance that it has scarcely
yet gone out of cultivation. This was given to or
exchanged with the same florist, we believe, to
whom " Springfield Rival " dahlia was given.

Professor Meehan's title comes chiefly from his
position in the State Board of Agriculture of Penn-
sylvania, though he also holds that honorary title
in other bodies. His position in the Academy of
Natural Sciences (except as Senior Vice Presi-
dent) is simply \"ice Director of the Botanical Sec-
tion, to all three of which he has been annually
elected for some years past.

A Pleasant Note from a Young Gardener.
— A correspondent says : " I do wish that some of
our older plant and fruit growers would favor us
occasionally with notes of their experience. It
would prove of .great benefit to all young garden-
ers, myself included, as I am not yet thirty, and
feel I have much to learn from persons older than
I am."

Sir Hugh Allan. — The death of the principal
owner of the Allan line of steamers reminds us
that horticulture, as well as business enterprise,
loses a zealous patron. His residence at Montreal
was one of the beauty spots of the Dominion, while
the more extensive grounds on Lake Memphrema-
gog furnished a specimen of excellent taste in
landscape gardening as adapted to wild lake
scenery.

The Montreal suburban residence is apparently
on about ten acres of ground, and the building is
a model of elegance and taste in the hands of
abundant wealth. The walled-in kitchen and fruit
garden abounds in the best kinds of fruits, and
along the most protected sides are extensive
ranges of glass, in which peaches, grapes and
other fruits are raised to great perfection. The
several planthouses are connected with the " ball
room " front of the dwelling-house, though they

extend away a long distance from the dwelling,
and in the main appear as distinct structures. New
and rare plants are added as they appear, though
majestic specimens of the older and valuable spe-
cies have their honored places. Perhaps the point
of excellence which has made the most lasting im-
pression on the writer of this, who made a hasty
call in September last, was the perfect neatness
and cleanliness which pervaded every part of the
grounds. Not a dead leaf, rotten branch or weed
was to be seen anywhere. To our mind there is
nothing tests the ability of a gardener as this.
The general rule is for places like this to be laid
out, with work enough for a dozen men to keep in
order, but which the proprietor who never thought
of this at the outset, insists must be kept up by
half or less. Even when enough to do justice to
a large place is allowed, the gardener too often
falls into slovenly ways. By this test we should
regard Mr. Dunbar, Sir H. Allan's gardener, as
among the head of the class.

Joseph E. Johnson. — The Salt Lake papers
note the death of Joseph E. Johnson, who is well
known to horticulturists and botanists for the in-
terest he took in developing the floral knowledge
of Utah Territory. In compliment to his zeal and
industry many plants bear his name, as for instance
Dalea Johnsonii, being very beautiful flowers.

He was a printer, and a man of indomitable
energy. He once went to a new settlement and
started a newspaper, setting up the type and
printing the whole paper himself, with only a tree
and wild nature for the printing office. St.
George's, in L'tah, especially owes much to his
energy.

At the time of his death he was engaged in push-
ing a new settlement in Arizona, and it is not long
since the writer of this had aletter from him speak-
ing in glowing terms of his prospects of success.

The Regulative Action of Birds on Insect
Oscillation. — By S. A. P'orbes. In the " Bulletin
of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History,
December, 1882, is a scientific paper of great prac-
tical utihty in regard to the influence of birds in
keeping down the can.ker-worm. The paper is so
full of important details that it is impossible to give
a brief abstract of it, and those who are able to get
it will do well to read the whole. The facts have
a great bearing on many practical questions be-
sides the one which Mr. Forbes proposed for solu-
tion. The point we have often made, that there is
really a very narrow line between insectivorous and
frugivorous birds, is clearly brought out here.

I883-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

63

Birds will not starve. When they cannot get veg-
etable food they take to animal, and the reverse
ifnder other circumstances. Mr. Forbes shot his
birds on the 24th of Ma.y, 1881, and 20th of May,
1882, and the contents of the craw showed that all
the birds fed on animal food. At that early season
there are few seeds to be had. Some birds had
seeds of asters and other Composita;, bristle grass
(Setaria, which by the way has the name of pigeon
grass in this paper), and seeds of a few other plants
which perhaps were kept froni distribution under
the snow. Birds like the woodpecker seem to have
no compunction about stealing the farmer's new-
sown corn in a pinch ; and such kinds as the yel-
low bird, riot on insect food.

An interesting item in this experience is that dif-
ferent birds seem to prefer different kinds of in-
sects, but on analysis this is found not so much a
matter of gastronomies as of strength or peculiar
habits of the bird. The robin for instance was
found to use cut-worms and other terrestrial crea-
tures, to an enormous extent. The canker worm,
which abounded in the orchard, was barely
touched. The yellow bird had two-thirds of the
total amount eaten of canker worms. We can see
that the superior strength of the robin, and its
habit of being frequently on the ground, give it
advantages for searching for earth-loving creatures
which the yellow-bird does not possess.

As to the leading question proposed, the influence
on keeping down the canker-worm, the great ques-
tion remains in how far does the enormous number
eaten by the birds, aid the fruit grower? It is evi-
dently the design of nature that a very large pro-
portion of that which is created shall serve as food
for the others, and that after all this has been ac-
complished, there shall still be enough left to repro-
duce the species. The forty-fiv.e acres of apple-
trees of Mr. J. W. Robinson, in Tazewell County,
Illinois, wherein these birds were caught, has been
infested by canker worms for six years to such an
extent that the orchard looks annually as if fired.

Under the pressure of little other food, even
graminivorous birds have been compelled to feed
on canker worms. Millions must have been an-
nually destroyed, but still the annnal destruction
to the leaves of the trees goes on.

To our mind the law is that man must be his
own great protector. In the war against insects
retail efforts are of little avail. He must either
guard his trees so that insect enemies cannot get
at them, or wholesale destruction be completely at
command.

Horticultural Directory for 1883, twenty-

fourth edition. Published at the Jotirnal of Hor-
ticulture office, London, England. This gives a
complete list of the nurserymen, seedsmen, florists,
gentlemen and ladies who have fine gardens, and
their gardeners, of England and the " Continent,"
which seems to include the LTnited States, Japan
and the rest of the world outside of the British
Isles. As an illustration of how words change in
time in different parts of the world, we note that
the districts here are divided into "London, Metro-
politan and Country." In this part of the world
metropolis is the chief city of a country, and Lon-
don would be regarded as the metropolis of Eng-
land, and metropolitan that which related to the
city. But in England, as we judge from the Direc-
tory, metropolitan is applied to the towns and cities
for some thirty miles or so surrounding the city,
or distinct froin the citv itself.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

To Intelligent Correspondents. — All eom"
munications relating to advertisements, subscrip-
tions, or other business, must be addressed to the
publisher, 814 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

All referring to the reading matter of the maga-
zine must be mailed to the editor, Germatttown, Pa.

No express packages for the editor received un-
less prepaid ; and marked '' Paid through to Ger-
mantown, Pa."

Pores in the Annual Layer of Wood. A

correspondent says : "Will the editor of the Gar-
deners' Monthly, please help a reader who
somehow cannot make out what he means to say
on page 20 of the January number. A cut used in
Dr. Houghs' "Elements of Forestry," represented
the porous part of the annual layers of oak wood,
as the inner part of the layer, that is, as the first
formed portion of the annual growth. I under-
stood the editor to say, two or three months ago,
that the cut was wrong in this respect, and that
this porous part, consisting largely of ducts, really
belongs to the outer or latest part of each layer.
Now, on reading the editorial notes on page 20 of
the January number, I can't make out whether the
editor means to tell us that the cut was right or
wrong in this particular. It must be either one
way or the other, and I presume the editor is clear
in his own mind about it. But either he has not
expressed his mind altogether or else the writer of
this inquiry must subscribe himself

A Dull Reader."

[The cut in Dr. Hough's "Elements of Forestry "
was right in that respect. The editor of the Gar.
deners' Monthly was wrong. Ed. G. M.]

64

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[February,

Horticultural Societies.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Premiums at Horticultural Exhibitions.
^The Georgia Horticultural Society has adopted
a by-law which provides that no medal, diploma or
money shall be awarded by this society as a testi-
monial of excellence for any fruit, plant, flower or
vegetable offered for exhibition. The verdict of
the special committee shall be the highest commen-
dation of the society. We should hardly suppose
that such a great departure trom established cus-
tom will be a success. But there is nothing Uke a
practical test, and we are glad the Georgia Society
undertakes it.

It seems to us the true line of reform is in dis-
criminating verdicts, the jury giving the reasons
for the excellence, and the society taking the steps
by wide publicity to do honor to their own verdict
.and to the merits of the exhibitor. The most
praisefui verdict is of little satisfaction to the ex-
hibitor if he has to put the record of it between the
covers of some book in his library. To be of any
real value to him he must " blow his own horn,''
in regard to it in the end. If the societies were to
take this "blowing of the horn" in their hands,
it might then be some fair set-off for the lack of
money premiums. At any rate we are glad that
the action of the Georgia Society, looks hke the
beginning of the examination into the old stupid
system of competition which we have so long urged
as needing reform.

Reports of Horticultural Societies. -—It is
a pleasure to note that the efforts of the Garden-
ers' Monthly in the Une of judicial comparative
reports of committees, are being seconded by Mr.
Murkland, the Secretary of the New York Horti-
cultural Society. In his last annual report he says:
"And here just a few words to our Committee
on Plants and Flowers, and I speak as to men who
have the honor to frame a report each month which
is read in many different states and abroad, as the
report of one of the leading horticultural societies
in our Union. Noteworthy exhibits, too, should
be described in such a manner that readers who
have not been privileged to attend our meetings

may liave the exhibition tables spread before them
in your report. Pardon me if I refer to some of the
reports of the past year. For instance, in that of
last March we find the following: 'From Wm.
Bennett, a Dendrobium aggregatum majus. Ex-
tra good.' There are many such comments
throughout the reports of the year. Undoubtedly
the specimen was ' extra good,' but had I not seen
the plant I would have wondered what an extra
good plant was like, and if I were an inexperienced
orchid grower, with a specimen of the same variety
fifteen inches high, having four spikes of thirteen
large perfect flowers each, I would have, from
reading the report only, vainly wondered how my
plant compared with the one shown. And it must
be remembered that besides our membership in
New York and vicinity we have members in Mas-
sachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Illinois,
Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan, whose personal
contact with our exhibitions is confined to reading
your reports."

Amateurs and Florists. — In future there will
be two classes of exhibitors in the New York Hor-
ticultural Society. Those who grow plants or
flowers for sale will not compete with those who
grow for pleasure merely.

The American Pomological Society. — This
body meets only biennially. The next session will
be held in Philadelphia on the 12th, 13th and 14th
of September, 1883.

President Wilder is working hard to make this
meeting one long to be remembered, in which
effort he is seconded by President Schafifer of the
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

Hall of the New York Horticultural
Society. — This building, costing $100,000, has
been purchased solely by the Amateur Horticul-
turists of New York, in the pure love of horticul-
ture. Thirty-six paid for the whole, of whom sev-
enteen subscribed $5,000 each, six $2,000, and
thirteen $1,000. It is interesting to note that of
those interested in horticulture in New York, there
are more able to give $5,000 each than of lower
sums.

THE

GARDENERS' MONTHLY

AND

HORTICULTURIST.

DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE. ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS.

Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN,

Volume XXV.

MARCH, 1883.

Number 291

Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground.

SEASONABLE HINTS. j afford hints from which all may profit, even though

! it is not possible to imitate the pattern.

In our last we gave a design for a set of flower 1 In all cases, if flowers have been growing in the
beds, with some remarks favorable to the bedding I ground many years, new soil does wonders. Rich

manure makes flowers grow, but they do not
always flower well with vigorous growth.
If new soil cannot be had, a wheel-
barrow of manure to about every fifty
square feet will be enough. If the garden
earth looks gray or yellow, rotten leaves —
quite rotten leaves — will improve it. If
heavy, add sand. If very sandy, add salt
— about half a pint to fifty square feet.
If very black or rich from previous years'
manurings, use a little lime, about a pint,
slacked, to fifty square feet.

With March, in the Middle States, comes
the annual clearing up — the final dressing
over the grave of buried winter, and the
planting of it with spring flowers and green
things. The lawn is always the first con-
sideration, for the " strip of green grass "
is often the vivifying germ which warms
the citizen's heart into active love for coun-
try life. Much as the lawn plays a part in
English gardening, it is of much more

system of flower gardening, as forming a pleasing
contrast to other methods of ornamenting gardens
and grounds. Herewith is another. They each

account with us. Our heats render the grass
particularly refreshing. Our droughts are some-
what against our great success — but the charm

ee

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

of having it, makes every effort for its attain-
ment desirable.

It is well to remember that good health is the
preservative of life, and that good, nourishing
food is the key to health. Healthy grass will keep
green in a dry time easier than weak grass. This
is why top dressings of rich fertilizing materials is
such an advantage to a lawn. Continual mowings,
though the essential practice in making a lawn
beautiful, weakens the grass, but the application of
good food helps it to recover. At one time the
mowings were left on the grass, to make a fertilizer,
as it was said. This is not considered good prac-
tice now. The shade from the dead grass weakens
the living grass in a considerable degree, though
not perhaps to the same extent that mowing does.

As this is the season for work, and not for long
essays, we may, perhaps, crowd in a few brief
hints from experience, especially as the reasons for
them have probably been often given in our pages.

Planting trees will require particular attention
now ; but do not be in a hurry the moment the
frost is out of the ground. Cold winds are very
hard on newly set out trees. Wait till they are
gone. Always shorten in a little the shoots of all
trees planted. They will grow the faster for it, and
are more certain to live. Evergreens should be
left to the last.

Dig garden soil only when the ground is warm
and dry. Do not be in a hurry, or you may get
behind. When a clot of earth will crush to powder
when you tread on it, it is time to dig — not before.

If perennial plants have stood three years in one
place, separate the stools, replacing one-third, and
give the balance to your neighbor, who has none.

To make handsome, shapely specimens of
shrubs, cut them now into the forms you want, and
keep them so, by pulling out all shoots that grow
stronger than the other during the summer season.

The rule for pruning at transplanting is to cut in
proportion to apparent injury to roots. If not
much worse for removal, cut but little of the top
away. Properly pruned, a good gardener will not
not have the worst case of a badly dug tree to die
under his hands. In nurseries where these matters
are well understood, trees " never die."

Box edgings lay well now. Make the ground
firm and level ; plant deep, with tops not more
than two inches above ground.

Roll the grass well before the softness of a thaw
goes away. It makes all smooth and level.

Hyacinths, tulips, liliums, and other hardy
bulbs set out in the fall, and covered through the
winter, should be occasionally examined, and

when they show signs of active growth, must be
uncovered ; in this latitude this is not safe until
towards the end of the month.

COMMUNICATIONS.

VICTORIA REGIA IN THE OPEN AIR.

BY E. D. STURTEVANT, BORDENTOWN, N. J.

In response to your request for an account of my
manner of flowering the Victoria regia in the open
air, I will say first that I have never claimed that I
started the plant otherwise than in heat under glass.

My tank is 20x30 feet and i 5 inches deep, built
of brick and cement. In the center is a pit 4 feet
square and 2 feet deeper than the main tank.
This pit is filled with a very rich mixture of loam
and stable manure. The tank is situated only a
few feet from a greenhouse. Two four-inch hot
water pipes (flow and return), are extended from
those within the greenhouse to the tank outside,
reaching a foot or two inside the wall, and left en-
tirely open at the ends. When heat is required in
the tank a fire is kept up in the greenhouse boiler,
and the circulation of the water between boiler and
tank, maintains the desired temperature. Some
might think that water thus heated, coming from
the inside of a boiler, and passing through rusty
pipes, would be injurious to the plants growing in
it. But their perfect health and rapid growth tes-
tify to the contrary. Perhaps, Mr. Editor, you
can tell us why it is so. My theory is that the ex-
posure of the water to bright sunshine and air, and
the absorption of impurities by aquatic plants
themselves through the under surface of their
leaves, counteracts any bad effects of this manner
of heating. This plan is not to be recommended
in growing the Victoria under glass. Of course it
is desirable to have the plant started early in order
to insure early bloom. I place the seed in water
kept steadily at a temperature of 85°, being care-
ful always to keep the water sweet and pure. I
find considerable difficulty in getting the seed to
germinate. In January, 1882, one started but
after growing awhile was lost. No more germi-
nated, until April 25th, when one was discovered.
This plant was carefully tended and shifted on
until the loth of June, when it was planted in the
open air tank and the heat turned on. It then had
leaves only five inches in diameter, but soon began
to grow rapidly. After being well established it
sent up a new leaf every three and one-half to five
days, each being six inches more in diameter than
the one preceding it. In August they reached a
diameter of six feet (exclusive of the perpendicular

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

67

rim, which was two inches high), and filled the
tank from end to end, crowding upon the side
walls, for the tank was too narrow to allow the
plant to spread properly.

The first flower bud was discovered in the crown
of the plant on the 21st of August. This opened
on the evening of the 3d of September, and pro-
duced a flower twelve inches across, and so power-
ful was the fragrance that it could be perceived
several rods distant. During the hottest weather
of summer no artificial heat whatever was given to
the plant, but during September and October, a
fire was kept up. A fresh flower was produced
every three or four days. As cool nights came on
it became more difficult for the buds to expand.
The last days of October were quite warm for the
season. On the first day of November a fine bud
(with the help of loosening a few of the petals,
which stuck together at their points), expanded
into as large and perfect a flower as any preceding
it. About the same time a quantity of perfectly
ripened seed was gathered, being the product of
the first flower which opened.

The plant was then allowed to perish. At this
writing (January i6th), I have a young plant
started and hope to flower the " Queen Lily " much
earlier next summer than I did last. I have been
informed that a gentleman residing near Boston,
once spent ^9,000 in growing this famous plant
under glass. I am confident that if it were more
generally known with what little trouble and at
what comparatively small expense it can be grown
in perfection in the open air, its culture would be-
come more common.

For my own part I consider myself amply re-
paid for my trouble in the results obtained. A
gentleman in Georgia writes me that he grew the
Victoria to great perfection of leaf, flower and
ripened seed in a carp pond last summer, first
having a strong plant to start with.

SUMMER ROSE CULTURE.

BY C. E. PARNELL, QUEENS, L. I.

In the Gardeners' Monthly for August, 1882,
page 231, Miss M. W. says: "I have some fifty
roses, many of them choice varieties, mostly month-
lies, and I would like to so manage them as not to
lose one, which if I do will be contrary to my past
experience. They grow and bloom well nearly all
the summer, yet I think there must be some fault
in potting in the fall, as many die during the win-
ter and some after they are brought up from the
cellar in the Spring."

I infer from the above query that the roses are
intended for summer and autumn blooming, and
if their growth is vigorous I would ask why take
them up at all ; why not protect them well during
the winter season and thus obtain larger and
stronger plants, and more abundant bloom ?

In order to protect tender roses properly during
the winter season, they should be pegged down to
the ground as close as possible, and covered up
with six or eight inches of leaves or rough litter ;
over this place some evergreen branches, in order
to prevent the leaves from being blown away.
This covering should not be applied too early, not
until hard freezing weather sets in, say from De-
cember 1st to 8th. In this latitude it is soon
enough, for if the covering is applied sooner the
shoots may be smothered and destroyed by decay,
a certain result of too early covering. In the
spring this covering must be gradually removed,
a portion about the middle or end of March, and
the remainder about the loth of April, according
to the season. If the roses are well established
and are strong healthy plants, they will survive the
winter, and if Miss M. W. will adopt this method
she will obtain more satisfactory results than by
taking the plants up and potting them. I hope
she will try this plan and report the result.

SUMMER FLOWERING VINES.

BY MR. A. THORPE, WASHINGTON, D. C.

Noticing an article by Mr. Parnell on Ipomaea
Learii being valuable as an out-door summer flow-
ering climber, I thought that mentioning a few
others which like I. Learii are grown in England,
as stove and greenhouse climbers, but whose mis-
sion in this country is to embellish our rural and
city gardens with their beautiful foliage and lovely
flowers, might interest some of your readers, as I
believe they are not generally known. I refer to
the following :

Ipoinaa insignis. — This species has purplish,
rose-colored flowers, which are produced abun-
dantly ; the leaves are five-lobed, the buds before
opening resembling a small bunch of grapes ; has
tuberous roots, and propagates freely from cut-
tings made at a joint ; when touched by frost can
be cut back and kept dormant during the winter
months in a cellar or greenhouse.

Ipomcea Horsfallia.—T\(\'-> beautiful species is
very similar in appearance to the preceding, with
this difference, that the leaves and buds have a
bright glossy look as if varnished, and the flowers
are a fine crimson ; is also very hard to propagate

68

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

from cuttings, but unites readily grafted on its own
tubers or those of I. insignis ; can be wintered over
in the same manner.

Ip07ncEa Michauxii. — Another tuberous rooted
species, has beautiful satin rose colored flowers,
which are produced in great quantity ; very hand-
some fohage ; propagates freely from cuttings ;
would ripen seed in the Southern States, and can
be wintered over like the two preceding varieties.

Ipomaa grandiflora. — (The Queen of the
Night.) It is a native of the East Indies ; is called
by the Hindoos the Moon flower, and is as much
admired by them as is the sunflower by Oscar
Wilde and his disciples. Too much can hardly
be said in praise of this grand Ipomaea ; it will
without doubt cover more space and produce more
flowers than any other summer flowering climber ;
it is a gross feeder, and a barrowful of well rotted
manure is not too much for it ; it can be planted
with the finest effect in a great many positions,
summer houses, verandas, fences, outhouses, etc.,
which are improved by a covering of its cool,
green foliage, and large white deliciously-scented
flowers. It is not uncommon in Washington to
see it covering a three-story front, run up on wire
or stouf string. This and I. Learii are first-rate
varieties for florists to handle, as they both strike
as easy as coleus from single eyes and can be win-
tered over in two-inch pots in a temperature of
55° or 6oO.

Stigmaphyllon ciliatum—Yiz.'s. beautiful yellow
flowers, resembling an Oncidium, from which it
derives its popular name of the Butterfly Vine. The
leaves are fringed with hairs and are a bronzy
green color ; is tuberous rooted and can be wintered
over like the tuberous rooted Ipomteas ; propagates
freely from cuttings.

Antigonen leptopus—W.-a.'s, beautiful racemes of
rose-colored flowers borne on the end of the young
shoots, is tuberous rooted and can be wintered over
like preceding ; propagates freely from cuttings.

Matiettia cordifoHa.—Bnght scarlet tube-shaped
flowers ; small dark green leaves, which are almost
hid by its multitude of flowers ; does splendid on
low fences, trellis, balloons, &c. ; propagated easily
from root cuttings.

Clitoriacosrulea. — Fine blue pea shaped flowers;
free flowering ; of medium growth ; has a fine
eifect on a fence. There is also a white flowering
variety, C. alba, which is good, but not so showy
as its blue brother ; are chiefly got up from seed,
which they produce freely.

All the vines named like good rich soil and a
warm sunny situation.

SINGLE DAHLIAS.

BY GEO. S. WALES, ROCHESTER, N. Y.

The Single Dahlia seems to rage in London, and
it looks as though we should have a pretty severe
attack here. I flowered them last season for the
first time. They were very satisfactory, although
there were several impediments to the best results ;
viz., I sowed my seed late, and the exceedingly
dry fall was not at all favorable to free or fine
flowering. They are as easily grown as the petu-
nia. Seed was sown in April (it should have been
done March ist) in box in greenhouse, transplanted
into two and a-half inch pots, shifted into four-inch,
and planted out of doors. They grew very fast,
and most of them made very bushy plants three
feet high. I was surprised to find such large tu-
bers ; some had burst asunder the four-inch pots.
Although my seeds were started in the greenhouse,
would recommend using the cool ends. They
might be easily started in the window box in the
house, and when transplanted put into a cold
frame until weather suitable for planting out should
come. Some that were kept in pots were brought
into the greenhouse and continued a long time in
bloom, being much admired ; if intended for house-
blooming, which I think is the most advantageous
way of using them, would advise growing them in
six or seven-inch pots, plunged during the sum-
mer. They did not bloom profusely with me, but
were full of buds, and undoubtedly, had the
weather been more favorable, they would have
been covered with flowers. The colors were white,
scarlet, dark red, orange and terra cotta shades.

NOTES ON FLOWER GARDENING.

BY J. B., FREDERICTON, N. B.

Several of your correspondents protest against
the present system of bedding out tender exotic
plants, &c., in several recent numbers of the
Gardener's Monthly ; also in Harper s Maga-
zine oS. March, page 517. The writer says (hav-
ing reference to the material used at present) :
"Yet even these, beautiful as they are in their
prime, make for half the summer a colorless, disa-
greeable blot on the lawn. Planted in June, they
rarely cover the ground until August, and for the
intervening time the bed in which they are planted
is a mass of almost naked earth. Before the mid-
dle of October they succumb to the frost, and
for eight months more they do nothing to hide the
bare earth in which they are planted. Eight
months of ugliness is too high a price to pay for

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

two months of beauty. Yet these bedding plants
have become the fashion, and fashion is uncom-
promising in its demands. The gardeners natu-
rally encourage people to buy them, because they
bring a good price, and are easily propagated.
Thus the continued use of exotic plants for bedding
is likely to increase rather than diminish, unless
the taste is subjected to rigorous criticism. The
only remedy is for men and women of true taste
to insist on a better example on their own prem-
ises and among their friends. They should not
inveigh against color, but should persistently de-
mand from their gardeners permanent plants of
color which would be beautiful for a large part or
for the whole of the year." The writer gives a num-
ber of names which he suggests — dwarf ever-
greens, vines, &c., less perishable, would be very
good and more permanent.

I have no desire to criticise his good article, but
would like to reason or make some little inquiries.
The gardeners are not to blame, surely, for en-
couraging people to buy what they have raised to
sell ; for what business man does not encourage
the sale of his merchandise ? But that the fashion
must be followed under all circumstances is
certainly folly. There is no law, either in Canada
or the United States, to prohibit ladies or gentle-
men from planting their own pleasure ground or
garden as their means and taste direct. This would
be common sense. In one of our local papers the
editor quotes from a Paris paper, which will illus-
trate my meaning. Each leading dressmaker of
Paris makes dresses according to his or her own
fancy, and if possible different from all others.
Hence the variety in styles. Those who wish
may apply this to gardening. As between ladies'
fashions and flower garden fashions, I think the
former are the neatest. So with reference to the
present style of flower gardening, it is neat, rather
than gaudy — a modest style. There is the Golden
Dwarf Feather, which stands the winter here 30°
to 40° below zero. Also the Golden Thyme Sage
variegata will stand out from the maddle of May
to November. The dwarf variegated grass — Poa
rivalis variegata does well for sections ; it stands
out here until November, as do several kinds of
Dusty Millers. These are used in quantity in the
present style with pansies. The various kinds of
Echeverias may be planted out here from the mid-
dle of May to the latter end of October, are easy
to winter propagate, make pretty patterns with
other things of dwarf kinds. These, with others,
are hardy enough and make the season quite as
long as the flower garden is appreciated. Of course

there are the Coleus, Canna, Alternanthera, Gera-
niums, &c., which are bedded out in quantity,
though not in their beauty, all through the season.
But from my own experience in bedding out some
of the dwarf Retinosporas enumerated in Harper s
Magazine for bedding do not give satisfaction
here. They are slow in growth. They may do
better with you. As to these hardy herbaceous
plants being recommended for general cultivation,
I think that day is past. There seems to be a
craving in human nature for that which we have
not. Rarities, new forms and colors and exotics
are more appreciated than those hardy things.
But all are good in their place. Every garden of
any extent should have aspiring double Holly-
hocks, improved perennial Phloxes, tall, hardy or-
namental trees, lilies, roses and early spring bulbs,
as one of your correspondents mentions. In con-
clusion, I think the gardeners do not fear our
friend's rigorous criticism in reference to easy-got
money. In my very small way of selling, I aim
to raise what the people want, tender or hardy.
When the people cease to want these tender plants
the gardeners will soon stop raising them. My
experience in selling generally has been that those
who buy in any quantity want to spend as little as
possible. They all would like a very nice, neat,
well-kept garden. But their means are often an
obstacle in the way; so that the garden must be
furnished as a matter of course each year. But it
is not so much quality as quantity with most that
have to buy. Coleuses look showy, and we can
sell them cheap. Such has been my experience
with the sale of material for the flower garden.
Those who are able to keep gardeners do things in
a different way.

[The improvement of style in flower gardening
is a very interesting topic, and our correspondent's
views will attract the attention which they deserve.
There is much to be said both for and against the
present favorite massing system, and for the her-
baceous plants, permanent vines and shrubs and
other methods of adorning grounds. But we must
not forget that the human mind loves variety and
change, and some will be perfectly willing to have
flower beds bare for months if the result is some-
thing unique which they have not seen before in
the other half.— Ed. G. M.]

«-■ »-

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Two Fine New Bedding Plants. — Mr. H. A.
Dreer sends us two new plants, Coleus "Progress,"
and "Gynura aurantiaca." The latter has been

70

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

■well praised in Europe as a bedding plant, and
from the looks of this specimen we think it well
deserves all the good things said of it in the old
■world.

Rosa polyantha. — The chapter on this rose
by our correspondent from Louisville, Mr. E. Hib-
bard, has been translated into French, and appears
in the January number of the Journal des Roses.

Clearing Weeds from Walks. ^ — Salt is some-
times applied to gravel walks and roads in a liquid
state, or in the form of strong brine used quite hot,
or as near the boiling point as possible. This is
said to be very effectual in preventing the growth
of weeds. Sundry other solutions are also recom-
mended for the purpose. But I know of nothing
more effectual than a liberal dressing of dry salt,
sufficient to whiten the entire surface of the gravel.
A slight sprinkling is of little use, and may even
increase rather than diminish the evil which it is
intended to cure. In applying such a dressing as
has just been recommended, it is, of course, neces-
sary to exercise caution, in order to prevent the
salt coming in contact with the grass, box, or
other plants, which may form an edging to the
road or walk operated on. In my garden last year
some walks which were salted early in the season
have been free from weeds all summer. — Garden-
ing Illustrated.

The Derby Arboretum. — This beautiful plot
of eleven acres, given some forty years ago to the
city as a public park, by a citizen named Strutt,
and laid out in arboretum style by J. C. Loudon,
the distinguished landscape gardener of that
day, has recently been opened freely to the
public amidst the universal rejoicings of the
citizens of Derby. Mr. Strutt willed that the
ground should be given on condition that it should
be open free on Sundays, that the working people
of the week might enjoy it on that day, and as
often in the week as the funds would permit. Only
now has the corporation been able to carry out
the wish of the founder, and make a free park
every day in the year.

It may. be noted as showing the greater wealth
of arborescent plants adapted to American garden-
ing over those in England, that though every effort
was made to put in the Derby arboretum every
ligneous plant that would thrive in Britain — two
plants of each kind — the number of species and
marked varieties was only 401 — 802 plants in all.
While at the American Centennial, 750 species and
marked varieties from the Germantown nurseries
were on exhibition, and 1,000 had been prepared

ready to ship to Paris for that exposition, had not
the strict "letter of the law" been invoked by
Senator Krantz, the Director, who could not think
it proper to treat with an American citizen directly,
instead of through the government, for space
wherein to plant them.

Rose Jean Liabaud. — In correcting proof of
a correspondent's article, we were taken to task
for changing the n for a u. We now note from
the Journal des Roses that the name is as we
guessed — Liabaud, not Liaband.

The Mist Tree. — This is commonly known by
this name, though sometimes as Green Fringe,
but in England the common name is Wig-tree.
Botanically it is Rhus cotinus.

Cactus Hedges. — These are becoming popular
in Texas.

Hedges of Conifer.e. — In America we have
learned that any kind of coniferous plant makes a
good evergreen hedge if trained in a coniferous
style. Hedges of Scotch pine, white pine, Nor-
way spruce, hemlock spruce, red cedar and arbor
vitae are not uncommon. There are, however, a
few of the rarer kinds not yet come into use
which would add much to the pleasure of our
present variety of these. The London Journal
of Horticulture says of the Californian arbor vitae :

"There are few if any conifers that will form a
more beautiful hedge than Thuja gigantea, usually
sold under the name of T. Lobbi. It is hardy,
retains its bright green color throughout the winter,
and is close yet elegant in appearance. T. occi-
dentalis is cheaper and makes a good hedge, but in
light soils is apt to get thin at the base. We have
seen ornamental hedges of the Cedrus deodara,
Abies excelsa and CupressusNootkaensis (often sold
as Thujopsis borealis), and good, compact fences
of Cupressus Lawsoniana ; but the firmest, closest
and most durable of conifer hedges are those of
the yew, but it is of somewhat slower growth than
most of the other trees named, and its dark color
may not suit your taste. In planting to form
hedges young trees should be inserted from one to
two feet apart according to their size, the ground
being trenched and manured to promote free
growth."

It may, however, be remarked that here in Phil-
adelphia, Thuja gigantea is of a yellowish green in
winter, as well as the Thuja occidentalis, the
common arbor vitae, though it is more shining
and vigorous than the common form. The Law-
son cypress, and Californian white cedar (Liboce-
drus decurrens), are the brightest green in winter
that we have. The yellow cedar (Cupressus
Nootkaensis), makes a dense hedge, but that has
a yellowish cast in the winter time.

1883.

AND HORTICULTURIST.

71

Greenhouse and House Gardening.

COMMUNICATIONS.

FLOWERS IN NORTH WINDOWS.

BY MRS. R. B. EDSON.

" How do you manage to keep your north win-
dows full of flowers all winter ?" was asked of the
writer not long since. While claiming nothing
original or unusual in the management — for there
is a certain "management" about it — it might per-
haps be of service to some unfortunate believer in
the no-flowers-in-a-north-window theory, to give in
the Monthly the reply given to the above ques-
tion.

The windows above referred to are two long
windows reaching to the floor, and facing north-
east. To begin with early October, fuchsias, tu-
berous-rooted begonias, salvias and carnations.
All but the last flower quite as well, and last much
longer in full beauty than if exposed to full sun-
shine.

Chrysanthemums are by this time showing
color. By first bringing in the most advanced
ones, and following them up by later sorts, Christ-
mas is reached with but little diminution of attrac-
tiveness. Like most other flowers, they remain in
perfection three times as long as when in full
sunlight.

During this time the geraniums are kept in a
south window. A chamber where it does not get
cold enough to freeze is a good place, or any south
or southeast exposure, where they can get the
benefit of the sunshine three or four hours daily.
They will soon be full of buds, and as soon as they
begin to open they are placed at these north win-
dows, and go on blossoming as if nothing had
happened. The trusses average a full month
without fading, and the individual flowers are
much larger than if bloomed in a south window.
By a little care in changing them occasionally,
giving each their turn in the south windows, there
is no difficulty about having an abundance of ge-
raniums in perfection in north windows till May.
Of course these plants are not old ones that have
flowered all summer, and become exhausted, but
young plants, rooted in the spring — or at the
latest in August — and specially grown for the pur-
pose by being kept in pots and the buds rubbed off
through the summer.

Chinese primroses and oxalis also bloom finely
in a northern exposure, and these need no prelim-
inary preparation. I had in October some young
plants of Salvia splendens, which came up from
self-sown seed. Some of them have been in
flower ever since, and still are at this writing, Jan-
uary 18, and one has not yet bloomed but is full
of buds. They are kept in the north windows
continually. Among annuals, Nicotiana suaveo-
lens succeeds admirably. Given the same treat-
ment as geraniums, it will go on flowering for three
months without a ray of sunshine. I am trying
for the first time this winter, the Calendula, or
double pot marigold, treating them as I do the
Nicotiana. They are marvels of luxuriant growth,
well filled with buds, and just now coming into
flower finely. For green and white foliaged
plants, I find Geranium Happy Thought, and
Coleus Retta Kirkpatrick — this last for the upper
shelf — the best and most showy for small plants.
For large plants. Palms, Ficus elastica, Cyperus
variegata and Aspidistra variegata are all well-
known, admirable sorts, beside a host of others. I
only intended, however, to speak of flowering
plants in this brief note.

NOTES BY THE W^AY.
BY WILLIAM FALCONER.

Pteris tremula. — Hardy and wild in Connecticut !
Where? (See page 3.)

Euottynius radicans. — You have, inore than
once, called attention to the usefulness of this
evergreen for covering walls. We have it here,
and I like it much for covering boulders in the
rockery and the like ; but with us, at any rate, it
does not grow enough for an effectual wall vine.
It is quite hardy and a pretty evergreen.

Steam Heating in Englatid. — In conversation
with several practical horticulturists in England, a
month or two ago, I found they had a strong pre-
judice against heating greenhouses by steam. They
were not at all surprised that the method gave sat-
isfaction in America and was being adopted to a
considerable extent by our florists I Don't be too
egotistical, John, American florists may know quite
as much as you give them credit for.

The Lime Kiln System of Heating.— Yts,, just

72

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

think of it to-day and what it was ten years ago !
We remember that system at the Marquis of Salis-
bury's, at Hatfield, and at the Glasgow nurseries,
and elsewhere in the kingdom, and the furor it
created at that time, and the cry that went up
throughout the land regarding its efficiency and
economy ! But where is it to-day ? As Mr. Bullen,
the curator of the Glasgow Botanic Garden, said
to me : " It went up like a rocket but came down
like a brick."

Pharbitis Lean. — Seeds cost about one cent
each and you can get them from our leading seeds-
men. They germinate readily and the plants grow
vigorously, indeed there is nothing delicate about
them beyond their being tender. Started early
and planted out in rich soil and an open exposure,
^t blossoms freely the first season. Like most of
the rampant morning glories it grows too much for
my taste for greenhouse work. Indoors it is a
bait for red spiders and mealy bugs ; it requires
daily hosings to keep it clean.

Chrysanthemums. — You refer, page lo, to the fine
show of chrysanthemums in the Fairmount Park.
So far as individual blossoms are concerned, 1 have
seen nothing in this country to equal some that I
saw in England last November, when the chrys-
anthemums were in their glory, but when it comes
to handsome specimen plants, and lots of blossoms
on a plant, you need not go to London, but instead
drop into Horticultural Hall, at Boston, on
" Chrysanthemum Day," and I think you will agree
with me that Walcott, Woods, and Clark show
finer plants than you can see at English shows.

Seedling Chrysanthemums. — In addition to the
seedlings raised and bloomed in 1881 by my neigh-
bor Dr. Walcott, he raised and bloomed a great
many more last year (1882), and from seeds saved
by himself from his own plants in 1881. Some of
these seedlings are of good merit, especially two
named President Parkman and President Wilder, ;
and for which the Massachusetts Horticultural I
Society has awarded him a silver medal. Another
he calls "C. M. Hovey," is also a good flower.

The Chrysanthemum, ever since its introduction
into Europe, has been a favorite in cottage as well
as pretentious gardens, because it blossoms so
copiously in late fall ; sometimes a severe nip of
frost mars it in its early bloom, but again, in mild
seasons, its duration extends into November.
Apart from the ordinary section commonly grown
as pot plants, there are varieties of C. Indicum
nanum remarkable for their early blooming, com-
ing into blossorfi as they do in August and contin-

uing in beauty till their stronger relatives begin to
flower. Friend Burbidge has just written a book
on the Chrysanthemum ; Mr. Robinson, of the Gar-
den will publish it.

HOT WATER AND STEAM HEATING.

BY WALTER ELDER.

I

[ In reply to the inquiries of your correspondent,
E. Holley, I may state: ist. The number of
radiating [pipes required to heat his plant-house
100x20 feet will depend on its situation, the work-
manship and material in its construction, and the
free flow of the pipes. 2d. The greater surface
a heated body exposes to a cold atmosphere, the
more heat it gives out. Many pipes emit more
heat than few ; so that the bore of the pipes as a
whole equal each other ; smaller pipes are inore
economical. 3d. The ascent and descent should
be as gentle as possible. 4th. Hot water is safer
and as cheap. Where gentle heat is needed the
water is not allowed to boil, but to make steam it
must boil; 212- Fahrenheit boils water. Plants
could not live in that, but the steam carries off the
heat to the colder parts of the house. There is
danger from explosion by steam, but there are
safety valves for both hot water and steam systems
to prevent this danger.

For forcing cut flowers, and propagation of trop-
ical plants in winter, steam heating and many
small pipes are best. Either hot water or steam is
preferable to drying brick flues.

They both will maintain a good heat from 10
P.M. to 7 A. M., but if the temperature outside falls
greatly through the night, or a fierce frosty wind
strikes against the house and sweeps over it, the
temperature inside the house will surely lower.
Much depends on a careful fireman and the kind
of fuel he uses.

The cheapest and safest plan with the iron pipes
js to let the furnishers put the whole up and strictly
follow their directions in the future management.
All the boilers advertised in the Monthly are
great improvements on those of long ago. It is
about fifty years since I first saw both hot water
and steam heating used in planthouses, and forc-
ing pit frames for pineapples, in North Europe.

The larger the boiler surface exposed to fire, the
more heat it takes in, and the flow of the heat goes
faster and farther, either by water or steam. In
that there is a large economy in fuel.

[These general hints will be found very useful
to the novice, but we may remind the reader that
though the question has been often asked in our

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

73

columns, no one has answered why hot water pipes
must be made to ascend. Hot water as well as
cold will travel faster going down hill. Ed. G. M.]

MARECHAL NIEL ROSES UNDER GLASS.

BY \V. F. MASSEY, TOWSONTOWN, Ml).

We have here a house 16x75 feet, which is used
as a Marechal Niel rose-house. This house is
span-roofed, and contains five plants, two of which
will have to come out in the spring, as they are
getting too much crowded. These vines are
planted in one line through the center of the house,
and are both budded and on their own roots as
follows : Plant No. i is worked on Noisette,
Madame Longchamps. No. 2 is on its own roots,
as also is plant No. 3. No. 4 is worked on a
free-growing pink Noisette, name unknown. No.
5 is worked on Solfaterre. As this house has
become noted hereabouts for its production of
buds, it may be of general interest to note the
difference in these plants. No. i is at the
southwest end of the house (which runs north-
east and southwest), and in winter is shaded by
the brick gable end of the house more than the
others. It has made strongest growth of any, and
produces more bloom than any two of the others,
but seldom gives as many buds at Christmas, on
account of its position in reference to the sun at
that season, though its eastern bloom is usually
magnificent. Nos. 2 and 3 have made a fair
but moderate growth, but nevertheless are the
most unproductive plants in the house. No. 4
has grown splendidly, and next to No. i "is the
most productive of all. This is our Christmas
plant. No. 5 has grown enormously, and though
in the most favorable position in the house has as
yet proved rather unproductive in comparison
with the other budded plants. These roses are
now in their eighth winter, and the stems of Nos.
I arid 5 measure in circumference over twelve
inches each. I have never kept any account of
the number of buds cut in a season, but have on
more than one occasion cut 250 buds at one cut-
ting, nine-tenths of which were from the three
budded plants. Just now I am in a quandary.
The house is too full of wood, and some of the
plants must be removed. A gentleman in this
neighborhood, of large experience, prophesies that
my budded plants will eventually die from decay
at the point of insertion of the bud stock. There
is, in fact, some bursting of bark and slight decay
at this point. The plants at the extreme ends of
the house (Nos. i and 5) would fill the house in

one summer if all the others are removed, but be-
fore removing any I would like to hear the expe-
rience of others with budded roses under glass, as-
to their permanency. My practice with these roses
has been to remove the glass from over them in
May and let them grow unchecked during the
summer.

The sashes are replaced in October and the
plants pruned. At this Autumn pruning I try to
preserve a full supply of strong, well-ripened canes
of the summer's growth, and prune out the weak
growths and the old stunted stubs. These long^
canes will, if well ripened, soon be strung with
buds on short side shoots. These are the buds for
Christmas and midwinter. ■ After this crop is about
over, I go over the plants again, and spur in the
shoots that have bloomed close to the cane. This
usually gives me an abundant bloom for Easter,
and on till the glass comes off again. Many
critics say I prune too much, but with me " the
proof of the pudding is the eating of it." I get as
large crops of buds as any one I know of, and am
perfectly satisfied with the pruning. Your corres-
pondent, on page 360 of December number, says
the plants on their own roots will decay, though
mine show no signs of it. Now which am I to
remove, the budded plants or those on their own
roots ?

HEATING A SMALL PLANT HOUSE.
BY R. W. DAWSON, LITTLE ROCK, ARK.

I see by the January number that Miss W., of
Quaker Hill, N. Y., makes inquiries about heating
a small plant room or greenhouse. I have a green-
house 11x24, that I have kept warm all winter so
far, with oil stoves, and I have no trouble in keeping
heat anywhere from 50° at night to 80*- in the
daytime. I use two oil stoves. Each has two
four-inch wicks, and so far I have used about one
gallon of oil for each stove every twenty-four
hours. I have the stoves on the ground, under
the bench, fastened by wire to the bottom of the
bench." I have common stove pipe, which runs
the full length of one side, and across the end,
and one-third the way down the other side. Then
it runs up, and out at the top of the house. I
have a common elbow where the pipe commenced,
and under that I set one stove, and two-thirds the
length further down (or 16 feet from the first) I
have what the tinners call a T elbow, that is an
elbow in the shape of the letter T. So that the
pipe connects all the way. The piping is up high
enough, so that 1 can take stoves from under the

74

THE GARDENERS" MONTHLY

[March,

pipes and trim and fill them, and the cold air
passes up into the pipe, and so keeps the green-
house in a nice even temperature. I have gera-
niums, pinks, fuchsias, hibiscus, heliotropes, ver-
benas, tuberoses and other plants in bloom, and
everything seems to be doing well, so that by
spring I shall have more than the house full. The
thermometer outside has been down to 10° above
zero two or three times this winter, yet I have kept
the greenhouse with only the two stoves, so that
the heat has never been lower than 48° at any
time. For a • small greenhouse, I think the oil
stoves are just the things in connection with stove-
pipe.

By the way, I like the Gardeners' Monthly
very much, and shall soon send for some of the
books your publisher has for sale, as I want every-
thing that talks and teaches about flowers. I
think some of them almost talk. Pansies seem to
laugh every time you look at them.

CULTIVATION OF STRELITZIA REGINA.

BY CHARLES E. PARNELL.

In the Gardeners' Monthly for May, 1882,
page 141, H. G. C. asks for information concern-
ing the Strelitzia regina.

In reply I would say that the Strelitzia regina be-
longs to the natural order Musacese, and that it is
a native of the Cape of Good Hope, from whence
it was introduced in 1773.

It is a plant of tropical appearance, having long
oval leaves produced on leaf stalks from three to
■five feet in length, while the singular flowers are
produced on stout erect flower stalks which are
somewhat longer than those of the leaf stalks.

Each stalk produces four or five splendid large
flowers which open in succession from a curious
horizontal spathe-like bract, and stand up like a
•crest of purple and gold, the lanceolate shaped
sepals being from three to four inches in length
and of a rich orange yellow color, while inside of
them are the three hastate upright light blue
petals which enclose the stamens and style, the
whole forming a peculiar and singularly attractive
flower.

The Strelitzia is a plant of easy culture, requir-
ing during the winter season a temperature of
from 55C' to 60'^, a compost of two parts turfy
loam and one part well rotted stable manure, give
good drainage, and at all times an abundance of
pot room for its thick fleshy roots. When grow-
ing water freely, but when in a dormant state do
not supply quite so much, yet it must be kept moist

at all times, and an occasional watering of liquid
manure water is beneficial. During the summer
season the plant should be placed or plunged in a
sunny situation, care being taken as to watering.
Propagation is effected by division of the plant.
This should be done very carefully in order not to
injure the thick fleshy roots, and when re-potting
take care of the roots, for if they become injured
they are liable to decay and thus materially injure
the growth of the plant.

AIDING THE DRAFT OF FLUES.

BY E. S., EMPORIA, KANSAS.

I am just a beginner in the florist's work and
have many things to learn yet. I may stumble on
something that may be of use to others and it is
no more than right I should make it known.

During the last ten days we have had cold,
damp, disagreeable weather. At the commence-
ment of this kind of weather, my furnace refused
to draw, and consequently the pipes used to heat
the greenhouse remained cold. I asked every one
whom I thought ought to know what the matter
was, and for a remedy I got plenty of solutions
with remedies, most of which I tried with no suc-
cess. At last I thought of the manner of starting
up a sluggish fire we used to practice in the an-
thracite coal regions of Pennsylvania, viz., to throw
cold water on the burning coals. This I did by
putting about a quart of water in a manilla paper
sack and tying it, then tossing it into the fire, clos-
ing the furnace door quick, and in an instant it ex-
ploded, clearing the furnace and pipes of the ac-
cumulated gas, and in twenty-five minutes the
pipes, which had been cold for thirty-six hours,
were hot, and the furnace stopped smoking at once.
I have tried this four times during the past ten
days with the same efl'ect each time, and while the
wind was in different directions, so now my pipes,
which are cement drain tiles, heat as well or better
than they did the first day I made a fire. Should
any one who uses soft coal experience like difficul-
ties with myself, I am sure a trial of my experi-
ment will prove satisfactory.

[This appears to be one of the many valuable
discoveries which, after being made, one wonders
was never thought of before. Every one knows
by this time light air ascends because a heavier
column of cold air forces it upwards. Light air goes
upwards in the same manner as a stick in water is
forced to the surface. Gravitation draws down the
heavier water and the lighter stick has to go up.
When we light a fire for the first time in a damp or

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

75

cold chimney, all the heat the little fire makes is
absorbed by the neighboring bricks, and there
is very little warm air left for the heavy column of
cold air in the chimney to force up. In fact it
presses down on the fire and rather forces the
draft out of the furnace door than upward. The
expansive power of a little steam would therefore
most likely force the column of cold air onward
and the weak amount of heat from the fire would
naturally follow.— Ed. G. M.]

A PRODUCTIVE ROSE.

BY JAMES W. DOHERTY, NEWPORT, R. I.

The following are the number of roses I have
cut from one Marechal Niel rose-bush in one year :

Total .8,806

HEATING BY COAL OIL LAMPS.

BY N. BUSBY, BURLINGTON, N. J.

Having had a short but very satisfactory experi-
ence in the use of coal oil stoves for heating small
conservatories, I would have no hesitation in rec-

ommending them. I use mine at present more as
an auxiliary.

Having built an addition last year to my green-
house, and not wishing to go to the expense of en-
larging the flues, I procured a No. 3 Florence
stove, holding about three quarts, with three wicks,,
and would not be without it. One night, with the
thermometer outside at 18°, I raised the tempera-
ture some 6° in twenty minutes, and that in a house
12x30, glass on three sides. The heat is steady as
long as the fuel lasts. By actual test, with the
above mentioned supply, mine has burned fifteen
hours. I think seriously of putting one in my
fernery next fall. I think Miss W., of Quaker Hill,
N. Y., would find one of these stoves the very
thing for the purpose she desires.

NOTES ON HOT WATER HEATING.

BY SAMUEL C. MOON, MORRISVILLE, HA.

" Get the water into an expansion tank at the
highest point as quickly as possible and let all the
pipes descend from that tank through their whole
length until they re-enter the boiler."

This is the substance of a remark once made by
an old experienced florist and boiler-maker of
Philadelphia, when conversing about greenhouse
boilers and hot water heating. Since then I have
acted upon the suggestion and put it to a practical
test, and am thoroughly convinced that it is the
most rational and effectual plan for heating green-
houses.

The circulation of water in pipes is caused by
the variation in the specific gravity of water as its
temperature varies. It is started and kept in
motion by the apphcation of that at the lowest
point.

The warmest water always rises to the highest
accessible point, tending to create a vacuum in the
place whence it emanates, while cooling water is
continually setthng towards the lowest point and
will enter the boiler by the lowest inlet, to replace
that which has arisen.

"Hot" and "cool" are only comparative terms
and we may say that the only " hot " water there
is about a greenhouse heater is in the top of the
boiler, because it commences to cool immediately
upon leaving it, therefore it should commence to
settle or flow down hill from that time. For this
reason the water should rise perpendicularly from
the top of the boiler into a capacious expansion
tank situated several feet above it, and then flow
down hill all the way around the houses until it re-
enters the boiler at its lowest part, having a reg-

!(>

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

ular descent throughout the entire length of from
six to ten inches in one hundred feet.

There is then no need of expansion tanks in
any other part of the arrangement.

Where the position of the boiler or the construc-
tion of the buildings will not admit of such an ar-
rangement, take the shortest practicable line to the
highest point accessible, and make the expansion
tank there. I am not prepared to say what the
elevation of the tank should be, but believe that
for large boilers it should be at least ten feet.

Heat is the disturbing influence that starts and
keeps the water in motion. The rapidity of circu-
lation (upon which depends the heating capacity
of the water), is governed, by the amount of pres-
sure upon it and the intensity of the heat in the
furnace. Therefore it is necessary to have the ex-
pansion tank elevated considerably above the
pipes so that there will be a head of water exert-
ing a continual pressure on every part. A dis-
placement of water in any point is then quickly
felt throughout the whole system.

A gradual descent of pipe all the way around,
with as few bends and turns as possible is the sim-
plest plan that can be adopted, and will give the
most perfect and economical results ; however it is
possible to make an endless variety of digressions
from this rule, and still keep up a circulation
which will be more or less retarded by every varia-
tion from the direct course.

A pipe may vary from a straight line in any
way, provided there is a vent-hole for the escape
of air at every point where it changes from ascend-
ing to descending grade. It may have a grade of
ten inches in ten feet, or drop perpendicularly for
several feet, and then fall only a very few inches
in the next hundred feet, if necessary, but all such
irregularities should be avoided as far as possible.

It is a matter of the first importance that there
shall be no elevated points in which air can accu-
mulate, because water will not circulate freely
through pipes which contain air chambers.

There is always a considerable quantity of air in
water, some of which is expelled by heating. This
may be observed by standing a tumbler of water
in a warm place. In a short time small bubbles
of air will be seen on the inside of the glass which
gradually rise to the surface of the water and dis-
appear.

The air which is liberated from the water in a
boiler or its connections rises to the highest part
and flows on top of the water as long as it
can ascend, but it will not flow down hill. If
there is an opening at the highest accessible point

the air will escape, if not, it remains there occu-
pying space which should be filled with water.

Sometimes heaters which worked very well at
one time become deranged by the settling of a
pier or other disturbing cause, making a depression
in a pipe at one spot, thus forming a barrier to the
flow of air which wholly or partially checks the
circulation of water.

The remedy for such a defect is to straighten
the pipe so that the air can rise to some higher
point of escape or else drill it at the summit of
each undulation, and insert a stop-cock or other
arrangement which can be opened occasionally or
constantly for the escape of air.

There is, however, no necessity for vent-hole or
other opening throughout the whole system of
pipes if the expansion tank is at the highest point,
and all the pipes descend from it through their en-
tire circuit. In such an arrangement the air which
is liberated in any point can always ascend, and
will find its way up to the tank and escape there.

NEW OR RARE PLANTS.

New Double Bouvardias. — Messrs. Nanz &
Neuner send us flowers of two double scarlet bou-
vardias, one more double than the other, which
seem to be of the leiantha class. They are there-
fore very distinct from those heretofore raised, and
will probably add a new item of interest to these
very popular winter blooming flowers.

DiEFFENBACHiA AMCENA. — This is one of the
Arum-hke family, now becoming so popular among
leaf plants. It is thus described by Mr. W. Bull,
the introducer : " An effective variety of this
showy race of Arads, obtained from the tropical
regions of South America. Its oblong acute leaves
are of a deep green, marked with very abundant
elongate blotches of white and pale yellow, which
are as well defined on the under as on the upper
surface. It is a very attractive plant, on account
of its bright and abundant maculation." (See cut

page ■]■].)

•-»-»

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Steam Heating. — We shall have an illustrated
article in our next by Mr. C. F. Evans, of Phila-
delphia, on " Steam Heating," which will explain
very clearly much that mere letter press will not.

Growing Carnations. — The following letter
to a distinguished botanist has been handed to us
with the suggestion that the writer would perhaps

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

11

find a reply in our pages. We shall have much "What fire heat would you give carnations or
pleasure in replying to any further inquiries, should I roses night and day, also what sun heat to pro-

these not be clear enough :

duce cut flowers, especially in winter.

" Carrick, Pa. : 1 thought 1 would drop you a few J " What amount of moisture ought to be kept in
lines asking you if you would be kind enough to a greenhouse to grow the above ? When growing
give me the following information : | wood to produce flowers, also when flowering, or

78

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

is it better to keep them flowering and growing
at the same time, as I have a hygrometer.

"Which will produce the most flowers, and the
quickest way ? By growing plants (when first put
in greenhouse) cold, and when they have formed
their buds pretty well, to force them with fire heat,
or to force them as soon as put in, until they have
formed their buds ; by having a moist atmosphere
and then flower them with a dry atmosphere ? For
I have noticed that I get more flowers of my plants
that are outside when a dry spell comes, but I
have never been able to find out those points, for
I either dry too much or not enough.

" Has there ever been such an instrument,
equally simple and efficient, as the thermometer,
with which we may ascertain the proportions of
its gaseous elements, so as to regulate the con-
stituents of an atmospheric volume as easily as
we can its heat ?

" Now the reason I ask you these questions is
this : I am a poor man and have started in the
flower business on a small scale. I never was able
to go and learn under some good man. I know
nothing about botany ; all I know I have studied
myself, and if you will please be so kind as to give
any or all the information you can I will be ever
so much obliged. From what I have heard of you,
you surely must know something about flowers,
and I hope to be able to compensate you in the
future should you do anything for me. For I
never want a man to do anything for me for noth-
ing. Perhaps you may know of some good books
that I can get on raising carnations, roses, violets,
hyacinths, and lily of the valley ; or is there any
books published on botany that would be of any
practical benefit ? Hoping you will do me all the

favor you can, and that you will please excuse my
inquisitiveness, as I am an entire stranger to you,
I close for the present, hoping to hear from you
soon and oblige."

[Winter blooming carnations do not like heat,
but desire all the sunlight they can possibly re-
ceive. Nor do they like a moist atmosphere.
Florists put in the cuttings about February or
March, in boxes, and about May set the young
plants out in a rich piece of ground, pinching them
back several times during the summer to make
them bushy. When frost is imminent, the plants
are taken up with balls of earth, and set in benches
in the houses. A temperature of 55° is quite
enough to force carnations.

There is no instrument in use among florists
similar in value to a thermometer for the purpose
indicated. Cultivators have not found the need of
any such instrument.

There are no especial works devoted to these
flowers, but the correspondents of our Magazine
keep the readers posted on all that is new on these
topics, and are generally ready to give all they
know of older matters whenever inquiry is made.
—Ed. G. M.]

Window Plants.— H. C. W., Saxton's River,
Vermont, asks : " Will you please inform me
through the Monthly if Anthurium Scherzeri-
anum, Lapageria, Doryanthes Palmeri, can be
grown in a large sunny bay-window ? If so, will
you give the necessary culture.

[These plants require atmospheric moisture to
thrive properly, and are scarcely the plants for a
bay window, as we generally see them contrived.
—Ed. G. M.]

Fruit and Vegetable Gardening.

SEASONABLE HINTS.

However much some may regard the cause of
fire blight in the pear a mystery, there is no doubt
about its being far less serious than it was a few
years ago. The leaf blight and other blights are
still about the same, but these are trifles as com-
pared with the fire blight which would often de-

stroy comparatively large trees in a few days. It
is now clear that Mr. Barry's original advice to the
sufferer was sound. This was that the best rem-
edy for a fire-blighted pear tree was to take it out
at once and plant another in its place. Those
who followed this advice from the first have
many of them plenty of pears now. In all the
discussions on this question, some things have

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

79

been found which are undoubted. For instance,
the fact that a new tree placed in the spot where
one has been killed, and yet thriving perfectly
afterwards, shows that the evil was not in any way
connected with the soil. And then the fact that in
some districts where the disease did appear, there
were often many trees wholly uninjured is against
any idea of general climatic influences against the
success of pear culture. It is no serious cause for
discouragement, even should any one believe that
there has been nothing learned about the origin of
the trouble. He may yet have pears, if he will
but set out trees. Those who believe that fungus
spores enter through the bark and cause the
trouble, will continue to wash the bark of trees
if they can get time or opportunity.

Whitewashing the stems of orchard trees has a
very beneficial effect in clearing away old bark
and destroying the eggs of innumerable insects.
The white color is bad ; throw in a little soot or
some other matter to make it brown. In green-
houses sulphur has been found of benefit in keep-
ing down mildew. Possibly if mixed with the
whitewash in tree dressing, it might do good
against fire blight, and such like fungoid troubles.

In fruit growing, remember that fruits are like
grain and vegetable crops, in this, that they must
have manure to keep up the fertility. Unlike
vegetables and grain, however, their feeding roots
are mostly at the surface. It is best, therefore, an-
nually to top-dress fruit trees. If manure cannot
be had, any fresh earth from ditches or roadsides,
spread a half inch or so under the trees, will
have a wonderful effect. Indeed, we do not know
but that for the pear tree a thin layer of road sand
is one of the best of manures. We have seen
apples thrive amazingly with a coating of coal
ashes.

The gooseberry and currant also do well in par-
tial shade. In fact, if you would have the goose-
berry and currant in great perfection, get a lot of
old brushwood and cover the rows closely, so that
the plants will have to push through, and you will
be astonished at the growth and healthfulness of
the bushes. The decaying wood also furnishes an
excellent manure for them. The finest currants
ever grown can be had by mulching with old
chestnut burrs, or even saw dust.

It has been noted that the grape vine thrives
amazingly when it gets into an asparagus bed.
These are generally elevated, and are thus dry,
while the rich soil necessary for asparagus, is also
good for grapes.

In planting fruit trees aim to have them so that

the hot dry sun will not have full effect on the
ground about the roots. The great heat in this
way injures the trees. Many who have trees in
gardens plant raspberries under them. The partial
shade seems to be good for the raspberries, and
helps the trees. Blackberries would no doubt do
well in the same situation ; and strawberries it is
well known, do not do badly, grown in this way.

COMMUNICATIONS.

CELERY CULTURE.

BY A. D. MYLIUS, DETROIT, MICH.

I wish to endorse what Peter Henderson says in
the January number about Celery sowing. At
least one-third of the sowings of the ist of March
with me goes to seed. But still there is profit for
me, at least, in the venture. I get more than
double the price for this early celery than for that
which I sow in April. But it must be understood
that only a small lot is sown in a hotbed ; for the
call for celery comes only when the weather is
getting cool. The advantage in early celery is
that it is all sold in July, which gives time to plant
a second crop of celery on the same ground.
Celery pays me better than any crop I can raise
on the same amount of land. My soil is just
suited to this crop. I grow from 200,000 to 300,000
every year. Of course the price is generally but
one-half that sold in New York city, being but
25 to 50 cents per dozen for extra good, and
second quality 15 to 30 cents per dozen.

EXPERIENCE WITH PHYLLOXERA.

BY D. RHIND. GARDENER TO MR. F. F. THOMP-
SON. CANANDAIGUA, N. Y.

On the west shore of Canandaigua Lake, Vine
Valley and Naples, are to be found extensive vine-
yards, where are grown hundreds of tons of grapes
annually. On visiting the owner of one of these
vineyards he was very anxious to show me what
he supposed to be a new discovery. First he
drew attention to an odd plant here and there
among his Catawbas, the fruit of which was ripe,
while the others were about three weeks back-
ward. I suggested digging to see how the roots
looked, which was done. We did not find any
Phylloxera, as they had taken all the bark off and
moved on, leaving the roots cankered, dead or dy-
ing. We then examined an older plantation of

8o

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

Catawbas, on which the fruit was ripe also. This
the owner attributed to the fact that he had let
grass and weeds grow, instead of keeping the
ground plowed and clean, as is the system gener-
ally. It was quite evident the vines were deterio-
rating rapidly ; two-thirds of them were dead. We
went to digging again, and sure enough there we
found Phylloxera, giving its own color to the roots,
it was so numerous. All we afterwards examined
were more or less attacked. In going over a plan-
tation set out last spring many were dead, most of
them just alive. The ground was in good condi-
tion. I was asked what I thought was the matter.
It seemed to me that the young plants got infected
from pieces of roots from an old plantation which
stood there lately, which would indicate that the
ground would require a good rest before planting
with vines again.

I have been greatly troubled with the Phylloxera
on the foreign grape vines here in the houses, and
must confess it has the best of me as yet. How-
ever, I have not lost hope ; and if all who are
fighting it would publish their efforts it might be
conquered. I have tried hellebore dissolved in
water, strong enough to kill earthworms ; also salt
of the same strength, and tobacco water made by
steeping the stems, and using it as strong as is
customary. All of these were applied at the rate
of twenty gallons to the cubic yard. Holes were
made a few inches apart, with a round stick to let
it get down. The vines were not injured, but it
did not kill or drive away the pest. Only one
kind was used on a vine. I then tried crude pe-
troleum, and it killed the vine. Well, I presume
you would like to know what next. I took away
the soil from the roots for some distance, gave
them a good wetting, and sprinkled air-slacked
lime and soot, equal parts, on and around them,
and filled in with fresh soil. The vines made a
good growth last summer, and had some fruit.
Some of the bunches were seventeen inches long,
and well proportioned. I was so well satisfied
with the last experiment that I have treated
another house the same way.

[In connection with these very timely sugges-
tions of Mr. Rhind it may be as well to note that
suctorial insects cannot be successfully destroyed
by the poisons which destroy those feeding in the
usual way. The potato beetle dies from Paris
green, because it eats the poison with the leaves it
feeds on ; but we may cover an aphis with Paris
green when feeding on a plant without doing the
insect any injury, because it sucks the juice from
the interior of the plant. Whatever is employed

against the Phylloxera must be that which will
destroy it in some other way.

It may also be noted that though the Phylloxera
is a fearful scourge to the grape grower, it is often
charged with trouble which properly belongs to
fungus. During the last two years we have seen
many cases where this mistake has been made. We
have noted at least two distinct forms of fungus
operating on grape vine roots, the effect of which
in interfering with the healthy growth of the vine,
is precisely the same as when it has been attacked
by Phylloxera. In the one case the young grow-
ing fibres are attacked, usually in spots. Some-
times entirely girdling the young growth. The
brownish and destroyed tissue can be seen with a
good eye, or better, by a pocket lens.

The other fungus parasite covers the surface of
the older as well as young roots with a blackish,
warty excrescence. It is more often seen on vines
one or two years transplanted, and in such cases
the vines do not grow to any extent, and fre-
quently dwindle away altogether. — Ed. G. M.]

THE CODLING MOTH.

BY CHAS. D. ZIMMERMAN, BUFFALO, N. Y.

In the July number of the Monthly, page 208,
is an extract from the Canadian Horticulturist,
referring to the codling moth, which says : " I set
two traps on the 20th of last August, and caught
over one thousand moths in one night. The trap
is a glass lantern set in a tin pan of water, an inch
or more deep."

It would be interesting to know if the moths
caught were Carpocapsa pomonella. In my ex-
perience of several seasons' collecting, mostly in
large orchards with both light and sugar, I have
never seen C. pomonella at either. Nor have I
ever seen one about my lamp at an open window,
where apples and codling moths abounded in the
near vicinity. The only instances in which C.
pomonella appeared to be attracted by light, were
on the inside of cellar windows, where they tried
to make their escape to the open air.

In placing a lamp on one side of a breeding
cage, in which a number of C. pomonella were con-
fined, they invariably sought refuge on the op-
posite side, and often concealed themselves, while
other species of moths would approach the light.

Many different forms of the trap (which, accord-
ing to Downing, was first discovered by Victor
Adouin, of France), are recommended by horti-
cultural writers for the destruction of the codhng
moth, which, if my observations are correct, can-

1883-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

8i

not be captured in this way. The use of these
traps may be recommended for the destruction of
many other species of moths, and also for the Lach-
nostera (wliite grub beetles.)

The only practical methods of preventing or de-
stroying C. pomonella are by the use of Paris
green or paper bands.

CULTURE OF THE HARDY GRAPE.

BY JOHN WOODING, PENCAYD, PA.

It might be considered almost superfluous to say
anything on this subject, as so much has been
already said by others in articles and published in
book form, giving the various opinions and differ-
ing methods of culture. This reminds me of a
parson I once heard of, the rector of a small vil-
lage in the old country, who had his sermons
printed to last him, one for every Sunday in the
year, and when he got through he started on the
same batch again. So with grape culture, it will
stand going over again. It would be impossible
for me to enter into details on this subject here. I
don't think it would be necessary even if I could,
so I will be brief and sum it all up in a nutshell.

If good grapes are expected it is necessary they
should have good material to grow them in. A
prepared border should be made, excavated two
and a half feet deep and four or five feet wide, with
a layer of four or five inches of rough materials at
bottom, such as brick bats, old mortar, oyster
shells, &c., to act as a drainage. This is an im.
portant element in the matter, especially if the
ground is heavy, in which case the border should
be filled up with rotten sod and a good mixture of
cow dung. Horse dung is not suitable for grape
borders, as it contains too much fungus. Three-
year-old vines should be selected for planting.
Vines which have been grown in pots can be pro-
cured of any nurseryman in the neighborhood at
a moderate charge. They should be planted about
six feet apart, in a straight line up the middle of
the border, and not allowed to bear fruit the first
year. The second season they may be allowed to
bear four or five bunches on each vine ; and if
everything goes well a good average crop may be
expected the following year.

As to the management of vines I think pruning
may be done any time, from first of January to
middle of March. If this matter is delayed longer
than the latter time they are apt to bleed too
much, which is injurious to the vines, as grapes
grow on the wood they make the current year. It
is indispensably necessary that this growth should

come from the preceding year's wood ; hence the
necessity of pruning down to within two or three
eyes of the last season's growth. I find the system
of pruning generally in vogue is to leave old canes
year after year, until they have no good eyes or
joints capable of producing fruit bearing wood, ex-
cept a little growth at the extremities of the canes,
which you have to depend on for your next year's
fruit, and very poor stock at that. I think this sys-
tem ought to be discouraged and instead young
canes layered of the preceding year's growth in the
spring, which when sufficiently strong and well
rooted will take the place of the old cane which
can be cut away.

In the process of growth and fruiting, if the lat-
ter comes too thick, the vines should be gone over
and the bunches regulated out with the thumb and
finger according to your own judgment and the
strength of the vines. When the young shoots
have made growth three joints from the fruit, one
joint should be pinched off, leaving two from the
bunch, thus giving a tendency to check the flow
of sap, which is favorable to the fruiting. This
operation will need repeating again during the
season. Vine borders should be mulched at all
times with about four or five inches of cow dung.
A good sowing of bone dust in the fall of the year
will be beneficial. Mulching protects the roots in
winter, keeps them moist in summer, and acts as a
stimulant to the vines. The coarse manure may
be raked off in the spring and the rest lightly dug
in with a fork and the border again mulched im-
mediately.

DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS.

BY WALTER ELDER.

There are four specially destructive I have no-
ticed within a few years back, and as I have pre-
vented their ravages I will relate my experience for
the benefit of others. The first is a smooth, pale-
green worm, an inch and a half long, which I first
found feeding upon the leaves of Mignonette and
Sweet Alyssum, in smali numbers. The hue depends
somewhat on the color of the leaves it feeds upon.
Anotherhasdestroyed thousands of acres of the late
cabbage crop. Three years ago last fall I found
the worms in vast numbers upon my cabbage
plants. I syringed a portion with a strong solu-
tion of carbolic acid soap, with flowers of sulphur
in it, and on the other portion dusted air-slacked
lime. All the worms were killed.

One season I dosed the cabbages before the
time for the appearance of the worms, and the

82

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

plants were untouched by the pest that year: So
by taking time by the forelock, I learned that " pre-
vention is better than cure." The worms come in
August ; apply the cures early in that month. Last
year I syringed with carbolic soap, with Paris
green in it. All the worms were killed, and no
second brood followed. [Dangerous. — Ed. G. M.]
There is another worm which feeds upon the
leaves of the quince, and still another, found upon
the hop vine, both of which can be stopped from
coming by syringing the leaves with the aforesaid
mixture.

VEGETABLES.

BY ISAAC HICKS, OLD WESTBURY, L. I., N. Y.

I want no more of the Acme tomato ; they
rot badly. Tielden and Trophy are good for all
seasons. I have a nice lot of the Perfect Gem
squash. They are small but prolific and the best
I have had, keeping good thus far.

For the first crop of peas I wait for the little
Gem. They are so much better that one can afford
to wait for them. At the same time plant Alpha
and Champion. After these are up nicely, plant
another row of Champions for later. Our most
successful asparagus raisers for market plant
much wider apart than formerly. To obtain the
superior Oyster Bay asparagus, 314 to 4 feet be-
tween the rows, and 16 or more apart on the rows.
Then throw on the manure liberally and the
growth will be true Colossal, equal to Conover's.
What do we hear about the Japan Chestnut?
Who has them to bear ? Are they hardy ? The
tips of those we have were killed last winter, and a
very mild one, too. Further south probably they
will succeed finely and if all that is claimed is true,
they will be an acquisition indeed, even more so
than the persimmon.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Culture of Fruit Trees. — The Country Gen-
tleman advises to try good and poor cultivation on
alternate trees in long rows, so as to make a satis-
factory test as to the best methods of treatment.
Would it not be better to decide first what is good
and poor cultivation ? In an essay on the " Culti-
vation of Orchards," now before us, the author
says : " I would recommend every one to prune
whenever he finds his knife sharp," and still
another, who says : " I would not on any account
prune an orchard tree. The necessity for knife
pruning is in itself an evidence of bad culture."

Farming in New England. — Mr. J. W. Chee-
ver — excellent authority — in a report to the State
Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts, says :
"What New England soil most needs is men who
have faith to cultivate it ; and there is plenty of
evidence that such men are becoming more nu-
merous, and that the number will increase, as ag-
ricultural knowledge increases, until New England
shall be noted, not only for being the birthplace of
great and good men, but also the home of those
whose love is too strong -to forsake her."

The Japan Persimmon. — Last fall Mr. Nelson,
gardener to Mrs. Chandler, in Germantown, Phil-
adelphia, fruited and exhibited before the Ger-
mantown Horticultural Society noble specimens of
the Japan Persimmon. They were like small
oranges rather than specimens of the ordinary na-
tive fruit. This plant was a small one, left behind
by the Japanese after the Centennial International
Exhibition in 1876, and planted in Mrs. Chandler's
garden, which is much sheltered, as most city lots
are. During the winter of 1 880-81 it froze to the
ground, but sprouted up strongly from the roots
the next summer. During the winter of 1881-82
it was protected by boards on two sides, the boards
facing northeast and northwest. It went through
the comparatively mild winter without injury, and
this summer made a bush of about six feet high,
and was loaded with fruit. Mr. Nelson says there
was much difference in the size of the fruit on the
bush. Some were no larger than marbles, though
many were of the huge size as those exhibited.

The Advantage of Bringing Peaches
Early to Market. — During an address to the
North Texas Horticultural Society, Mr. H. Tone
said that " the man who brings the first peaches to
market sells them readily for I4. The next day
he comes with five bushels and grumbles because
he is obliged to sell them at ^2.50. On the third
day he comes with twenty-five bushels, and finds
his neighbors in with as many more, and every
man of them considers it downright robbery when
he is offered the standard price of a dollar and a
half, when the fact is that peaches, even at fifty
cents a bushel, make double the profit of any crop
of cotton, corn or wheat that can be raised."

Red-Leaved Endive. — A red leaved endive is
announced by the Italian seed merchants. As the
common endive, besides its use as a salad, is used
to ornament dishes before it is eaten, a red leaved
form will be very desirable.

Sugar in America. — The Boston Journal
thinks it useless, after so many years, trying to

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST,

83

protect the effort to make sugar in America. Mr.
J. J. Gregory, of Marblehead, takes up the Jour-
nal, and shows that there has been remarkable
progress of late years, and the Americajt Agricul-
turist gives the following figures in support of this
position :

"The fact is well established that some varieties,
especially the "Amber" and the "Orange," will
yield a large amount of crystallizable cane sugar,
and that the cane contains the largest percentage
of sugar at the time the seeds are ripe. It is found
that after the cane is cut, the cane sugar in the
juice rapidly changes to grape sugar, and that the
cane should be worked up within a few hours after
cutting it. The making of sugar, on account of
the expense of machinery and the skilled labor
required, cannot be profitably followed by individ-
uals. There needs to be co-operation among
farmers to establish and operate sugar works on
the same plan that cheese factories are carried on,
or they may agree to cultivate a certain number of
acres in cane, provided capitalists will establish
factories to work it up. In several Western States
companies have erected factories and cultivated
their own cane on a large scale. These have gen-
erally been reported as financially successful."

Good Potatoes. — Referring to potatoes, Mr.
Benj. P. Ware, in a recent address before the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society, remarked.:
" As to potatoes, since the Early Rose was raised
and sold for three dollars a pound, and a cow given
for a single tuber, farmers have seemed to be
crazed on the subject, and we have been flooded
with new varieties, many of which are seedlings
from the Early Rose, and some of them are better.
Burbank's Seedling is a better cropper, keeps well
and is white and of excellent quality. The Early
Ohio is earlier than the Early Rose and has the
requisites of a first-class variety. Goodrich's Seed-
ling originated near Haverhill, and received a
prize offered by the Essex Agricultural Society for
the best seedling potato. It is a strong grower,
keeps well and is a firm variety. Clark's No. i is
excellent. The Bell is probably the best new va-
riety ; several persons who have tested it in com-
petition with twenty others claim for it better qual-
ities than are possessed by any other ; it is very
productive and remarkable for its uniform size ; of
pinkish color."

Green Corn. — Mr. B. P. Ware belie\es that
the early varieties formerly raised were not
sweet, but now we can have sweet corn from the
earliest ripening to frost. The Marblehead is
earlier than any other — even the Narragansett or
Minnesota. The stalks are small and the ears are
produced near the ground. Mr. Ware recom-
mended to plant three or four varieties, which

would become fit to use in succession, and in this
way two plantings would be enough. Next after
the Marblehead comes Crosby's Early, then
Moore's Early, and for a late variety either the
Marblehead Mammoth, the Burr's Improved, or
Stowell's Evergreen.

• Squashes. — At the December meeting of the
Mass. Horticultural Society, Mr. B. P. Ware,
told what he knew of squashes, naming first the
Butman, of American origin, a beautiful variety,
with fine colored flesh and excellent quality, a
good keeper, and showing handsomely at fairs ;
very desirable for amateurs, but not sufficiently
productive for a farm crop. The Marblehead
squash, Mr. Ware thought a sub-variety of the
Hubbard, obtained by selection. It generally
commands a higher price than the Hubbard, but
does not crop so well. It is very similar to the
Butman, and, like that, desirable for amateurs.
The Essex hybrid was raised by Aaron Low, of
Essex, by crossing the Turban and Hubbard, and
is a very remarkable variety, uniting the form and
fine quality of the Turban with the hard shell and
keeping properties of the Hubbard. It is a very
rapid grower, so that it may be planted as late as
the 4th of July, or in connection with a potato
crop, every fourth potato row being left vacant and
afterwards planted with squashes. When planted
late, it avoids the maggot, the worst enemy of the
squash, which has probably deposited its eggs else-
where before this variety is ready. The American
improved Turban is the best early variety, not ex-
cepting the Marrow.

Onions and Celery. — " Chronicler," in some
notes recently received from him, refers to the use-
fulness of the essays on the culture of onions and
celery recently published by D. Landreth & Sons.
The essays, he says, are coinplete guides to culture,
giving facts as to growth and profit. He predicts
that before niany years pass by Northern growers
will find much profit in the exportation of these
vegetables to our Southern States and to the

tropics.

«-•-»

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Campbell Plum. — Mr. L. B. Case remarks : " I
am anxious to see a point more thoroughly made
known to the horticultural world in regard to the
Campbell Plum, page 49, Gardeners' Monthly,
but of course that can only be satisfactorily ob-
tained next summer when the tree is in foliage,
flower and fruit. So please keep an eye on your

84

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

Virginia correspondent for the information. I an-
ticipate in the near future an entire change in
many forms of our choicest fruits, and perhaps the
plum will lead in the change, for it is certainly
among our choicest fruit and now seems to re-
ceive a special attention from many of our leading
horticulturists."

Improved Persimmons. — Mr. L. B. Case, re-
ferring to this fruit says : " Undoubtedly we shall,
at no very distant day, secure choice and service-
able forms of our native persimmon, worthy a place
in every fruit garden."

Budded Apple Stocks. — WilHam Bustrin, Dal-
las, Texas, says : " Referring to the subject of
growing apple trees from buds, I would like to say
something of my experience in Texas. Small seed-
lings set out in spring, and budded in June, made

excellent trees by fall. Parties to whom I sent
these trees reported them the best they had got
from any one for many years."

Kieffer's Hybrid Pear. — Mr. Edwin Satter-
thwaite said at the recent meeting of the State
Horticultural Association at Harrisburg, January
i6th, 1883: "I have fruited the Kieffer three
years, and had last year more than one hundred
bushels of the fruit, of uniform large size and as
perfect in shape as if made in a mould, and all
ripening of a rich golden yellow color, quite a
number with a beautiful red cheek, keeping for
weeks after coloring and when perfectly ripe of
uniform good quality. It must be borne in mind
that this pear is not fit to eat until perfectly ripe
and soft, which it commonly is not until long after
it begins to color."

'Forestry.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Practical Forestry. — There is an im-
mense amount of practical knowledge yet to
be evolved before forestry culture can be
made a great success in our country ; but the
rapidity with which Americans learn when they set
themselves seriously about learning, will enable
them to plant and manage forests with tolerable
success whenever forest planting shall become an
everyday business. Even in the old world, where
they have had ages of inducement in forestry
planting, they still find they have neglected to
work out many valuable problems. For instance,
the French arboricultural journals are now discus-
sing whether it is best to set out one year old
plants when a forest is to be founded, or whether
it would be better to take plants several years old.
Now at first thought, the usual forestry essay
writer for the newspaper would say at once, take
the young seedlings, by all means. They are
cheaper ; they take less handling ; they are planted
more rapidly ; they are more certain to grow ; and
they recover from the check of transplanting in a
much shorter time than larger trees. But on the
other side are some considerations seldom thought
of. In the case of small trees, many more are
planted than are necessary to form a permanent

forest, because young trees need the protection of
one another against wind and weather in infancy,
and there has to be the labor of thinning after the
young trees have grown. Then it is found best —
nay, almost essential to profitable forestry — that
the forest of young trees to grow rapidly into
profit, must be as well cultivated as crops of corn,
and thus we have four or five years of hard work
in the case of the seedling plant. Now plants for
a forest of a thousand acres, sown thinly in a nur-
sery plot, may be grown on a half acre for five
years at a comparatively low cost. They need not
die in transplanting more than one year old, if the
planter understands his business, and there need
not be more than one year's difference in the re-
sult of check to growth from the larger size.
There is no doubt but in these five-year old seed-
lings there would be four years gained in interest
on ground and labor expenses, with no necessity
for the cost of labor in thinning as in the other
case, as they could be set just whei-e they are to
remain.

As we have said, it is an unsettled question in
Europe, and they are doing there just what we are
often apt to do, writing about it with hours on hours
of labor on each other's opinions, but so far as
we see, no one attempting to solve the matter by
figures. It reallv looks as if the larger tree

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

85

notion might carry the day if the two plans were
fairly tried side by side with each other.

But the whole matter shows how much there is
to learn before forestry planting will yield all the
rapid profit it is capable of doing.

Pines of Mount Desert Island. — A lady
kindly sends us cones of the pines growing in
that part of the country. They prove to be the
common white pine, and the " yellow " or " spruce"
pine, Pinus mitis.

The "Hardy" Catalpa. — We have often ob-
jected to this name, because it implies that the
Eastern species is " tender," while everybody
knows that there are large timber trees in the East
over a hundred years old, many of which must
often have experienced a temperature of perhaps 20°
or 30° below zero. Whenever we have suggested
this, the answer has been that the Eastern Catalpa
dies back when young, or loses its leader and
hence is apt to make a more or less crooked
trunk, and that the Western one never does. This
has been one of its leading recommendations. We
have had some doubt about this difference to any
material extent, but have had to take the positive
statements as they have been given us. Mr. H.
C. Raymond, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, now writes
to the Iowa Homestead that in the north half of
the State the young trees will be often killed back
but will recover and increase in hardiness with
age.

This is precisely the character of the Eastern
form. We are inclined to the opinion expressed
in the beginning of the Catalpa enthusiasm, that
while there is no doubt of the essential distinct-

ness of the two species for forestry purposes,
planters will not go far wrong in having a valuable
timber tree, by selecting either one. Its value is
chiefly in timber for posts and railroad ties ; but
planters should remember that the future of for-
estry will require other species of wood as well as
Catalpa wood.

A Public Forest in the State of New
York. — Senator Frederick Lansing's bill forbid-
ding the sale of 660,000 acres owned by the State
in the Adirondack region, was passed by a vote of
24 to 5, January 23d. It is a good indication of
increasing public appreciation of the need of pre-
serving the wooded character of that part of the
State. The timber there, if cut at all, should be
cut only under rigid control, and with the most
careful provisions for immediate rewooding of the
cleared ground. So well says one of our ex-
changes.

MoRUS MULTiCAULis.- — This large, broad-leaved
variety of the Morus alba was introduced by Perot-
tet from the Philippine Islands to France in 1824.
It was soon after introduced into the United States
and used largely in the early experiments with
silk culture. In consequence of disease it has al-
most disappeared from cultivation. One of the
last to survive was on the ground of Mr. Samuel
Chew, on the old battle ground of Germantown,
but it has recently been cut down. It had become
a very large tree.

Amount of Tannin in the Bark of Some
OF THE Trees in the United States. — United
States Forestry Bulletin, No. 24, C. S. Sargent,
Special Agent in charge, gives the following :

BOTANICAL NAME.

Gordonia Lasianthus

Prosopis juliflora

Rhizophora mangle

Exostemma Caiibyeum

Queicus alba

inacrocarpa

Prinus

Mulilenbergii. old tree. . .
Mulilenbergii, young tree

virens

Emoryi

rubra

tinetoria

Kelloggii

falcata

nigra

densiflora

Castanea vulgaris, var. Americana

Picea nigra

Engelmanni

Engelmanni

Engelmanni

Tsuga Canailensis

Mertensiana

Mertensiana

Pattoniana

Pseudotsuga Douglasii

COMMON NAME.

Loblolly Bay. Red Bay.
Mesquit, Algaroba. ...
Mangrove

White Oak

Burr Oak, White Oak

Chestnut Oak

Chesnut Oak, Yellow Oak .

Live Oak

Black Oak

Red Oak

Black Oak, Quercitron Oak.. .

Black Oak

Hpanish Oak

Black .Tack. Barren Oak

Tanbark Oak, Chestnut Oak. .

Chestnut

Black Spruce, Red Si>ruce . . . .

Hemlock.

REGION.

Southern Atlantic

Mexican Boundary

Gulf Coast

Semi-tropical Florida .
Atlantic

Southern Atlantic.
Atlantic

Southern Atlantic.
Mexican Boundary.
Atlantic

Red Fir, Yellow Fir.

Pacific Coast

Southern Atlantic.

Atlantic

Pacific Coast

Atlantic

Northern Atlantic.
Interior Pacific . . .

Northern Atlantic.
Northern Pacific. . .

Pacific.

Percent-
age of
Tannin .

1.3.14
4.04
31.04
5.81
5.9!)
4.50
6.25
4 38
10.33
10.40
9.70
4.56
5.90
6.76
8.50
4.36
16.46
6.25
7.20
20.56
17.01
12.60
13.11
14.42
15.87
15.72
13.79

Percent-
age of
Ash.

2.35
8.71
6.70
7.16
6.11
8.05
3.83
8.38
6.23
8. SO
15.09
4.43
5.73
8.64
4.32
6.28
3.84
2.00
2.84
2.75
2.32
0.75
1.31
1.44
1.49
2.48
1 36

86

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

Natural History and Scimcr.

COMMUNICATIONS.

ON THE FERTILIZATION OF WHEAT.

BY MR. A. VEITCH, NEW HAVEN, CONN.

I have no reason to doubt the correctness of
Mr. Carman's statement that in his experiments
with wheat some of the offspring differed shghtly
from the parents. But it is an open question
whether those differences were due to the means
he employed or to the inherent tendency of this
plant to vary, without the aid of cross-fertilization.
It is admitted that crossing cannot be accomplished
through natural agencies, and if so one of two
things must be true, either the earliest inhabitants
of the globe understood cross-fertilization as prac-
ticed by Mr. C, or all the varieties known until a
recent period were the result of cultivation, pure
and simple. We cannot believe that the first
method was known at an early date, otherwise the
ancients do not receive as much credit from the
moderns as they deserve. And we are assured that
in the wheat plant varieties have been obtained
without the aid of artificial crossing.

No better illustration can be given of this vari-
able tendency than is presented by the experiments
of M. Fabre, of France, on /Egilops ovata, an
annual grass common in the south of Europe, and
still used as an article of food by the poorer classes
of Sicily. In 1838, M. P^abre sowed the seed of
this grass, and continued the process for eight
years in succession, at the end of which time he
obtained a fair sample of wheat. This was dis-
puted at the time and caused quite a controversy,
the substance of which was published in the Lon-
don Gardener s Chronicle, in the year 1846 or
1847. A similar series of experiments was con-
ducted by Prof. Buckman, of England, between
the years 1855 and 1859, which resulted in con-
firming M. Fabre's reports in every particular.
In the latter case modification took place by the
disappearance of the awns of the palets and the
shortening of those which spring from the lateral
ribs of the glumes ; the ears at the same time los-
ing their fragility, and the increase of the grain in
size, &c.

Whilst these experiments were in progress, con-

siderable variation would no doubt be observed
in the annual crops, and we cannot suppose that
in either case a point was reached beyond which
no further change could take place. Varieties so
obtained may possess characters that are compar-
atively stable, but secondary traits such as color
and size of grain, large or small ears, earliness or
latenesss, weight of straw, &c., might all occur
through diversity of soil, climate, &c., and these we
claim to be the chief agents in producing the dif-
ferent varieties of wheat. There is nothing in this
but that might be accomplished by an unintelli-
gent people impelled by the pressing law of neces-
sity, acting upon their natural instincts and sa-
gacity.

Whether /4£gilops ovata is to be regarded as the
prototype of the varieties of wheat in cultivation has
not yet been determined, but from the glimpes we
obtain of its use by the earliest settlers of Europe,
it undoubtedly has played an important part in
this connection. We know that before history be-
gan to be" written, and whilst the Europeans made
war upon each other and the brute creation, with
weapons made of stone and bone, .Egilops was
not unknown to them as an article of food. For
in the lake dwelhngs of Switzerland it has been
found associated with the rehcs of that primitive
people in such a state of preservation as to leave
no room to doubt its relationship with wheat.

In all the accounts which have come under our
notice in reference to the amelioration of this grain,
no mention is made of crossing having been re-
sorted to as a means to that end. Perhaps there
is not now a true hybrid in cultivation. If there
is, how, where and from what species obtained ?
It is true Mr. Carman tells us he has crossed
wheats hundreds of times, and Mr. Beaton as un-
equivocally asserts that to do so is impossible.
When statements are so opposite a fallacy must
lurk somewhere, and all we are after is to know
the facts of the case. As Mr. Beaton was a close
observer and painstaking experimentalist, I have
hitherto placed much confidence in his statements,
and chiefly because they are in harmony with my
i own observations on related cleistogamous plants.
It would seem that there is something in the econ-
, omy of such plants that requires concealment, but

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

87

if by such handling as has been described, nature
can be made to swerve from the ordinary course by
the invasion of her private compartments while per-
forming special work ; and if Mr. C. has been suc-
cessful in getting in advance of the normal process
of fertilization in his experiments, nothing remains
for us but to accept his conclusions, however op-
posed they may be to preconceived opinions.

THE HABITATS OF PLANTS.
BY W. F. BASSETT, HAMMONTON, N. J.

The adaptation of plants to different climates is
an interesting subject for observation, and some
curious facts are brought to light in botanizing in
different sections.

Some plants seem to do eciually well in similar
soils without much regard to temperature or
humidity. Gerardia quercifolia and pedicularis and
Lupinus perennis are examples of this class, grow-
ing in hght soils both North and South. On the
other hand, Trientalis Americana and Medeola
Virginica, which are common in rich woodlands
in Massachusetts, are only found in low peaty
lands here in New Jersey, and Aspidium thely-
pteris and Onoclea sensibilis, found only in swamps
here, grow everywhere by the roadside and in pas-
ture there, and still more notably, Ar'.s ema triphyl-
lum, which at the North is freely distributed in
rich woodlands everywhere and sometimes remains
in grass fields, is only found in the wettest swamps
here, growing directly out of the water. But per-
haps the most singular fact connected wltli this
plant is that the acrid taste, which is not only char-
acteristic at the North, but so decided that no one
who ever tasted will forget it, is absent in our spe-
cimens, and the bulbs can be eaten with impunity.

Curiously enough, we find Epigaea repens in
great abundance near the top of Hoosac Mountain,
growing in cold, damp soil, and exposed to the
raking west winds, while here it is equally abundant
in our dry, sandy, half-open woodlands, more or
less exposed to the scorching summer sunshine of
such localities; Cypripedium acaulc, also — which
is abundant everywhere here, growing on our
lightest soils. At the North we only found it in
damp forests where beech and spruce formed a
considerable portion of the timber. We should
hardly expect to find plants peculiar to rich wood-
lands in the North growing on the sea beach here,
but there is a place in Atlantic City called Hill's
Creek, where we find several of them apparently
at home.

In this place the Myricas and other shrubs have

so stopped the drift as to form a line of low sand-
hills around a few acres of half-marshy land, only
leaving an open side not much exposed to wind,
and with a narrow belt or border gently sloping
from the sand-hills to the marsh, sheltered from the
hot sun by a low and spreading growth of red
cedars, holly, &c., and here in the mixture of sand
and leaf mould we find Geranium Robertianum,
Trientalis Americana and Mitchella repens in
abundance, and a few plants of Aquilegia Can-
adensis, which we have never seen elsewhere on
the yellow drift or sand barrens. We also find
Asplenium ebeneumand Arenaria lateriflora, which
is, according to Gray, a New England plant.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

The Forking of Ferns. — Botanical periodicals
often have notes from correspondents about the
forking of fronds in ferns, a feature not found in
the normal condition. There are very few species
which do not at some time or another give illustra-
tions of their power to fork ; but so far as we know,
no attempt has been made to show under what
morphological law these departures are brought
about. Horticulturists, however, have rendered
botanical science great service by showing that
these singular variations in ferns can be repro-
duced by spores.

A number of crested or divided forms of ferns
are under culture, and one at least, Nephrodium
moUe, gives its crested form in great numbers
from spores. It is not so very long ago that peo-
ple were d'.scussing how to distinguish a species
from a mere variety, and the power of reproduc-
tion from seed or spores would then have been de-
nied to a mere variation. Now we find that every
variation comes under the laws of heredity, and
the fact has been of great value to those who be-
Ueve that species have been evolved from some
prior form. A variety is in fact but an incipient
species.

Aside from the botanical interest of these depart-
ures from the normal condition, many of them are
of great beauty and horticultural value. Here is
a crested form of Lastrca Richardii, introduced by
Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea, near London, who
give the following account of it :

" A beautiful crested Fern for warm conservatory
and intermediate house, sent to us by Charles
Moore, Esq., of the Botanic Garden, Sydney, N.
S. W.

" Mr. Thomas Moore, the eminent authority on

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

Ferns, in his notice of this new variety in the I which is one of the handsomest of all known ferns,
Gardener's Chronicle for January 22, 1 881, writes :; the fronds differ in having their apex and the

(^

' The typical form of this fern is a New Caledo- 1 apices of the pinnae multifidly cut into numerous
nian plant. In the variety now under notice, | narrow-pointed, spreading, finger-like lobes. The

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

89

plant has fronds three feet high, including the
stipes, which are a foot long, numerously devel-
oped from a short decumbent caudex. The pinnae
are upwards of 4 inches long in the broadest part,
and terminate in a densely fingered tuft of about
fifty long, narrow, acute divisions, the apex of the
frond dividing into two or more branches consist-
ing of about seventy of these sinall finger-like
Segments. Its bright green color, its small pin-
nules, and the bold crested apices with their nu-
merous narrow divisions, give this plant a singu-
larly elegant character, and mark it out as a very
ornamental useful fern for the decoration of the
hothouse.' "

BowiEA voLUBiLis. — Some years ago our
friends of the Cambridge Botanic Garden, gave the
editor a specimen of this singular plant, which he
keeps and treasures not only for its graceful char-
acter as a garden ornament, but also for its botani-
cal contrasts with its near neighbors, the asparagus
and similar plants. The common asparagus would
be regarded as a beautiful garden ornament if it

Bowiea volubilis.

were not so common as a vegetable. Its foliage is
surely graceful, and its red berries in autumn are
equal to the holly in rich beauty.

This plant, Bowiea volubilis, has dry seed ves-
sels, devoid of color, and the foliage is not as fine
or feathery as the asparagus, but its twining habit
gives it some advantages over its kitchen garden
relative. The root is not fibrous as in asparagus,
but round like an onion, though as solid as a gla-
diolus. If it could be made to grow in the winter
season, as another neighbor, the " Smilax," or

Myrsiphyllum does, it would be very valuable to
cut flower people. But in the writer's experience
it dies down in autumn, and positively refuses to
push up in the winter. Messrs. Haage & Schmidt,
of Erfurt, have recently introduced it to commerce.

Durand's Oak. — This species, named by Prof.
Buckley for the late Elias Durand, of Philadel-
phia, has recently been re-discovered by Mr. Ch.
Mohr in Alabama. It is now regarded as a good
species.

Remarkable Discovery in Textile Fibres.
— Cotton is the only vegetable product which
yields an ultimate fibre which can be spun directly
without further process. The fibre of hemp, flax
and other plants is compound. Ekman has dis-
covered and patented a process by which these
compound fibres can be cheaply reduced to ulti-
mate ones. The effect of this discovery on cotton
culture is looked forward to with much interest.

Kalmia and Sheep. — Dr. Thomas F. Wood,
the distinguished physician of Wilmington, North
Carolina, tried to kill a young sheep by feeding it
Kalmia angustifolia, but failed. It would not eat
it, though hunger was an aid to the effort. Then a
decoction of the leaves and fruit was forced down
its throat, but it vomited, and more and stronger
was given to it. After several days of desperate
illness, persistent vomiting, &c., it finally recovered.
The doctor believes, from his observations on the
case, that, though the shrub is a gastric irritant,
and has some intoxicating properties, it would be
difficult for a sheep to eat enough of it to cause
death. On the whole, a morbid appetite might in-
duce a sheep to eat a great deal of it, and thus
cause death, which, however, he thinks, must be
rare. The paper is in the P'ebruary number of the
American Azyiculturist.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

The Seasons in Italy. — A correspondent at
Venice says: "Wheat can be ripened with us by
the end of June, but in Europe it does not as a gen-
eral thing ripen before the month of August, and in
some parts not before September."

The American Crab Apple. — J. A. C, Day-
ton, Ohio, writes : " Will you kindly tell me, as well
as other readers, through the columns of the Gar-
deners' Monthly^ what are the particular dis-
tinctive characters that separate the native Amer-
ican crab apple from the original form of the cul-
tivated apple, or in fact, from all other species of

90

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

the apple ? I do not know where to obtain the de-
sired information from books and must ask of those
who have made fruit a study. Who originated the
Hewes' Virginia crab apple, and would it prove
perfectly hardy here ? Is there any other culti-
vated apple of native American origin or with part
native crab parentage in cultivation ? If so, should
be glad to know the address of those who have
them."

[Pyrus coronaria, the native American crab
apple, differs from Pyrus malus, the cultivated
species in many botanical characters, among which
are that the leaves are often slightly lobed, as in
some hawthorns, the veins are straight and the
petioles very slender. The old world species never
has any tendency to be lobed, has the leaves thick,
the petiole stout and the veins incurved. In the
American the petals are long clawed, and they are
short clawed in the European. There are other
minor differences recognized by botanists. It can
be popularly distinguished by the delicious odor
of the fruit, which has obtained for the species the
•common name of " sweet scented crab."

So far as we know it has never been improved,
though it well deserves a trial in that line. Hewes'
Virginia Crab, is but a small variety of the old
world species, at least this is our belief without
any specimen before us. If it be of the American
species the fact would most probably have sug-
gested itself to the writer in former examinations.
By the way, who was Hewes ? Where did he find
this crab? Such a magnilicent cider apple de-
serves a niche in special history. — Ed. G. M.]

Various Inquiries. — " Chautauqua," Proctor,
N. Y., says : " Is the grapevine cleistogamous :
i. e., is the stigma fertilized by its own pollen be-
fore the cap falls off ?

Volume 23, page 308, Berckman's grape; does it

ripen in July and is it anywhere for sale ? I am
unable to find it in a catalogue.

Volume 23, page 205, cheap boiler, water backs.
No hardware store in Buffalo knows what it is.
Do you know where and who manufactures it ?

Volume 24, page 178, Strong's method of graft-
ing. What is it?

I will look under the nom de plume " Chautau-
qua" in Gardeners' Monthly for an answer."

[Cleistogamous, as generally understood by
those who use the term, would hardly be applied
to the grape vine. The violet has two distinct
kinds of flowers, one as we generally know them,
with colored petals, the other without petals, and
which in fact never open their buds at all, but
mature seed without opening. These are properly
cleistogamous flowers in the purely botanical sense.
In the grape vine the corolla remains over the pis-
til in such a manner as to favor the reception of its
own pollen. It is not adapted to cross-fertilization,
unless the operator removes the corolla and ap-
plies the pollen before its own has had a chance
to reach the stigma. It might be called a self-fer-
tilizer and not cleistogamous, though the results
are much the same.

The Berckmans could probably be had of those
who secured Dr. Wylie's hybrids. Probably Mr.
Berckmans could tell.

" Water backs " is a common term in this part of
the world in connection with ordinary kitchen
ranges or stoves. It is a small boiler at the back
of the range which furnishes warm water for
kitchen or household uses. What do they call
them in Buffalo ?

Mr. Woodbridge Strong's method of grafting is
simply to cut or chop a gash in the side of the
branch, cut the scion wedge-fashion, and stick it in.
It is among the most valuable facts ever given the
readers of the Gardeners' Monthly. — Ed. G. M.]

Literature, Travels and Personal Notes.

COMMUNICATIONS.

LETTER FROM ITALY.

BY S. M.; BELLAGIO, LAKE OF COMO, ITALY.

Being here in Italy for the last five months, I
, reproach myself for not offering, as far as my abil-
ities go, a few remarks of interest to your readers

concerning this country, in return for the many
hours of instruction and interest which I have re-
ceived from the Gardeners' Monthly for the last
twenty years. I shall begin with a comparison of
our country with Italy, and will state at once that
the main point of similarity is the warm summer,
and the main point of dissimilarity is the winter,

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

91

which is harsh to severe from Delaware to Maine,
and is, here, without frost or ice, except among the
Alps. Nature has indeed lavished on our country
her treasures of fertile soils and of minerals, but
she has given us also a hard winter, limiting our
productions, and giving us the task to provide for
innumerable wants unknown in milder climates.

Hence we cannot grow the lemon and the or-
ange except in parts of Florida and California, and
even there get them destroyed by frosts that will
happen, say once in a decennium. It is true our
oranges are of a good kind, but the best of our trees
will not yield anything like the Italian trees. In
Sicily a good orange tree in bearing yields on the
average five thousand oranges a year, a good
lemon tree ten thousand lemons a year, the fruit
coming along mostly all the year through, and, of
course, equally so the blossoms. Competition is
therefore out of the question, just as little as we
shall ever be able to compete for sugar with the
West Indies, where the cane is perennial, while it
has to be replanted every three years in Louisiana.

Now the lemon, the orange and the olive are
rich sources of income in Italy, and none of them
require any particular care — the olive hardly any.
The olive tree grows freely all over the country,
except on the Alps ; the lemon and orange trees
grow freely and abundantly in the southern half,
and with nursing and in sheltered positions, also in
some portions of the northern half of this country.
Next in point of importance here is the vine, and,
in one sense, the whole country may be called one
vast vineyard, for the rocks and the hills and the
mountains are terraced and walled and cultivated
by the hand of man to produce the grape. At a
distance, you would think those heights were inac-
cessible, except to goats, and worthless, except for
timber. You get near them, and you find that
wherever a man could find a place to put his foot
down and not fall off, there he has planted a vine.

The wine is of a quality which cannot compare
with French wine as to flavor or taste, and hence
is not exported. There has been for the last two
years, a good demand for it from France, but that
was owing to the failure there, and only for the
manufacture of and mixing with French wine.
Otherwise it is all drunk on the premises, that is,
consumed in Italy. Your readers must know that
water is considered here a blessing of heaven as an
article to wash with, or for navigation, or for driving
a mill, but nobody thinks it is made for drinking.
The same notion prevails in France. This explains
the enormous quantities of wine required. On the
other hand there is never — " hardly ever "—any

drunkenness or intemperance. ■ During five
months' stay in Italy I have seen but two individ-
uals the worse for drink.

Now we in America can certainly raise grapes
which will make good drinkable wine. The grapes
though, which we have raised heretofore, do not
make a desirable kind. Those of Ohio are unre-
liable, and one year's wine does not in the least re-
semble last year's or next year's, nor is it drink-
able, except the quality happens to be unusually
good. Again, the California wines are much too
heavy and heady to be fit for daily use. But then
we have such variety of soil, that, with care and
study, we would surely produce the right article.
But would it be wanted, when produced ? Who
can and will give our people the taste for it, and
thus redeem them from the curse of whisky and
from the stupefying beer ?

Pardon the digression, and I proceed.

Some other fruits are grown here which we have
not, at least not in perceptible quantities. There
are, for instance, figs enough raised here to ex-
clude any importation of them, and to make them
a common fruit for dessert, both fresh and dry.
Likewise the Japan medlar, and the apricot, and
divers kinds of plums, none of which, I believe
grow with us at all, but are here quite common.
Nor have we the fruit of the stone pine, which,
however, to my taste, is nothing to deplore. I
could go without them all the rest of my days, as
well as without the artichoke, which is served up
here the greater part of the year.

But whilst we have not a good many of the
Italian fruits and vegetables, Italy has most of
ours, and of tolerable quality, too, and in abun-
dance. She likewise grows all our cereals, Indian
corn included, which goes here by the name of
Turkish grain ; also hemp, flax, rice sufficient
for her own consumption, and, on her mountains
raises a great many head of cattle — enough to en-
able her to export a good many millions of dollars'
worth of them, every year, to her neighbors,
France and Switzerland.

Coming, however, down to the lowlands and
plains, the absence of good grass is very striking.
It does not seem, though, to affect agriculture,
since cattle, sheep and horses look, as a general
thing, in good enough condition. But the horti-
cultural eye, and the eye for beauty, miss the
grass sorely. And this brings me right into your
particular department. The Italian taste for gar-
dening is not ours, nor that of the English or Ger-
mans. Theirs is the architectonic style, handed
down to them from their predecessors of the land.

92

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

the Romans. And proof positive it is, that, spite
of Virgil's charming Georgics, spite 'of Horace's
coquetting with the country, the Romans had no
taste for it. Nor have the present Itahans. Their
gardens and villas are for show, not for that enjoy-
ment which our gardens give us in the way of
peaceful emotion, of pleasant occupation, of com-
muning with our " Mother Earth," of greater near-
ness to God the Creator. Now trees and grass, the
alternation, in other words, of light and shade, and
also the mixing and blending thereof, promote
these pure feelings, and are the delight of our
Northern eyes and hearts.

Moreover, the Americans have the high privi-
lege over the nations of Europe, that we still have
nature about us in untutored woods. Such are
hard to find in Europe. Forestry is an art there,
and means the cultivation, conservation and gen-
eral management of trees. They get all that, it is
true, and, like a well-dressed, respectable gentle-
man, they are a virtuous sight. But the original-
ity of nature, the individuality, the poetry are
mostly gone or out of sight. As yet, I say, as yet
we have the woods, the forests, the native growth,
the underbrush and all in our American country,
but it won't take another hundred years, and we
may be worse off than Europe. We may not have
their forests, swept and trimmed and well ordered
though they be ; we may possibly have next to
none at all, if we continue going on the principle
of not caring who takes the hindmost.

Root out of your mind, American stranger
in Europe, your sweet, memories of woods and
grass, and let us look round in Italy where so
much is to be enjoyed nevertheless.

Small as this country is, we can enjoy the great-
est diversity of climate, consequently also of pro-
ductions, mode of life, etc. First, as to the north-
ern half, all north of Rome. Hill, dale, valley,
pasture land, ice-clad mountains, rivers, lakes,
swamps and plains alternate. The most remark-
able feature is, that from the cold mountains you
can descend into the subtropical " Riviera," or the
north shore of the Mediterranean where, although
you have right behind you the relatively cool dis-
tricts of Piedmont and France, as far as the coast
itself is concerned, you enjoy a climate similar to
that of Naples. There you see in the month of
March hedges, garden hedges, of roses, of fine
kinds of roses, such as we are proud of hating in
beds and pots, rank of growth ; ditto of oleander,
lernon and orange trees in the open ; fuchsias, gera-
niums and many similar things of a height, strength,
nay, robustness, that make you look twice at them

before you will believe it. In the same way, you
see other acquaintances and old friends in a new
condition. Very many of the plants and small
trees of our green and warmhouses, reared and
kept there like fine ladies in their parlors, here ap-
pear, like everyday folk, in the gardens of Nizza,
San Carlo, Genoa, etc., and, like everyday folk, are
all the stronger for it.

Magnolias also abound on this "riviera" and
here, as well as throughout Italy, keep their leaves
all the year round. Palms will also flourish in a
good many spots, but the date palm will not ripen
its fruit, and, on the whole, the palms do not look
"to the manor born" with the exception of one spot.

That spot is the garden of the gaming-house of
San Carlo. Partly the favorable situation, but
mostly the immense care and lavish expenditure
of Monsieur Blanc, the lessee, have produced this
spot and made it an ideal one. People call it Par-
adise for short. Here the flowers, plants and
trees of all zones are made to look at home. By
the way " Paradise " is no inapt name. The gam-
bling saloon is in the centre of this garden. Here
is the fall of man, and penitent is he driven hence
by remorse.

But we must not linger on the seashore, how-
ever attractive, both as to color of the water, which
is sparkling, and alternating from blue to green, or
as to picturesqueness of bold, rocky scenery all
along, and remarkable vegetation. Let us dive
inland.

I said we miss grass. I now say we also miss
trees in Italy. There are alpine pastures, some few
meadows, and there are also royal forests ; other-
wise the northern half of Italy is bare of trees.
Population has crowded them out; the soil got to
be precious. Hills and mountains, by means of
walling and terracing, are cultivated to their very
tops. The rains wash constantly down the soil
and the walls will only retain some small portion
of it. Nevertheless the hills and the mountains,
as well as the plains, teem in Italy, and, were it not
for this kindness of soil and climate, so many mil-
lions of men could not live on this relatively small
peninsula.

One system of cultivation seems to prevail all
over Italy. I would call it the bedstead system.
The land is laid out in regular uniform plots, resem-
bhng bedsteads. Round its edges grow sometimes
olive trees, but mostly mulberry trees, whose fresh
leaves during the months of May and June, feed
the silkworms. To produce a great variety of
these leaves, and of fullest nourishment, the trees
are regularly trimmed every winter so as to have

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

93

only four branches from the top of the trunk, at
the height of about fifteen feet from the ground,
from which four branches the new twigs start.
Where silk is not made, maple, wilhnv or some
other tree gets trimmed the same way. They all
serve the purpose of props to vines, which are
trained from tree to tree, and thus form a live trel-
lis round the field. The field itself is parcelled off
into small plots of wheat, oats, Indian corn, inter-
planted with potatoes, vegetables, melons and what
not. It is incredible, in fact, the diversity of
things grown within that bedstead shape, and that
such happy family will peaceably grow tegether,
without jostling and without killing one another, is
the wonder. The soil is precious, the most must
be made of it, and the untiring industry ot the
Italian farmer and the favoring elements do the
rest. Neat as it looks, it looks unpleasant to us
liberal Americans, who have so much ground and
to spare.

Allow me now to come back to gardening proper.
It does not compare in one sense with our own
gardening or with English gardening ; it is neither
such trim and careful work nor as thorough. The
difficulties here are too few. Our best productions,
no matter in what line, are but the triumphs over
ourselves, and man is not called out in Italy as
much as in Pennsylvania to show his mettle. Of
course this sentiment must not be carried to ex-
tremes. Both at the equator and at the poles man
must knock under to nature, he can tame her but
little there ; he can never make her his servant,
and his victories there won't show much. But if j
in Italy one-half of the trouble were bestowed, say
on roses, or peaches, or anything else, I say one-
half only of your or your neighbor's endeavors in
Pennsylvania, what results there might follow 1

Once in a while, but at very wide intervals, you
meet with a lawn here or an English garden.
Otherwise the architectural is the Italian style.
Parterres, ribbon beds, geometrical figures, circles,
walls of evergreens, mostly of evergreen oak, mar-
ble steps, a fountain, ever so many busts and
statues, grottoes, pieces of water with Neptune,
the naiads, dolphins, swans, boys in the middle or
round about, a sun dial, or a mosaic floor, arbored
walks, with stone flooring, ruins of antique temples,
or of an ancient castle, summer houses built of
solid thick stone, and very cool inside, these are
the features of an Itahan garden, whether in the
•city or in the country, far too stiff and too stony
for my taste, but often very perfect of their kind.

I may in future give you details of a few of the
Italian show places.

THE CHINESE NATIONAL FLO'WER.

BY MRS. C. L., FRANKTOWN, NEVADA.

I have never seen in print the story or legend
the Chinese have about their national flower, "Twe
dan Fa," a variety of Poly-
^ g^^ anthus Narcissus, which

^r\ ^^ blooms at their New Year, in

./^'^■^ February. A man died and

« left two sons. To one he

^ I \ left all his good fertile land

^\^^W ^I'ld house; to the other he

' left nothing but a little piece

^ ^^^ of poor, stony, wet ground,

•^^% that no rice or anything else

jt M^ would grow on. He was in

•^k '\^Jf distress, and had nothing to

eat, so his god took pity on
him, and one morning he looked, and the ground
among the stones was covered with beautiful
white flowers, and the god told him to care for
them and sell the plants to buy food. So he pros-
pered and became richer than the other brother,
and his ground was the only place the flowers
could be had."

There is a double form of the flower, and they
(the Chinese) consider it fortunate for the flower to
be double. Last year my Chinese cook brought
me three fine bulbs — they come in clay. A friend's
cook had given her some, and the first one to
bloom for her was partially double, and the first
one of mine was single. My cook was quite an-
noyed, but my others were double — one like a
small rose, with nine large trusses on one cluster
of bulbs. He was quite pleased, as he said it was
"good too me ; you sabe good, good ; heap plenty
to you." Another time the same cook gave me
some, and I had one bloom in January. He went
off when he saw it in bloom to keep his New
Year. He came back in a day or so, and when he
came into the house he went to where the flower
was and said to it : " You heap cheatee me ; you
no sabe anything ;" they use the Spanish sabe for
i know. It had bloomed too soon.

[The Chinese read from the top down. The
! three characters are the Chinese words. — Ed. G. M.l

EDITORIAL NOTES.

What is a Garden. — It is a great comfort to
find once in a while a judge deciding by the rules
of common sense, instead of higghng over the
meaning of words. Before us is a report of a trial
in England. A lady willed to another her "house

94

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

and garden." A low evergreen hedge divided the
garden, on one side of which were solely fruit trees ;
and vegetables, low fruits and flowers on the other
side. It was contended that the fruit part was not
a garden, but an orchard. The judge decided that
if this were to be admitted, the lady wovld have
died intestate so far as the orchard was concerned,
but the fact that she made a will showed she had
no intention of dying intestate. It was not to be
supposed that she had forgotten that she owned
an " orchard " when she made the will, and the
presumption was that she intended the orchard to
go as the garden. He declined to discuss the dif-
ference between the words orchard and garden,
and with the testator's intention clear in his mind,
ruled in favor of the defendant, the cottage holder.
Justice Parsons' head is level, as Americans might
say.

Practical .-Esthetics. — It is said that the
great poet of the sunflower saw little else that was
beautiful in our country. Our gardening is not
beautiful, nor was there any beauty in Niagara
Falls, but the American Agriculturist says he saw
beauty in a swindle out of $i,6oo, which the "son
of Tony Drexel" treated him to in New York.

Charles Crucknell. — We notice in our last
an advertisement of Mr. Crucknell, who is well
known to our readers as one of the most intelli-
gent of the many contributors to the magazine.
Before his removal to Missouri he was engaged in
Pennsylvania. If the Missourians have no chance
to retain his services, we are quite sure those Penn-
sylvanians who were sorry to have him leave them,
would be very glad to see him back again.

Dr. C. C. PARRY.^The demand for the beauti-
ful new species of rose, Rosa minutifolia, has been
so great in Europe that Dr. C. C. Parry has been
induced to make another botanical excursion into
Lower California, chiefly with the view of supply-
ing the wants of nurserymen everywhere for it. He
was to leave the end of January. It is fortunate
that horticulture is the means of inducing this in-
trepid botanist to brave again the dangers of this
inhospitable region, as no doubt other new things
will still turn up.

John Ellis. — Mr. Ellis died recently in Cal-
ifornia, as we see by a note in the Rural Press.
He must have been beyond sixty years of age. He
was one of the most intelligent horticulturists in
the Union, though with some peculiarities, which
those who knew him intimately charged probably
with justice, as well as from the attractions of his
many good points, to occasional mental aberra-

tions. As an able horticultural writer he was well
known a quarter of a century ago, as " Fox
Meadow." In California, his work in laying out
the grounds of the Capitol, and the State Univer-
sity receives high praise.

Mr. John W. Slater. — Among recent deaths
is that of this well-known florist of Alexandria,
Virginia, in his seventy-second year. He was one
of the many model men of whom horticulture in
America has such good reason to be proud. Start-
ing in life with no capital but great intelligence, a
high sense of probity, and good common sense and
industry, he lived to become comparatively wealthy,
and to exercise a wide-spread influence in shaping
the course of things around him. Judging by the
Star of his city, few men have dropped out in Alex-
andria more sincerely regretted.

A Sound Mind in a Sound Body. — Dr.
M'Carthy, of Dayton, Ohio, remarks that of all
occupations there is none which requires so close
a union of mental activity with physical energy as
the various pursuits of gardening, which therefore
make a human being as near perfect as he was
designed to be. He remarks that:

" There is no other occupation better adapted to
effect this than that of the horticulturist, whose ever
varying duties call into frequent action the numer-
ous powerful muscles that erect the spine, expand
the chest, propel the body, sustain its burthens and
perform its heavy work, as well as the smaller ones
that move the hands and work the fingers in the
innumerable skillful digitations so necessary and
effective in training, fostering and directing his
delicate plantlets. The voluntary muscles, useful
and indispensable as they are, are like well-grown
indolent persons, who will do nothing of their own
accord ; they need constant supervision and direc-
tion. They are, however, obedient, docile and
efficient— work well under a master, making the
best of servants."

The Hill Cumorah. — A very pretty hill is
Cumorah, between Palmyra and Canandaigua,
New York. Besides its beauty, it has interest
from being the place where Joseph Smith reported
he found the plates from which he wrote the Book
of Mormon.

Gardening for Young and Old, by Joseph
Harris : New York, Orange Judd Company. In
the preface, Mr. Harris says he would particularly
urge young people to turn their attention to seed
growing, not that he wishes to see horticulture di-
verted to a mere money-making business, aside
from its refining and nobler influences, but would

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

95

like to see both kept in view. The work seems to
have for its main object the encouragement of hor-
ticulture among the young, and because of this
very style will be welcome to older folks. Many
of us who are whitening with age, learn more when
we are taught as if we are children than in any
other way. We regard this as a good, useful book,
even though it may tell nothing new to those who
have already had an extended experience.

Colorado as an Agricultural State, by
N. E. Pabor : New York, published by the Orange
Judd Company. Those who only know Colorado
by reading about it, imagine a dry, barren country,
and think of what such a country must be for ag-
riculture; while those who see it for the first time
do not think much of Colorado from first impres-
sion of the agricultural prospect. But a short ac-
quaintance dispels the illusion. Irrigation does
better than nature. It does not pour when enough
has already been provided, and refuse a drop to
earnest supplication. By irrigation we can water
when we please, and stop whenever we please, and
the plant enjoys this good treatment so much that it
does its best in return. The writer of this has seen
fifty bushels to the acre from wheat on the Arkan-
sas, and there is scarcely an agricuhural crop
common in the East but may be made to yield
considerably more in Colorado than an Eastern
farm ever knew. It is evident, however, that it re-
quires a greater amount of intelligence to farm
on this plan, than it does on the " trust to nature"
system. A work like this of Mr. Pabor's is just
what the man of intelligence needs. It will be a
necessary companion to the Colorado immigrant,
unless he is willing to spend years in learning for
himself what he could here get the track of by
a few hours reading. Not only the agriculturist
but those interested in any pursuit will profit by a
perusal of the work.

Forestry Bulletin No. 23, United States
Census, has just been issued. It gives an estimate
of the consumption of wood as fuel in the United
States during the census year. Also a map of the
United States showing the character of the fuel
used on the areas marked on the map. Over
32,000,000 people use wood yet for domestic fuel,
and for these no less than 7,361,992 cords, $15,067,-
651 in value, in the great coal state of Pennsyl-
vania alone. We have to look in the future for
something else besides fence posts and railroad ties.

Annual Report of the Director of the
Arnold Arboretum, 1881-82. — From Prof. E. S.

Sargent, Director. Annual Report of the Director
of the Royal Gardens, Kew, 1881, from Dr. J. D.
Hooker, Director.

We are glad of the opportunity to notice together
the annual reports of these two excellent institu-
tions, established in the old and the new world,
the one in a vigorous infancy with a promise of a
long and useful life, the other old in years, but as
young and flourishing in useful work as it ever
was. From Prof. Sargent's report we notice that
the New Sylva of the United States, which will give
colored plates of all the trees of our countn', is in
a good state of progress towards completion.

Among the many useful chapters in the Kev/
Report are those relating to new facts in coffee,
gutta percha, India rubber, and especially cin-
chona. In connection with the last named it may
be noted that the experimental plantations in
Jamaica have proved a great success wherever
they have been made at elevations between 2,500
and 5,000 feet, but have failed at lower ones. The
Director of Kew Gardens believes that at no dis-
tant date Jamaica will produce enough bark to
supply the demand from the United States. Dr.
Alfred S. Kennedy, of Philadelphia, has for some
time been enthusiastic in his belief that it would '
succeed in some parts of the United States, and
desires the United States government to attempt
its introduction. For our own part we do not know
of any place where it is likely to succeed. Un-
fortunately the United States has no " government
stations " in different parts of the countries where
knowledge from actual experiment, under the direc-
tion of intelligent gardeners, could be obtained.
The experimental grounds under the direction of
the State Colleges may some day supply this de-
ficiency, and many of them could do so well
already. No doubt Professor Hilgard, of the Uni-
versity of California, could soon tell whether it
was worth while to invoke government aid for Cia->
chona culture in any part of California.

Les Plantes Potageres, description: et cul-
ture des principaux Ifegumes des climats temperas,
par Vilmorin, Andrieux et cie. Paris, 1883.
(Kitchen Garden Plants, and the principal legumes
of temperate regions, with their description and
culture.) This is a magnificent work of 650 pages
by this world renowned seed firm, profusely illus-
trated by fine engravings and giving minutely the
histories of everything known. It is amazing what
numbers of plants are under culture, of which
little is as yet known in our country. Thougb
the French language is now widely understood in

96

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[March,

America, we believe an English translation issued
here would have a wide sale, and we submit the
idea to the enterprising authors.

The Virginias. — Among the many magazines
issued, the bulk are passed over with a momentary
satisfaction, and that is all. Those which are of
a permanently interesting character are few and
far between. The Virginias (old Virginia and
new Virginia), edited by Major J. Hotchkiss, of
Staunton, is one of these substantial serials. It is
devoted wholly to the development of the indus-
tries of these States. It seems to us that no one
who has either direct or indirect interests in the
two Virginias, but will profit by reading it.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

To Intelligent Correspondents. — All com-
munications relating to advertisements , subscrip-
tio7ts, or other business, must be addressed to the
publisher, 814 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

All referring to the reading matter of the maga-
zine must be mailed to the editor, Germantown, Pa.

No express packages for the editor received un-
less prepaid ; and marked "Paid through to Ger-
jnantown. Pa."

Hawthorns. — "E." says: "The racy sketch of
hawthorns in your February number, by your in-
tellectual correspondent, W. T. Harding, of Mount
Holly, N. J., will kindle a glow of pleasing remem-
brance of youthful days in every British-American
heart. I remember well the blossoms in May,
and the haws in November. It is the British
hedge-thorn, which poets and orators have made
famous, that caused all other species to be highly
prized. Bums paints it with silver and gilds it with
gold in expressing his ardent love for " Highland
Mary : "

"How richly grows the gay green birch !
How sweet the hawthorn's blossom !
As when beneath its fragrant shade
I clasped her to my bosom."

Improvement in Young Gardeners. — "Chip"
sends the following pleasant note: "The first re-
quirements of successful gardening is close and
always prompt attention. It is so in every busi-
ness ; but irregularity in gardening is from the first
start failure. No matter how fine a theorist, it will
help you nothing if you are not prompt in practice.
Close observation and study of nature is your
surest guide. Take advantage of sunshine ; reg-
ulate your glass structures at once ; in stormy and
gusty weather secure as much as you can ; start

your fires early in cold days. In fact be prompt,
always on your guard. Do not think : " I will do
this or that, yet a little longer delay will not hurt."
My friend, that is just the most fatal to your suc-
cess. I know some of us have more on hand than
we can always properly attend to ; but study, with
work, helps things along. It is a poor excuse to
have no time for study. But always look to your
main work first.

"Now, Mr. Editor, whether to publish this, my
first attempt of ever writing for the Monthly or
any other paper, you are the best judge ; and if
you find it worthy of space, I hope a well mean-
ing advice will not offend."

Inquiries from Correspondents. — It is not
unusual for correspondents to apologize for "troub-
ling the editor." The editor cannot write private
letters to inquiries, except as a matter of personal
business or to personal friends ; but when the
answers may benefit other readers as well as the
one who inquires, it is a pleasure to respond.
Questions, therefore, suitable for reply through the
columns of the magazine, are always welcome.

The Late Mr. Edward Meehan. — Mr. Fal-
coner writes : " Well do I remember the lamented
father of the Editor years ago. On visiting St.
Clare, I met him there, a tall and genial gentle-
man, lithe and active, and an enthusiast in his
garden. It was there I saw for the first time a
multitude of plants growing out of doors that I had
used to know only as inmates of greenhouses.
And he was keen to tell their history to the boy,
and I as eager to glean the information from his
patriarchal lips, for he had then passed threescore
and ten. I was in England in November when
I read his obituary in the Garden. I was grieved
to lose him, and disappointed in thus being unable
to meet him, for I was going to the Isle of Wight,
and intended visiting him."

The Gardeners' Monthly for 1883. — It is not
unusual to receive numerous compliments from
subscribers when renewing their subscriptions, but
this year they seem more numerous and cordial
than usual. Many thanks to all for their good will.
As a specimen J. D. Y., Clinton, Iowa, writes:

" Please continue the Gardeners' Monthly.
I cannot get along without it. It has so many good
things in it. Strong's article on side graftings
alone, in one of the numbers, is worth the price
of it to me this year. I tried it on some grape
vines in August, also on cherries and plums, as
well as roses, and they all lived and are to-day
looking fresh and plump."

THE

Gardeners^ Monthly

HORTICULTURIST.

DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE. ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS.

Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN.

Volume XXV.

APRIL, 1883.

Number 292,

. Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground.

COMMUNICATIONS.

A RETROSPECT OF SUMMER.

BV JAMES MORTOK, TORRINGTON, CONN.

In pursuing this terrestrial journey of existence,
amid the many turns and vicissitudes that too fre-
quently befall the uncertain destiny of man, it is at
all times cheering to learn of the progress of each
other on the winding pathway that we tread. If
good and fortunate, that we might endeavor to
turn our wavering thoughts and guide our energies
in a similar course ; and, if otherwise, to be warned
against treading in such footsteps. And among
gardeners in particular, much might be learned,
and many evils surmounted, that thwart the way,
and clog the wheels of their onward progress, by a
clear and frank acknowledgment within these
pages of some of their successes and failures alike.
It is all very well to write of one's success, but why
not have a line or two on failures as well ? And
now from a small standpoint I will proceed to
make a few remarks on some things that have
done well here, and some that have not, which,
from the limited scope of my observation, and the
limited resources at command, must not be takfen
as a criterion of things in general throughout the
bright spots of this land, where the starry banner
of horticulture has been unfurled.

The soil in this district is light and sandy, on a
subsoil of calcareous loam, hence its moisture-
retaining properties are small, and a dry time has
a ruinous effect, and never in the memory of the
oldest inhabitant have they experienced so long a
drought as last summer. About July 4th, we had
a copious downpour for a couple of days of that
refreshing liquid, and since then (save but a few
showers at intervals, hardly sufficient to lay the
dust), until September nth, we never had the
ground wet enough for vegetation to rush with
any stimulus. Consequently many things suc-
cumbed outright to the scorching rays of an almost
tropical sun, and most of what struggled through
was. weak and puny, and got prematurely ripe.
The spring was late and cold, nothing starting
until late in the season. Colens, for weeks after
being planted in their summer quarters, dwindled
in the chilly atmosphere, and promised poorly for
a good display, but with the revival of — to them — a
more congenial temperature, although far into the
season, they assumed a new life, and went ahead,
making a good show. The best, I find, for mass-
ing, is the old Verschafeltii. A large bed of this,
with a wide margin of Stevia van, the latter kept
pegged, had a pleasing effect. Hiawatha looked
good for a time soon after it began to grow, but as
the season advanced it showed a tendency to
flower, and t]ie leaves it produced were smaller

98

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April,

than at first, and of a paler a'nd less beauteous
hue than heretofore, for which reason I consider it
only middling for bedding purposes, and hardly
that. Glorie d' Automne did pretty well, but not
assuming its rich markings so vividly as a few
plants kept indoors as a means for perpetuating its
species. A dark-leaved variety, with a purple tint
on the veins, of which I don't know the name^
served its purpose in good style for lining through
the lighter sorts, or intermixing with such as Stevia
variegata, or Centaurea gymnocarpa. Meteor,
Monarch, Golden Beauty, Delight, Perfection,
Aurora, May Queen, Monitor, James Vick, Colum-
bia, Jewel, Triumph, and President Garfield, while
they stand pre-eminently suited for indoor culture,
have not here any special merits for open air bril-
liancy. Alternantheras have not assumed their
rich golden and crimson tints this season, notwith-
standing the brightness and dryness of the summer.
Golden Feverfew (Pyrethrum parthenifolium au-
reum), has been a signal failure. It looked good
for a time after planting, but soon began to damp
and spoil the effect where planted. Mesembry-
anthemum cordifolium variegata is a plant I
thought unmatched for carpet bedding, but here,
beneath the rays of a scorching sun, it is worth-
less, never producing its sparkling leaves and
stems as is its wont in a more salubrious clime.
Browalha elata, I find, is a good thing for a rib-
bond border; so, also. Chrysanthemum frutescens.
Lobelia erinus compacta made an admirable
line for the early part of the season, but later On
it drooped its tiny heads all round, began to
damp away in the center, and finally most of it
disappeared long before the others ceased to be
gay. Asters do not finish well here ; they grow
and bud with amazing vigor, but ere they reach
the summit of their beauty they turn prematurely
brown and die away. Dahhas do pretty well, but
many of the buds, for some reason or other, never
come to anything, rotting away, while other
blooms make a profusion of beauty. Heliotropes,
tuberoses, geraniums, verbenas, phlox, salvia,
pansies, gladiolus, ageratum and many varieties of
lilies appear to do best here. Achyranthus, too,
wherever planted, seems to be the leading feature,
and thrives under many circumstances.

Among vegetables, corn, peas and beans are
very poor, the latter so .late that many won't get
filled ere the frost overlaps us with its icy mantle.
White corn got prematurely ripe from the intense
heat and dryness of the atmosphere. Beets, pota-
toes, onions, tomatoes, cauliflower and celery are
all good. Melons were also a good crop, and gave

hopes of a plenteous yield of fruit. But ere they
reached maturity, I went through the hills one
morning and espied some footmarks that seemed
as much out of place as that solitary one Robinson
Crusoe beheM in the sand, on his desolate island,
together with a broken fence rail, which were vivid
indications that the marauder had been at work ;
for gone were the melons, and naught but the sere
and shrivelled leaves remained to compensate for
the time so vainly spent in a hopeful endeavor to
mature what nature nurtured until the hand of
greedy man tore ruthlessly away.

Such episodes as these metaphorically sip the
honeyed nectar of the gardener's pride, and plant
with burdocks his bed for roses, testing his abil-
ities to refrain from vindictive thought or supplant
his ruffled feelings with more hopeful views than
his first impulses presented. But fortunately in
the gardener's career such incidents dwell in an
inferior minority. Still, though most of his toil
and exertion invariably give pleasure, they are
not all devoid of pain. It is nice to scatter the
tiny seeds and watch them burst and spring forth
from their moulded beds, and then behold the
weak and puny buds develop into flowers of un-
equalled beauty. It is also nice to trip o'er the
dewy-crested lawn, and brush the shining drops
away in quest of some fair specimen of the floral
tribe ; but is it nice to find on going through one's
plants in the morning, that the slugs had directed
their peregrinations through some pans of seedling
Gloxinias, leaving nothing . but their slimy trail
behind? Or, how is it for fun to find your neigh-
bor's cats all squatted in the pansy beds, or bask-
ing in the rays of an evening sun upon his boxes of
geranium cuttings ?

I fear I have traveled wide of my mark and
lost my subject in the sentiments of a gardener's
care ; therefore 1 will add the remaining shred to
my tree of retrospect. If the past season has had
its glories mingled with adversities, his patience
will bear him o'er its lacking features, and forti-
fied with the knowledge of the past he must ulti-
mately achieve victory over his failures, and then
in such hopeful contemplation, can say : What if
the past season was unfavorable, the coming will
be better.

CANNA EHMANNI.
BY MR. A. NEUNER, LOUISVILLE, KY.

Being familiar with the nature of this strikingly
new Canna, we wish to give a few hints to your
readers about the treatment of tubers after frost
has killed the leaves. Unlike other varieties of

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

99

Cannas the leaf-stalks of this sort are more fleshy,
and the new eyes or side-shoots less prominent, and
unless the tubers are kept growing after taking
them from open ground before frost touched the
leaves, or if leaves have to be cut off after frost
killed them, the opening and drying off has to be
done very slowly, and in a warm house, or the
roots will invariably rot. The only really safe
way I found to be to cut off only a part of leaves
and bury the roots under a bench in a light and
warm place when vegetation will be kept up all
winter, or at least until new shoots show them-
selves.

Then only it will be safe to divide the roots too.
Canna Newtonia iridiflora has the same habit and
foliage, and requires same treatment. Its sole dif-
ference is in the color of its flowers, being of a
lighter red.

I may mention that we have succeeded in
raising a beautiful yellow blooming Canna, flowers
same size as Canna Ehmanni.

FLOWER-BEDS.

BY MR. N. ROBERTSON, GOVERNMENT GROUNDS,
OTTAWA.

The beauty of a design is to have it brought out
so that any one can tell what is meant, without
being told, as is the case in many instances. To
show a distinct pattern with flowering plants,
requires a considerable amount of attention and
care to be properly done, for which I practice two
plans that may be of some advantage to your
readers.

To keep my colors from intermixing 1 use two
plans, one is putting a line of some stiff growing
plant between the colors, to harmonize and be
trimmed to line and height. Say it is a red, I use
Achyranthes, and for a white. Cineraria mari-
tima, or some such plants. My patterns are
drawn on the bed, and they are planted on the
lines. Another method is planting short stakes
around my lines, not to show above the plants,
and running stove-pipe wire on them, and turning
the colors to their respective sides. All this may
seem a good deal of trouble, but will well repay
by a distinct pattern, for this is the main point in
all such work, and I would especially advise all
who try such beds with flowering plants, to evade
intricate patterns, or acute points, and not less than
bands of two feet wide, for considerable mass of
color is required to give effect.

With plants such as Alternantheras, Thymes,
Pyrethrums, &c., and low growing plants, as

Echeverias, Sempervivums, Sedums, &c., any
design almost can be carried out ; the first can be
clipped into any form, and the last will not out-
grow their position.

My designs are all planned, drawn to a scale,
and colored nearly to that of the plant to be used ;
during the winter months, calculating the quantity
I may require — and being sure to have plenty to
plant close, as our summer seasons are so short that
early effect is required. This study of my patterns
I consider a very important part ; for let any one
go out in the spring without this preparation — and
he will surely make many mistakes which this will
obviate.

When my beds are dug and made firm, I have
them raked smoothly ; I then put a plank across,
raised on blocks at each end ; if the bed should be
wider than can be reached in this way, I put two
feet into the end of a plank, resting the feet in the
bed, and the other end on the grass, or walk; from
this I draw my plans, and plant, never treading on
my bed after it is raked. For this purpose I use a
large wooden compass, rule and line. The com-
pass is extremely useful where you want to follow
a curved or irregular edge, setting it to the distance
you want, keeping one point to the edge, and
marking with the other. The planks I use in the
same way when doing all my summer trimming of
the beds, thus leaving no unsightly marks.

I mentioned in a late number of your paper
that my facilities for keeping over such a large
quantity of plants (about twenty-five thousand), is
very limited, and had driven me to try various plans,
and have them look ornamental as well. The
greenhouses are visited by many, especially during
the session of parliament, and it would not do to
have them otherwise than neat and tidy. My pas-
sages being wide enough to admit of a box four
inches wide and five deep, attached to the front of
my benches, this box runs all round, and is filled
with the different varieties of Alternanthera,
which when broken up in the spring and put in
the hot-bed, gives me a large quantity of it, and
gives a fine finish to the benches, as a border.

As to other plants, such as Echeverias, Semper-
vivums, Pachyphytum, Verbenas, &c. In the first
two only offsets afe saved, and put closely into
boxes made of a uniform height and width, painted
green, filled with sand ; the last two are made of
cuttings, and treated similarly ; the boxes are
placed on the front of the benches in another
house, and look very ornamental, the back portion
of the benches being filled with other plants.
These are samples of many things I use in this

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April,

way. Sometimes I save the old roots and put
them on some out of the way place, and they
soon push up young plants which are taken off
in the spring and make nice plants.

With such things as geraniums, when taken up
in the fall, only the cuttings are saved, and boxed
up in the same manner in boxes of sand, and put
on a shelf all round, close to the glass, where they
are not much seen, and by the month of March are
all rooted and potted up ; by this time they can
be put in hot-beds, and are in the best order pos-
sible for bedding in the latter end of May, which
is as early as we can put anything out with safety
here. Such plants as Salvia officinalis, Mesembry-
anthemum cordifoHum and the Thymes are all done
in this way. Any amount of cuttings can generally
be got from them early in the spring in this way,
from which I make large quantities grown in the
hotbeds. Only in a very few cases do I ever keep
over the old plants, and that where plants grow so
slow that one year is not sufficient to grow them
large enough to be useful, such as Leucophyton
Brownii, &c. All this will be nothing new to prac-
tical men, but will be of benefit to many who are
not acquainted with this way of keeping over large
quantities in a small space, as to which I have
many inquiries.

HOPE FOR CITY TREES.

BY MARGID DIGRAM.

A drug Store on upper Broadway, N. Y., between
the squares — possibly it is directly opposite the
Union — may now be seen of evenings brilliantly
illuminated with electricity. The light is not fur-
nished in a large globular lamp, as we have here-
tofore seen it, but is broken up into a multitude of
jets, each of which is surmounted by a vase-shaped
shade, if I may so term it, of clear glass, which has
a broad line of ornament chased or ground upon
it. This shade is especially mentioned because it
seems to be a helpful feature. The hght given off
from the small jets is not silver colored as in the
spherical lanterns, nor of a rich gold color as in
the gaslight, but is somewhere between the two;
resembling, in fact, that which we see in the stars,
and casting off, like them, scintillating beams or
radiant lines of light.

From thi^ upper Broadway pharmacy, I suppose,
the new method will spread until every city, town
and village within the Union is as richly furnished.
Now this fact, it seems to me, is of some interest
to the arboriculturist, and to the lover of ornamen-
tal trees. With the actual departure of the gas-

light, and its accompanying nuisance of gas waste,
the tree grower, if he is a lover of his kind, should
make an heroic attempt to again carry his vegeta-
tion within the city limits, and regain and plant
the streets which have too long suffered from his
absence.

It would be well, if in the cost of each tree set,
should be included also a fee for the care of it for
a number of years, say five or ten, the oversight
to cover the two or three weeks immediately fol-
lowing its first insertion in the ground, and subse-
quently a semi-annual inspection and cleansing
from insects. Though the majority of town resi-
dents seemingly labor under the impression that
arboreal vegetation will take all necessary care of
itself, it is a mistake, and tree growers as a body
should see that they are better informed, and keep
them so by periodically refreshing their wonder-
fully short memories.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Strong-Rooted Perennials.— Many perennial
plants are betterforbeing occasionally transplanted,
but there are others where the rule will not apply.
At a recent meeting of the Massachusetts Horticul-
tural Society, C. M. Hovey said that " the Fraxi-
nella should be grown from seed where it is
wanted ; it makes strong woody roots, with no
fibres, and is very difficult to transplant. The same
is the case with the Asclepias tuberosa, which he
esteems the most beautiful of all our native plants."

Failure in Narcissus and Daffodils. — A
Germantown correspondent last year asked us
about the failure of some old beds to make good
flowers. At a recent meeting of the Massachu-
setts Horticultural Society, Mrs. H. L. T. Wolcott
said that "her narcissus buds failed so that she
gave up in despair, but she took them up and
reset them, and every bud gave a flower."

Rose Niphetos. — This, which has become so
popular with cut flower growers in America, is just
as popular on the other side of the world. It is
an old rose now, as it was raised by a Mons. Bou-
gere- Breton in 1843, ^^^ '^^ '^ remarkable that its
merits should not have been noted till 1870 or
thereabouts. Surely " Hope on " might be the
motto of many a good rose which thought itself
neglected.

Fine Old Judas Tree. — In the garden of Mr.
E. Harcourt, at St. Clare, in the Isle of Wight,
there is just now a Judas tree, Cercis siliquastrum,

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

in blossom which is worth a pilgrimage to see. It
would hold its own even in the environs of Smyrna.
The tree is i8 feet high, and the circumference of
its branches is about 75 feet. At this present mo-
ment it is laden with blossom, and its kind of ruby-
red against the dark foliage of a tall Pinus insig-
nis, which grows close by, is most striking to look
at. — H. E., in Garden.

GiNGKO. — The maiden hair tree is found to be
quite hardy at Montreal.

The Ash as a Street Tree. — Dr. John A.
Warder says : " In this prairie country one of the
very best trees for street planting is the green ash.
The size is just right, the growth when young is
rapid, the form is easily controlled by judicious
trimming, and the foliage is very neat and of a
healthy green, which is nearly the same on both
sides of the leaves. Then, too, the trees may be
had at reasonable rates from any nurseryman.
Whole blocks, or indeed whole streets, might well
be planted continuously with the green ash, and
produce a good effect.

Evergreens in the Shade. — It has often been
noted in these columns that evergreens often die
when under other trees, not so much from shade as
from the drouth and poverty brought about by the
numerous roots of the larger trees. A heavy ma-
nuring will often give vitality enough to keep such
hedge plants in good heart, when it is particularly
desirable to have them in such situations. Of
success under these circumstances with arborvitses
a correspondent of the American Gardeft gives a
good example.

Rose Madame Boll. — The French Journal
des Roses remarks that rose growers derive no lit-
tle satisfaction from the contemplation of fine,
vigorous foliage, as Avell as from fine flowers. In
this respect it praises especially this fine old Hybrid
Perpetual, Madame Boll. This was raised in 1856
by Mons. J. Boyan, of Angers, from seed of a rose-
colored hybrid perpetual crossed by Bell Fanert.
It was named after Mrs. Boll, the wife of a well
known florist of New York city.

A Long Island Gingko Tree.— In Mr. Hen-
derson's Handbook of Plants, mention is made of
a fine tree on the grounds of Mrs. Manice, of
Queens, Long Island. It is not near as old or as
large as many in the country, the one at Wood-
lands, for instance, being one hundred years old,
but it is a very fine tree of its age. It is over 35 feet
in height and 3 feet 2 inches in circumference,
one foot above the ground, and has been planted

about thirty-seven years, though no one knows its
exact age.

Hardy Cyclamens under Trees. — This little
sketch of Cyclamens was from a group allowed to
run wild among the grass under some trees in a
garden at Tooting. Right bravely for years they
had held their way among the grass and weeds
and carpeted the ground with their glossy leaves,
and flowered freely in winter and early spring.
Although mostly a South European, North African
and Western Asiatic family, various species grow
on the hills, and they are with very few exceptions
thoroughly hardy. There should be no difficulty
in naturalizing cyclamens in copses and half shady
places, where the surface vegetation is not too
rank. We believe they will grow in many of the
places for which people so often seek for "plants
that will grow under trees." The mossy floor of
many a grove where grass will not grow may be
enamelled with the Ivy-leaved Cyclamen, with C.
Europaeum, C. vernum, and, in fact, most of the
species and varieties, with the exception of the
Persian cyclamen, so well known as a spring-flow-
ering greenhouse plant, and which is not hardy
everywhere. — Garden.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Bedding Clematis. — A Canadian correspond-
ent says : "Those who have tried the clematis as a
bedding plant, trained on the ground, will oblige
me and many others if they will report their suc-
cess through the medium of your Gardeners'
Monthly, stating the position where they have
done so and what varieties they prefer for this
purpose. If they will succeed in this way they
will make a fine display, and be very valuable in
bedding, if they only make half the display they
do when trained upright."

Raising Seeds of Herbaceous Plants. —
"N. B. C," of Bucyrus, Ohio, says: "For the
last four or five years I have planted, and
given to two or three friends, seeds of the
following plants: Aconitum nap. (Monkshood),
Belladonna atrop. (Nightshade), Digitalis purpur.
(Foxglove), Conium mac. Hyoscyamus niger
(Henbane). I have always obtained the seed
from three different dealers. But the- result was
the same, invariably — a total failure, not a seed of
any variety growing. Last year one of my lady
friends had a few plants of digitalis, and she fondly
looks for blossoms the coming summer. All the
above are, I think, indigenous to the United States

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April,

and Europe, and I have tried to imitate as far as
possible the natural conditions and habitat of the
plant, but without success. Can you put me on
the track of some specific information as to the
proper method of planting and managing such
seeds ? Is the subject one of sufficient general
interest to justify a few brief hints in the Garden- |
ERs' Monthly ? I am anxious to raise these j
plants, as it is difficult to find medicinal portions of
them in market that are satisfactory." i

[The failure could scarcely be from bad seed,
for most of those named keep good for several
years. Most likely the failure comes from deep
sowing. Plant as early in spring as possible, make
the merest scratch in the ground, cover the seed
slightly ; then press the earth very firmly, and par-
tially shade. There will be little failure under
this plan. Occasionally seeds of these plants lie
over in the ground till the second season. — Ed.
G. M.]

Greenhouse and House Gardening,

COMMUNICATIONS.

STEAM HEATING.
BY C. F. EVANS, ROWLANDVILLE, PHILA.

In accepting the task imposed upon me of giving
my experience in steam heating, I have done so
fully aware of the fact that I am standing before
those far beyond me in business experience. I
therefore claim
your i nd u 1-
gence. So im-
pressed am I,
however, with
the importance
o f steam-heat-
ing in connec-
tion with our
business, and
so fully am 1
convinced of
its superiority
■over all other
modes of heat-
ing that I gladly
avail myself of
this opportunity

to add my testimonial to the many that steam
has already secured. Last winter, the first sea-
son in my career as a florist, we had five green-
houses, two heated by Hitchings' boiler, the re-
maining three by means of flues. I soon became
convinced that both ways were far from perfect,
and in the anticipation of building more houses I
■immediately commenced looking for some more

Fig. 1 shows how the steam enters over the door, and is then run over to
the coils situated on the sides of the house. The black dots represent the
valves conti-olling the coils.

improved method. I became impressed with the
idea that steam would be the most effectual and
desirable means, and of course read all the articles
in our various journals for and against it with deep
interest. I corresponded also with all the florists
in the United States who were using steam wherever
I could find them. Besides this, I sought the advice
of some of my much esteemed brother florists in

Philadelphia-
many of whom
have been so
kind and gener-
ous in their as-
sociations with
me. I found
much to encour-
age me in my
pet theory, and
yet much to de-
ter. Instances
were quoted me
of men who had
been ruined
through its use,
and indeed I
must acknowl-
edge that many times 1 would decide at night
that it would not be safe to try the dangerous
experiment ; that 1 must stick to the hot water
system ; yet invariably a night's sleep would
dispel the misty doubts, and the next morning
would find me possessed with a greater long-
ing for steam than ever. Late in the winter,
having heard of some greenhouses in Flatbush

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AND HORTICULTURIST.

103

which were heated by steam, I determined to visit
them. I found the proprietor far from being per-
fectly satisfied, and again my ardor was dampened.
I had read in the Gardeners' Monthly the ad-
vertisement of the Exeter Heating Apparatus, and
upon writing to the company I received from them
such information as decided me to go to Boston
and see one of their boilers in operation. 1 felt I
had found the right thing; indeed, so much was I

slightly, the lever falls and opens the draft. In
safety appliances there are a safety valve and
safety plate.

From the upper drums (spoken of in the descrip-
tion of the boiler) start the steam main, which
is perpendicular for twelve feet, and then branches
off and runs through both of the sheds ; — the pipe
always growing smaller the farther it gets away
from the boiler ; at the center of each house this

Flf/.R.

Fig. 2 shows a coil with maiiil'ohls on each end, and the drip taken from one of tlieni. The letter A represents an air valve.

pleased that before I left Boston I bargained with
them to heat my ten houses.

I will now give a description of my boiler. The
Exeter heating boiler consists of a series of sections
rectangular in form, two feet long, two and a half
feet high, three and a half inches thick. Each
section is cast with eight openings through it two
inches by twelve inches. These sections being
arranged over the fire two inches apart, trans-

pipe is tapped and the coils run in the houses. I
have a drawing of a coil. These coils have a fall
of nine inches in every one hundred feet, so that
all condensed steam runs to the lower end, where
a drip is taken out of the bottom of the manifold
(this drip also having a fall of nine inches to one
hundred feet) and runs into a main drip which
runs the entire length of the shed; it is under-
ground, and has a fall of two feet towards the

versely to the draft, the openings form fire tubes boiler. In my five houses, 22 feet by an average
(although not continuous, as the spaces between ! 115 feet, there are 16,445 cubic feet each, or 82,225

the sections unite them into
one space), and increase the
heating surface, while their
walls tie the flat sides of the
sections together.

Every angle is rounded
inside and out, and the bot-
tom and top faces of each
section have wave-like
forms, to permit expansion
and contraction. The lower
and upper parts of each sec-
tion are connected by an
extra heavy pipe, extending

O

o

-also

Fig. 3 shows a front view of sectio'.i-
showiiig the flue pipes formed, AAA.

Fig. 4 shows an end view of section, showing
openings into which the pipes running into the
water and steam drums are.

cubic feet of air in all to be
heated. These houses each
have about 1,000 feet oi \]l
inch pipe. In my other five
houses — three 12x96 and
two 18x96 — there are 50,976
cubic feet of air to be heated,
and there are about 3,000
feet of one-inch pipe ; so that
in all we have 133,201 cubic
feet of space to heat and
5,000 feet of i)^ inch and
3,000 feet of inch pipe do it
admirably. Before speaking
of the advantages gained
like to say that each feed

through the v/all of the set

ting to a main outside drum common to all. by steam I would

There is an automatic damper regulator which which supplies the coil has a valve on it ;

is attached to the boiler, and operated by the each drip has a valve ; each coil has an autom-

steam it can be adjusted to any desired pressure \ atic air valve, and upon each end of the coil is a

(say two pounds in cold weather), and when the ' manifold which is so arranged with a system

steam reaches that pressure it immediately acts on
the automatic regulator, shutting the draft door
and closing the damper in the pipe leading to the

of valves that I can use as many pipes as the
weather makes necessary. The advantages of
steam as they occur to me ; ( i ) The pipes certainly

chimney, thus checking the fire and preventing do not occupy one-fourth of the space demanded
an increase of steam. As the pressure decreases 1 by hot water pipes ; they are usually against the

I04

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April,

partitions, and quite out of the way. (2) The heat
can be graduated to the greatest nicety, distance
from the boiler being of no consideration, those
farthest distant can be heated, without heating
those near at hand, if desired. Should you want
to keep a house cold, let the valves remain closed;
if not so cool, turn on one pipe ; warmer, two
pipes, and so on. (3) As to the dryness of the
heat from steam pipes — which some claim as a dis-
advantage— I must own that I fail to see why the
heat radiated from iron pipes should be changed
at all in character as to moisture, whether the heat-
ing medium inside the pipe be steam or water. (4)
A most important advantage in steam-heating is
the great economy in labor. With five houses last
winter we required eight fires in the coldest
weather, quite distant from each other in location.
Now with more than double the amount of glass,
we have but two fires in the same boiler hole, side
by side. Then again, no fire can be more easily
managed, the automatic dampers work to a charm ;
indeed, as far as such a thing is possible, it seems
to me the apparatus is almost self-regulating.
With reference to economy of fuel, I consider it
compares very favorably with other means. I
should suppose that we burn about three tons of
coal per week, and we cover an area of over
20,000 square feet. Probably some of my older and
more experienced friends can better form a com-
parison in this particular than I.

Much as I favor heating by steam, I do not
think that I can too strongly protest against en-
trusting the applying of it in greenhouses to the
care of those who do not fully comprehend the
peculiar necessities of the case. Many good
steam-fitters, with much experience in applying
heat by steam to ordinary buildings, would fail
probably in giving satisfaction in greenhouses.
But properly applied, I think it cannot fail to
produce successful results, and the happy florist
who introduces it into his houses will doubtless
join me in thinking steam heating without a rival.

MORE ABOUT STEAM HEATING OF

GREENHOUSES.

BY E. H. BOCHMAN, PITTSBURGH, PA.

Two years ago I was prevailed upon to give an
account of my practical experience in the use of
steam-heating of greenhouses, partly urged by
some of my fellow florists, and partly feeling an-
noyed, to tell the truth, by noticing so many mis-
statements on the subject appearing in horticultural
publications in this country, as well as in England

and Germany, most of which .evidently bore the
stamp of ignorance and prejudice on the part of
their authors, while others, in their own description
of the apparatus, gave the key to its failure. Had
I known the avalanche of inquiring correspond-
ence I was about to precipitate upon myself, I
might well have hesitated ; but, on the whole, I
suppose the thorough agitation which the subject
has received ever since, has been of practical ben-
efit to the cause of floriculture. When I can state
that at this day every florist's establishment of any
considerable size about this city is heated by steam
and giving entire satisfaction, and when I am
furthermore credibly mformed that several other
cities are doing scarcely less, I may be justified in
the belief that this agitation has borne some fruit
already. It is but a day or two since I met one of
our prominent florists, to whom I had given some
slight assistance in the shape of advice in regard
to steam-heating. It happened to be the day after
the most blustering cold night we had this winter,
and the enthusiastic endorsement he accorded
steam was a caution to skeptics.

The new system (I am only speaking of my own
experience with it) has now been on trial seven
seasons, and so far it has failed to verify in any
one particular the doleful predictions so prevalent
at the time when the original bantling began to be
talked about. Boilers and pipes have obstinately
refused to burst, and the plants grown with aid of
steam-heat somehow or 6ther remain distressingly
healthy, other treatment being equal, as a matter
of course ; and what a difference in the attention
required 1 Let me give an illustration from practi-
cal experience in a place, the houses of which
formerly were heated by eight hot-water boilers in
severe weather. It used to keep one man on the
go continually to stoke his fires and watch his ther-
mometers ; one or more of the fires requiring to be
kept at the greatest attainable draft, while some
othei's performed their allotted duty with less fre-
quent attention. After a night of such labor the
man would be completely worn out with being
overheated at one time in front of his furnace, and
chilled at another in traveling to the next. Now
for the contrast. Instead of eight fires, located
perhaps three hundred feet apart, he keeps one ;
his valves have been regulated for the different
temperatures desired on each house, and a week's
practice teaches him what pressure of steam he
requires to offset any given outside temperature,
while his steam-gauge is right before his eye to tell
the tale. He takes an occasional glance at his
out-door thermometer, and finds, say an e.\:eptional

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

105

degree of cold, perhaps accompanied by high
wind ; as a precaution he goes the rounds of his
houses and finds old Boreas is getting the upper
hand of the fifteen or twenty pounds of steam he
may be carrying at the time ; that is, he finds
58° where he wants 60°, or 40° where he de-
sires 45*^. Does he rush back frantically to
stir the fire to greater exertions, or rouse up help to
cover the threatened plants with blankets or mus-
lin or paper ? Not much he don't ; he returns to
his boiler and sets the weight of his pressure-regu-
lating valve a few pounds further out, or similarly,
if he uses a damper-regulator, he adds a few
pounds there, and in the course of a very short
time he is absolutely certain to have his houses
right to a degree.

Perhaps some of my readers may think the
above blanket story overdrawn, but it is not ; it
happened in my own experience not once, but half
a dozen tirnes in one season, not above five miles
from New York city, and moreover in what was
then and is now one of the best appointed estab-
lishments in the country.

If the following information appears lengthy,
I wish to offer the excuse that I know the sub-
ject to be of some interest to literally hundreds
of the readers of the Monthly, as I have their
letters to show for. To answer each individually
became an utter impossibility, as the scope of
questions contained in any single one was so ex-
tensive as to require going over the whole field in
detail.

To begin with the boiler or boilers most suitable.
Nearly every inquiry embraces that, and would be
easily enough answered if the kind of fuel most
convenient to the respective locality were men-
tioned. If soft or bituminous coal is your fuel,
and your concern is large, say upward of 3,000
feet of glass, I should use the Cornish boiler as the
one producing the most economical results ; but
its first cost is considerably above that of any
other pattern. Next in order for the same fuel
comes perhaps the so-called Mississippi steamboat
boiler, containing a double flue. For anthracite
or coke I should give the preference to the follow-
ing styles of boilers in the order named : i, loco-
motive, fire box ; 2, tubular, with the fire under the
boiler ; 3, sectional boiler. The boiler once chosen,
the next thing in order is the best location for the
same ; if the topography of your site admits of a
difference in levels, place your boiler at the low-
est possible point, so as to be able to return all the
condensation to it by gravity; even where your
ground will not admit of that altogether, it is of

advantage to secure as low a level as possible, in-
asmuch as the automatic return trap will have to
lift the condensation just so much less, and will
work at a lower pressure, as it requires about one
pound of steam to raise a column of water two
feet.

Be careful to secure ample draft by giving your
smokestack or chimney an inside area one-third
greater than the combined area of the flues or
tubes in your boiler, and make your connection
from boiler to chimney as direct as possible. * As
regards the position of the pipes in your houses, be
particular to have them hung (which is far prefer-
able to resting them on fixed supports) with a uni-
form descent to the pipe or pipes conveying the
condensation back to the boiler, thereby avoiding
the unpleasant cracking noises heard in pipes im-
properly placed. Make all your connections from
the main pipe to the heating coils of uniform size ;
say i( or i inch for very long lines ; observe the
same rule in your connections with your return
pipe, for which, however, you may use a size
smaller valve, as, for instance, '4 inch valves on
return connection to 3,4 inch for live steam, and ^
inch valves on returns to I inch for live steam.

The relative amount of your radiating surface
in your heating pipes to the area to be warmed, of
course varies with climate and exposure. For our
locality, where the mercury occasionally falls to
20° below zero, and on reasonably well-constructed
houses I give the following relative figures :

Area of house
in cubic feet.

70

50

Teiuperature
wanted.

65°

Radiating Surface
of pipe
in square feet.
1
1

The size of pipe which I find best adapted to the
purpose is 2-inch or larger (wrought iron, of course),
designated in the trade as black pipe (lap-welded)
and I cannot but repeat my warning against the
use of too small pipe, a mistake I have had to per-
suade against in every new attempt at steam heat-
ing ; people are led thereto by a notion of supposed
economy, than which nothing can be more erro-
neous. There are two reasons against the use of
small pipe on long lines. The first is the rapid con-
densation going on in comparison with that in large
pipe, thus necessitating a much higher initial steam-
pressure, and second, the waste of a large percent-
age of heating power in friction. It would be
feasible to convert the steam into electricity instead
of heat by carrying it in pipe sufficiently small in
diameter.

On the other hand, the introduction of steam as
a heating medium in establishments already pos-

io6

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April,

sessing more or less considerable area of glass
heated by the hot-water system, had not unnatu-
rally led a few into an opposite error, that is, to
attempt to utilize the existing pipe (4-inch cast iron)
to convey the steam therein. In the case of the
ordinary soil pipe, generally used for hot water, I
do not hesitate to state most emphatically that they
are useless for steam, no matter at how low a press-
ure. I have admitted steam to a line of them at
less than half-pound pressure, and had upward of
100 feet of them cracked in an instant. The much
heavier pipe made by some manufacturers (Messrs.
Hitchings & Co., for instance), may be able to
carry steam at low pressure ; but I should hesitate
about assuming so great a risk ; and why should
you do so when there are several ways out of the
difficulty ? In the first place, by taking your pipe
apart, you may realize, as has been done here, to
my knowledge, almost if not quite sufficient to pay
for a complete outfit of steam apparatus. Should
your pipe, however, be joined with iron filings, and
therefore too troublesome to take apart, I should
advise the adoption of the method described by
Messrs. R. G. Parker & Co., of Boston (Sept. No.
G. M., 1880), that is, to heat the water in your
pipes by steam through a coil introduced in place
of your respective hot water boilers. You will
thereby enjoy nearly all the advantages of the
steam system, and may of course use direct steam-
heating apparatus in any additional houses, while
firing the entire establishment from one point.

To mention a few other points suggested through
the correspondence arising on the subject, and
which I shall touch as briefly as possible : Capacity
of boiler in horse powers. From my experience I
should advise one-horse power for each 120 square
feet of radiating surface, which in two-inch pipe is
about 240 lineal feet ; but I consider liberality on
that point a wise economy. Another point of ad-
vice is to rather use two boilers placed in battery,
but in such a way as to be able to use but one at a
time or both together, as circumstances require.
Be sure tt provide both ample steam and water
connection (4-inch or more), for reasons it would
take too long to e.xplain, but is nevertheless of
greatest importance.

The advantage of being able to return the con-
densation to the boiler is so great, not only regarded
from the standpoint of economy in fuel, that I ven-
ture to allude to it again ; much the same as Mr.
Peter Henderson, referring so frequently to the im-
portance of firming the soil about seeds because of
its great importance. In addition to effecting a
most decided economy in fuel, it insures freedom

from scale or mud deposits in the boiler, because
the same water is used over and over again. It
also insures you from the danger arising from a
sudden stoppage of your water supply, caused by
freezing, or perhaps a break in the water pipe which
supplies you, and which would leave your boiler
dry before you could devise any means to prevent
such a mishap; in short, my urgent advice is, not
to neglect this point above all others. I regard all
other devices for the better control of steam as a
heating medium, highly valuable as some of them
undoubtedly are, as secondary to the absolute and
constant return of the condensation to the boiler.
Of these above devices I would mention as very
desirable a good damper-regulator ; its name suffi-
ciently describes its use ; also a rehable pressure-
regulating valve, which will keep the steam in
your heating pipes at any uniform pressure you
may want (thus guarding against overheating
through carelessness) as long as you maintain
as much or more pressure in your boiler.

Such safety-guards are not only of great assist-
ance in the uniformly even performance of the en-
tire apparatus, but they also effect a very notice-
able saving in fuel.

I believe this covers the principal points of the
inquiries I have had on the subject. I have tried
to avoid the use of technical terms as much as
possible, so as to be intelligible to those of your
readers not mechanics enough to grasp their
meaning. If I have succeeded in making myself
understood I shall feel amply paid for the effort.

BLISTERED LEAVES IN GREENHOUSE
PLANTS.

BY G. GEDULDIG, NORWICH, CONN.

It seems that most florists and gardeners do not
know how plants get burnt through the sun. Mr.
Peter Henderson, even, advises in his pamphlet,
"Greenhouse Structures," to throw away all glass
having flaws, etc. I never found burnt leaves
from such glass. All burns I found to come when
water lodges between the laps, which will make a
.focus when the sun strikes it on the right angle.
Such panes of glass do not lay tight enough on
each other, hence the blistering water is held
there. Such laps should be filled with putty.

[Mr. Geduldig is probably correct in his judg-
ment. The writer of this has hitherto believed
with Mr. Henderson and others, that some defect
in the glass has caused the blistering ; yet he has
often endeavored to trace the relation between
these burnt leaves with the ideal "blister in the

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

107

glass," without success. Moreover, he has seen
leaves of camellias and callas badly burned in
some seasons, pass through without the slightest
injury in others, though placed in the identical
places — which could hardly be, if the same burning
blisters in the glass were there. There may be
variation in the quantity or condition of water
between the laps, while the glass itself will remain
the same.— Ed. G. M.]

STEAM-HEATING.

BY JAMES SHORE, GERMANTOWN, PA.

In your February number, Mr. E. Holley, of
New York, asks some questions regarding steam
heating. I would say that I would not advise the
putting in of smaller pipe than ij4 or 2-inch size.
His house being, as he says, 100x20 feet, and 5
feet in height, it gives say 12,000 ft. of air surface.
To be heated to a temperature of 65° it would take
three rows of i^-inch pipes, or two of 2-inch, on
each side of the house, allowing sufficient heating
surface for extreme cold weather. Allowing i j-^
pounds steam in low pressure boilers, the greater
the pressure the higher the temperature. Low
pressure, with automatic dampers and valves, is a
more economical system than that of hot water.
The latter calls for the heating of ten times the
amount of water that steam requires. All pipes
should have a gradual fall from boiler of i ^ to 2
.inches in every 10 feet of length, then it requires
no pressure to force the water through the pipes.
See that the pipes furthest from the boiler are not
less than 14 inches above the water line of it ; —
more will be better. The return pipes must
descend to boiler, connecting with the bottom of
it. Such a house will take a boiler containing a
heating surface of 130 feet, or of about six horse
power. One of twenty horse power would heat
four such houses. All things being equal an ordi-
nary boiler will answer the purpose. It is better
to have a boiler with automatic arrangement so
that the pressure and temperature will be uniform.
Leaving a good fire at 10 P. M., it would need no
attention until 7 A. M. the next morning.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Flowers in Chicago. — During the week be-
fore and after Christmas, Mr. Edgar Sanders esti-
mated the following "cuttings" of flowers grown
for market by the florists of Chicago :

"Roses, 77,000; Carnations, 82,000; Hyacinths,
32,000 ; Lily of the Valley, 10,000 ; Violets, 1 5,000 ;

and Smilax, 12,000 strings; with eighty of the
smaller fry to hear from."

One florist, J. C. Vaughn, reported as his October
sales, 61,000 carnations, 10,000 roses, 6,000 tube,
roses, and 1,100 strings of smilax.

Insects on Flowers. — Says a correspondent
of the Garden: "The best insecticide, and the
safest I have ever met with, is nicotine soap,
which, from containing the active properties of
tobacco with other ingredients, is fatal to insects,
and has a marvellously cleansing effect on the
bark of trees, which it frees from all parasites in
very quick time. For using on the stems of vines
and peach trees it is quite unrivalled, as with a
brush and a slight scrub, followed directly after by
a dash of water from the syringe, it leaves them
bright and polished, free from all slimy deposits
and other confervae. At one time peaches and
vines used to be daubed with a coat of liquid
clay and other mixtures to smother scale, but with
nicotine soap there is no need of this, and anyone
who is troubled with that insect, or red spider, or
thrip, has only to apply the wash to be rid of the
pest. If on the young shoots of peaches, the best
way is to syringe it on at a strength of four ounces
to the gallon of water, used at a temperature of
90° or 100°, and immediately afterwards the stems
of the trees should be scrubbed and the whole
rinsed off at once.

Heating Greenhouses. — Some years ago we
suggested that a hot pipe be carried up neai*where
the great enemy frost was to be attacked, and not
solely along the floor of hot-houses. Many of
our florists now have small hot water pipes run-
ning along at the foot of the rafters. The idea
has crossed the water, although English climate
is not so severe on greenhouses as ours. Leading
nurserymen have the plan in practice.

New Inventions. — It is remarkable how long
the world will be near a first-class invention with-
out actually stumbling over it. The writer re-
members, when examining the first sewing
machine which came before him, how put out he
was to find it but a simple adaptation to machinery
of the common chain stitch so familiar to boys of
the last generation, who had to make their own
toys. Why could not some of these bright boys
have invented this machine long before ? It now
appears from some of the mummy garlands
unearthed in Egypt, that the florists of three or
four thousand years ago, used the chain stitch in
fastening the flowers to the wreaths. A long time
to be so near a great discovery.

io8

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April.

Croton Leaves in Flower Glasses. — Any-
one who has a number of flower glasses to keep
supplied with cut flowers during the winter and
spring months, often finds it more difficult to
obtain a supply of fresh fern fronds than flowers,
especially during the spring, as the fronds are cut
as soon as they appear, and they keep fresh for a
very short time in such a young state. For the
last few years in filling our flower glasses we have
always furnished a few with Croton leaves of dif-
ferent varieties, and find them both useful and
effective. Large, trumpet-shaped glasses, with a
few arching leaves of Croton Warrenii, give a
graceful appearance, and for smaller glasses the
leaves of the old variegatus section answer well,
and save both ferns and flowers. The plants that
we denude of their foliage for this purpose are such
as have been used for room-decoration. Those
plants when put back to their old quarters, the
stove, generally lose all their leaves by degrees,
and it is best to cut them down and let them start
afresh. — David Murray in Jour, of Horticulture.

The "Smilax," — Myrsiphvllum aspara-
GOIDES. — We note by the Enghsh papers, that the
Enghsh florists begin to believe that possibly the
American taste which makes use of such large
quantities of this plant is perhaps not at fault, and
that it possibly might be worth while for English
florists to go and plant some.

Popular, Cut Flowers in France. — We note
by a French paper that it is reckoned that the
daily'sale of natural flowers in Paris realizes about
$20,000. The flowers most in fashion at present
are the gardenia, which sells at five francs each
flower ; the lily of the valley, worth ten francs
the pot ; the queen rose and the purple rose, the
Spanish carnation and the violet. Of the latter a
large number come from Nice ; but they have not
the perfume of those grown around Paris. The
camellia, at one time so much prized, is now quite
out of fashion, just as it is in our country, though
there are signs that it will regain here some at
least of its lost popularity. It may be as well to
note that the French franc is worth about twenty
cents of our money.

Rose Caroline Goodrich. — This, we suppose,
tea rose, was raised by Mr. T. Walsh, gardener to
F. Goodrich, Esq., Riverdale, New York. The
flowers are of a deep red color, remarkably fra-
grant, and about two and a half inches in diam-
eter when fully expanded. Mr. Henderson says
it is unsurpassed in fragrance, the only deficiency
being in the form of the expanded flower.

The Double White Bouvardia in Europe. —

The Journal of Horticulture S2iy 5: "The Double
White Bouvardia Alfred Neuner is becoming a
great favorite with the florists and bouquetists in
Covent Garden, and the flowers are now quite
abundant in the windows there. It appears to be
greatly appreciated for button-holes, and for this
purpose the flowers are admirably adapted either
associated with rose buds, violets, the single scar-
let and pink bouvardias, and similar flowers.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Curcuma Roscceana. — " B. T.," Reading, Pa.,
asks: "Will some one who knows, of your many
subscribers, give the treatment of Curcuma Ros-
coeana ? I have been growing it for the last four
years, and have not been able to bring out its
beautiful bracts which are so highly spoken of. I
have grown it in a warm greenhouse, and outside
in the hot sun. The growth has been large but
the bracts would not come."

Rose Etoile de Lyon. — Specimens from
Nanz & Neuner indicate that this beautiful yellow
tea rose i^ fully the equal of Marechal Niel in
beauty. A good tea of this character, but without
the rampant and often shy blooming character of
the Niel, ought to be an unusually valuable intro-
duction.

Carnation from "L. W. E.," Poughkeepsie,
N. Y.— A seedhng, said to be distinct in shade
from all colors under cultivation, was sent to us,
but packed in dry cotton, and so shrivelled that
we could not determine the characte'.

NEW OR RARE PLANTS.

Crinodendron Hookerianum. — Messrs; Veitch
say of this plant that it is one of the most beautiful
hard-wooded greenhouse plants of recent introduc-
tion. It is a dwarf evergreen shrub, native of
Southern Chili, where it is quite rare.

The plant is of bushy habit, and furnished with
rather narrow-pointed, bright green leaves, sharply
toothed at the upper half.

It is remarkably free-flowering ; the flowers
either singly or in pairs, are produced from the
axil of nearly every leaf towards the ends of all
the shoots. They are about the size of a walnut,
and pendulous from rather slender footstalks, two
to three inches long ; the petals are of thick,
waxy textiire, like those of Lapageria rosea, and of
the same brilliant scarlet-crimson color.

A colored engraving of the plant is given in the

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

109

Garden for November 27th, 1880. In the same

esting among the numerous new and rare plants

journal for May 22d, it is described as " one of shown at the Royal Botanic Society's Exhibition

the most remarkable new plants we have seen for \ on May 19th, on which occasion it received the
a long time, and constituted by far the most inter- award of a certificate of merit." . ^

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April,

Fruit and Vegetable Gardening.

COMMUNICATIONS.

A VISIT TO A PEACH. ORCHARD IN OYS-
TER BAY, QUEENS CO., L. I.

BY ISAAC HICKS.

Last autumn I accepted an invitation to visit a
peach orchard. The proprietor had tried an ex-
periment which was so successful that he was
pleased to have his fruit-loving friends examine
and admire it too. Some five or six years ago he
took a piece of new land recently cleared of trees,
planted three acres with peach trees. Said piece
was nearly surrounded with woods or trees, with a
southeastern exposure, and the soil a light sandy
loam with a portion of clay intermixed one or two
feet below the surface. Although Long Island is
a large and rather valuable moraine cast up by
that immense glacier that covered New England
in periods long past, we find occasional patches of
clay scattered amidst the strata of sand and gravel
of which our island is composed. Our friend
plowed and tilled his new land as best he could
among the stumps, raising crops of vegetables
while the trees were small, and above all, not al-
lowing a weed to grow. His instruction to his
men was to destroy every weed they saw at any
time they saw it, and the purslane — they must put
it in their pocket and throw it over the fence. And
the trees were the most beautiful and thrifty we
had ever seen. He had cut back a part of every
year's growth, manured it moderately with the ad-
dition of phosphates and ashes lightly every year,
I think he said, and they had grown from eighteen
inches to two feet this year, although bearing full
crops this year and last. A few were showing the
appearance of the yellows, but several of these
bore full and finer fruit, ripening earlier and color-
ing finer than others. He had spent about two
weeks in thinning the fruit when small, so that no
tree should overbear ; the fruit was of even size
— little inferior fruit to be seen. He was a novice
in peach-growing, and was much interested in se-
lecting the most profitable sorts when they were
purchased. The results may be interesting to
others. The early peaches were not profitable ;
some rotted sadly, were of small size, and brought
small prices, too. The Mountain Rose, Crawford,

early and late, and the Barnard, a yellow peach,
and rather late, were very satisfactory. But none
were so beautiful and good, that we saw, as the Old-
mixon free ; large, rich color, luscious, they filled
every requisite of a good peach, and were ripen-
ing, when we were there, in all their glory. Later
kinds than the Crawfords were not profitable ; so
many do not ripen up unless we have a fine warm
season on Long Island. Ward's Late was not val-
uable to raise for market. Susquehanna is large
and very fine, but not enough of them. Yellow
peaches at present sell better than white of same
size. The sales in 1881 from three acres amounted
to #950, or near that. The present year {1882) he
would not realize so much ; the price was less.
The sheltered position, protecting from the severe
cold winds in winter, and the virgin soil, united
with the best of care, were the secrets of success,
and the question is, who will or can do likewise
and enjoy so great a reward ?

TO DESTROY CABBAGE AND OTHER
WORMS.

BY GEORGE GEDULDIG, NORWICH, CONN.

Your February number quotes an English paper
as advising to pick off the cabbage worm or cater,
pillar by hand — a good piece of work at high
wages! I will give a better way to get rid of any
caterpillar or slug on any plant, no matter how-
tender, or whether in flower. Take a handful of
hellebore, sieve it fine into a large water-pot, pour
three quarts of boiling water on it, stir it well and
fill the pot full with cold water. Take a syringe or
the fine rose of a water-pot, and put the liquid on.
In twelve hours the worm is g-one.

STRAWBERRY RUNNERS.
BY A. A. BENSEL, NEWBURG, N. Y.

Many of the small fruit catalogues contain items
of information to growers which may prove of im-
portance. Instance the following, which I ven-
ture to say has seldom been the subject of thought.
I take it from " Strawberry Culture and Catalogue,"
of Matthew Crawford, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio:
"All who have cultivated strawberries must have
noticed how inconvenient it is to have the runners

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST,

III

extending in all directions. Sometimes they run
from one row to another, where they are torn up '
by the cultivator, and sometimes two plants send \
their runners toward each other, making some
parts of the row too thick, and leaving others va- 1
cant. All this may be avoided by setting the
plants in such a position that tliey will run in a
given direction. I discovered years ago tliat the j
strawberry plant sends out runners in but one di- '

The Schumaker Peach.

rection, or from one side, and that is the side oppo-
site the old runner that produced it. If the side of
the plant from which the main runner was cut is
set toward the north that plant will run to the
south." This hint will be useful in the patch as
well as in the small fruit garden.

THE SCHUMAKER PEACH.
BY C. S. CARR. ERIE. PA.

It is acknowledged to be the leading peach in
this section, and earlier than any other by ten
days, and has not failed to bear since beginning,
in 1877, every year. Young trees last season had
from five to fifteen peaches, and the owners, citi-
zens of our city, were so proud that we had many
samples left and requests to call and see our new

peach from July 3d to loth. We sent you speci-
mens two years ago.

[Our readers will remember the favorable no-
tice we gave of the fruit at that time. — Ed. G. M.]

PEAR-TREE "BLIGHT."

UY CHAS. D; ZIMMERMAN, BUFFALO, N. y.

This subject has probably been before you at
every meeting since the organization of the society,
and in looking over the
proceedings we feel very
much like a member
who said at a meeting
as long ago as 1855, " I
have read a wheelbar-
row load of books on
the subject and have
learned nothing," and
in a recent publication
we find: "Now, Mr.
Editor, I have a firm
belief that nobody
knows anything about
this disease more than
another, and it is a
waste of time to listen
to anybody's say about
it." Hoping your soci-
ety will pardon me for
adding another "straw,"'
1 will be as brief as pos-
sible.

The progress made

toward discovering the

cause of pear "blight"

has certainly appeared

very slow to those who

have been compelled to see their trees stricken

down under the best (?) of care, nearly powerless

to prevent the spread of the disease.

Nearly every writer on pear culture in the past,
has advanced different theories as to the cause
and treatment of the disease, variously termed
"fire blight," "sap blight," "frozen sap blight,"
"insect blight," "summer blight," "winter blight,"
etc.

Insects were often accused of being at the bot-
tom of all the trouble, and we are not quite ready
to give them a verdict of acquittal. They are
charged with aiding in spreading the poison, and
for many it would be hard to prove an a/i'l/i.

Electricity was believed by some to be the cause,
with plenty of argument to back it. The appear-
ance of "blight" after a thunder shower is a well

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

tAprii.

known fact, which would Appear as conclusive
evidence.

The theory that the freezing of sap in a healthy
branch will cause " blight " is still prevalent.
Tender or unripe shoots often suffer or are killed
by sudden freezing and thawing in the sun, caus-
ing, however, a different effect from the so-called
bhght. A blighted spot, the size of a hand, often
found on the trunks of trees, would be difficult to
e?xplain by the "frozen sap" theory.

I'do not believe that sap ever freezes in a healthy
tree. Frost extracts moisture from the plant cells,
and if the roots do not extend below frost, or
where they can supply the deficiency, the bark
shrivels, and the tree often dies.

It' was left for the microscope with its modern
improvements, and to the accuracy of investiga-
tions made with it, to reveal the true nature of the
rnysteridus disease. In a letter to the Gardeners'
Monthly (August, 1875), ^^- Hunt says: "I have
exartiiried those pear branches, and find that the
tlacls color is caused by a fungus. * * * I can-
not name the fungus. Repeated observations
only can determine that question. * * * I have
made thin sections of stem, bark, fruit and leaves'
and removed excess of black color until I could
send daylight into every cell ; and then under
* 500 the parasite reveals its presence.' '

For the next five years little progress seems to
have been made, except that the German and
French naturalists, principally Cohn, Magnin,
Pasteur, and Frische, continued to publish their
eJcperiments and discoveries. In 1880, Professor
Burrill announced that "blight" in the pear, apple,
and quince was caused by bacteria, the smallest
liVlhg organism known. He found that they
destroy the stored starch grains, causing the same
to ferment, leaving the cell structure apparently
unharmed.

With the poisoned sap he inoculated healthy
trees, of which over sixty per cent, showed signs
of "bhght," clearly proving that bacteria is the
cause and not the effect of the disease. No counter
evidence has been brought against these experi-
ments of two years ago.

About twenty years ago, Derlaine stated that
bacteria belonged to the vegetable instead of the
animal kingdom, as was the belief up to that time,
and only a few years since it has been proven that
they attack and destroy living matter. They in-
crease by "fission," dividing in the middle, under
favorable circumstances, once every hour, and
sometimes even oftener. Once an hour would be
at the rate of sixteen and a half miUion in twenty-

four hours. A few species are also perpetuated by
spores, like fungi. The most favorable temper-
ature for their rapid development appears to be
about 95° Fahrenheit, together with plenty of
moisture.

Prof Burrill is of the opinion that this kind of
bacteria (Microcosus amylovorus B.), is rarely
found floating in the air, being extremely viscid,
and usually mucilaginous, when moist. In this
condition they would be readily carried about by
insects. The most likely to aid in their dissemina-
tion would be the true bugs (Hemiptera), who
obtain their food by the use of a sharp beak, with
which they puncture the bark to suck the sap,
and by coming in contact with the sticky, poison-
ous fluid, may carry it from one branch or tree to
another.

The following is Burrill's description of the
species:

" Mycrococus amylovorus, Burrill. — Cells oval,
single, or united in pairs, rarely in fours, never in
elongated chains ; imbedded in an abundant
mucilage, which is very soluble in water; move-
ments oscillatory ; length of a separate cell, .00004
to .000056 in. ; width, .000028 in. ; length of a
pair, .00008 in.; of four united, about .00012 in."

It is quite evident that the disease is one of the
outer cellular bark, as the bacteria are unable to
penetrate through the best cells, and can spread
up or down only by working their way through
the apparently solid cell walls. There being no
such things as sap veins in plants, analogous to
blood veins in animals, the spread of the disease
from the point of attack must be comparatively
slow.

Soil, situation, exposure, &c., have little or noth-
ing to do with the disease. That some varieties
are more subject to its attack than others is well
known, and has been fully discussed by your
society, as well as lists published of those most
exempt.

Of the different modes of cultivation, the one
that produces a moderate, healthy growth should
be preferred to that of excessive growth. It is
quite apparent that trees highly stimulated by
manure, severe winter pruning, and clean cultiva-
tion are most subject to "blight." The orchards
uniformly most exempt from "blight" that have
come under my observation were those well culti-
vated in grass, /. e., the grass kept short by re-
peated cutting (never allowing the grass to ripen
or go to seed), with occasional, at least biennial,
top dressing of barn-yard manure, or other fertil-
izers. In short, treated like a lawn. The annual

AND HORTICULTURIST.

"3

growth will be moderate, but healthy ; quite dif-
ferent from thiose stimulated to excessive growth
by clean cultivation and the stereotyped annual
cutting back of two-thirds of last season's growth.

Remedies : Eternal vigilance and a sharp knife.
Carbolic acid is extensively used to destroy bacteria ;
it may be diluted with i ,000 parts of water to one of
the acid. Quinine is also used. Cold does not
kill them, but activity ceases at or near the freez-
ing point. Frische claims that 123° Fahrenheit
below zero will not kill them. In the adult state
most bacteria are destroyed in water heated to !
150° Fahrenheit; spores have been known to sur- '
vive a short immersion in boiling water.

I have often prevented the increase of poisoned j
parts by carefully cutting off the outer bark with a 1
sharp knife, and applying linseed oil. This must |
be done very soon after the appearance of "blight."

A careful examination should be made after
•every warm rain, and warm nights with dew.
Such examinations should be made at least once
a month during the summer. Any parts showing
signs of the disease should be removed immedi-
ately ; if an ordinary sized limb it had better be
cut off ; if on the trunk or large branches, the outer
bark may be peeled off and the spot covered with
oil.

All diseased parts removed, branches and bark
shaved off should be consigned to the fire at once.
It requires close observation to detect the disease
in the first stages, the bark turning black is rather
a second stage ; and also to make sure that the
cut is below all the affected parts.

In the case of contagious diseases among ani-
mals caused by bacteria, it has been found that
the bacteria may be cultivated, whereby it loses
most of its poisonous qualities, and animals inoc-
ulated with it take the disease in a mild form and
are ever after free from that disease.

Now let us hope that some genius will contrive
a way to cultivate the species of bacteria under
consideration, so that by inoculating pear trees with
it they would be "blight" proof. This would open
a field for a new profession — a tree doctor.

[This paper was read before the Western New
York Horticultural Society.]

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Irrigation. — Watering by irrigation, even
where Nature is profuse in rain, is found to be so
useful that in some of the best fruit and market
gardens of Europe it is provided for. Revue

/r(?r/zf£'/<? says that in the middle regions of France,
especially in Provence, artificial irrigation is re-
duced to a system, and practiced on a vast scale.

Mouse Traps. — There are many ingenious
contrivances for trapping vermin, the following
from the "Gardening Illustrated" will add one
more to the useful list:

" Take two common bricks, place them on their
narrowest sides 4>^ inches apart, say by the side
of a row of peas, having previously levelled the
ground. Cut a piece of stiff wire about 3 !^ inches
long, on this thread a pea, bean, or any bait you
choose, lean one brick in a slanting position towards
the other, supported by the wire from about the
center of one brick to the other; the slightest
touch from a mouse and the slanting brick will
immediately fall, and, I think, poor mouse will die
instantaneously. I have frequently set over night
four of these traps, and caught three mice in the
morning. Birds never interfere with my traps."

Over-bearing Pears. — One of the best pears
is the Rutter, but it has a tendency to be remark-
ably productive. When allowed to bear all it
wants to, it is about as worthless as a pear can
well be. This is probably the reason why the
Kieffer is so variable in character, as its tendency
to fruitfulness is enormous. No fruit requires
thinning more earnestly than the pear.

Planting Dwarf Pears below the Graft.
—Mr. B. O. Curtis says: "Twenty-five and thirty
years ago, guided by what seemed to be a general
opinion among tree planters that the dwarf should
not be planted deep lest the pear strike its roots into
the ground and become a standard tree, I planted
the lower part of the pear n"ot deeper than the sur-
face of the ground and raised the earth two inches
higher; and not over one per cent, of them have
formed pear roots. I would now prefer that all
had formed pear roots and become half standard,
as I would thereby get the advantage of the early
bearing of the dwarf and the greater size of the
half standard."

Schoolmaster Apple. — When we consider
how numerous is the American list of good apples,
and how difficult it is to choose between the lari^e
number of superior kinds pressing themselves on
our attention, it is surprising to read that in Eng-
land the "list of really good and useful apples
such as are hardy and good bearers, is limited."
In view of this fact the "Schoolmaster" has been
introduced by Mr. Laxton. Out of a very large
number of promising new apples submitted to the
Fruit Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society
during the past three years, three only have re-
ceived first-class certificates — " Schoolmaster "

114

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April,

being one of the number. The fruit is beautifully
streaked and colored and of rich and excellent
flavor, with tender and crisp white flesh.

Pyle's Red Winter Apple. — Mr. Achelis
sends us in the end of February, some specimens
of this large, showy variety, which proves to be
one very easily kept over winter. It strikes us as
being as profitable an apple as one can grow.
The flavor, too, is fully equal to that of the great
majority of popular apples.

Fruiting the Kieffer Pear. — The Rural
New Yor/cer has taken pains to get the views of a
large number of prominent men who have tested
the Kieffer Pear during the past season. It is
worthy of note that none of them consider the
flavor above good. As we have stated we have
had some very poor fruit, but also have had some
which have been at least the equal of any pear we
have ever tasted. The quantity exhibited during
the Centennial were all of this very superior
quality. There must be some reason for this
variation. When we know how much the over-
crowding of fruit on a tree has to do with its
quality, and when we know how enormously a
Kieffer will bear if permitted to, we do not think it
is far out of the way to attribute much of the in-
ferior quality reported to over-production. In our
office one of the friends who were unable to speak
well of it, stated that his fruit was from a "two-
year-old graft on a large pear tree, and which
bore very freely." This is surely not a fair test.

The Sand Pear for Stocks. — It has been
supposed that as this grows so very strong and
healthy it makes exceptionally good stocks for
the ordinary pear. Mr. J. B. Garber says they
grow amazingly for a year or two, and then sud-
denly stop and become stunted. He regards the
Sand pear as of no value therefore for stocks.

Cherry Trees in Japan. — Among the flowers
of spring it is to the cherry bloom that the Japanese
pay most attention. Among the sombre old Cryp-
tomcrias and pines of Uycno, its delicate white,
or white gently tipped with pink, appears surpass-
ing beautiful, especially on the drooping boughs.
Mukojima, however, has the chief attractions.
Here, along the east bank of the river Sumida,
is an avenue, two miles in length, bordered with
cherry trees. Early in April fleets of pleasure
boats glide up the stream, filled with gaily dressed
people of all classes. In the avenue it is difficult
to make one's way, so dense is the throng. But
at the side are little gardens, with tea houses where

breathing space may be had, as well as refresh-
ments, a specialty of the place and season being
a drink flavored with cherry blossom. It is a
merry sight, the endless vista of overarching
boughs as white as if laden with snowflakes, each
breath of wind scattering a shower of delicate
petals; the cheerful crowd of holiday-makers mov-
ing quietly, or sitting in rest houses, with their
tasteful attire and winning manners; the peals of
laughter and fugitive strains of music; the tidy
pavilioned pleasure boats moored to stakes which
support the sedgy river bank ; one or two sails of
barges making their way down or up stream; a
glimpse of the upper reaches of the river. City-
ward the pagoda and great roofs of Asakusa, and
above the great city, with its grey roofs, sprinkling
of white walls, and wooded bluffs. Have we
reached the "land of perennial life" of which the
poets of Japan have so often sung? It would
seem almost so ; the whole scene is so perfectly
delightful, so suggestive of undisturbed peace and
prosperity. — T/ie Garden.

Strong Asparagus Plants. — Since the writer of
this first called attention to the fact, now many years
ago, in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia, that asparagus was
bi-sexual, much attention has been given to it
from a cultural point of view. Among other things
a correspondent of a contemporary suggeststhat the
female plants, readily told by their bearing berries
in the fall, produce weaker plants than the barren
or male plants, and that they should be . weeded
out. We fancy that this is rather the result of
hypothetical thought than of practical observa-
tion. So far as wc remember at this writing, there is
no rule of this kind. But it is worthy of further
investigation.

Good Vegetables. — At a recent meeting of
the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Hon.
James J. H. Gregory was called on to say some-
thing about vegetables. He said that market gar-
deners could afford to plant only such vegetables
as are well tested, and it is the business of seeds-
men to experiment with new varieties and intro_
duce such as prove valuable. Some foreign veg-
etables, like the Soja bean (which is the most
nutritious food in the world), are of little value
here, though very important elsewhere. Mr.
Gregory gave an interesting account of the history
of several vegetables introduced by him. His
account of the Marblehead squash was that it was
brought into the country from the West Indies.
He advised to grow the best varieties for market.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

"5

even if they were not the most productive, behev-
ing that they would command such a price as to
make their culture profitable. When the Hubbard
squash and Early Rose potato were first sent to
market, the marketmen rejected them. The Stone
Mason cabbage has one fault, which is more
noticed by seedsmen than by farmers — a tendency
to rot at the stump. Burbank's Seedling potato
is decidedly later than the Early Rose. Early
potatoes are most needed, as they are least hable
to injury by the potato beetle, the last brood of
that insect being the worst. There is no better
cropper than Beauty of Hebron ; it is much like
the Elephant. The Early Munich turnip is the
earhest of all,, and a decided acquisition. The
American Wonder pea is as early as the Dan
O'Rourke. The John Bull pea has very stocky
leaves; it is the best of the stocky peas, which
do not generally fill out well, but this does; the
pods and peas are both very large. Our hot, dry
climate is not so favorable to peas as a moist, cool
climate like that of England. Mr. Gregory rec-
ommended the extra early French turnip for trial
The Peerless White Spine cucumber is an improve-
ment on the common variety. Tailby's Hybrid is a
fine kind. The Broad Wax pole bean is a desirable
variety. Carter's Strategem pea is desirable for
amateurs. Potter's Excelsior corn is white and
very sweet. The Cuban watermelon sometimes
weighed forty pounds; it is the same as the Excel-
sior and a fine variety. The Long Hill watermelon
is a good variety ; fairly early. The Valencia and
Surprise are two excellent muskmelons; the latter
is very delicious. Hancock's Early pea gives most
satisfaction among the hard yellow varieties^
Laxton's Earliest and Ferry's First and Best are
the same. The Little Gem squash is fine Tor family
use, though its color is not deep enough for pies_
W. D. Philbrick said that the Early Drumhead
cabbage, introduced by Henderson, is so early
th,at it may be followed by a crop of squashes.
It is larger and more solid than the Wyman or
\ 7akefield.

Flat Chinese Peaches. — It should be remem-
bered that when these are referred to, the whole
race is referred to. There are varieties of these^
some perhaps better than others. The one being
propagated in the Southern States is known under
the Chinese name of Peen-to.

Profit in Cabbage. — Joseph Harris tells the
American Farmer \h2it: " It would not have been
a difficult matter to grow 5,000 good heads of cab-
bage per acre, which could readily have been sold

at ten cents per head. The planting, cultivating,
harvesting, burying for the winter, and marketing,
would not cost over one cent per head, thus afford-
ing a profit of $450 per acre. This is five per cent,
interest on $9,000 per acre. We can afford to
smile at those who sneer at us for plowing our
land four or five times to destroy weeds and get it
into good shape for starting a good field-garden."
The chief object Mr. Harris had in view was to
point out how much superior good land and well
cared for soil were to the ordinary slipshod
methods of treating the ground.

Elevations for Peach Growing. — It may be
remembered that when altitude is spoken of in
peach growing, mere height above the sea is not
intended — any elevated spot which will admit of
the fogs falling into the lower ground is the idea
intended to be conveyed. And this is probably
true of all fruits, as of peaches. However, in re-
gard to peaches, the editor of the Country Gentle-
man remarks "that it is not altitude above the sea
level which affects the bearing, but ground suffi-
ciently elevated above sheltered valleys to be above
the lakes of cold air which settle in those valleys.
We have found by the thermometer a difference of
several degrees, on cold, still nights, between the
temperature at the bottom of such valleys and only
fifty feet up. Those valleys may exist on table
land a thousand feet high, and be fatal to the
peach crop ; and hills where the crop escapes may
be only a hundred feet above sea level."

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Grafting the Apple on the Pear. — "R. Y.,"
Austin, Texas, says: "I have suffered year after
year from the depredations of tlie borer, to such
an extent in my apple orchard, as to dishearten
me. I find the apple is more reliable here than
the peach, and the flavor is far ahead of some
varieties grown at the North. I would have no
difficulty in raising great quantities of this fruit,
and could make it a source of profit by judicious
selections and proper care, but all the remedies
yet tried have not proven a perfect success in
ridding my orchard of this pest. Close observa-
tion has convinced me the pear is the healthiest
and longest lived of all the fruit trees, and as the
borer does not touch it (at least this is my experi-
ence), I am of the opinion that if the apple can
be made to succeed on the pear stock, we will find
a remedy against the borer. The difference be-

ii6

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April,

tween plum and peach, or apricot and almond, and

which are grown on plum or peach stocks, it
occurs to me is about as great as that of pear and
apple. Do you think if the apple thus grafted
would grow, would it fruit?"

[There have been no successful attempts to
graft the apple on the pear that we know of.
Relationship is a poor guide in these matters. For
instance the sycamore maple does not take well
on its close ally, the Norway maple, but seems
quite at home when grafted on the very different
silver maple of America, and the pear takes well
on the quince or hawthorn, but does not like the
nearer apple. Only actual experiment decides
these questions. — Ed. G. M.]

Budding Peach Trees. — Mr. McCarthy, at the
Naval Asylum, Philadelphia, says he has a new
method of budding peach trees, which is worth
thousands of dollars to any peach grower, but as
the method is not given in his paper there is no use |
in our publishing it. !

Raising Seedling Fruits. — "(2uerist." It is |
not necessary to cross or hybridize fruits in order !
to get new varieties. There is every reason to
believe that though a flower was fertilized by its
own pollen, there would be some variation among
the seedlings. So far as we can judge, variation
seems to be a part of the nature of things. The
progeny will of course vary more from the parent
form when fertilization is brought about through
the agency of some very different variety. Vari-
ation is no proof of crossing by another varietyi
or hybridization through another species.

Grafting Pears on the Hawthorn. — W. B.
Brandt, Ohio, says: "We hear now and then of
pears being grafted into the Cratsegus. There are
pears grafted into limbs of large trees in this sec-
tion. What variety would likely be best for that
purpose ? Would the Crsetagus oxycantha do as
well as any ? We have here what we call "The
Red Haw," an edible fruit; is this a variety of the
Crataegus; if so, what?"

[Though the pear can be grafted on the haw-
thorn, we do hot know that the plan has much
practical value. Some years ago it was thought
that dwarf pears could be produced by this method:
but as the hawthorn is no less free from the
attacks of the borer than the quince, there is no
gain, and then the quince stock is more easily
raised. Experiments have not been followed up
closely enough to afford any information as to the
' best varieties for the purpose. Any kind would
no doubt do for stocks; though the English Cra-

taegus oxycantha would perhaps be the best. The
edible fruited hawthorn is C. coccinea. — Ed. G. M.]

Inquiry Concerning Canker-worms. — Prof.
C. V. Riley, of U. S. Dept. Agriculture, says : "In.
preparing a bulletin on the subject of canker-
worms, to be issued from this department, I find
that much of our present information is of little
service, for the reason that until the year 1873, two
entirely distinct species of Canker-worms were
confounded in description, seasons, habits, and
geographical distribution. In many of the publi-
cations, of later date even, the distinction is made
either not at all or insufficiently.

"The most widespread and best known species
is the spring canker-worm (Paleacrita vernata.
Peck). The female rises from the ground chiefly
in spring, and secretes her ovoid and delicate eggs.
The second species is Anisopteryx pometaria^
Harris, and the female rises chiefly in the fall, and
lays her eggs in serried and exposed masses.

" Will you please give such information as you
possess, especially upon the following points, in
regard to the occurrence of canker-worms in your
own locality: i. Which species, if either, is now
found in your own locality, or has ever been
found? 2. When was it first observed there? 3.
During what years has it been especially injurious?
4. During what years has it been entirely un-
noticed? 5. Has the appearance of the perfect or
parent insect been confined to either season, the
fall or the spring, or has it covered both?

"Wherever any doubt can or does arise in
regard to the species observed, it is particularly
requested that specimens may be sent to the De-
partment. All expenses for packing and postage
will be reimbursed to the contributors if a request
to that effect is made ; or boxes and stamps for the
return of specimens will be sent to any person
who will notify the Department of intention to
contribute information and specimens.

" Observations may be made during all mild
weather from the present month (November), until
the middle of June. The more frequent and
detailed the observations the greater will be their
value. If you have not the time or inclination to
make these observations personally, you will con-
fer a favor by handing this circular to some person
who will be interested.

"Should this circular come to the hands of any
entomologist familiar with the two species, I would
respectfully ask of such any information they may
possess that will throw light on the range and pre-
ferred food-plants of either."

I8&3-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

117

Forestry.

COMMUNICATIONS.

FORESTS SUCCEEDING FIRES.

BY R. DOUGLAS, WAUKEGAN, ILL.

I am glad to learn from the February Monthly
that some one in Europe has noted the fact
that the aspen sprung up on the burnt lands in
Russia, as this will bring it to the notice of Ameri-
can writers on forestry, while my notes on the
same subject would be likely to pass unnoticed.
I called attention to this matter mainly to show the
great damage that is being inflicted on the country
by forest fires covering land with this worthless
tree, that would in time produce valuable timber if
the fires were kept out. There is nothing to excite
wonder in this tree being found occupying the
burnt lands in this country and Europe, at least
not to you or me ; as its habits, or rather its seeds,
are adapted to this purpose more than that of other
trees, and while its seeds are distributed freely
over both burnt and unburnt forest lands, their na-
ture is such that they can only germinate in the
fire-burnt soil or in moist ground and in swamps,
and it is reasonable to suppose that if there had
been no forest fires this tree would have been con-
fined entirely to moist land.

I think many of our writers have not given this
matter of seeds the attention it deserves. What
they call swamp trees are, many of them, well
adapted for growing on high lands, but the seeds
are of such a nature that they will not germinate
on high lands in the natural forests.

The willows, the elms, the silver and red ma-
ples and numerous trees are only found on the
borders of streams or in moist lands, while under
cultivation they make an excellent growth on up-
land. They grow in moist places only, because
the seeds could not germinate anywhere else. I
think it is a wise provision of nature, for if the
seeds of many of these trees could germinate nat-
urally all over the high lands they would be a det-
riment to the more valuable kinds. Fortunately,
the aspen is a small tree, and not very lasting, so
that more valuable trees can in time recover their
lost ground gradually. This also is a fact quite no-
ticeable to any who travel extensively through
the woods with their eyes open. But even one
generation is a matter of some consequence to us.

and it will take more than one generation for the
valuable woods to "run out " the aspens on the
high lands in the most extensive burnt districts.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

The Future of the Wood Supply. — In an
argument for the general introduction of wood
fibre for paper making, Mr. Thomas Christy says :
"The supply of wood is practically inexhaustible.
During 1 881, five million tons of wood for paper
making were introduced into the United Kingdom
from Europe, and nearly as much from the United
States. There is not the slightest ground for
believing that the full supply of this raw material
will ever fail." Mr. Christy evidently does not
believe that we are near the end of our forest
products.

Legislative P^orestry. — The most remarkable
incident of the popular forestry excitement is that
legislative bodies, moved to act under this excite-
ment, take no counsel with those who could wisely
advise them, but follow the lead of empirics or
visionaries who, while they know a great deal
about what was the direful result of cutting away
forests in the old world a couple of thousand years
or so ago, can scarcely tell a post oak from a pitcher
plant, or plant or prune a tree successfully to save
their lives. It has been the constant work of the
Gardeners' Monthly to save forestry from the
work of these people, because nothing so injures a
good cause as egregious ignorance. Take the va-
rious timber culture acts of the United States, the
looseness of which we have so often exposed. It
is a well-known fact now, that, though there have
been a few meritorious examples of intelligent
good faith, the great bulk of the grants under the
acts has been wasteful or fraudulent. In the lan-
guage of a correspondent of the Infer- Ocean, "very
few, if any, entering lands under the timber cul-
ture act, ever continue the culture after securing
their lands, and after completing their proofs there
is very little timber on the land that amounts to
anything. They simply plant a few scrub cotton-
wood trees, and after acquiring the title to the
lands, allow the fire to run through them, and that
is the end of their timber culture."

Il8

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April.

And now, after all this, a new scheme is before
Congress, called the " Dakota forestry bill," to be
championed by Mr. Pettigrevv, under which lands
in Western Dakota are to be sold to planters of
"twelve acres of timber," and so forth. It never
occurs to the wise men who project these schemes
that the planting of successful forests requires
knowledge and skill, which not one farmer in a
hundred is equal to, and that these twelve acre
lots cannot possibly amount to anything of conse-
quence, even though a few are successful in solv-
ing the great forestry problem.

But in truth it matters little, as we fancy, to the
"ground floor" projectors of these schemes,
whether any trees of consequence can by any pos-
sibility be made to grow in Western Dakota or
not; for is there not to be a "commission of three,
of whom two shall be practical (of course!) for-
esters ?" and their huge salaries will go on from
the passage of the act.

It is a great pity that there is not head enough

somewhere to get forests of a few thousand acres
apiece set out somewhere, with some such men as
Douglas or Sargent to supervise the whole ; and
there would be little need of forestry commissions,
whose only work is to write long-winded reports,
which nobody has any patience to read after Con-
gress has wasted thousands of dollars in publishing.

LoMBARDiAN Mlilberry Trees. — These are
the latest kinds offered. It should be remembered
by those engaged in silk culture experiments, that
all these new names mean nothing more than
mere varieties (and often barely that) of the com-
mon white mulberry. They are good enough in
their way. So long as nothing extra is paid for
the new name, people will not go wrong in buying
the plants.

Valuable Seeds.— Seeds of the most valuable
varieties of Cinchona bring $i,oco per ounce in
Ceylon. There are nearly 100,000 seeds in an
ounce.

Natural History and Science.

COMMUNICATIONS.

Observations on the Fertilization of Yucca, and on
Structural and Anatomical Peculiarities in Pro-
nuba and Prodoxus.*.

BY C. V. RILEY.

This paper records some recent experiments and
observations which establish, fully and conclu-
sively, the fact that Pronuba is necessary to the
fertilization of the capsular Yuccas. It describes
for the first time how the pollen is gathered and ,
collected by the female Pronuba. The act is as !
dehberate and wonderful as that of pollination.
Going to the top of the stamens she stretches her
tentacles to the utmost on the opposite side of the
anther, presses the head down upon the pollen,
and scrapes it together by a horizontal motion of
her maxillce. The head is then raised and the
front legs are used to shape the grains into a
pellet, the tentacles coiling and uncoiling mean-
while. She thus goes from one anther to another
until she has a sufficiency. My observations con-

♦Abstract of a paper read at the Montreal meeting of the
A. A. A. S.

firm the accuracy of Dr. Geo. Engelmann's con-
clusion as to the impotence of the stigmatic apices
in some of the Yuccas, and shows how the appar-
ently contradictory experience of Mr. Meehan can
be reconciled on variation in this respect in the
species of the same genus. The exceptional self-
fertilization in Yucca aloifolia — the only species in
which it is recorded — is shown to be due to the
fact that in the fruit of this species there is no
style, the st gma being sessile, and the nectar
abundant, filling and even bulging out of the shal-
low opening or tube. The flowers are always
pendulous, and the pollen falling from the anthers
can, under favorable circumstances, readily lodge
on the nectar.

The irregularity in the fruit of the Yuccas — con-
sidered a characteristic by botanists — is proved by
experiment to be due to the punctures of Pronuba.

The egg of Pronuba, which averages 1.5 mm.
long, having a swollen apical end, and a long and
variable pedicel, is passed into the ovarian cavity
of the fruit. The puncture is made usually just
below the middle of the pistil, on the deeper
depression which marks the true dissepiment, or
through the thinnest part of the wall. The horny

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

119

part of the ovipositor reaches the longitudinal
cavity at the external base of the ovule, near the
ferniculus, without, as a rule, penetrating or touch-
ing the ovule itself, and the dalicate and extensile 1
oviduct then conveys the egg for some distance (the
length of six or eight seeds), along the cavity, the
terminal portion of the oviduct being furnished
with retrorse hairs which help to hold it in place
during the act.

The paper concludes with some studies of the
internal anatomy of Pronuba and Prodoxus.

[It is proper to say that Mr. Meehan never
attempted to controvert Prof. Riley's observa- '
tions. Mr. M. simply showed that what Prof
Riley had found true in Yucca filamentosa, did
not occur and was not necessary in Yucca angusti-
folia, Unless it was assumed that what was true '
of one species ought to be true of all, there was
nothing to reconcile. Mr. Meehan's observations
were accurate in every particular, and exhibition
of specimens to sustain his facts were made to the
American Association in several successive years.
Ed. G. M.]

ORIGIN OF THE PRAIRIES.

BY W. H. P., CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Reflections after reading the extract from the
Independent in the January number of Garden-
ers' Monthly.

If the companions and successors of the doughty
Cortez, who penetrated to the interior of Mexico
in search of the precious metals, had taken a
course to the northeast instead of the northwest,
many things would have turned out very unlike
their present conditions.

One very probable result would have been that,
in working their way along the great table-land of
Mexico, and over the dry plains to the northwest,
they would have adopted the style of building
practiced by the aborigines of that region, and
thus become accustomed to use earth and clay,
burnt or unburnt, instead of the combustible
materials the present North Americans use. And
so, if they had in course of a hundred years or
more (which they would have had before the
French arrival), reached this locality, the city they
would have built would ha\e had no " Chicago
fire."

They would also have had to cross thousands of
miles of prairie, first arid enough and then of lux-
uriant verdure, with grass above the saddle-bow
of the gallant "cabelleros," so that it would be quite
natural for them to think that grassy plains con-
stituted the greater part of the continent, and that

it was made especially for horses and their riders.
And then, when they found at last a limit to this
state of things, they might have complained sadly
that dense forests obstructed their way, and that
provender for their steeds had failed, and all on
account of that unnatural and unfortunate growth
of trees and shrubs, which seemed to be reaching
out long arms over the beautiful savannas, and
threatening to cover them. They would probably
have been disputing to this day about the "origin
of the forests."

The emigrants from Northern and Western
Europe (itself largely a region of woodlands),
made their first settlements in a thickly wooded
country, and wherever they traveled they found
a boundless forest, through which the water-
courses were the only means of travel. But by
the way, according to the accounts of the earliest
settlers, these forests were in many places entirely
cleared of undergrowth by the intentional and
persistent efforts of the Indians, who burnt them
over every autumn, but did not destroy the forest.
These same early settlers asserted, and geographers
repeated for several generations, that North
America may be considered in general as one vast
forest. True, nowhere could vaster forests be
found, but the geographer of the present day, re-
membering the vast plains of Northern Mexico, of
Texas, and our Western Territories, as well as our
"Prairie States," from Kansas to the British line,
and the almost boundless plains of grass from
thence to the Arctic Ocean, would hesitate before
saying that the forest is the chief feature of North
America.

Why then assume that the forest is the natural
covering of our mother earth. Think of the vast
regions of Siberia; of the great grassy plains from
the Black Sea to farthest Tartary ; of the pampas
of South America. It would seem that grass is the
material of the robe, and the forest trees are the
trimmings of the same.

A^ you very well know, Mr. Editor, in certain
soils, and with certain conditions of moisture, the
tough and fibrous roots of the grasses will weaken,
yea, exterminate both grove and orchard. The
conclusion seems to be that man may break up
the prairie grass, and may plant groves of forest
trees, and with care and attention they will gen-
erally succeed. Or he may cut down the forest,
and grub up the tree stumps, and with hard labor
he will make good arable fields, and good pastures.
Thousands of smiling farms testify to his industry
and persistent care; but let him abandon his work,
and in comparatively few years the soil will revert

I20

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April,

to its original condition in the main. What was
prairie of old will be groves once more, and the
cleared farm will be forest again, as many, yes too
many, of the New England farms have already
done.

[The question of the origin of the prairies, and
the origin of treeless prairies, must not be con-
founded.—Ed. G. M.l

CALADIUM ESCULENTUM, ALIAS TANYAH,

ALIAS EDDOES.

BY WM. T. HARDING, MOUNT HOLLY, N. J.

Although we are informed the Caladium escu-
lentum was first introduced from tropical America
in 1739, there nevertheless seems to be some un-
certainty as to whether that part of the world is, in
reality, its original home or not. One might natu-
rally infer from its rank and wild abundance in
various parts of Africa, where it appears to have
flourished from time immemorial, to be indigenous
there. The writer has not forgotten the immense
area covered with Caladium esculentum, Cyperus,
Ehrhartia, Agapanthus, Dracaena, Richardia, San-
seviera, &c., which luxuriate about the creeks,
lagoons and lowlands on each side of the Orange
and Limpopo rivers, in "the dark continent." Its
vast quantities thereabouts, is too common to excite
wonder, except to the stranger. I have forgotten,
if I ever knew, by what name it is there known
to the natives. But this much I know of it, that
along the Gold and Slave Coast, in tropical Africa,
where it grows from eight to ten ieet high, the ne-
groes eat it under the name of Eddoes. I also
saw it in New South Wales, about the Darling
river, and other parts of Australia, where it grew
wild, as it does in Texas and Mexico. Again, I
have seen the New Zealanders, as well as the in-
habitants of Norfolk Island, where it seems to be
equally at home, roasting it for food. As with the
maize, it may be considered a traveling plant, and
like it, only stops to settle where it finds the climate
favorable.

distinct things. The most common manner of
doubling is by the reversion of stamens to petals,
though according to a strange notion recently
started by Mr. Grant Allen, an English writer, we
should say " advance of stamens to petals." The
accepted doctrine is, however, that all the parts of
a flower have advanced from leaves. A leaf

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Plants of the Catskill Mountains. — Mr.
Bicknell states that more than three hundred and
twenty-five species, exclusive of vascular crypto-
grams, were observed by him during a summer
visit to these mountains.

Double Flowers.— In some remarks on the
Australian acroclinium, it was noted that what
we popularly call a double flower may mean many

Double Begonia, " Hofgartner Vetter."
changes to a bract, a bract to calyx leaves, the
sepals of the calyx to petals, the petals to stamens
and the stamens to carpels. At least this is the
successive order of development from the typical
primary leaf. We have here an opportunity of
giving an illustration of a Double Begonia, a
new class of greenhouse flowers, which has at-
tracted considerable attention in Europe. In this
case the doubling appears to' have been brought
about by the retrogression of the stamens to pe-
tals. There are now several varieties of Double
Begonias. This one is called " Hofgartner Vet-
ter,' and was introduced by Haage & Schmidt, of
Erfurt.

Bottling Fruit. — A pretty surprise can often
be prepared for children — even some children of
considerable growth — by introducing a fruit in
early life into a bottle, and then letting it finish its
growth there. The little folks will wonder how it
got there. By filling the bottle with alcohol, or
possibly by excluding the air, the curiosity may be
preserved for a long time. It is said that an apple
in perfect preservation, although ninety-six years
old, is in possession of a gentleman in Ulster
county. As it rounded up from the blossom of the
parent stem in the early summer of 1787, a bottle
was drawn over it and attached to the branch, and
after the apple had ripened the stem wa-j severed

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST,

and the bottle sealed tightly. It looks as fresh as
when first plucked.

Hardy Cactuses.— Few people have any idea
of the great pleasure to be derived from the cul-
ture of the hardy and half-hardy species of cac-
tuses, of which there are numbers of marked forms
in the southwest and Mexico. Many are entirely
hardy here in Pennsylvania, but most are best
kept just free from frost under protection during
the winter. Their varied forms always give pleas-
ure, but most of them have very beautiful flowers,
and the watching for these is almost as enjoyable
as the actual realization of their beauty. Though
the flowering of such species seldom lasts more
than a week, the different species come in succes-
sion, so that in a not very large collection some
are open throughout the whole year. Last fall we
received one for name through the mail, from Mr.
A. L. Siler, of Hillsdale, LTtah, who makes a spe-
cialty of collecting them. To-day, March 6th, it
has its beautiful purple blossoms open in a cool
greenhouse, and proves to be Echinocactus
Whipplei. Next week Echinocactus polyancis-
trus, from the same collector, will be open. The
following week Echinocactus Uncinnatus, sent
us by Vasey, from New Mexico, will about be
open, so that these three species alone give us
flowers to admire extending over nearly a month.
The mail is a cheap way of sending specimens
to the editor, who is glad to name these cactuses
for friends when he can. In packing, a tin can

or cigar box is best, as the spines, pushed back
into the plant, cause rotting.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Nymph^a Sturtevantii. — Mr. Sturtevant re-
marks: "In your note in the February number of
the Gardeners' Monthly, you say that N. Stur-
tevantii is lighter in color than the parent. If you
will kindly read the article in the Country Gentleman
again you will see that it was not so stated there."

NympH/EA flava. — "B. J." says: "I see that
the yellow water lily of Florida is regarded as
something new. I believe I have seen it in years
past, and supposed every observing person had
noticed them. How is it that it is only just found
out to be new?"

[Botanists do not regard it as " new." Long ago it
was named. Modern botanists had not seen it,
and though it has been several times referred to —
often for anything we know — by popular writers,
botanists, with commendable caution, thought it
just possible that the Yellow Nuphar or "Splatter
Dock," was mistaken for it. Now we know there
is a true yellow Nymphtea in Florida, and read
again what the popular writers say; it is a wonder
that more credence was not given to what they
said. Mayne Reid, for instance, so faithfully
describes it in "Osceola," that there was little room
for mistake. But then you know it is very easy to
be wise after the fact. — Ed. G. M.}

Literature, Travels and Personal Notes.

COMMUNICATIONS.

DESULTORY NOTES ON THE DOG ROSE.

BY WM. T. HARDING, MOUNT HOLLY, N. J.

It is difficult to determine with any certainty, at

this late time, what plant Milton had in view when

he said :

—"In s[)ite of sorrow

At my window bid good nioirow,
Througli the sweetbiiar, or the vine,
Or tlie twisted eglantine."'

Whatever it was, it seems evident from his lan-
guage it was not the Rosa rubiginosa, as he al-
ludes to that well-known shrub, under its familiar
English name, sweetbriar.

Query. Did he mean by "twisted eglantine " the

sweetbriar, as some will have it, or was it the dog
rose, R. canina, as Mr. Meehan, with good rea-
son, alleges is its proper name ? The idea con-
veyed to the reader's mind from the quotation is
this, that the sweetbriar and eglantine are two dis-
tinct plants, and not "one and the same thing," as
they are generally understood to be.

Shakspeare also presents the same difficulty, ia
the following couplet:

"Quite overcanopied witli lush woodbine,
With sweet musk roses and with eglantine."

That the "immortal bard" would often see andl
pleasantly recognize the poetical woodbine and
eglantine, growing wildly about the banks of "the
soft-flowing Avon," meadows, copses and hedge-

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April,

rows, which then " over-canopied " the green lanes
and country roads about Stratford-upon-Avon in his
time, is most natural. And indicative of his intense
love for the picturesque scenes around him, he thus
tenderly refers to a delightful spot, " I know a bank
whereon the wild thyme blows ;" and on which
imagination may plainly picture him seated, side
by side, with his "heart's desire," Ann Hathaway,
happy in the enjoyment of each other's sweet
company, as they lovingly lingered beneath the
" hedge-elms," dog roses, hazel bushes and haw-
thorns, which gave such a charm to the rural
landscape, and beautifully "over-canopied "the
primrose and violet-scented pathways which led to
love's Elysian, the cottage of his betrothed, where
dwelt the fair Ann.

Admitting the poet's thorough acquaintance
with nature, and his undoubted knowledge of the
simple nomenclature of the trees and flowers, by
which they were then known, we, at this day, are
nevertheless left in doubt as to whether his eglan-
tine was the sweet briar or dog rose. And yet we
may justly infer from the rambling or spreading
habit of the latter, which is wont to rampantly
overtop bushes of lower growth, and thus, while
"over-canopying" the narrow country roads and
pathways he musingly trode, was what he meant.
The sweet briar, though a loose, straggling bush,
often met with in wild, uncultivated places, is not
exactly the kind likely to have "over-canopied"
the wise and meditative man in his quiet rambles
along his native ferny lanes, in beautiful Warwick-
shire.

The late Robert Buist, one of the most practical
men of his day, writes the sweet briar and eglan-
tine as synonyms. And in his "Rose Manual"
says "the eglantine has been the theme of poets
and lovers for many centuries." True, it has, and
probably will be, for many more to come ; or "as
long as men love maids and maids love men,"
without ever once considering whether its name is
botanically correct or not.

I believe no one is more anxious to arrive at
facts than the editor of this magazine, who is ever
ready to impale with his iconoclastic pen the most
fondly cherished idol, no matter how long its faith-
ful votaries may have innocently worshiped it as
the symbol of truth, whenever he discovers the de-
lusion. And, possibly, the old eglantine fetich
will not be the last one to explode and expire from
the prick of his pungent pen.

[In these questions great men may be mistaken,
as they sometimes surely are. Burns makes
the nightingale's notes heard in Scotland, but

it is doubtful whether a nightingale ever crossed
the Roman wall. The writer of this had as
good an opportunity as ever Shakspeare or Mil-
ton had of being acquainted with the common
people and the common names of plants, and it is
chiefly this, joined with the French usage of this
French name, which leads to the belief that some
author mistakes the plant. — Ed. G. M.]

HISTORY OF THE POTATO.

BY L. J. TEMPLIN, HUTCHINSON, KANSAS.

The common potato was unknown to the inhab-
itants of the eastern continent till after the discov-
ery of America by Columbus. The potato known
to the ancients, and that is spoken of by Shaks-
peare and other English writers, was not the com-
mon potato, but it was the sweet potato, Convolvu-
lus Batata. The early history of the potato is
involved in considerable obscurity, as the refer-
ences to it by the historians of those times are quite
meager and somewhat contradictory. A careful
collation and sifting of the various references to
this subject seem to justify the following state-
ments : The first reference we find to the potato in
connection with European history is related to the
first voyage of Columbus. When on the island of
Cuba some of his men visited the interior of that
island and there discovered maize and a root that
was used for food, and that was doubtless the po-*
tato. On visiting the continent of South America,
European adventurers and travelers found the
potato growing both in the forests and in cultiva-
tion. The wild potato was found growing in the
Andean forests from New Grenada on the north to
BuenosAyres on the south. And it is now known
to be abundant as far north as New Mexico, in the
United States, where it is a common and important
article of diet with the Indians of that region.
Humboldt does not seem to have been successful
in fii^ding the potato growing indigenously in some
portions of the country where others assert that it
was found. He says that " the potato is not indig-
enous to Peru, and that it is nowhere to be found
wild in the Cordilleras situated under the tropics.
M. Bompland and myself herborized in the back
and in the declivity of the Andes, from the 5°
north to the 12O south, and informed ourselves from
persons who have examined this chain of colossal
mountains as far as the Le Pau and Oruro, and we
ascertained that in this vast extent of ground no
species of solanum with nutritive roots vegetates
spontaneously. It is true there are places not very
accessible, and very cold, which the natives call

5-1

AND HORTICULTURIST.

123

'Parana de las Papas.' " But it seems that though
these distinguished naturalists did not succeed in
finding the wild potato growing in these regions,
others were more fortunate. Meyer states that " if
the potato had migrated from Chili to Peru it would
probably have retained its Chilian name ; but this
conjecture is no longer necessary, for it grows wild
in both countries. I myself have found it in two
different places in the Cordilleras of these coun-
tries."

Hooker* states that Don Jose Pavon, in a letter
to M. Lamhert, says that Solanum tuberosum
grows wild in the environs of Lima and four-
teen miles from Lima, on the coast, and I
myself have found it in the kingdom of Chili.
And M. Lamhert adds, " I have lately received
from M. Pavon very fine wild specimens of Sola-
num tuberosum collected by himself in Peru. In
Chili it is generally found in steep, rocky places,
where it could never have been cultivated, and
where its introduction must have been almost im-
possible. It is very common about Valparaiso, '
and Cruikshank has noticed it along the coast for [
fifteen leagues to the northward of that port ; how ]
much further it may extend north or south, he
knows not." Mr. Caldcleugh, of Rio Janeiro, in
sending some tubers of the wild potato to the sec-
retary of the London Horticultural Society, writes
as follows : " It is with no small degree of pleasure
that I am enabled to send you some specimens of
Solanum tuberosum, or native wild potato of South
America. It is found growing in considerable
quantities in ravines in the immediate neighbor-
hood of Valparaiso, on the western side of South
America, in latitude 34}^° south. The leaves and
flowers of the plant are similar in every respect to
those cultivated in England and elsewhere. It
begins to flower in October, and is not very pro-
lific. The roots are small, and of a bitterish taste,
some with red and others with yellowish skins. I
am inclined to think that this plant grows on a
large extent of the coast, for in the south of Chili
it is found, and is called by the natives maglia, but
I cannot discover that it is employed for any pur-
pose."

The mountain of Chancay is mentioned by
Jenin and Pavon as a locality where the potato is
to be found in a wild state.

From the foregoing it appears the native habitat
of the potato is found in the valleys of the Andes
mountains and the table lands bordering on the
Pacific, several species extending as far north as

•Uotauical Miscellany.

New Mexico. But the potato was found by the
European explorers not only growing wild, but it
was also found in cultivation in a highly improved
state. It has been in cultivation by the old Aztec
race from time immemorial. At Cuzco in Peru,.
Quito in Eciuador, and perhaps as far north as
Mexico, it had formed an important article of diet
to the aboriginal inhabitants of America long be-
fore the discovery of that country by Europeans.
The varieties in cultivation were far superior to
the wild varieties, these last being quite bitter and
unpalatable, while the cultivated varieties pos-
sessed considerable excellence.

At just what period the potato was first carried
to Europe we are not informed. Spanish adven-
turers doubtless carried it to that country at quite
an early day. Certain it is that it was cultivated
in Spain as early as 1550. From there it soon
made its way to Italy, Burgundy and the Nether-
lands. It was, however, early introduced into
Italy, directly from South America. The early
Spanish and Portuguese adventurers being zealous
papists it is probable this new esculent was very
early sent to Rome as a present to the Pope.

There seems to be a conflict of ojoinion in re-
gard to the introduction of the potato into Ireland.
One account credits its introduction into that coun-
try to a Capt. Hawkins, a slave trader, who, it is
said, carried it from Spain in 1565. But Sir Robt.
Southwell stated before the Fellows of the Royal
Society that his grandfather had introduced it
directly from Raleigh. Again, the Irish have a
tradition that it was brought to their country from
France by a Catholic priest. The potato was in-
troduced into England by Sir Francis Drake on
his return from a voyage to the Pacific Ocean in
1565. On his way home he touched at the Vir-
ginia coast, and carried away the discouraged col-
onists from that place. Whether he obtained it on
the west coast of America or from the colonists in
Virginia we are left to conjecture.

Sir Walter Raleigh is credited with introducing
the potato into England from Virginia in 1586.
Some authorities however place it as late as the
year 1623. A somewhat careful examination has
raised quite strong doubts in my mind whether
this is correct. Raleigh, it appears, did not visit
Virginia himself at all, but merely furnished ships
and provisions, and sent others out. The return
of Sir Francis Drake with the colonists from Vir-
ginia, seems to have been the only chance for the
introduction of the potato about that time. In
1589, Raleigh disposed of his interest in the new
world, and from that timd we have no evidence

124

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April.

that he gave any attention to colonial matters. To
my mind the more plausible theory is that he
received some of the tubers that Drake had
brought from his southwestern voyage, and having
cultivated them one year, introduced them to the
public as a product of the new country in which he
was at that time greatly interested. Again there
does hbt appear any evidence that the potato was
to be found in Virginia at that time. It is not in-
digenous to that country, and if found there at all
it must have been procured from Europe, which is
contrary to both history and the requirements of
the case.

Peter Cieca, in his "Chronicle," printed in 1553,
says that the inhabitants of Quito had, besides
mays, a tuberous root which they called papas,
and which was an article of diet with them.
Clusius, a botanist of Vienna, supposed this to be
the potato, specimens of which he had received
both from South America and from Flanders.
Thomas Henriot, a mathematician, describes the
potato of Raleigh as follows: "These roots are
round, some as large as a walnut, others much
larger; they grow in damp soil, many hanging
together, as if fixed on ropes; they are good for
food either boiled or roasted." The first figure of
the potato was given by Gerarde, in his "Herbal"
in 1 597. He calls it the Batata Virginiana. He
states that "the root is thick, fat, tuberous, not
much differing in shape, color and taste from the
common potato, save that the roots hereof are not
so great nor long; some of them are as a ball,
some oval or egg-fashioned, some larger, some
shorter, the which knobby roots are fastened into
the stalks with an infinite number of thready
strings. It groweth naturally in America, where
it was first discovered, as report says, by Columbus,
since which time I have received roots hereof from
Virginia, otherwise called Nurenbega, which grow
and prosper in my garden as in their own country
The Indians do call this plant 'pappas,' meaning
•the roots,' by which name also the common pota-
toes are called in those Indian countries. We have
the name proper to it mentioned in the title, because
it hath not only the shape and proportion of pota-
toes, but also the pleasant taste and virtues of the
same, we may call it in English, 'potatoes of
America or Virginia.'"

What is here called the "common potato,"
was the sweet potato, which was the root in com-
mon use previous to 1600. This was the plant
alluded to by Shakspeare in the "Merry Wives of
Windsor," where Falstaff is made to say, "Let it
rain potatoes, and hail kissing comforts." Gerard

speaks of the round potato as a great delicacy, and
recommends that it be eaten as such, and not as a
common dish. In 1630, Parkinson published a
figure of the potato along with other roots that
were eaten. It seems to have been quite rare in
England for many years after its introduction. So
little attention was given to this plant that it is not
mentioned by Loudon and Wise in the edition of
their "Complete Gardener," published in 1719.
Bradley, who wrote on horticulture about the same
time, says that: "The potato is of less note than
horse radish, radish scorganers, beets, and skerret."
During the reign of James I. they were furnished
to the royal table at two shillings per pound. And
during the succeeding reign, and the Common-
wealth, the potato continued very scarce and high
in price. So slowly did it come into use that it
was only toward the close of the eighteenth cen-
tury that it came into common use. Hence we
find that in Essex County in 1796, 1,700 acres were
planted to supply the London market.

The potato made its way to Scotland in 1728,
where it met with considerable opposition on
religious grounds, because "the potato is not men-
tioned in the Bible." But a severe season in 1742,
proved the value of this tuber for food, and so
stimulated its culture that it soon became a com-
mon and reliable article of diet.

It was introduced into Germany in 1710. The
government took quite an interest in its introduc-
tion, and in some parts of the country used com-
pulsion to promote its cultivation. France received
the potato about the same time that it was taken to
Germany, but it seems to have met with quite
strong opposition, having been pronounced poison-
ous by the National College of Physicians. One
Parmentier, was instrumental in making it popular
in that country. He first saw it as he returned
from the siege of Mayence. He studied its culti-
vation in Germany, and on returning to France he
entered upon the taskof educating his countrymen
in a knowledge of the value of this esculent. He
exerted himself by every means in his power to
attract the attention of the public to the merits of
the potato as an article of food. It is true he over-
estimated its value, believing that it was equal to
wheat. But he had not taken account of the value
of gluten in wheat that had been discovered in
1727 by Bect'caria. In order to overcome the
prejudices of the people he wrote and spoke in its
favor, recommending it to the poor as a cheap
food product. He planted a field of potatoes, and,
in order to impress the peasantry with its import-
ance, he had it guarded by gendarmes, giving out

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

125

that it was a very valuable food product. In a
short time the guard were ordered to relax their
vigilance. Some potatoes were stolen by the
peasants, others followed, and finally the whole
crop was disseminated among the people of the
adjacent villages, and its excellence proved to be
so great as to remove all the prejudice in regard
to the tuber as an article of diet. Parmentier also
secured the attention of the nobility to the value
of the potato. On one occasion he appeared in
the presence of Louis XIV. with a nosegay of the
flower of the potato. The king inquired in regard
to the plant, and was easily persuaded to introduce
its cultivation into the royal gardens. The example
of the sovereign was imitated by the courtiers, its
popularity was thus secured.

Notwithstanding the "efforts of those who appre-
ciated it, the potato grew in favor very slowly, and
did not become generally popular with all classes
till the beginning of the present century. But
when its merits were fully understood it soon be-
came one of the most important food crops in cul-
tivation. Such was the dependence of some of
the people of Europe on the crop that when the
rot appeared and destroyed the crop, it left the
people in a destitute condition.

The destruction of the old varieties by , this
malady led to experiments in the production of
new varieties to take the place of those that had
seemingly lost their vigor. Mr. Goodrich took the
lead in the production of varieties from the seed
of the wild varieties. Though his success was not
eminent he laid the foundation for improvements
that have resulted in the production of hundreds
of new varieties, many of them of ver\' superior
excellence.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Dangers of Plant Collectors. — When ad-
miring the great beauty of some rare plant, we
seldom think of the dangers and sufferings which
those often have to undergo who go forth into the
wilds in distant parts of the world to gather these
treasures for us. Mr. Maries went into China to
collect for Messrs. Veitch & Son, of Chelsea, near
London. One hot day he fell under a sunstroke,
and obtained leave from some priests to live in the
Yellow Dragon temple.

" It was a new place, and although newly
built was beginning to tumble down and look
•old. Three tine gilt images were inside, and
the same drum, bell and triangle trio were played
.at sunrise and sunset, all the prayers consist-
ing of a single bow to the images, the priests

being most ignorant men. They treated me very
well, but I had a suspicion they were more robbers
than priests, particularly when I left ; I did not
give them enough money, and they laid hold of
my baggage, and not till I produced my revolver
would they let me take my things. The whole
time I was there I was afraid they would make an
attempt to rob me. The first night I stayed in
this temple I could rjot sleep, and I heard people
about the whole time. The second day I went
over the range of mountains to the side of the
Poyang Lake, and I was fully repaid with the
splendid scenery. After walking for about a mile
I passed over a swamp with nothing but coarse
grass and a large green Calanthe (?) growing in
clumps 2 feet and 3 feet through and 5 feet high.
It was growing by the streams that ran through the
swamp ; all the shrubs had been burnt the year
before, and scarcely the remains of a bush could
be seen. After this walk I returned to the temple
very tired, only having collected a few plants of a
very fine Niphobolus. Near the temple I noticed
one very fine Deutzia and some Weigelas having
several colored flowers. My second night in the
temple was spent without sleep, and I was quite
worn out, so in the morning I set out for the bun-
galow again. I walked to the Chinese village at
the foot of the hills, where I was fortunate enough
to get a chair from the priests at a temple there
and was carried to the bungalow, where I met a
lot of old English friends from Kuikiang."

Warfare on Daisies. — The Pennsylvania
Legislature had an act before it this winter making
it unlawful for any one to grow "daisies." When
the bill came up no one knew what "daisies" were.
Yet whoever felt aggrieved that his neighbor grew
" daisies " was to have authority to enter his neigh-
bor's grounds without liability for trespass or
damage, and destroy them. Fancy the laughter
of the " daisies " at an act like this.

Mr. V. DE NiEDMAN. — We are pleased to note
that our well-known botanical and horticultural
correspondent, Mr. Niedman, has graduated in
pharmacy in the Medical Department of Howard
University at Washington.

Pleasures of Camping Life. — According to
the Contributor, of Salt Lake City, the pleasures
of camping out are very varied.

" It was six years ago, and in the beautiful
month of July. A party of us, all young men,
were passing through Blacksmith's Fork Canyon,
on our way to Bear Lake Valley and Soda Springs.
All day the sun had scorched our faces, ears and
backs, only when, peradventure, we halted for a
few minutes in the birch or willow arbors that
fringed the roadway ; until now, as we entered a
small oval, formed by the receding mountains, his
face was suddenly lost behind a projecting spur,
around which the road trended. Here it was de-

126

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April,

cided to camp for the night, and the wagon being
drawn to a httle eminence that commanded a view
of the whole opening, the horses were unhitched,
and that hurry and bustle so dependent upon
camp life suddenly commenced. One devoted his
attention to the team, which being unharnessed,
was hobbled and turned up the mountain side.
Another busied himself in preparation for supper,
being voted the best cook in our company. One
gathered and broke sticks wherewith to build a
fire. Another penetrated to a cold spring near by
and became 'water carrier.'

" Have you ever noticed how sudden the change
is from daylight to dark, among the mountains ?
We had scarcely thrown ourselves upon the buf-
falo robes before our camp fire, when the sunlight
faded from the mountain tops, and a heavy gloom
spread over the little valley. A cold wind imme-
diately swept through the canyon, which soon gave
place to mellower breezes from the pines. We
sat silent for some time, watching the changes
from gloaming to night. In a few minutes here
and there a star appeared, trembling above the
mountain, and in less time than one could note it,
the whole heavens were

■ Bespangled with those isles of light,
So wildly, spiritually brij;lit.'

"The moon had not yet risen, but in the east a
paling had begun, giving to that portion of the
sky a melancholy ethereal aspect. Behind us were
the mountains, grim and frowning ; on our right,
the river, with its dark underbrush, and an occa-
sional pine hanging upon its brink; in front lay
the little valley, stretching darkly away into the
gloom where to-morrow's journey lay. Scarcely
a sound broke the monotony of this scene. Occa-
sionally a night bird whiired overhead with a
strange, rushing noise that made the silence deepen
more intensely afterward. The roaring of the
river came up dull, and as though far off, making
a ground upon which more dissimilar noises could
be distinctly heard. But over all there was a spirit
of solitude — of intense solemnity — that produced
a sensation of humility and veneration approach-
ing fear.

" After supper, our beds were spread between
two clumps of shrubbery, around which the wheat
grass grew tall and luxuriant. It was not without
some misgivings as to the near proximity of reptiles
that I threw myself weariedly upon the dusty
quilts ; in fact, before doing so, I had beat the
bushes and grass in our vicinity for the purpose of
driving them out, if any were near.

" Awaking in the night, without having the

power to utter a word or make a movement, I now
became conscious that I was lying in bed, and that
something was pressing upon and moving about
me. It touched my feet, my legs and body, much
as we see a dog touch and smell anything it has
found, but with a far more horrifying effect. Pos-
sessing no power of volition, I felt its clammy
flesh upon my body, and shivered — a deathly,
fearful shiver— that chilled me to the heart. I re-
alized that a snake was in my bed — that it was
gliding slowly but surely over my breast, and
would soon be upon my face; yet, though I tried
to struggle — to scream out, my efforts were pow-
erless. At last, when it seemed that the serpent's
breath was upon my neck, and its forked tongue
about to dart upon me, I gave a loud shriek, and
bounded madly to my feet. For an instant my
whole desire was to fly as far as possible from the
detestable spot ; but my companions, half terri-
fied, were now around me, and realizing at once
the cause of my fright, caught and restrained me.

"The moon had risen, and by its pale light, two
or three dark objects were seen gliding from the

place where I had so lately lain. F , one of

the best marksmen with a pistol in the Territory,
shot two of them as they were passing from the
quilts into the grass. Upon examination, they
prov'ed to be rattlesnakes, each with eight or ten
rattles. At sight of them I could not sufficiently
express my gratitude for so wonderful a deliver-
ance."

Veitch's Manual of Conifers. — A distin-
guished author, writing to us about this work, pro-
nounces it the best monograph of cbniferse with
which he is acquainted. We are glad to know
hat this excellent treatise on the pine family is
soon to be placed in the American book trade,
where it may be readily obtainable by book buyers.

Arthur Bryant. — Horticulture — especially
Western horticulture — mourns the loss of this dis-
tinguished pioneer, although he had passed the al-
lotted term of human life. His death occurred at
his home at Princeton, Illinois, on the 6th of Feb-
ruary. When he first settled there the country
was a bleak wilderness, and there were scientific
men not a few who, finding no trees on the prai-
ries, gave abundant reasons why it was impossible
that arborescent vegetation should ever grow
there. It was for men like Bryant to show the
possibilities of the impossible, and to-day, by his
courage and labors, and those of his contempo-
raries, we have forgotten the prophecies which
made experiment foolishness. He issued a work

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

127

finally which told not only how to raise forest trees
in that part of the world for shelter and ornament,
but for profit also. He was brother of the great
poet, and, like him, had a keen sensibility to the
voice of nature, with whom he held close commu-
nion in all her various forms, especially in connec-
tion with plants and flowers.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

To Intelligent Correspondents. — All com-
munications relating to advertisements, subscrip-
tions, or other business, must be addressed to the
publisher, 814 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

All referring to the reading ^natter of the maga-
zine must be mailed to the editor, Germantoivn, Pa.

No express packages for the editor received un-
less prepaid ; and marked "Paid through to Ger-
mantoivn, Pa."

"The Diamond Tuberose" Reply. — Nanz
& Neuner, Louisville, Ky., write : " In answer
to that covered attack in your February number
about our new seedling tuberose, ' Diamond,' we
pronounce the same false in every particular. .

" T. Over one-half of our saleable first-quality
bulbs has been sold in this country, and we still
have orders ahead which we are unable to fill with
extra large bulbs.

" 2. We offered this Diamond tuberose to over
eight hundred American florists. Please notice
enclosed wholesale circular, which was mailed to
the trade in September.

" 3. But one house handles our tuberose in
Europe, and strange to say, does not reside in
France. Nor do we think it will restrict its sale to
France or any one part of Europe.

" 4. The price we charge is but a trifle higher
than that of the Pearl tuberose, as everybody
could see in last advertisement in Gardeners'
Monthly. We never charged fancy prices.

" 5. The European house had over five hundred
bulbs of this tuberose in bloom, was satisfied as to
its earliness, &c., and ordered accordingly.

" Our D. Tuberose is a seedling of the single
one, which every one knows is fully two to three
weeks earlier than the Pearl or Double Italian. It
has inherited this earliness, and resembles in
growth neither the Pearl nor the Italian, but the
single. The true D. Tuberose has also the good
quality of being dwarfer than the pearl ; but we
do not hesitate to state that our tuberose is defect-
ive to some extent as regards its evenness in
height, but we are fully confident to overcome this
delect in a few years. In the meanwhile we recom-
mend it only as a forcing tuberose, which by its

earliness alone will more than repay for the little
extra price asked for same.

" By introducing none but first-class novelties,
from the White Crape Myrtle, &c., down to our
perpetual blooming Bouvardia, B. rosea multiflora,
and now our double red one, all sent out by us,
and all which are going to stay, we have acquired
a fair, but, we think, well-deserved business repu-
tation, which we will not be slow to defend against
malicious attacks."

[We admit this communication, under our usual
rule of risking an error on the side of fair play, if
we are to err at all. But to our mind we should
have been justified in declining its insertion, as it
does not meet the points stated, and the indigna-
tion against " covered attacks " and "malicious at-
tacks" is thrown away by the writers.

In reference to point one, we have to insist that
our first statement was made on the strength of a
letter dated December 7, 1882, addressed to a re-
sponsible nurseryman, signed Nanz & Neuner, and
from which we quote as follows : "The orders ior
export have been so large that we have sold nearly
all our whole stock of Diamond Tuberose to
France and Germany." N. & N. now say this is
not true ; that " over one-half has been sold in
this country." If this is "false in every particu-
lar," Nanz & Neuner of December 14th must settle
the matter with Nanz & Neuner of December 7th.

The point about the price is of no consequence.
No one objects to a "fancy" price for a new
thing ; but if the thing is old under the pretence
of being new, it is another matter. Nor is it ma-
terial that the purchaser is satisfied. If they have
not seen the Pearl it is only another illustration
that where " ignorance is bliss," &c.

The real point at issue is simply this ; After our
notice of it last season, we had many letters from
responsible parties, giving us their reason for be-
heving that the Diamond tuberose was in no way
distinct from the Pearl. On the strength of the
announcement that the introducers intended to
give doubters an opportunity to judge of this mat-
ter another year, we thought it but fair to Nanz &
Neuner not to publish these letters. We have not
been given this opportunity, nor do we know of
any one who has, and we are therefore compelled
to say that on the authority of very good evi-
dence submitted to us, we believe there is no dif-
ference between the Diamond and the Pearl.

This must close this controversy for the present.
—Ed. G. M.]

A Grammatical Query. — " Young Gardener "
says: "I notice that the Gardeners' Monthly

128

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[April,

interests itself in a wide range of intelligent topics.

1 therefore make no apology for inquiring whether
a recent writer who used ' two waterpotfulls of
liquid ' would not have done better if he had said
' two waterpots full ?' "

[The English grammar is peculiar in this, that it
is founded on the meanings of words, rather than
on the words themselves. For instance, the gen-
ders are constructed on the sexes of the creatures we
talk about, and not on the mere form of a word as
in some languages; hence we can oftener get at
the correct form of the words desired by studying
what we mean to say, than by following merely the
rules of the schools. Again, for instance, we say
" I should hate to be a man like him," or " I
should hate to be a man like he," with equal pro-
priety according to what we mean by " like." The
last seems harsh, and would hardly be tolerated in
school, but if we put its equivalent, " such as," in
its place, and say " I should hate to be such a man
as he is," you see it is correct. Further, the
schools tell us to say " two and two are four," and
that "two and two is four," is shocking. If we
mean that two articles and two other articles make
four articles, "two and two are four" is correct;
but if we mean to ask the sum total of the figures

2 and 2, that sum total " is " 4.

Now for the two waterpots full. This would be
the form with those who feel that our language

should go by rule and not by sense. It is the
common form with scholastic people. But the per-
son who uses it is not referring so much to the
water pot, or whether it is exactly full or not ; but
I he wants to convey the idea of a definite quantity.
Full is used in the sense of a "filling." You are
to use the filling of a cup, pot or hand — or two
" fillings " or " fulls " of these. Indeed, we do not
! use the two words "waterpot fulls or hand fulls,"
! but make one word to represent a measure or
quantity — waterpotfuls or handfuls.

If one does not care to be criticised for his be-
lief, however, it is fortunate that the English lan-
' guage is so elastic that he can change the whole
form of the sentence, and still be right. — Ed. G. M.]

Mistakes. — Correspondents of American mag-
azines look sharp after the errors they detect, and
if even a letter is misplaced the editor is sure to
hear of it. It has come to be considered as a sign
of a very accurate serial when corrections are
frequently in order. Only those which dare criti-
cisms correct errors. European papers seldom do
it. In an English paper before us we are told that
the " Duke of Newcastle is going in the spring to
the Western States of San Francisco." If an
American writer made such a geographical slip in
regard to a European country he would never
hear the last of it from his readers.

Horticultural Societies.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Fertilizing Moss — The New York Horti-
cultural Society. — The subject of the cultiva-
tion of plants in fertilized moss having created
considerable interest during the past year, and
with a view to determine, if possible, the relative
value of soil as a medium of cultivation compared
with fertilized moss, especially that known as Du-
mesnil Moss, the following premiums are offered
to be competed for at the June meeting (to be held
in Horticultural Hall about June 1 5th) under the
following conditions, for the best twelve plants
grown in Dumesnil or other fertilized moss, con-
sisting of 4 Abutilon, Snow Storm ; 4 Geranium
(double), General Grant or Wonderful ; 4 Coleus,
Verschaffelti. First premium, I15; second pre-

mium, $10. Plants to be placed in the moss not
later than March ist from cuttings or a two-inch
pot, and thereafter watered with pure water only.
To be exhibited in pots not over five inches, ac-
companied with a statement of the material used
for growing. James Y. Murkland, Sec'y.

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. — In
view of the meeting of the American Pomoldgical
Society in Philadelphia this coming September,
the horticulturists are making unusual efforts to
render the visits of the pomologists profitable and
attractive. Endeavors are being made to get an
excellent horticultural exhibit. The florists of
Philadelphia have subscribed ^1,000 to offer as
premiums. The cut flower department of the ex-
hibition alone, it is believed, will be worth coming
to Philadelphia to see.

'■M

-,%w

FMENTISS.

White, best quality, early, good grower, very productive, hardy, good keeper. Is a
native seedling with no foreign blood. Sells wholesale in New York at 15 to i8 cents per pound.

FllxsTi tfnrl^r cwppt- lTi<«ltiruT I'liiVv -aiiih o jnl^OKan* m^^t^rv arnrf>o OMalitu +!»» Kacf

C St'\*erc\'ns , ChroTnolilli Brussels

NEW TEA ROSE,. ANDRE SCH WA RT Z " T H E „TRUE TEA JACK"

THE

Gardeners^ Monthly

HORTICULTURIST.

DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE, ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS.

Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN.

Volume XXV.

MAY. 1883.

Number 293.

Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground,

COMMUNICATIONS.

RANDOM JOTTINGS.

BY MRS. R. B. EDSON.

I have made a great discovery, and a somewhat
disheartening one, and this is it : It isn't quite safe
to beheve everything those very fascinating and
altogether deUghtful creatures, the flower cat-
logues, say. I mean absolutely and implicitly, you
know ; something you would be willing to swear
by — not about, if you were profanely disposed.

Now, I admire catalogues, and always read them
from preface to finis. They have a fascination
about them before which the most entrancing
novel " pales its ineffectual fires." Their charm,
like the wonderful marvel of creation, is new
every spring. I confidently expect to go on
reading them with ever fresh delight, to the end of
the chapter, and of believing them, in a general
way, but not specifically. For instance : What
catalogue tells the unsophisticated reader of the
disappointing, not to say exasperating, habit of
Yucca filamentosa ? It is very beautiful in flower,
I admit. It ought to be, after you have waited two
years— the usual time for a purchased plant — for
the gratification. It is barely possible you may
have a like gratification the following year, but the
great probabihty is that when you are asked by all

your friends if "that plant which bore such beau-
tiful white flowers is dead ?" (you secretly wish it
was) you are forced to point to a mass of shabby
leaves, about which are a few shoots and off-shoots,
which you have learned by experience will take
two or three years more of waiting. They are all
very well for large grounds, or to be planted
among shrubbery, but if, in your confiding inno-
cence (as somebody who shall be nameless, once
was), you are led to plant them in a choice and
sightly position, woe is you, for a more exasperat-
ing and unsightly mass would be hard to find.

And then there is the whole tribe of Clarkia,
Nemophila, Leptosiphon and Godetia, which for
general cultivation are utterly worthless. " In a
land" — or a garden — "that the sun shines on"
they are about as big a delusion as can be found.

But my pet grievance just now is the new (?)
Salvia Bethelli. It is in all the catalogues, and is
much praised as "a dwarf plant, with very showy
pink flowers." I yielded to the seductive descrip-
tion, and bought one. Dwarf? Well, it depends
upon what one compares it with. If, for instance,
you were comparing it to the "big trees" of Cali-
fornia, this Salvia might be fairly considered dwarf,
but not otherwise.

Mine grew to between three and four feet in
height before it gave a hint of flowering. It is
very long-jointed — some four inches or more — and

I30

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

is as like, in both leaf and flower, to the old pink
Salvia of ten or fifteen or more years ago as two
peas. The flowers drop so quickly that there is
never enough open at a time to make the plant at
all ornamental. But the red spider thought it the
most charming plant that ever grew, and came in
regiments from all the region round about, and
pre-empted homesteads, and increased and multi-
plied to an extent that was fairly alarming. Show-
ering and washing made no perceptible difference,
and so one day Salvia Bethelji ^nd I took a walk
in a lonely place under the trees, and S. B. never
came back ! Possibly I didn't have the "true" sort.

Mr. H. B, /Ellwanger, in his very useful book,
"The Rose," devotes a chapter to "too much alike
roses." I think this will apply to many other plants
beside roses, and noticeably to geraniums. I
bought last spring three pink sorts, each claiming
to be very "distinct," and, so far as the flowers
were concerned, there was not the faintest percepti-
ble difference, and they were also just like an old
sort I already had, save a slight difference in the
zoning of the leaf.

I grew and flowered very successfully Clianthus
Dampierii in the open ground last summer. The
seeds were sown in March, in small pots, in soil
two-thirds of which was clean sand. They were
kept in ah ordinary living room till May, when the
pots were broken and they were set in the open
ground in a dry, sunny place. They grew finely
through the rainy weather which prevailed in June.
Early in July the drought set in, and was more se-
vere than anything experienced in New England
for many years. Ah, thought I, what a splendid
season for the Clianthus to flourish ! And so, while
watering other plants, 1 was mindful of the direc-
tions, " never water," and looked to see it run wild
with delight and luxuriance. But it did nothing of
the sort ; it just stood still. It had by the 20th of
July a number of clusters of flowers, and buds at
the axil of every branch, and nearly every leaf.
Soon the buds began to turn yellow and blast, and
one hot evening i found the whole plant limp and
wilted. I threw "directions" to the wind, and
from that time on watered it copiously every night,
and the way it branched and ran rampant over
everything was altogether astonishing, for a plant
that had the reputation of " never drinking." After
the September rains it grew even more luxuriantly,
and when finally killed by the frost the last of Oc-
tober, had still iTiany buds on it. The glass went
down to 20° Fahrenheit several times before it
succumbed. It is much hardier than I had sup-
posed.

I am much pleased with Canna President Faivre
for room decoration as a winter window plant.
The foliage is of very fine form, measuring five
inches in breadth to fifteen in length, and is a rich
shade of bronzy red-purple. It is fully as effective
as the best Dracaenas, and is much more easily
and quickly grown.

I have reserved the rankest bit of heresy of all,
for the closing paragraph in these jottings. I
really shouldn't dare write another, for I am aware
that I am in a fearful minority, but I am going to
ask, nevertheless, in all meekness and humility,
that the various writers and catalogue makers put
a foot-note at the bottom of their glowing descrip-
tions of Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, which
shall read something in this wise :

"The flowers of this magnificent, unequaled and
altogether unapproachable shrub soon fade to a
dingy, dirty pink, in which condition it is, without
exception, the most disreputable looking plant in
cultivation."

There ! it is said. Now let the axe fall.

STAPHYLEA BUMALDA.

BY JOHN F. CLARK, PHILADELPHIA.

This handsome shrub belongs to the natural
order Sapindacese. It is a native of Japan. Al-
though it was introduced several years ago, it is
yet seldom met with ; but there is no collection
complete without it. A few years ago the writer
saw a noble specimen of it, fifteen to eighteen feet
high, in full bloom, with hundreds of flowers on it.
The blooms are a creamy white and deliciously
fragrant. The flowers are racemose, terminal,
fruit large, three-celled, inflated like a bladder, but
rarely perfecting more than two or three seeds. It
is perfectly hardy in this latitude. It may be in-
creased by layers, and I have no doubt would do
well grafted on the American variety, S. trifolia.

THE TRUE EGYPTIAN LOTUS HARDY.

BY E. D. STURTEVANT, BORDENTOWN, N. J.

Following Mr. Pollock's communication in the
December number of the Monthly, you state
that Mr. Cope flowered the real Egyptian lotus,
Nelumbium speciosum, in the open air, by first
starting the plant under glass. I have cultivated
this plant for the last four or five years, and have
proved beyond a doubt that it is perfectly hardy in
this climate.

For three winters it has stood the test without
the slightest injury underneath ice six inches thick.

AND HORTICULTURIST.

131

I have it naturalized in one corner of a mill-pond,
where, could you have visited me last summer, I
could have shown you a bit of Nile scenery con-
sisting of a fine bed of this ancient plant, with
abundance of noble leaves from one to two feel in
diameter; one hundred buds in all stages of de-
velopment, and twenty expanded flowers at one
time. Nelumbium luteuinis a beautiful plant, and
well worth cultivating, but N. speciosum is in
every way much more desirable. I find it much
easier to transplant and establish. It grows more
rapidly and flowers more freely than N. luteum.
It will flower the first season it is planted, which is
seldom the case with N. luteum. With me it be-
gins to bloom early in July, and produces a con-
stant succession of flowers until late in October.
At least this is the case as grown in my largest
artificial basin, where last summer it produced (en-
tirely without artificial heat) some leaves thirty
inches across on foot-stalks five and six feet in
length, and flower-stalks the same length as the
latter, one, however, measuring seven feet.

Many of the flowers were eleven and twelve
inches across when fully expanded, and one meas-
ured thirteen inches from tip to tip of petals. The
first day the flowers appear like gigantic tea rose
buds of a bright rose color. The second day they
open like a tulip, the base of the petals being
creamy white, beautifully shaded off into bright
pink. The third day the flower opens more
broadly, and is still lighter in color. They are also
delightfully fragrant. This plant can be grown in
a large half-hogshead, but a better plan is to have
a basin of brick and cement sunk in the ground.
One six feet in diameter and two feet deep would
answer very well. It could be covered with boards
and litter in winter.

attractive ? I have seen the American elm, which,
when the growth of the top has a proper shape, is
one of the noblest of our shade trees, grow up in a
straggling manner, sometimes almost like a naked
pole, and again like the letter Y, a body and two
arms like a pig yoke. I think large trees are
much improved in appearance if cut back into a
regular head when planted. And the Norway
maple can be made to grow erect like the sugar,
or otherwise, by allowing the leader to grow and
shortening the side branches.

SHADE TREES.

BY ISAAC HICKS.

It is admitted that thrifty, well-formed trees of
any class are objects of beauty, but there is a wide
difference in the kinds of trees that fulfill this requi-
site. Among these pretty trees I think the weep-
ing silver linden excels all others. They are rare,
and are worked on other stock, but the eye can
rest on a perfect, graceful specimen in a fine lawn,
standing by itself, with much pleasure.

But why is it that so many will spend time and
money to plant shade trees, and then allow them
to grow out of shape, forlorn objects, where a little
care in regulating the growth of the head or
branches would have made them uniform and

NOTES.

BY "DOGWOOD."

Several years ago a friend who was born in
England and grew some forty varieties of roses,

\ &c., gave me what he called a buckthorn. It did
not do well, and died in a few years. But mean-

: time I had grafted and budded it in our native
thorn, common in low pasture fields. The way it
has grown and blossomed shows it well adapted to
it. The bud was put in midway on a limb, where
it is hard to bud the peach. Still it grew finely.
The flowers are double, rose color, striped and va-

j negated, and are much admired.

; Huntmg the Balloon Tree. — I suppose botanists,

' some at least, hardly know what a balloon tree is.

j But I must preface with a word about my guide.

, While I know but little of botany — only read a book
or two on it — my guide never saw a book on botany.

i He is a farmer's son, twenty-three years old ; still he
has made a greenhouse some forty feet long. I'll
take you through it before we start for the balloon
tree. He did all the work himself, even to making
the brick flues and chimney. On one side we find
over eighty varieties of begonias — the best collection
I ever saw. His Rex are grown mostly in manure,
and are very fine. There are over forty varieties
of fuchsias and a good collection of geraniums.
One also sees palms, dracaenas, crotons, orchids,
camellias, besides too many things to mention. But
this is not all he attends to. In the' summer he
goes into the field, drives the reaper, follows the
plow barefooted, and helps milk the cows at night.
Well, he had a balloon tree, and 1 wanted one.
So he led the way down a deep ravine, where
one finds several trees not very common in the
woods, such as black-haw (Viburnum prunifolium),
wahoo (Euonymus), red bud, or bean tree (Cercis
Canadensis). Juneberry ( Amelanchier botryapium),
and the balloon tree (Staphylea trifolia), I guess
it. While none of these are quite as good for lawn
trees as the large flowering dogwood (Cornus

132

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May.

"Ohioensis"), they are all good in some places. The
dogwood is too common, some say ; still I have a
good one. There is a white pine and Norway
spruce some thirty feet high in the background,
that help show it off and make it much admired,
when in full bloom ; this, too, when the woods are
full of them. Indeed, one might make a dogwood
worth ten dollars by pulling it sideways with cords
and by weighting the limbs with stones, to make it
weeping.

GRAFTING ROSES.
BY ALPHONSE KARR, ST. RAPHAEL'S, FRANCE.

From Toulon to Genoa, and in the greatest part
of Italy, roses are grafted on Indica-major, a very
vigorous rose, but which would be very much ex-
posed to frost at Lyons, Paris, etc.

You generally graft roses on the brier (Rosa
canina), but neither the brier nor Indica-major
are perpetual bloomers, and both, more particu-
larly the brier, have a time of rest.

Must it not sometimes happen that a perpetual
variety, grafted on the brier, tells him : "Well, my
dear nurse, if we were to bloom a little ;" and that
the brier replies: " My darling, you are foolish; it is
not the season ; I still want rest ; be pleased to re-
main quiet, and let me sleep ?"

Chance has made me graft some perpetual roses
on some Bengales (common China) and I have
obtained excellent results. The Bengale, which
never freezes here, and is constantly in vegetation,
and a really perpetual bloomer, is it not in similar
climates more adapted to supply the wants of other
perpetual roses, preferable to others which require
rest part of the year ? And, according to this
idea, would it not be advantageous to graft per-
petual blooming sorts on other equally constant
bloomers ?

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Fine Pansies. — We have not seen, but learn
from a friend, that the pansies raised by Mr. Kip-,
pie, of Harrisburg, Pa., were this season "some-
thing well worth looking at." We like to hear of
these successes.

Lime Water for Insects. — In some parts of
Europe lime water is used to destroy worms when
troublesome to lawns. The clear liquid is used,
and the creatures come to the surface and die by
the hundreds when there. It is possible that those
who complain about the larvae of the May bug
which are often troublesome about young roses.

carnations, and other plants in the open air, might
find lime water a good remedy. It has been used
to destroy scale on lemon, orange and oleander
trees, with success.

Roses by Seed. — The object in raising roses
from seed is to obtain new varieties. Although
somewhat uncertain as to the result, it is, neverthe-
less, a very pleasant and interesting occupation.
There has long been an idea prevalent that good
varieties of roses cannot be raised from seed in
England, and that we must go to warmer climates
for anything of sterling merit. This, however, is
not entirely so, as some excellent varieties recently
raised in this country will testify. The tender
varieties, however, seldom if ever mature seed in
our climate, but even the ripening of seed can be
accomplished artificially ; and, with the assistance
of glass and hot water, we may reckon our advan-
tages equal those in the south of France or Italy.
The seed pods should become thoroughly ripe
upon the tree before they are gathered. When
taken off, place each sort separately into small
pots, mixing with them fine sand. They may be
stored away in this manner until February, care
being taken to keep them out of the way of mice,
which will very soon destroy the lot if the oppor-
tunity is given them.

Early in February take them out and break up
the pods, and rub the whole until the seeds are all
separated ; they may then be sown in shallow
pans, pots, or boxes, using light soil with a liberal
admixture of sand, and cover with the same to the
depth of one inch. Place them in a frame having
a northern aspect, or otherwise in a shady or shel-
tered spot, where a uniform temperature and moist-
ure can be maintained. About April or May-
many of the seedlings will begin to make their
appearance, but this will depend upon the quality
of the seed ; if it was well ripened when gathered,
a large portion will vegetate the first season, but
in most instances the greater portion will not
vegetate until the following spring. — Garden.

Clematises as Isolated Specimens. — Clemat-
ises as specimens on the lawn are very beautiful
when well trained and attended to. At Holme
Lacy, Hereford, such specimens may be seen, and
during the months of August and September they
are pillars of bloom and are much admired. They
are planted out in well-prepared round beds, and
trained to an upright round trellis about 7 to 8 feet
high; they are about 2 feet 6 inches in diameter at
bottom, and taper to the top. As the young
growths appear they are tied down for about two

$•]

AND HORTICULTURIST

133

months. If they are allowed to grow straight up enabled me to see clearly. Some say ' cut close '
at first the base does not get properly furnished, and often ; others, ' cut high,' and not so often. I
As the plants increase with age tie or peg some of have even found many writers who advise
the old wood at pruning time close to the ground, 1 raking off the grass after cutting. That course
and regulate the other up the trellis as required, 1 might be practicable in a small door xard, but I
when, if properly trained, at flowering time they ^ have seven acres to look after, with only one as-
are one mass of bloom from the ground to the top j sistant for a part of the time only. We usually
of the trellis. — A Young, in Jour, of Horticulture. commQwct cutting early in April, and as a rule,

run the lawn mowers over every part of the

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Roses in Autumn.— A "Philadelphia Lady"
writes : " It has been written that gardeners name
their flowers for what they would like to have them,
rather than for what they are. We may some day
look for a rose named 'amethyst,' not that it will
have violet flowers, but as a desire of some enthusi-
ast. So in like manner I have regarded the ' hardy
ever-blooming roses,' the so-called hybrid perpet-
uals, which have seldom flowered for me more
than once. But this year I read in your ' Season-
able Hints' that if the flower buds are cut off as
soon or before the petals fade, they would bloom
again. Well, I did this last summer, and I cannot
tell you how delighted I am with the results. I
had almost as good a bloom through October as I
had in the regular season. Jacqueminot being par-
ticularly full of flowers. Even old Baron Prevost,
which I never had bloom a second time, had some
flowers. I am now satisfied that your plan is just
the one needed. Let every lady cut oft' the June
blossoms, even before they fade, and she will have
plenty of buds in autumn."

Chrysanthemum Mrs. Dr. Vertres. — Mr. L.
C. Lischy sent buds of this variety on the 20th of
October, which were then as large as peas.

Poplar Trees. — A correspondent writing from
Long Island says that the borers trouble the differ-
ent kinds of poplar so much that is scarcely worth
planting them any more.

Lawns and Evergreens. — "J. B.," Fayette-
ville. Ark., says: " Knowing your kindness in giv-
ing the troubles and perplexities of other people
considerate attention at your editorial table, it oc-
curred to me that possibly you might be wiUing to
give me and others the benefit of a little instruc-
tion. I have been examining not only the Gar-
deners' Monthly, but several other similar pub-
lications for authoritative information as to the
best way, not only to make a lawn, but its proper
care afterwards. I find such a wide difference
between the opinions of different writers upon this
subject that my search after light has not, so far,

ground at least once a week. The blue grass
grows well until about the middle of June, when
crab and foxtail grasses put in an appearance, and
from then until frost it is one continued fight be-
tween the lawn mowers and scythe and these two
enemies of an even temper. Frequently it is ne-
cessary to follow the mowers with a scythe to cut
off the foxtails that are too high for the machines
to cut. I have been told that blue grass is the nat-
ural enemy of these wild grasses, and that they
will in time crowd them out. If this statement
was true, the large dead, brown-looking places all
over the grounds ought to grow smaller each year
as the other grass grows in strength, but it is not
so. I believe the wild grasses are slowly but
surely gaining on the blue grass every season,
though we sow new seed nearly every fall or
spring. How can I change this state of things so
as to give the ascendency to the tame grass ? Here-
tofore we have used stable manure, put in in the
fall, but this year bone meal and guano mixed, at
the rate of four parts of the former to one of the
latter, have been substituted, the mixture broad-
casted at the rate of three hundred and sixty
pounds to the acre. So much for the grass ques-
tion, except that I will add Bermuda grass grows
well in this section, and would, of course, soon kill
out everything else ; but it has so many objection-
able features that it would be adopted only as a
last resort. The next subject about which your
kind assistance will be greatly appreciated is the
care — cultivating, trimming, &c., of evergreens. If
possible, there is mare diversity of teaching about
this matter than that of lawn making. I was taught
to keep a space, say three feet each way, from the
tree, cultivated for some years before sodding up
to the tree. My own very limited experience leads
me to think this practice altogether wrong. This
class of trees make such an abundance of small
roots so near the surface that it is impossible to cul-
tivate the soil without cutting a great many of the
roots. But, as I said, my experience is very lim-
ited, and so I desire the guidance of a master
hand such as yours. I have been very cautious in
using the knife about the evergreens, being afraid

134

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

of the effect upon them. Last year, however, I
had to trim severely a Norway spruce, standing
some twenty feet high. It got badly injured during
a hail-storm, and in order to get it into shape I
had to cut in far towards the stem, taking care to
preserve a conical form, and to leave the lower
branches the highest. Everybody said I had
killed the tree, and I thought so myself. This
year, however, far from being a dead tree, it is
pushing out new growth with more energy than
since I have known it. This leads me to think
that perhaps the knife would benefit some other
evergreens that are a little lazy. Do all evergreens
bear trimming, or is this experience of mine merely
an accident ?

" Your answer will greatly interest me, and prob-
ably many more of your readers. Pardon such a
long letter, but being really anxious to learn, and
knowing no better source of information, I . have
taken a liberty I should not dare to do often."

[We know of no department of education
wherein it is so necessary to remember that circum-
stances alter cases as in gardening. The state-
ment, for instance, that blue grass will crowd out
all other grasses, is true when the grasses are left
to grow up and mature ; but, as our correspondent
correctly remarks, it is not true when the grass is
in the shape of a closely mown lawn. Or it may
be true of a closely mown lawn in the North, where
the climate will keep the grass green and growing
all the summer long, and where " crab-grass,"
" fall grass " and other tropical grasses do not find
themselves so much at home ; while in Arkansas
the fall grasses would have the great advantage.

So with mowing. Here in the North there are
many small growing plants which infest lawns
when the grass is kept low. Then they get light
and air, and creep and flourish. If the grass is not
cut very low there is too much shade for these lit-
tle pests, and they get smothered out. We see,
therefore, that cutting long or cutting low depends
on circumstances. It depends on whether we are
plagued with low growing weeds or not. There is
no reason for cutting the grass long if we are not
troubled with creeping weeds. Just so with leav-
ing the mowings on the lawn. These shade the
living grass to some extent, and shade tends to
weaken what is growing under it. But there may
be cases where the shade injures so little that it
would not be worth the trouble of clearing the
mowings off.

Still again, we have an illustration of varying
results in the case of evergreens growing in grass.
If the evergreen is weak, and we allow tall and
rank grass to take away the food and moisture
required by the tree, the tree will suffer. It
would be what orchardists have got into the habit
of calling bad "cultivation;" but if the grass is
kept short, and then not much food or moisture
abstracted, the shade afforded by the sod, and con-
sequent coolness for the roots of the evergreen
would be very favorable to the health of the tree,
and would then be called the height of good cul-
tivation.

From this it will be seen how difficult it is to
give precise details for lawn management applica-
ble to our whole country. It is wholly a matter for
local experience. — Ed. G. M.]

Greenhouse and House Gardening,

COMMlJNICAT[ONS.

ROOTING CARNATIONS IN APRIL.

BY AUGUST D. MVLIUS, DETROIT, MICH.

I do not strike my carnation cuttings so early as
is customary. I find April struck plants answer
all purposes as well as those rooted earlier. I ar-
range a cutting bed by putting a layer of good
potting soil at the bottom, two inches deep ; on top

of this one and a half inches of sand. My bench
for carnations is behind the boiler ; over the boiler
is the propagating bed for other plants ; the part
for carnations is the coolest one. The cuttings are
rooted in this bed, and not disturbed until time to
plant out of doors. They root in ten to fifteen
days, and the roots soon penetrate the sand to the
good soil beneath. This mode saves time and val-
uable space in greenhouse. Carnations do not
grow much until the cool nights of August and

5-1

AND HORTICULTURIST.

135

September come, so that April rooted plants do as
well as those rooted in the earlier months, and I
think are better winter bloomers. I am raising for
my own use 10,000 plants this season.

A WARNING TO FLORISTS.

BY W. T. BELL, FRANKLIN, PA.

About the 20th of January last, dui'ing a period
of the coldest weather we ever fired through, the
gas pipes on our street were broken, and as the
ground was frozen hard at the time, so that the gas
could not escape through it to the surface, it found
its way into the brick street sewer.

A six-inch vitrified sewer pipe runs under one of
my houses and connects my coal cellar with the
sewer in the street; and as the pipe was laid sim-
ply to carry off the drainage from my greenhouses,
the joints were not cemented ; but the pipe was
trapped at the inner end. The illuminating gas
found its way into this pipe, and escaping between
the joints, rose through five feet of soil, and very
seriously damaged the plants in five of my houses.
Two large beds of roses in full bloom were en-
tirely stripped of foliage, and all carnation flowers
or buds beginning to open, were spoiled ; looking,
after a day or two, as if they had been dipped in
boiling water.

Geraniums, callas, begonias, violets, fuchsias,
coleus, stocks, euphorbias, roses in pots, hyacinths,
heliotropes, oranges and many other things suffered
severely, many losing all their leaves. Phyllan-
thus and cactus were the first to show injury; one
of the latter, having a stem as thick as my arm,
being completely dismembered. A fine lot of al-
ternanthera were almost totally destroyed, and all
lily of the valley, either in bloom or in bud, were
spoiled. About two thousand cuttings in one
bench, mostly roses and geraniums, were ruined,
and some of my most valuable orchids lost all
their leaves. Oleanders, lilium candidum, and some
other plants seem to be gas proof, and our verbe-
nas, smilax and Chinese primrose show no injury
from it. Our standard roses were cut back, and
have broken into bud nicely, and apparently will
soon be all right again. I discovered what was
doing the damage late at night, and dug down to
our sewer outside of the house, and at two o'clock
in the morning broke out a joint of the pipe, and
stopped the gas from coming in. The loss to me
was a serious one, and as many other florists may
be liable to injury from the same cause, without
suspecting it, I thought it best to warn them of
their danger. I would advise that whenever it

can be avoided, there should be no connection
madq between the dwelling or greenhouse and a
common sewer ; and to anticipate the suggestion
that a trap at the street would have kept the gas
out, I will state that my neighbor across the street
has four traps on his branch sewer, two outside
and two inside, and it passed all of them, and
nearly drove his family out of the house.

DEtTrZIA GRACILIS FOR POT CULTURE.

BY CHARLES E. PARNELL, QUEENS, L. I., N. Y.

The graceful Deutzia gracilis, one of our most
beautiful hardy deciduous shrubs, is a native of
Japan, from whence it was introduced by Dr. Von
Siebold. It belongs to the natural order Sax-
frageae, and is a dwarf-growing shrub, attain-
ing a height of from three to four feet, with long,
flexible drooping branches, and small wedge-
shaped, lanceolate or ovate lanceolate leaves, ta-
pering to a point, and having on both sides a coat-
ing of fine starry hairs. The main branches are
covered with lateral branchlets, each bearing at
their point graceful racemes from five to six inches
in length of pure white flowers, and which are pro-
duced in the greatest profusion during the month
of June. Dr. Siebold describes it as inhabiting
the damp valleys and lofty mountains of Japan,
where its fine foliage and attractive flowers form a
remarkably attractive feature of the mountain
scenery. The graceful Deutzia, when well grown,
is one of the most attractive and ornamental of
lawn shrubs, and nothing can well exceed the
grace and beauty of a well-grown specimen.
In order to effect this desired object, it should be
planted in a rich, deep soil, and given a good dress-
ing of well-rotted manure every season; keep all
grass, weeds, etc., one or two feet away from the
center of the plant. All that it requires besides
this, is to have all weak and superfluous wood re-
moved as soon as the plant ceases flowering.

As a pot plant, for the decoration of the window
garden or greenhouse during the winter season,
this Deutzia is of special value, while for cut flow-
ers during that period it is almost indispensable. It
is especially valuable on account of its producing
its flowers in perfection when grown in a low tem-
perature, say 40° to 45O. In order to obtain the
most satisfactory results with this Deutzia, when
grown as a pot plant, it should be taken up and
and potted in suitable sized pots early in October;
press the soil down firmly around the roots, and
water freely. Place in a sheltered situation, yet
one that is fully exposed to the sun. Keep well

136

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

supplied with water, and when cold weather sets
in remove to a cool dry cellar, from whence they
can be brought into the greenhouse as often as it is
deemed to be necessary, in order to obtain a suc-
cession of bloom. After the flowering season is
over they can be removed to the cellar, and in the
spring planted out in a well-manured piece of
ground, in order to obtain good growth for an-
other season, but unless the plants grow freely and
make considerable flowering wood, it is advisable
to permit them to remain in the ground for another
season. But after forcing for about three seasons,
it is advisable to destroy the plants, for they are
then apparently so weakened as to be compara-
tively worthless, their place being supplied by
other plants which should be specially grown for
this purpose.

Propagation is effected by division of the plant,
also by cuttings of the half-ripened wood, the latter
method furnishing the best plants. Of course they
are small, but if properly cared for will soon make
fine and handsome specimens.

ROSES IN WINTER.

BY E. R. CLEVELAND.

I take it for granted that the majority of your
readers will agree with me when I state that there
is no portion of the business of a gardener — be he
professional or amateur — of greater importance, or
demanding a larger amount of constant attention
and forethought than that of having an abundant
supply of the "queen of flowers" during the win-
ter and early spring months. Roses, no doubt, are
always prized and always welcome, but doubly so
at the present season, when their delicate and
beautiful colors and delicious fragrance delight the
senses, and give us a glimpse of summer in ad-
vance. Hitherto the florists in the eastern cities —
notably New York — had, to a large extent, a
monopoly of the winter rose trade, and did an ex-
tensive and lucrative business with the various
cities of the West. True, the florists in the latter
grew roses more or less extensively, but neither in
quantity or quality were they able to compete with
the more favored growers of the East. It is un-
necessary just now to enter into particulars showing
how this may be accounted for; suffice it to say,
that as a matter of fact there is no real difficulty in
the way of growing as good roses five hundred or
one thousand miles west of New York as in the
latter city.

As a proof of the correctness of this statement
I will briefly relate what I saw on the occasion of

a visit which I paid, a few days before Christmas,
to the gardens of Mr. Gordon, situated in the.
suburbs of the City of Cleveland, Ohio. Last
spring Mr. Gordon decided to commence the cul-
tivation of roses for winter, on a rather extensive
scale, and rightly concluding that the way to se-
cure success was by deserving it, he left nothing
undone which was likely to aid in reaching the
point aimed at. The result must certainly have
far exceeded his most sanguine expectations. Pre-
vious to commencing the erection of houses in
which to grow roses, Mr. Gordon wisely secured
the services of one of the best rose growers in
America, in the person of Mr. J. C. Gooding.
Many of your readers have doubtless already
heard of Mr. Gooding, he having gained a most
enviable reputation while in charge of the rose-
houses of Mr. T. J. Slaughter, of Madison, N, J.
Under the superintendence of Mr. Gooding, Mr.
Gordon erected two houses of the following dimen-
sions, viz.: length, 150 feet; width, 32 feet; height,
16 feet. These houses may be described as three-
quarter span, and are in every way admirably
suited for the cultivation of roses. In the center
of each house is a raised bench or stage having a
similar slope to that of the roof. On this stage is
placed some twelve to fourteen inches of soil in
which the roses are planted. The plants (Spring
struck cuttings) had been placed in position in one
of these houses about the first of September, those
in the other nearly a month later. At the time of
my visit nothing could possibly exceed the health
and luxuriance of these plants. I should be afraid
to repeat the number of blooms ( which a refer-
ence to Mr. Gooding's book showed ) had been cut
during the month or two the plants had been in
bearing. I can, however, speak of the quantities
of bloom to be seen in all stages of advancement,
and no language could possibly be too strong to
use in praising the quality of the flowers. I can
honestly say that, for size, substance and color, I
have never seen them excelled, and I have had
some little experience in these matters. I meas-
ured some half-open buds of Cornelia Cook, and
found the circumference to average eight to nine
inches, whilst Catherine Mermet and Adam were
equally fine in proportion. Indeed, it is useless
particularizing, for every variety which Mr. Good-
ing had under cultivation yielded flowers of the
most superb quality. The principal varieties which
he grows are as follows, viz. : Catherine Mermet,
Cornelia Cook, Safrano, Souvenir d'un Ami, Perle
des Jardins, Bon silene, Marie Guillot, Adam,
Douglas, Niphetos and Duke of Connaught.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

137

The leading principles adopted by Mr. Gooding
in the cultivation of roses for winter blooming ap-
pears to be the securing of young, healthy plants,
using a moderately free, rich soil in which to grow
them, and giving all the light possible, together
with a liberal allowance of heat and moisture.
Whether he possesses any special secret other than
the means just mentioned, whereby to command
success, I am unable to say, but certain it is the
results of his practice are eminently satisfactory.

The houses are heated by steam, the apparatus
having been put up by the Exeter Steam Company.
Mr. Gooding is very well pleased with the way in
which it does its work, and with the editor's per-
mission I propose having something to say on this
system of heating in a future number.

A FEW REMARKS ON STEAM HEATING.
BV CHAS. M. SIMPSON, VINCENXES, IND.

In reply to Mr. E. Holley's inquiry as to steam
heating I will give my experience with steam heat-
ing for greenhouse purposes. In rebuilding our
greenhouses last summer, that had been before
heated with brick flues, we put in one of the Exe-
ter heating apparatus, which I must say is one
of the best machines for the purpose I have ever
seen. And as to cost, we have one house 65x20
feet, two houses 11x45 feet, one house 45x20 feet.
We had this heater put in complete, except brick
work and excavating, for ^650. The lowest bid

on hot water was S900, and we do the work, which

would cost over $1,000, to say nothing of the cost, cheap heat for greenhouses to use steam, and I do

ing our temperature from 60- to 65- than if it had
been ordinary freezing weather only. We build
our fires accordingly.

As to steam ascending we have found no incon-
venience, yet we turn our steam in our tank fifty
feet from the boiler, and it ascends forty feet di-
rectly upwards and then returns. It takes about
ten pounds of steam to get up circulation, and five
pounds keep it up. As to leaving your boiler, all
you have to do is to put in your fire and it will
take care of itself. Having a damper regulator
you can set it for any amount of steam you want.
We find it necessary to get up of very cold nights,
using, as we do, wood and soft coal, but will use
hard coal next winter. Where you have hard
coal you can leave your fire all night without any
trouble.

Some persons that have had experience with
steam say that steam cools down too soon. That
is true, but it takes but a few minutes to get it
up again, and it is not necessary to keep up
fire all day when it is not needed for fear it will
turn suddenly cold on you, as some florists I
know of have to do, therefore wasting as much
fuel as they burn.

In our boiler we do not keep up any fire when
we do not need it. Have often gone to the furnace
of a night when only a few coals were left, and in
twenty minutes would have ten pounds of steam,
and in less than five minutes from starting fire
would raise the temperature from ten to fifteen
degrees. And I would advise any one that wants

of fuel, in favor of the steam over hot water.

We do not burn any more fuel to heat our
whole range of houses than we did to run one fur-
nace with brick flue, which could only heat one
I i-foot house and half of another. Besides heat-
ing these houses we have a one hundred barrel
tank elevated for watering our houses and have
steam pipe run in it to keep from freezing in severe
weather. As to the number of pipes to heat the
said houses we use one-inch pipes, five run on a side, [ teacher,
in our largest house. The return pipe should be an
inch and a half, as it takes the condensation back
to the boiler much faster, and that is what we want
to get a quick circulation. I think that two-inch
pipes would radiate heat faster than two one-inch,
and not cool oft' as soon. Our boiler is twelve
section, No. 2, equal to twelve-horse power, and
have found it necessary to get up over ten pounds
of steam pressure in the coldest weather we have
had this winter, which has been 10° below zero,

not think the Exeter can be beat when it comes to
economy of fuel and first cost of putting, etc., and
when you want to enlarge all you have to do is to
add on a few more sections. That is one of the
good points about it.

I hope that other florists who have this boiler in
use will speak out and let us hear from experience
with it, and if you have anything better I want to
know it, as experience in such things is our best

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Early Blooming of Seedling Azaleas. —
Many persons hesitate to try improvements on
azaleas, camellias and other plants because of an
impression that it takes a number of years for the
seedlings to flower. Col. Wilder has always main-
tained that it takes less time than people imagine.

if they will only grow the plants well, and he
and did not experience any more trouble in keep- ' undertook to raise and flower greenhouse azaleas

138

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

wi:hin two years. It now appears that he recently
exhibited two seedling Chinese azaleas in bloom at
two years from seed. Last year he exhibited
plants which showed remarkable vigor at a year
from seed, and expressed the belief that he should
have them in bloom at two years. He was aston-
ished himself at such early flowering, as were
M. Van Houtte and all other cultivators, for it was
never supposed to be possible. He has quite a
number coming on.

Begonia Davisi. — As a general rule the low-
growing Begonias are desirable for peculiarities of
foliage rather than for an abundance of flowers,
but one here illustrated, introduced by Messrs.

Begonia Davisi.

Haage & Schmidt, of Erfurt, is a notable excep-
tion. The foliage is as neat as any ordinary leaf
plant, while it is as floriferous as the usual sub-
shrubby kinds. Such a little gem will be desira-
ble, although belonging to a genus in which are so
many competitors for popularity.

Greenhouses of Cornell University. — ^A
correspondent says : " None should visit the cam-
pus without inspecting the university conservato-
ries, as they are full of vigorous plant life, and are
interesting and beautiful. The houses are perfect
in every detail. They are in charge of Mr. Shore,
who came from one of the finest places on the
Hudson— that of Mr. Lillienthall, at Yonkers, to
act as head gardener at the McGrawFiske place,
and who has been transferred to the university
greenhouses. He is considered a master in his
profession. When it is remembered that last fall
fhe conservatories were virtually empty, and that
all the life now to be seen there has been created

in the dark months of winter, it seems almost
magical. The present condition of these fine con-
servatories speaks wonders for the future, when
their capacity shall have been fully developed.

" A large lemon tree in the center of the great
central or palm house is worth going up the hill to
see, so loaded is it with fruit and flowers; and the
south or cold house is ablaze with geranium trusses
— a splendor that we can seldom witness out of
doors, as our summer rains beat the petals off. An
impression exists that the greenhouses are open only
to those of the university. This is not so. They
are open to all who behave themselves while there,
just as are the other collections at the university."

Steam Heating. — The numerous letters which
reach us show the intense interest the subject has
for those who have greenhouses to warm. Most
of the objections to it made in the past are being
removed. One of these objections was that we
could not heat a house rapidly enough — we have
to wait till we get up the steam ; but those of us
who remember how long it took to warm up a
house heated by flues, or even by hot water, begin
to believe the old system is a case of "the more
haste the less speed." After the steam is once up
a house can be rapidly warmed hundreds of feet
away.

Culture of Winter Flowering Begonias.
—Early propagation is indispensable. The cutting
should be taken off by March or April, inserted
singly in small pots, shifted on as required, keep-
ing them well to the light, pinching back the most
prominent shoots now and then, maintaining the
temperature at about 55° to 60° by day, but admit-
ting enough air to prevent drawing. By the be-
ginning of June the sturdy, vigorous little speci-
mens that such treatment will have produced
should be placed either in frames or in a light,
well-ventilated house. About the latter part of the
month shift into 41^-inch pots ; some of the largest
will go into 6-inch pots. The soil should be rich
and free — a good mixture consisting of loam, leaf-
mould, and well-rotted manure in equal parts, add-
ing thereto a good dash of sharp sand. Give
plenty of air, shade from hot sun, and if the plants
are in frames run off the lights at nights when
balmy weather prevails. A little of such exposure
will impart to them a great amount of vigor, and
the flowers will come much finer than when they
are never exposed to the full influence of the open
air. When the pots get full of roots a little weak
liquid manure should be occasionally given, the
great point being to keep the plants well in growth

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

139

until the middle or latter end bf September, after
which time they should be placed in gentle warmth,
a light house where a fire is made on cold nights
being the right place for them. From November
onwards a constant temperature of 55° is necessary
to keep them in blooming condition. These winter
flowering Begonias may be well and easily grown
by planting them out in frames for the summer
months. Make up a bed of good soil in a light
frame, and plant out the first week in June, potting
them up again about the middle of September, or
earlier if they are large enough. In planting out
a richer compost can be given them, as there is
not much danger of its becoming sour through
over-watering, so that if anything like good treat-
ment is afforded them they will be sure to make
very luxuriant growth. — Garden.

Origin of Safrano Rose. — Journal des
Roses says this was raised by a passionate rose-
lover, Mons. de Beauregard, of Angers, France, a
retired officer and chevalier of the Legion of
Honor. It was raised from the old yellow tea
rose in 1839. It is, says the journal from which
we quote, the most popular of all tea roses in
France, "honored alike by the sumptuous dweller
under a mansard roof, as well as by the poorest of
the poor." Madam Falcot receives great praise
from the same paper as a good old rose.

Rules for Burning Coke. — A recent report on
coke and its value, concludes as follows : First,
the size of coke used should be a size smaller than
that of anthracite for the same purpose. Second,
fires should be made deep and broad, and after
coke catches, all drafts should be checked ; at
night entirely, in most cases. Care must always
be taken to keep the supply of coke large, as fire
will not be held except in deep bodies of coke.
Third, the ashes from coke are a white powder,
and free from clinkers, those from coke should
contain no slate or waste. — Virginias.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Richardia hastata. — "C." asks: "Can you
inform me of what country the yellow Calla Rich-
ardia hastata is a native of, and when and by
whom introduced?" [South Africa. — Ed. G. M.]

Fruiting of a Lemon Tree.— "Subscriber"
says: "You suggest, in the December number,
that I describe the treatment my lemon tree has
received. The tree is in a box, the soil rather
porous, perhaps too much so, as the water runs
out very soon after I water it. I put a good many

bones in with the soil thinking it would be good
for it. It seems to make good foliage. I keep it
in the cellar in winter and water it once a week.
It stands in summer about four feet from a brick
wall and gets the morning sun. Perhaps the re-
flected heat from the wall does not help it?"

[ From this it will appear that the reason why
the plant does not flower is that it is in a vigor-
ously growing condition. But this is a good fault.
Keep it in the box without repotting, or adding
more nutritive material, and as soon as it has ex-
hausted itself a little it will, no doubt, flower and
fruit profusely. It is much better to have a tree
temporarily barren from a healthy cause like this,
than to have one suffering from disease. — Ed.
G. M.]

The Growth of Trees in Catalogues. — The
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher thus letteth himself out
on something in some "fat" catalogues: "Nobody
has the tree I want except in their catalogue,
and then, when I send for it it dodges out of that.
Does nobody keep it? Is there any such thing?
Or is it a myth, — a mere arboreal sprite, without a
local habitation, and only a name?

" I am told — but rapidly am coming to disbe-
j lieve — that it grows wild, in New Jersey, in Penn-
I sylvania. Oh, if it were only true! I might set a
' trap for one — or offer a premium — or send an ex-
ploring expedition. But, no. It may exist as a
' Berkleyion idea, but not in substance — wood, bark,
leaf and cone.

1 "Oh this bother about trees! When men have,
I at length, a home, it is too small for trees. If a
large enough ground exists the owner doesn't know
anything about trees — doesn't care. If he docs care
he can't get them. Nobody has them — except
catalogues. If I could only make my trees grow
as catalogues do ! Frost don't blight, nor heat
burn them. They are gardens of Eden till you
try them, and then they turn to barren and waste.
"Well 1 I feel better.

"Sometime or other don't you want a list of trees
which prove hardy at Peekskill? After they have
grown a few years I am going to advertise that my
grounds are open and at the service of all gentle-
men who wish to see, in good size and condition,
the more rare trees, and those which prove hardy.
I have thirty species of pine."

A Striped Agrippina Rose. — Walter Coles,
Claymont, Del., says: "I have sent you by this
morning's mail a striped rose. It came from an
Agrippina bush, but all one side seems to have
this striped character, same as the one sent you.

I40

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

'Can you kindly tell me if it is anything rare or
worth taking care of?"

[Very double and very sweet scented. Ameri-
•can Banner we believe to resemble it, but we have
none at hand for comparison. If different from
this it will be very desirable. — Ed. G. M.]

of foliage, and are very elegantly divided, the leaf-
lets long-stalked and more or less deeply lobed,
the edges notched with more or less upcurved
teeth. It is a plant of pleasing character, having
somewhat the aspect of P. laciniatum, but being
i many degrees more finely cut.

NEW OR RARE PLANTS.

Panax plumatum. — A very elegant small-grow-
ing 'plant, introduced by Mr. Wm. Bull from the
South Sea Islands. The leaves form a crispy head

Streptosolen JeiMesoni.— This pretty plant
was discovered by Hartweg in Ecuador, and was
first called Browallia, by Bentham. It has orange-
red flowers and ought to be as popular as the well-
known blue Browallia. It was introduced to cul-
tivation by Messrs. Veitch.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

141

Fruit and Vegetable Gardening.

COMMUNICATIONS.

PROGRESS OF NORTHERN SUGAR
MAKING.

BY JOHN C. SMOCK, NEW HRUNSWICK, N. J.

On page 83 of the last number of the Garden-
ers' Monthly there is a paragraph from the Ag-
riculturist relative to sugar making in the country,
which does not include any reference to a large and
successful establishment in Cape May county. New
Jersey. I take the liberty to call your attention to
the last annual report of the New Jersey Agricul-
tural Experiment Station, a copy of which I have
mailed to your address. Possibly the account of
this success in New Jersey may be of interest to
you and your readers.

Another matter. Would it not be well to have the
Japanese persimmon tested in Cape May county ?
I write of this, as I think it might be well to have
it tried there. And if I can find some one willing
to give it a fair trial then shall write you, as I
presume.

INTRODUCING NEW FRUITS.

BY W. F. BASSETT, HAMMONTON, N. J.

New fruits, that excel all others in all important
points, are now so frequently offered that it seems
to me a matter of great importance to the hor-
ticultural world that all claimants should, by the
force of public opinion, be compelled to intro-
duce themselves in a manner sufficiently formal
and guarded, to prevent the imposition of worth-
less fruits as old varieties under new names, upon
the public. We cannot, of course, always know
that a variety will succeed generally, because we
find it doing wonders in some one locality; but
when a considerable number of our leading fruit
growers are invited to visit the new-comer and de-
cide upon its merits, or where notice is duly given
to the public generally, and all invited freely to
come and see it in fruit, we are not likely to get an
old variety under a new name, to say the least, and
we are pretty sure to find one that is valuable in
some points and in some places. I am glad to be
able to say that such methods are being more and
more generally adopted. On the other hand, when

we see the introducer of new (?) fruits following in
the wake of the sporting fraternity and practically
offering to bet, as stakes, their bantlings against
some other one for large sums of money, with no
previous formal introduction or acquaintance, I do
not generally feel much confidence. Doubtless
these offers are intended to convey the idea that
the introducer has unlimited faith in the va-
riety so pushed forward, but is this the legitimate
inference to be drawn ? I think not. In my opin-
ion it is much more likely that it is done to gain
notoriety, or as a "game of bluff," with the expec-
tation that enough "gulls" will be found to pay all
expenses and a handsome profit before the time
for the actual test arrives.

THE NEED OF CALIFORNIA.

BY CHARLES H. SHINN.

My exchanges and letters from horticultural
friends on the Pacific Coast write in warning of
"danger ahead." The planting of fruit trees has
gone on with an energy never before equaled on
the American continent. My own personal knowl-
edge of the situation then, and acquaintance with
Eastern horticulture, urge me to say that in my
humble opinion the natural home of the temper-
ate zone fruits, particularly the stone fruits, and
the vine, is in California, so far as soil and climate
go. If a cordon of law and wise quarantining
could fifteen years ago have been placed about the
State, it would simply be to-day, as it was once,
the horticulturists' paradise, and fruit raising would
in ten years more be the chief industry of the
State. One would be able to drive for twenty
miles through a continuous orchard — absolutely
unbroken, except by fences or gardens, and there
would be half a hundred such centers of fruit cul-
ture in the State. Vineyards of 1,000, 5,000 and
10,000 acres would not be uncommon. The con-
trol of the trade in fresh and dried fruits would be
in our hands.

But scale-bugs, woolly aphis, red spider, curcu-
lio, and in fact all the parasites known to East and
West are naturalized in California, and the dis-
couragements of the business steadily increase.
Legislation of the most stringent character is ad-
vocated and earnestly hoped for. A diseased

142

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

orchard, if taken in hand soon enough, can be
profitably treated and cleaned of the parasites.
But delay is fatal, and careless neighbors aid in
spreading the pests.

There never was a time when trained horticul-
turists were more needed than in California at
present. The Agricultural Department of the State
University needs more aid in its vigorous efforts,
and an entomological department, under the best
men to be found, should be endowed and liberally
supported. Matthew Cooke, chief horticultural offi.
cer, is a man of much capacity and energy. He
should find public sentiment in each county of the
State strongly in favor of "war to the death"
against the insect pests. It would honestly be bet-
ter to destroy every fruit tree in the State, and be-
gin over again, than to give up the best belt of fruit-
growing land on the continent. But this is not
necessary. All that is required is that the horti-
culturists there be animated with one spirit, and
work in harmony.

RAMBLING NOTES OF FRUITS AND TREES.

BY ISAAC HICKS, WESTBURY, L. I.

I find in turning over the leaves in memory's
pages there are a few things that may be worthy
of preservation ; for he that loves to ramble in
Flora's kingdom will find objects of interest and
admiration continually, and in the choice gifts of
fruit, flowers and trees find an ever-pleasing study.
How bright was the anticipation as the warm days
of early summer ripened up the first and most wel-
come fruit, the strawberry, that many of these
highly-praised new berries would be tested. We
had a fine feast it is true, but the clouds withheld
the blessed rain and our hopes were not fully real-
ized. While we must continue to try new kinds,
such is the impulse of all lovers and growers of
fruit to obtain something better than we now have,
I think those who have in bearing the Charles
Downing, Cumberland Triumph and Sharpless
may rest satisfied, and let others prove the new and
highly extolled varieties until they really discover
the best strawberry on earth which I think, when
found, few will believe in. Following the straw-
berries come the cherries. But the black knot
killed or severely injured most all the twenty or
more varieties we had a few years since, only the
Downer's late escaping. I find this variety for
us is worth much more than any other. It ripens
late and bears abundantly; is healthy and long
lived, a most excellent fruit for the table or for
canning, and not least, the birds having freely par-

taken of earlier ripening kinds, kindly leave
Downer's late for us. It does not crack or rot on
the tree like many varieties. Raspberries, too, are
claiming much of the attention of fruit growers ;
we find several new names as competitors for
the best, largest, most productive sort, and if im-
provement continues as it has done for the last ten
years, we will approach very near to perfection.
I have in cultivation the New Rochelle and
Caroline seedlings of S. Carpenter, of New Ro-
chelle. The former is a strong and rapid grower,
a very abundant bearer of large purple fruit of the
cap family. The flavor is equal if not better than
the Philadelphia. They are growing on a hght,
sandy loain, and the two last summers were hurt
by the severe drouth.' On heavy soil and near
where it originated on the farm of Wm. S. Carpen-
ter, they were marvels of productiveness. With
us they are far more profitable than the Philadel-
phia, Bristol or Brandywine. But after three or
four years trial we prefer the Caroline. It is a
beautiful yellow cap, in no wise resembling the
Brinckle's orange, so far hardy, continues a long
time in bearing, and while other varieties were
dried up by the dry weather it scarcely affected
the Caroline. It has a mild, pleasant, but not rich
flavor like the B. orange, and is the poorest variety
to can that we have tried. I do not wish to dis-
parage any of the new varieties before the public,
but for family use and near market would like
to see these two sorts more extensively tested.
Cuthbert growing in the same patch were not half
as productive, perhaps owing to allowing the suck-
ers to grow so as to have a stock of young plants.
In beauty, size and excellence of fruit it is good
enough, but we must recollect that some varieties
succeed admirably on clay soil, or when the rocks
are slowly disintegrating, furnishing new food for
the plants, as is the case in Westchester and
Orange Counties in the State of New York, or on
the rich prairies of Illinois ; and on our sandy soils
they are very inferior and the grower sadly disap-
pointed.

I will say but little about blackberries. A few
years ago we destroyed a half acre of Lawton
because they were frequently winter killed, and
planted Kittatinnys. We missed it. Lawtons were
the best, Missouri mammoth was better, and now
we hope the Snyder and Taylor will be good and
hardy.

My experience with grapes has been the great
liability from the ocean exposure to promote the
growth of fungus; that Concord is the kind and
most to be depended upon. Vines of Martha,

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

U3

Brighton and Worden trained against a building
are growing and bearing nicely, and better than
the Concord under the same condition.

What an interest is awakened about the old de-
spised Sand Pear. We have had one for forty or
more years, a beautiful tree, bearing every other
year a large crop of pears, and scarcely noticed
except by a hungry urchin tempted by the yellow
fruit to taste, and soon throw it away with a wry
face. Now sand pears or their offspring are all
the go. The seeds are precious, too. If the
Keiffer's Hybrid should prove too near a relation-
ship to its parent for an eating pear, still it will
be valuable for cooking, and it is such a satis-
faction to see a tree grow so rapidly and strong
as they do, and bear so soon, too. We use or
give away our sand pears, for there is no kind
equal to them for pickling. The trees are orna-
mental, too, especially in the spring. Last year
we had a nice crop of Japanese sand pears.
They are of a russet hue, very productive, and in
quality like the Chinese ; in shape like the Buffum.

\/hen inquired of as to what is the best pear in
all respects to plaiit in this section, I answer the
Bartlett. And what next for profit ? The Mer-
riam, as a profitable, reliable pear, is continually
growing in favor. I am aware it is but little
known or planted, but so many of the largest and
best have and are failing that one not so high-
toned that will stay with us, grow fast, and hold
its abundant leaves until killed by frost, bear
abundantly of fair-sized and good fruit, keep a
long time in ripening, is certainly a desirable va-
riety, which no other sort of over one hundred
kinds we have grown will do. We have not been
visited with the pear tree blight, and cannot speak
in regard to that. 1 think the Manning Eliza-
beth the best pear that ripens before the Bartlett.

It is singular to note how different some va-
rieties are from other sorts in the same orchard.
We once planted five Beurre Bosc trees in the
same orchard with the Merriam Boussock, &c. ;
the Bosc all dwindled and died, and the fruit
worthless, while near us, where there is clay sub-
soil, they are the finest of pears. The purchaser
should make inquiries about the soil certain varie-
ties succeed in ere he makes a selection.

For nearly fifty years we have been waging war
against the cucumber beetle or striped bug, but
after trying many ways, some quite troublesome
and expensive too, I recommend the planting of
one or more seeds of the Hubbard or Boston
squash in melon hills, and as the beetle is very
fond of the squash plant, they may eat them first

and satisfy their hunger; then pull them up when
the danger is over. The surest method, 1 think,
is to plant fifteen or twenty seeds in a hill, and as
soon as they peep above the earth dust a little su-
perphosphate around and near, but not on the
plants. This will make it unpleasant for the beetle,
and they soon quit. It may be necessary to repeat
the dose lightly two or three times, as the rain may
prevent the escape of the ammonia ; and there is
this advantage over tobacco dust, hellebore, sul-
phur, &c., it will cause them to grow rapidly, even
if the bugs do not come. A frequent inspection is
necessary, for they need it.

WHEN SHALL WE BREAK LAND IN THE
SPRING ?

BY RUSTICUS.

In considering this subject there are two methods
that I take to convey my impressions. One is that
of a neighbor who is the most inveterate plower
of wet land that I ever knew. His practice is
most objectionable to me. He will break land
when the water flows in the furrows after the plow_
Another neighbor was saying to me a few days
ago that this gentleman stopped plowing for some
days, first when the ground was in favorable plow-
ing condition, and renewed it when it was entirely
too wet. That sounds very odd. Turning over
land too wet "kills" it for that season, and if the
following winter be not severe, with heavy freezes,
the land will still feel the bad effects. If the earth
wears a shiny appearance when plowed or spaded
up, stop work, for it will almost inevitably bake
and remain cloddy throughout the season. Nothing
is gained by it, but much lost. The other person
I have in view rather errs on the other side. He
once injured a piece of land so seriously by break-
ing it up wet that he was led to wait and wait be-
fore plowing, longer than absolutely necessary,
perhaps. Now, must we only break land when
dry as powder ? I think this entirely unnecessary.
My view is that the "happy medium" is the cor-
rect thing. Farmers, generally, hold that where
soil compacts into a ball when pressed in the
hand, it should not be plowed or stirred. This is
hardly accurate, I opine. In the spring of the
year land often becomes "weather hardened," and
needs exposing to air and sunlight for ameliora-
tion. It can be safely upturned even when some-
what wet. Soon it will soften and crumble, and
can be easily and advantageously worked. I
would not be misunderstood. It requires nice
judgment to determine the safe point. This year

144

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

I began my vegetable garden when some might
have thought the ground too heavy. But the ge-
nial effects of air, light and sun were very notice-
able. By not waiting so long until breaking up
land you gain valuable time, a very important ele-
ment in gardening. Should a late frost threaten
the young plants, mulch them, and you are safe.
The early bird catches the worm. Since
writing the above I have been examining Peter
Henderson's garden manual, and am glad to quote
him as substantiating my position to a certain ex-
tent. He says: "One of the most important
things is the condition of the soil, which should
be as thoroughly broken up and pulverized
by plowing and harrowing, digging or raking, as
its nature will admit, care being taken that it is
worked when in that state, that is neither too dry
nor too wet. If too dry, particularly if the soil is
of a clayey nature, it cannot well be got in the
proper friable condition without an unusual
amount of labor ; and, on the other hand, if too
wet, it clogs and bakes, and becomes so hard that
the air cannot penetrate, leaving it in a condition
from which good results cannot be obtained." Let
the gardener exercise great caution. There is
much in a right start.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Pistillate Strawberries. — There was a time
when little value was placed on the sexual differ-
ences in the strawberry flower, even where they
were recognized. Nicholas Longworth, of Cin-
cinnati, did inestimable service in making the
value generally known. Up to his time much
greater crops could be produced by growing pis-
tillate kinds, with a few plants of strongly stami-
nate kinds set out here and there as a fertilizer than
by using the best hermaphrodite then known. But
the introduction of the remarkably productive her-
maphrodite, Wilson's Albany, remanded, for the
time being, Mr. Longworth's endeavors to forget-
fulness. But now that the Albany has degenera-
ted, we have no hermaphrodite that is equal in
productiveness to some of the pistillates, and it is
becoming a question whether we shall not yet have
to bring Mr. Longworth's views again to the fore-
ground. We are reminded of this by the follow-
ing, which we find in some recent proceedings of
the Massachusetts Horticultural Society :

"Some varieties require to be grown in hills,
and to have the runners cut off as soon as they
appear. Such are the Sharpless, Bidwell and

Triomphe de Gand. Some are pistillate and re-
quire the bi-sexual kinds to be planted near by and
to bloom at the same time. Such are the Hovey,
Crescent, Jersey Queen and Manchester. For
want of proper impregnation these kinds often fail
of a crop, but with a suitable companion the pis-
tillate varieties produce very large crops, as did
the Hovey forty years ago, and as Mr. Hovey will
show us it can do now. Some varieties produce
a large number of trusses, and give promise, when
in bloom, of extraordinary crops, but do not yield
so much as those of less pretentious appearance.
There is a limit to the power of production, and
where there is a superabundance of trusses of
flowers, only a portion will set their fruit and carry
it out to perfection without excessive stimulation.
Another cause of failure is a deficiency of pollen
in some of the bi-sexual varieties, and it is well to
plant near them such as are furnished with abun-
dance of it."

Stawberries in England. — There was a time
when huge strawberry gardens were peculiar to
America ; but England is now following closely.
Mr. Winston, in the county of Kent, not far from
London, has three hundred acres in strawberries.

Strawberries in Europe. — Prof. Budd is
writing some interesting European letters to the
Iowa Homestead. Of strawberries in England he
says: "The strawberry here exceeds my expecta-
tion. The crops are as bountiful and the fruit as
large as that of our best varieties in Iowa, but the
quality is far below our Charles Downing, or even
Crescent and Cumberland Triumph. Some of
their best varieties are of recent origin and have
the same parentage as ours."

Visiting the grounds of Mr. Henry Vilmorin, hi
France, he says: " Here is a part of the grounds
where all the races of the strawberry have been
grown for years. We have the impression in
America that it would be useless to introduce any
variety of the strawberry from France. For the
prairie States this seems a great mistake. Many
varieties on these grounds with an admixture of
the great thick-leafed species known as Fragraria
Chiliensis would luxuriate in our climate. For the
first lime I here saw the fruit of the true blue Chili
strawberry. The fruit is very large, white (or
rather a yellowish white), but the quality is rather
low when compared with our Charles Downing.
Some of its crosses, however, with the Fragaria
Vesca are very high in quality, yet they have
very largely the leaf of the Chili species. Unlike
the Fragaria grandiflora of South America (to
which most of our best varieties can be traced)
the Chili species has vigorous runners like our
American wild species.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

US

New Strawberries. — Mr. Hovey says: "I
think I state the truth when I say that a batch of
seedhngs saved from the best varieties, will pro-
duce full as fine a lot of strawberries as nine-tenths
of those named and offered for sale as varieties
superior to all others."

■ Raising New Strawberries. — Few persons
have given more attention to the careful produc-
tion of the new varieties of strawberries than Col.
Wilder, and the results of his extensive experience
must be of great value to beginners in this pleas-
ant pursuit. In a recent essay before the Massa-
chusetts Horticultural Society, he thus details his
views and experiences:

"The strawberry has assumed great importance
among our cultivated plants, and great progress
has been made in the production of new and fine
kinds, but there is still room for improvement. We
know no reason why we may not produce varieties
of strawberries of the finest quality and such as
are adapted to every section of our vast territory.
To produce them we should select as breeders
those which possess the characteristics which we
wish to obtain. To make sure of a perfect cross,
the essayist has chosen pistillate kinds and impreg-
nated them with those of the greatest excellences,
for example, the Crescent — which, though of sec-
ond quality, possesses extraordinary hardiness and
productiveness, with good form and color — which
he has crossed with the President Wilder, Duncan,
Triple Crown and other high-flavored sorts. From
these crosses he has obtained some very promising
kinds. The time is fast approaching when the
public will not be satisfied with so poor a straw-
berry as the Wilson, and if we can produce a bet
ter one the Wilson will disappear from our mar
kets. If we can produce a variety of the quality
and productiveness of the Hovey in former years,
and better suited to general cultivation, should we
not do it? What is wanted is varieties of excel-
lence that everybody can grow."

Garden Culture of the Strawberry. — Col.
Wilder is of opinion that for garden culture plant-
ing in rows three feet apart and one foot apart in
the rows, allowing each to make from two to four
shoulder runners, and no more for the first season,
is best. These by autumn will make a row of
thrifty, strong bearing plants, and will produce
more than the common matted row. For field
culture the rows should be four feet apart and the
plants one foot in the row, and all superfluous run-
ners should be pinched off so as to leave only
strong plants. It may be added that it is found
by experience that a renovation by replanting
young ones about every second year, is good
practice. For garden culture we should plant
a young bed every second year to succeed the
older one.

Degeneracy of Strawberries. — Col. Wilder
believes that the degeneracy or wearing out of
varieties may often be traced to the exhaustion of
proper elements in the soil, and to the bad manipu-
lation of the plants. In the rage for novelties, de-
scribed as the "best in the world," we meet with
many disappointments, and sometimes become dis-
gusted with their failures and cast them out as
worthless without a fair trial. So also with some
of the old kinds, which have not been so much
cultivated as in former years, such as the Hovey,
Jucunda, Triomphe de Gand and others which
were once popular. The essayist thought it would
be a wise measure for the society to offer a special
premium for the restoration of those old, valuable
varieties of fruits and flowers which have gone out
of general cultivation. But from our experience it
seems likely that much of the degeneracy of straw-
berries comes from disease which, once affecting a
plant, becomes extended by runners. We fancy
if strawberries are propagated from plants that
have not the "spotted leaf," or other troubles, they
would rarely "wear out."

A Perfect Strawberry. — Many points, not
often thought of, go to make up the perfect berry.
At a meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society, W. H. Hills, of Plaistow, N. H., spoke of
an extraordinary crop of Miner's Prolific, but the
fruit ripened on one side, so that it was difficult ta
get the pickers to select only that which was ripe.
A fruit that will ripen uniformly all through at once,
has a great advantage over such a one as Mr.
Hills referred to.

Layering Boxes. — As the season for preparing
strawberry runners for "pot" plants is now ap-
proaching, it may be in order to note the great ad-
vantage the cheap chip baskets have over ordinary
flower pots. Advances in horticulture are often
the greatest in small things — and we really think
this invention of Mr. Ryder deserves a rich re-
ward.

Profits of Vegetable Culture in Texas.
— Mr. H. Tone said at the North Texas Horti-
cultural Society, that two years ago no member
of that society would have believed that ^250
per acre could be realized from so insignificant
an article as wax beans, and yet it has been
done by half a dozen of their members. To
have told then that ^^500 could be realized from
an acre of cabbage would have subjected one to
a charge of lunacy, and yet that figure has been
reached and surpassed the present year.

146

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

Forestry.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Free Lumber.— According to what we gather
'from the Chicago Tribune, the interests involved in
the "free lumber" question lately before Congress
are chiefly of pretence only, the real object being the
final destruction of the whole protective policy of
the nation. We thought so, and as our magazine
is not a political one, we treated the endeavors to
• draw us into a discussion of this " duty-free lum-
ber" question somewhat coldly.

We can only say in a general way, that the talk
about " preserving our forests " in the way the
matter is being introduced in these political discus-
sions is clearly of no practical value, and if our
forestry associations are to be made mere tenders
to the vessel of general " free trade " or other " po-
litical nostrum," the sooner those of us who do not
wish to mix up party politics with our forestry
work understand it the better. It was always a
wonder how many old and mere politicians cap-
tured the American Forestry Association at Chi-
cago ; but the milk is beginning to ooze through
the shell. A forest is bound to rot away after one or
two hundred years. If a good market price cannot
be obtained for the lumber, the occupant will cut it
■ off and plant corn. To cheapen your own forests,
and increase the value of your competitors' is the
surest way to hasten your own forest destruction.
It is amazing to us that any one can believe that to
render your own forests valueless is the way to pre-
serve them ! But the truth is that no one beheves
it. It is only used for general political purposes.

Canadian Lumber. — Our excellent New York
neighbor, the American Agriculturist, has the
following in its March number :

" Those who have looked into the subject most
carefully, are confident that the interests of our
country require that all lumber be admitted free,
and such a bill has passed the Senate. Canada is
the only country from which we receive lumber,
and it is held that every inducement should be
given to the Canadians to cut down their forests to
supply our consumption, while we preserve our
own and allow them to grow."

If the last line read "allow them to die," instead
of " to allow them to grow," it would have about
covered the case. Does our contemporary really

believe that if we render a tree worthless it will be
"allowed to grow ?" All experience shows that it
is because trees are worth nothing for the timber
market, that the land is cleared and put into farm
crops. Surely there is far more timber then "left
to grow " when it is made profitable to grow it,
than when there is "nothing in it."

And then we have heard that so much of the
"forestry anxiety " is on account of the " influence
of trees on the climate." We heard this from Ca-
nadians at Montreal last year. But it appears
from the extract above that the Canadians are
willing to risk their country becoming an "arid
waste " if the Americans will only give them a big
price for their logs.

It is becoming clearer every day that the "anx-
ious foresters " who captured the Forestry Associa-
tion at Cincinnati are simply free traders, and as a
rule have no interest whatever in forestiy in itself.

Now whether free trade or protection is a benefit
to our country is none of our business here. There
are plenty of channels through which it can be
better discussed. But it is our duty to show that
the pretended interest which so many show in for-
estry is only a cover for something else.

The Locust Borer in Ohio. — At a recent
meeting of the Summit County (Ohio) Horticultu-
ral Society, Mr. M. C. Read, of Hudson, noted
that "the history of the Clytus, a beautiful beetle,
whose larvse bores the body and limbs of the white
locust, illustrates the law of change. Some thirty-
five or forty years ago the white locust, because of
its rapid growth and beautiful appearance when
young, was extensively planted as an ornamental
tree. For many years it seemed to be without an
insect enemy ; but after a time this elegantly
marked insect was occasionally observed upon
and in the neighborhood of these trees. Its mem-
bers steadily increased, until the bodies of most of
the locust trees were honeycombed with the galle-
ries formed by the larvae, and the sickly appear-
ance of the trees foreboded their destruction. In
later years, apparently without cause, the number
of these beetles has been so reduced that a collec-
tor, in many places where they were abundant, can
obtain but a few specimens in a season. I do not
know what particular insects are to receive credit

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

147

for this work, but it is certain that its natural ene-
mies have, by virtue of the law already stated,
checked its abnormal increase, and established a
substantially harmless equilibrium."

The Largest American Trees. — The largest
specimens of wood so far received by the New
York Museum is a section of the white ash, which
is forty-six inches in diameter and one hundred
and eighty-two years old. The next largest speci-
men is a section of the Plantanus occidentalis, va-
riously known in commerce as the sycamore, but-
tonwood, or plane tree, which is forty-two inches
in diameter and only one hundred and seventy-
one years of age.

Wood of the Black Jack Oak. — The Florida
Dispatch says the wood of the black jack, (Quer-
cus nigra, we suppose,) takes the place in the
South of bird's eye maple.

Timber of the China Tree. — In the South,
the Melia Azederach, or China tree, grows to per-
fection, and the Florida Dispatch says is of excel-
lent quality in cabinet-makers' work.

Pine Trees in Texas. — The last census report
gives Texas the first rank among the States pro-

ducing pine trees, estimating the number of feet
of that species of 67,508,500,000, nearly double
that of Michigan, which has 35,000,000,000 feet
and occupies the fifth rank. Maine occupying the
lowest on the list, with 475,000,000 feet — all in
board measure.

Sun Dried Wood. — A correspondent of the
Massachusetts Ploughman finds that wood which
is dried slowly in a cool place is better than that
which is dried quickly in the hot sun, even though
cut in the summer.

Variability of Duration in Timber. — The
average life of a railroad sleeper in our country is
seven years. There are 2,211 in a mile. The
average cost is 50 cents each. Thus our sleepers
are costing us $1,105.50 a mile for each of
the 40,000 miles in the Union. The sleepers on
the English roads last on an average fourteen
years, and when properly treated with preserving
substances, they last for a century.

Parsley Leaved Hawthorn. — According to
the Florida Dispatch this pretty hawthorn, Cra-
taegus apiifolia, is known in the South as " 'possum
haw."

Natural History and Science.

COMMUNICATIONS.

ARE ALL MUSHROOMS MORE OR LESS
POISONOUS?

BY' H. W. RAVANEL, AIKEN, SOUTH CAROLINA.

I note your comments on the statement of the
London Medical Times, that "all mushrooms are
more or less poisonous." The term "mushroom"
is rather vague, but it seems to be intended here
to apply to all those larger fleshy species of toad-
stools which might, from their appearance, be
used as human food. Of course we have no exact
knowledge of the real proportion between the
edible or harmless species and those which are
poisonous. But few persons would care to subject
themselves to a test of this kind. Quite a large
number are noted by Fries in his "Systema
MycologLcene," and by others of the old mycol-
ogists, as "edible." Some are also known to be

poisonous, and therefore great care should be
used in preparing them for the table.

As far as my knowledge and experience go in
these matters, I am inclined to believe that so far
as the statement "all mushrooms are more or less
poisonous," is from being true, that on the con-
trary, most mushrooms are innocuous (except that
they may be tasteless or indigestible), and that
those which are actively poisonous are compar-
atively few. I base my belief partly on my own
experience, but chiefly on the investigations and
trials made by the late Dr. Curtis, the eminent
American mycologist, for a series of years, on the
mushrooms of North Carolina. For a period of
about thirty years, closing only with his life, we
were in constant correspondence on botanical
subjects. During the war, when fresh meats were
not always to be had, Dr. C. would often say
jocularly that he was testing our common native
mushroom, and found many of them really de-

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

licious, some quite palatable, and others to be dis-
carded as tasteless or uninviting. Almost every
letter during the warmer months had something of
new discoveries in the gastronomic qualities of
Agarics or other allied genera of mushrooms; of
some of the Boleti, and of the fleshy Polypori or
other soft and tender species, which, found in suf-
ficient abundance, might be desirable. In no
single case that I recollect, did he suffer any evil
consequences from their use. Of course he exer-
cised judgment in this groping of his way, as it
were, in the dark. All the species noted in the
books as "edible" he used without hesitation.
Species of similar habits and appearance, though
botanically different, were also tested with some
care. Such as were known to be poisonous, or
had an offensive and repugnant look, were avoided.
Boletus Satanas, which Lenz, the discoverer, so
named, because he had tried it, and proved its
poisonous properties, "vitae periculo" was care-
fully avoided, whilst some other species of Boletus
were found to be good.

Dr. Curtis in this way tested over one hundred
of our American species of mushrooms. He had
accurate drawings made by his son, and colored
from living specimens, he himself writing the
descriptions so they might be recognized by per-
sons who were not familiar with botanical terms,
with the intention of publication. "Mycophagia,"
as its title indicated, I know was completed and
placed in the hands of the printers ; he so stated
to me in one of his last letters, but a few months
previous to his death ; but why, after an interval of
more than ten years, it has never been published,
I am unable to say.

[The drift of the paper in the Medical Times is
that all mushrooms are poisonous "when they are
uncooked."— Ed. G. M.]

cicles. No. 2, of Utah Flora, 1880; by Prof. Sar-
gent in Forest Trees of America, No. 103. We
may also quote Nuttall in Vol. i. North American
Sylva, as referring indefinitely to a doubtful form
from the same place, and perhaps many others not
at present recalled. But I am not sure that this
is the form you refer to, neither do I know which
Red River Drummond collected in — Red River
of Louisianna or Red River of the North. So this
may not be the form you have described under
the name of C. brachyacantha, and probably the
west Rocky Mountain species have not yet been
properly made out and published; if so, hope you
will do so at an early date. But first, will you not
give us more information of C. brachyacantha,
particularly some of the synonyms and its habitat?
Perhaps Mr. Letterman would be willing to tell us
more of its peculiar characters and general condi-
tion ; at least I should ask him to do so if I had the
pleasure of his acquaintance, which unfortunately
I do not possess.

CRATiEGUS BRACHYACANTHA.
BV L. B. CASE. RICHMOND, IND.

I have just finished reading the February number
of the Monthly, and am not quite satisfied with
the information I got from a few paragraphs. First,
in regard to Crataegus brachyacantha. We are all
familiar with the fact that there is an acknowledged
undescribed species of Cratsegus found along the
west slope of the Rocky Mountains, and usually
referred to C. rivularis, i. e. by Prof. Watson in
Vol. v., King's Report of the 4th Parallel, page 92;
by Prof. Porter, in Hayden's Report, 1871, page 482 ;
from Utah, by Prof. Coulter in Hayden's Report,
1872, page 765; by Prof. M. E. Jones in his Fas-

SOME PLANTS OF MONTGOMERY CO.,
KANSAS.

BY E. N. PLANK, INDEPENDENCE, KANSAS.

In making a botanical survey of this county, I
have found, unexpectedly, several plants rarely
found in this latitude, 37- and others so interesting
and beautiful that the fact of their growing here
may be of general interest.

Gilia coronopifolia. — This beautiful plant, the
"standing cypress" of the gardens, l have seen in
one locality only in this county. It is a common
inhabitant of the Southern States, extending west-
ward through Texas.

Acacia filicina (frilled) — A fine little shrub that
has worked its way up from a more southern hab-
itat. With us it does not grow more than two feet
high, though further south it is said to attain a
height of five or more feet. Its leaves are as finely
cut and beautiful as those of a fern. Its flowers are
whitish and globular in form.

yEsculus parviflora. — This pretty species of
Buckeye had not been reported as growing in
Kansas until I found it in this county, where it is
not uncommon. It is kept for sale in the eastern
nurseries, and is worthy of general cultivation.

Eryngium Leavenworthii. — A remarkable and
singularly beautiful plant, growing everywhere in
Southern Kansas, on limestone rocks. It deserves
a place in every garden where it will grow. Its
oddity, as well as its beauty, making it an object
of attraction.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

149

Centaurea Ameficatta. — At first sight one would
"hardly recognize in this tall plant, with its large,
showy flowers, a sister of the Bachelor's Button of
the garden. It is a fine plant, but rarely met with
in this county.

Castillija coccinea (Painted Cup). — This is a
widely disseminated plant, though not abundant
anywhere. I have seen it in two or three places
only in this county. It is a unique and beautiful
plant.

Euphorbia mafginafa. — Snow on the Mountain
of the gardens is common further west, but is sel-
dom seen in this locality. It is one of our few
native plants, the beauty of whose foliage renders
them objects of attraction.

Cooperia Drummondii. — It is a little strange that
this pretty Texas member of the amaryllis family
should have moved its habitat to Southern Kansas.
I found, perhaps, a dozen individuals of the species
growing in one location only, in a slight depression,
on high table land.

Camptosorus rJiizophyllus (Walking Fern). —
This unique and beautiful fern, if not rare, is so fas-
tidious in its choice of a home that it is abundant
in a few localities only. I found it covering a few
limestone rocks in a cold, damp place where the
sun never reaches, a forest being on one side, and
on the other a perpendicular wall of rock fifty or
sixty feet high.

THE LAW OF VARIABILITY.

BY JEAN SISLEV, MONPLAISIR, LYONS, FRANCE.

It is admitted by nearly all who have studied
the laws which govern the vegetable and animal
kingdom that variability is the universal rule. If
I say nearly, it is because a very eminent horticul-
tural writer, whom I esteem, has written recently
that reproduction is the rule and variation an
exception. But in support of his opinion he has
not quoted one example, nor explained why there
are not two grains of sand of the same size or the
same weight ; why there are never two leaves of
the same tree identically alike, nor two seeds of the
same pod producing two plants in every respect
the same ; why we never meet two twins resem-
bling perfectly. Time and reflection, and particu-
larly observation, will, it is to be hoped, settle this
question for the interest of science and progress.

I have been myself for a long while in error. 1
attributed the variations obtained from seed to the
interference of insects, and thought that when
rambling in flowers they carried the pollen from
one variety to another, and thus produced cross-

ings. But my friend Carriere, editor of the Revue
Horiicole, of Paris, made me perceive my mistake
by calling my attention to the natural law of vari-
ation.

I felt very much obWged, but as a free thinker in
all matters, and believing only what is demonstrated
by irrefragable facts, I searched for proofs and ad-
dicted myself particularly to study roses, and I
soon perceived that nearly always the natural
fecundation takes place before the expansion of
the flower buds, and that consequently the inter-
vention of insects was of no avail. What makes
me desirous to call the attention of rose grow-
ers to this subject is, that notwithstanding its
evidence, the law of variability is not generally
perceived, principally in horticulture, and because
it is in the vegetable kingdom, that there is the
largest field for study. Is it not variation that
produces all the pleasures in expectation by the
hopes we entertain of obtaining something new by
sowing ?

It is chiefly in the rose tribe that variation has,
without our intervention, given us so much delight,
by the numerous and beautiful varieties obtained
since the beginning of this century.

This natural result has induced some rosarians,
amongst which we must cite Henry Bennett,
to apply themselves to artificial fecundation, an art
which is yet in its infancy, and often ill-practiced,
but which will certainly lead to marvels, by judi-
cious selections. A natural fact of variability
which has often been produced, and generally
passed unnoticed, is dimorphism, commonly called
sport or accident. Why a sport ? Why an acci-
dent? Because the law which has produced them
is yet unknown.

Some say that those variations are produced by
an unhealthy state, others by over-culture. I sus-
pect them all to be in error, and tell them "seek
and you will find."

In the rose tribe some very remarkable sports
have sprung up recently — Mabel Morrison, White
Baroness and Merville de Lyon, all three with
white flowers, issued from Baronne de Rothschild,
which has pink flowers.

Tea American Banner, with striped flowers,
issued from Tea Bon Silene, and very different in
habit from the type ; and lately Peter Henderson
wrote to me that he had found a dimorphism of
Tea Perle des Jardins with the color of Tea Mad-
ame Falcot ; and it is very likely that very often
such reports have occiirred without being noticed,
and will occur again ; and I therefore engage (and
it is why I write these lines) all the rosarians, and

ISO

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

particularly amateurs, who have more leisure, to
pay attention to the slightest deviation they per-
ceive, and to endeavor to fix it by budding or
grafting.

[Few good observers of nature have any doubt
in these days that the principle of variation exists
in nature independently of seminal influence. In
Germantown there are several generations of the
English oak, all from one single parent tree, which
show as many variations as could be found in a
wood in Europe. M. De CandoUe has recently
called the attention of European scientists to this
fact in the proceedings of a learned society in
Geneva.— Ed. G. M.]

THE NEW BOTANIC APARTMENTS AT
CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, N. Y.

BY W. J. JOHNSON, ITHACA, N. Y.

For some time building operations have been
going on back of Sage College which doubtless
have attracted far less attention than they would
have received had they been carried on at a more
prominent position upon the campus. The build-
ing is an addition to the rooms of the Botanical
Department, together with a conservatory for
plants and flowers.

The new botanical building, though now forming
a part of the original structure, has two entrances,
one leading into the special laboratory, and by
spiral stairs to the room for general students above,
and the other intended exclusively for ladies, and
opening into a cloak room.

The first floor comprises a private office and the
special laboratory previously alluded to. This
room is connected with the old laboratory by a
large arch, and possesses an abundance of north
light, so necessary to microscopical work. The
desks are fastened to the wall, thus avoiding all
jar from movements over the floor.

Passing up stairs, we enter a large room hand-
somely finished in hard wood, and having from its
peculiar ceiling the appearance of a dome. Nu-
merous windows upon three sides render the light
ample, even in the middle of the room.

Sufficient accommodations will be afforded for
sixty students, and this apartment will be devoted
to the general work which the lectures upon this
subject requires. Through a wide archway com-
mi.i|»ication is afforded with the Botanical Museum.
The basement is to be neatly furnished and well
lighted. Besides furnishing a storage place fof
coal, this part of the building will contain the boil-
ers, by means of which the conservatory is to be

heated, and will also be used for potting. Imme-
diately adjoining these rooms will be the conserva-
tory. This structure will contain five divisions or
departments for different uses. Entering under a
handsome porch, the visitor will find himself in a
structure with a high roof. This apartment is to
contain tall plants such as palms, and will be
known as the "Conservatory." At the right, and
connected with the former by large doors, is the
"Greenhouse," or department intended for plants
that require a low temperature. Opening on the
left of the conservatory is the " Stove," not deriv-
ing its name, as one might imagine, from the
method of heating, but from the high temperature
to which the plants within it will be subjected. Still
further to the left will be two parallel houses for
the growing of slips and cut flowers.

The heating of the entire building will be by hot
water, the workmanship and materials will be of
the best, and the latest scientific knowledge will be
employed in its construction.

The estimated cost of the improvement is
$15,000, which is paid by Hon. H. W. Sage. The
additional space which these changes promise will
render much more effective the work of the Botan-
ical Department.

ON THE ABSENCE OF TREES FROM THE
PRAIRIES.

Your notes from a man who has never lived on
the prairies, brings to my mind discussions of ten

i years ago, when a good friend of mine, an excel-
lent man, stated in an essay that the willow, the
Cottonwood, and the soft maple must pioneer the

i way for many generations on the prairies, and fit
the soil and sub-soil for more valuable woods.
When I took exceptions, and undertook to show
that these three trees had the advantage of
other trees only in the way of distributing their
seeds, to account for their being more abundant
than others, as the willow and cottonwood seeds
were carried everywhere by the wind, and the soft
maple seeds floating on the streams so that they
could be gathered by bushels in the "bayous;"
they could take hold and root in places where the
fires could not reach them ; that all three of them
ripen their seeds in early summer and germinate
immediately. He squelched me by saying he was
brought up on the prairies.

I was so much interested in this matter that I
wrote him afterwards, wanting it discussed in the
Prairie Farmer. He replied giving the names of

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

151

several men who stood high as geologists, &c.,
who entertained his view of the matter, and so it
ended.

When I first came West it was the opinion of
the pioneers that "tame grasses" would never suc-
ceed on the prairies. At that very time "tame
grasses" were seen coming up along the roadsides
where, a chance seed got scattered, and the fires
were kept out so as to give it a chance to spread;
for be it known that neither tame grasses, nor hardly
anything else, will bear the fire and thrive on it like
the indigenous perennial prairie grasses; they grew
more luxuriously when burned once every year
than since the fires have been kept out. The roots
of the prairie sod are well protected from fires; in-
deed, it would take a hot fire to burn them after
being dug up ; but you will find that after the
tame grasses have begun to work their way they
will stay there. It is just so with trees, not only
Cottonwood, poplar and willow, but oaks, hickories
and walnuts, &c., as well. While some men
"brought up on the prairies" have fallen in with
the views of Prof. Whitney and others, seemingly
not taking the trouble to look at the trees already
growing on the prairies, you find all the practical
experienced men holding your views. Arthur
Bryant, in his work on forest trees, says that "the
black cherry, Prunus serotina, is rarely found of
so large size in the prairie regions of Illinois and
Iowa, although they are well suited to its growth;
the reason appears to be that the fires that for-
merly ravaged these regions destroyed it more
easily than the oaks and hickories."

This Black cherry is seen along the fence rows
now far into the prairies, of large size, bearing
seeds that are dropped by birds alighting on the
fences far into the prairies, and, by the way, I
think it one of the most valuable rapid growing
trees for the forester.

How any man can see Mr. Bryant's avenues of
sugar maples, over two feet through and meeting
across a four-rod road, and fancy that prairie land
will not produce valuable trees without first being
fitted for it by growing generations of cottonwood,
poplar and willows, is beyond my comprehension.
A great deal of this talk about only planting trees
on such ground as you find them growing on natur-
ally, will not bear very close scrutiny. Such trees
as cottonwood and elm are only found naturally
in moist places, because the seeds ripening in
spring can only germinate in moist places ; but
plant them on dry ground they make an excellent
growth. You will see fine, large elms in New
England and elsewhere, growing on dry ground,

but naturally you only find the seedlings on moist
ground.

But what is the use of calling people's attention
to little seedlings if they cannot be convinced by
seeing valuable timber trees, two to three feet
through, and forty to sixty feet high, that have
sprung up on the prairies within the past fifty years?"

FOOD OF THE INDIANS.

. BY GEO. S. CONOVER, GENEVA, N. Y.

As an indication of the domestic economy of the
Indians in utilizing various articles of food, not for
sustenance only, but to gratify the palate as well,
the following will be of interest.

Father Fremin, a Jesuit missionary among the
Senecas, narrates that in the autumn of 1669,
"owing to the unusual abundant harvest of walnuts
this year, the joy of the people is so great that one
sees scarcely anything but games, dances and
feasts, which they carry even to debauch, although
they have no other seasoning than the oil."

The fact that Father Fremin gives the custom
such a passing allusion, indicates that the use o^
the oil was well known.

Galinee, who visited the Senecas in 1669 with
La Salle, says, "Another of their favorite dishes is
Indian meal cooked in the water and served in
wooden bowls, with a small portion of sunflower,
nut, or bear's oil."

La Mercier (Jesuit Relations, 1657), alludes to
the process by which the Indians extract oil from
the sunflower, while from similar sources we are
informed that the butternut, black walnut and
shag-bark walnut were much prized by the Indians
as an article of food, and especially the extracts
made from them for seasoning.

In a representation made by La Salle in 1684
(N. Y. Col. Doc. ix, 217) in relation to Fort Fron-
tenac, is the following: "Around the lake (Onta-
rio ) are to be found wild apple trees, chestnuts and
nuts from which the Indians extract very good oil;
also divers sorts of grain, mulberry, plum and
cherry trees."

In July, 1750, the Moravian missionaries. Bishop
Cammerhoff and Rev. David Zeisberger, were re-
galed by the Indians at Onondaga with "chestnut
milk," and the next day "with Indian corn and
nut oil, a new dish to us, but which we found very
palatable."

What can "chestnut milk" be? There could
be no chestnuts in July. The translation of the
Cammerhoff" journal was made by a lady teacher
in Bethlehem, and furnished us within the past

152

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

year by Bishop de Schweintz, and was very care-
fully done — the original is in German.

In the narrative of the captivity of the Gilbert
family, Rebecca Gilbert states that in the autumn
of 1780, "when they arrived at their settlement, it
was the time of gathering their crops of corn, pota-
toes, pumpkins, and preserving their store of hick-
ory nuts." Another of the captives, Thomas
Peart, says, "When they had loitered at home a
few days, they set about gathering their winter
store of hickory nuts; from some of them they ex.
tracted an oil, which they eat with bread or meat
at their liking."

«->-»

EDITORIAL NOTES.

On the Larv.^ of the Codling Moth. — The
Rev. N. Coleman, of Berlin, Conn., notes in the
New England Zoological Quarferly i\\Q following :

" As is well known, the early brood of the Cod-
ling moth, Carpocapsa pomonella, pass through all
their changes in a comparatively short period,
while the late brood do not produce the imago till
the next spring. It is not so well known, proba-
bly, that the late brood remain in the larval state
till spring. From some observations made the
past season it seems certain that this is the case.
While looking after Canker-worm moths, Novem-
ber 29, 1 88 1, I found a cocoon of a Codling-moth
under a piece of bark on an apple tree ; and on
opening it the larva was found to be unchanged.
Another cocoon was found April 25, 1882, and on
examination the larva in this was still unchanged.
Just how much longer it would have continued in
the larval state is a question I cannot now answer."

New Hybrid Silk Moth. — Mr. Alfred Wailly,
whose reports on silk-producing and other Bom-
byces reared by him have been published in this
J'curnal, has submitted to the Council specimens
of cocoons and moths of a new silkworm, which
he has reared by the crossing of Attacus (An-
theraea) Roylei, female, the Himalayan oak silk-
worm, with Attacus (Antheraea) Pernyi, male, the
North China oak silkworm. The resulting hybrid
is larger than either of the parents. Mr. Wailly
writes that " the larvae of the hybrids were reared
with the greatest success in France, Germany,
Austria, England, Scotland and United States of
North America, and everywhere splendid cocoons
were obtained. This year (1882), in April and
May, the moths of this hybrid emerged from the
cocoons in equal proportions of male and female,
all perfect insects, which paired with the greatest
facility." He concludes by saying: "Contrary to
what has taken place with the crossing of different
species of silk-producing Bombyces, \ have this

time produced a new species, which is larger,
stronger, and I think superior in every respect to
the parent species, and susceptible of reproduc-
tion." Some notes on these hybrids were read
before the Entomological Society on May 3, 1882,
by Mr. W. F. Kirby. — Society of Arts Journal.

Rosa minutifolia. — We have before us added
specimen in bud of this beautiful little thing,
recently discovered by Dr. C. C. Parry, in Lower
California. We suppose the ladies will exclaim,
" Isn't it cute !" when they see it, or perhaps, " The
little dear !" We shall pardon them for these
phrases, for we feel like joining with them. The
little "moss" around an ordinary bud, has always
given a new value to the ordinary rose ; here we
have a bud set among leaves which are all like
mossy beds. We are glad to know that Dr.
Parry has recently succeeded in getting a good
supply of roots, and which are now growing nicely
in his garden at San Diego, California, so that we
may soon see it in culture everywhere, as well as
this httle bud in a dry state.

The Name Arborvit.e. — Why Thuja occiden-
talis came to be known as "Arborvitce" has long
been a puzzle to the botanists. In the proceedings
of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel-
phia, just issued, there is a note showing that the
tree was distributed by King Francis the First, of
France, under the name of Arbre de vie, between
1 534 and 1547 (when he died), and that it was
probably received through Jacques Cartier's expe-
dition. Reference is made to the Indian remedy
which, during the terrible winter sufferings of the
band, saved the lives of a remnant from death
by scurvy. This tree, compared by Cartier's
editor to a French oak, Ouercus ilex, in size, is
supposed by modern botanists to have been the
white spruce, Abies alba, and that the remedy was
simply spruce beer. The note shows that this is
improbable, and the author hazards a guess that
the arborvitae was the life-saving herb, and the
facts account for the origin of the name. — Inde-
pendent.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Pteris tremula. — "J. M.," Torrington, Conn.,
says: In the March issue of the Gardeners'
Monthly, in Mr. Falconer's " Notes by the Way,"
I see he expresses surprise at Pteris tremula being
hardy here. The variety mentioned is what I
have long known as such. Yet I may be in error
as to its nomenclature, and am not prepared to

J-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

153

positively assert it is so. But as soon as this lin-
gering winter entirely disappears, and the verdure
again arrays our hills, it will afford me much
pleasure to forward a few fronds to you or Mr.
Falconer for identification.

Geography of Some American Plants. — In
the preparation of the series issued of the " Flowers
and Ferns of the United States," the author gave
the geographical ranges and other facts so far as
the information then at command would permit.
The following plants were then only known to the
author as being found east of the Mississippi. A
St. Louis correspondent finds them now west of the
river: Polypodium incanum and Asplenium tri-
chomanes, on rocks, St. Louis county, Mo.; along
Meramec river, three miles west of AUenton ;
Rosa Carolina, in swamps, Butler county. South-
east Missouri ; Carex stricta, in woods about Al-
lenton. Mo. ; Orchis spectabilis, shady, grassy

places, Allenton, Mo., scarce ; Collinsonia Cana-
densis, Iron county. Mo. ; Asplenium parvulum,
Hot Springs, Ark. ; Lysimachia quadrifolia, damp
woods, Allenton, Mo. ; Rhexia Virginica, low
grounds Southeast Missouri and Little Rock, Ark. ;
Silene Virginica, Jackson county, Ark. ; Arteme-
sia plantaginifolia, on flinty hills and upland sandy
woods, Allenton, Mo., abundant ; Vitis indivisa,
from Allenton, Mo., Dallas, Texas, south to Arkan-
sas also.

Poison on Cabbages. — "Reader," Berwyn,
Pa., asks : " Mr. G. Geduldig, Norwich, Conn.,
in your April number, recommends a mixture of
hellebore and water as a good solution for destroy-
ing cabbage-worms. Will Mr. Geduldig say
whether there is any danger of poisoning the cab-
bage by the use of such preparation ? Hellebore,
if I am informed correctly, is poison."

[We fear it is dangerous. — Ed. G. M.J

Literature, Travels and Personal Notes.

COMMUNICATIONS.

UNDER THE WILLOWS AT ST. HELENA.

BY WM. T. HARDING, MOUNT HOLLY, N. J.

It seems as difficult to disabuse the minds of the
unbelieving Thomases of to-day, as it was of old;
if once their opinions are formed, no matter how
erroneous, they will persistently cling to them.
And a belief in there being Salix Napoleana, dis-
tinctly different from the common Weeping wil-
low, S. Babylonica, proves there are still believers
in this common error. To decide the vexed ques-
tion so often mooted, I promised some friends to
state through the Monthly, for the good of whom
it may concern, what I know about it.

Some years ago, "when in the course of human
events," your horticultural scribe tarried awhile be-
neath the famous tree, or trees, at Longwood, St.
Helena, he took notes of what he saw around.
Thus, being on the spot where the debatable wil-
low grew, the real tree or trees were closely exam-
ined with a view to ascertain whether S. Napole-
ana, so-called, differs from S. Babylonica, and if
so, in what respect.

Instead of one at the time mentioned, there were
two of the most scraggy, forlorn-lookii^g trees im-
aginable, overhanging the empty vault in which,
at one time, the body of the notorious Napoleon
Bonaparte lay. Desirous of obtaining a twig or
two to examine and propagate, the sable cicerone
in charge of the place, with the aid of a long bam-
boo, to the end of which was attached a boat-hook,
jerked off a piece from each tree, and for which
demanded the usual fee. To go down to the bot-
tom of the empty tomb,* eighteen feet deep, and
moralize, to come up again and drink a glass of
sparkling a^ua piira at Napoleon's spring near
by, then to view the Longwood House and sur-
rounding grounds where the ex-emperor lived and
languished, was next in order, and according to cus-
tom, was gone through. But to make sure nothing
was omitted which every well regulated visitor is
expected to go through, took a few moments' rest
on the worm-eaten and weather-beaten seat under
the willows, where the miserable misanthrope used
to sit and brood over his misspent life. Feeling
satisfied with having properly done the Napo-

*In 1837 Napoleon's remains were removed from St. .Helena
and reinterred in France.

154

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

Iconic locale, I retraced my steps along the steep
hillside road which picturesquely winds down to
Jamestown and the deep blue sea.

While the willow twigs from Longwood were
fresh, comparisons were made with others taken
from some of the numerous specimens of S. Baby-
lonica, so luxuriantly growing in the many gardens
and grounds around. As thus carefully com-
pared, there did not appear to be the slightest dif-
ference between them, except the color of the bark
on the young shoots was more rubicund than on
those of the sickly old trees by the side of Napo-
leon's tomb at Longwood. But my experience in
such matters readily accounted for the cause.
That this slight difference of color has often been
the means of misleading many people, I have
every reason to believe, as the sequel will show.

No matter what mere opinions may have previ-
ously been when maintaining there were two kinds,
scientific facts have since decided that S. Napo-
leona ( so called ) is a myth. To quote the emphatic
language of the editor: "Napoleon's willow is the
female plant. Nothing but the female has been
anywhere grown till the introduction recently of S.
Japonica, which is the male form of the same.
And Napoleon's willow is simply the willow from
Napoleon's tomb, and is really S. Babylonica, or
weeping willow."

From the history of the original Napoleon weep-
ing willow, it seems to have been a fair sized tree
when the exile first landed from H. M. S. North-
umberland, in 1815, and was no doubt introduced
with other trees from England some time about
1810.

During my stay on the Island I met the cele-
brated old soldier Tom Evans, who claimed to have
been Napoleon's gardener at Longwood House.
And a more loquacious soldier or garrulous gar-
dener I should think never shouldered a musket or
handled a spade. This remarkable man, of spear
and pruning hook fame, was one of the Peninsula
heroes when but a youth of nineteen years of
age, and was justly proud of the part he per-
formed in the military achievements of Wellington.
It was his misfortune to lose an eye at Toulouse,
and after Waterloo he accompanied his regiment,
which guarded Napoleon at St. Helena. From
my informant's account, "Bony," as he always
called him, "was a morose and melancholy man,
and, who cared not a gun-flint for a garden; but
madame, wife of Gen. Bertrand, did, and took
great delight in the cultivation of flowers." The
same lady planted several willows by the ex-em-
peror's grave, raised from cuttings of the original

one, which was destroyed by a hurricane which
swept furiously over the Island soon after Napo-
leon's death. And it is probable the two much
mutilated trees the writer saw are the only sur-
vivors left.

As regards the right or wrong kind of Napoleon
willows which travelers take away, it only remains
for me to show how they are likely to be deceived in
the matter. No sooner does the stranger wend his
way towards the landing place at the foot of James-
town, than he is beset with a noisy multitude of
willow venders, whose clamorous importunities to
purchase are beyond description. Such a com- '
mercial spirit as is evinced by the Island gamins,
big and little, is more remarkable than pleasant,
especially if the luckless wayfarer is not disposed
to buy. They seem to have a large stock of well-
rooted plants, growing in jars, cigar boxes, paint
kegs, &c., in readiness for the siege. And, as if
the sole aim of life was to sell the voyager a Na-
poleonic souvenir, they persistently pester and
plague him into buying. And no sooner does the
stranger yield to temptation than the harpies surge
around him, en masse, loudly vociferating he has
been swindled. With a seeming virtuous indigna-
tion the transaction is pronounced a shameful
fraud. Sorely perplexed, while badgered about to
understand the meaning of so furious a hubbub
about so small a matter, the hapless victim is
forced to believe he has unwittingly bought the
wrong sort, the Jamestown instead of the Long-
wood kind. Feeling chagrined at the motley
ragamuffins' duplicity, some more of the right kind
has to be bought, and with which the outraged
purchaser runs the gauntlet as best he can, to the
friendly boat awaiting. The next surprise in re-
serve to astonish the bewildered bonhomie, is the
discovery of so many little willow groves, much
hke his own, scattered about the ship, among
which he staggers, much amazed at the senseless
sailors cursing the blasted rubbish. Leaning
against the taffrail to take a last sad look at the
lonely Isle where naught besides the willow

weepeth

"()'er that silent spot."

the writer thanked God for his safety. Standing by

my side I noticed a middle-aged, unhappy-looking

man, who, assuming a theatrical attitude, shook his

dexter finger at the sons of Belial on the strand,

and soliloquizingly exclaimed, "I was a stranger,

and ye took me in."

The chronicler since then, has often wondered

how many of the hundreds thus imported are

afterwards identified as the real Napoleon willows.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

155

matter of description. The subject matter remains
the same. The lumber is lumber still, and in this
case the same that was destroyed."

LEGAL NOTES.

BY H. A. RILEY, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY.

Real Estate Titles. — Owners of real estate in
the country are very apt to leave their deeds IMPROVEMENT OF YOUNG GARDENERS.
unrecorded for weeks, and sometimes for a much ^^ n. Robertson, government grounds,

longer time, without thought of the possible dan- Ottawa, Canada.

gers which are connected with such a delay. " This ' j^ the March number of the Monthly " Chip "
is not true in the cities, because there owners of ^ ^.^s a pleasant note containing very good advice
real estate have in general little knowledge of their , ^q young gardeners. The hints he throws out are
next door neighbors, and it is not thought safe to L^eH-timed and very appropriate. Many young
rely on the honor of any seller unless the deed is gardeners believe themselves proficient in a few
promptly put upon record. | yg^rs, settling down contented with a knowledge

In the country, however, persons often say that , of oi^ familiar plants and practices, and never
there is no need of care in such a matter, because ; aiming at further advancement. If they want to

they have known all about the property for years,
and in addition have perfect confidence in the
seller.

It occasionally happens, nevertheless, that prop-
erty is lost by the dishonest acts of the seller, in

be successful in their calling, they must bring their
minds to their work in thorough earnestness, de-
voting every moment of their time to careful
study, determined to overcome any difficulty that
may arise. A young man to be successful must

making another sale of the same property, when gj^e close attention to the work entrusted to him,
all might have been made secure by a little prompt-
ness in recording a deed. This is even more ne-
cessary with a mortgage, because in that case the
mortgagor remains in possession of the property,
and there is nothing to put a person on his guard
except the county records. Readers are advised
to look carefully into matters of this kind.

for if done without intelligent consideration of its
effects it will not be of much benefit to him. As
"Chip"remarks, a close observance of nature is your
surest guide, which the health of your plant will
soon indicate. If plants do not thrive, try some
other plan of growing them, or some other posi-
tion for them. This will create a desire for further

Damages. — In one of the Eastern States a case researches, which will draw you onward, interested,
was recently tried in which damages were claimed till you attain success.

for the burning of some "ash lumber" owned by Never allow yourself to get above learning. A
the plaintiff. Upon the trial it appeared that the plea of ignorance is often a very good thing, and
lumber was birch instead of ash, and an amend- produces good results. I say listen to your lady
ment of the complaint was asked for ; but the \ employer when she tells about the treatment she
lawyer for the defendant, who seems to have been ' gives to her house plants, as from such sources
quite ingenious, argued in this way : " It is true I one will derive information, if he only looks for it,
that trees are all different varieties of the vegetable ■■ or will hear it. Before the young gardener lies a
kingdom. So are all our domestic animals differ- ! vast field of most important information, opening
ent varieties of the animal kingdom. But when wider and wider at every turn as he advances,
the defendant is sued for an injury to a horse, an teeming with matter of the most interesting nature,
amendment could not be allowed showing an leading him onward from one thing to another
injury to a cow. There are different varieties of until he is almost lost in amazement at the grandeur
ash and birch, but ash and birch are of different of nature. Be always courteous and pleasant in
species. An amendment may be allowable chang- your manner, especially to employers. Never re-
ing from one variety to another, but not from one fuse to do anything you are asked, although it may
species to another. Thus, an amendment substi- 1 differ from your ideas. Mention them to him in the
tuting brown ash for white ash may be allowable, most reasonable manner. If he allows you to try
but not to substitute birch. Just as you may ; your own way, and you are successful, then you
amend by substituting a Jersey or Hereford for a will gain his confidence, and perhaps interest him

Durham cow, but not by substituting a horse."

This reasoning does not seem to have had much
weight with the judge, for he allowed the amend-
ment, saying: "The charge in either case is for

in helping you forward.

Read you must, or you will soon fall behind the
times, as so many new plants are being introduced
every year, and new methods of treatment. Write

burning lumber, and whether ash or birch, is mere to the papers for information, as you may not only

156

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

benefit yourself but many others. When you do
write, condense it into as few words as you can, to
be understood, for editors have no time to go over
lengthy roundabout articles. Write plainly and
only on one side of your sheet.

I would especially recommend the Gardeners'
Monthly to all. The cost is trifling, and it is
always full of fresh, well-chosen articles. Also P.
Henderson's last work, containing as it does his-
torical accounts, a glossary of botanical and gen-
eral horticultural terms and practices with the nat-
ural order of plants ; all of which are very neces-
sary as a help to the successful cultivation of
plants. As a book of reference no one should be
without it. Gardeners are much indebted to him
for it. Works written on this continent are more
useful here than the English, because of the great
difference in climate, affecting inside as well as
out-door gardening.

RHUS TOXICODENDRON, VERSUS AMPE-
LOPSIS JAPONICA.

BY WM. T. HARDING, MOUNT HOLLY, N. J.

We learn from the February Monthly that
"our common poison vine, Rhus toxicodendron, is
being cultivated in Europe under the name of Am-
pelopsis japonica," which seems "wond'rous
strange " to those who know one from the other.

While recently in England, I frequently noticed
when passing through Barton, under Needwood
churchyard, what a nice variety of pretty climbing
plants loving hands had planted ; and were grow-
ing up the gray lichen-covered walls of the old
village church. And especially beautiful were the
heavy masses of the fragrant white flower spangled
Jasminum officinale, which richly draped a goodly
portion of one side of the structure. And while
the humble worshipers within were offering their
adorations to God, they inhaled the pure incense of
sweet flowers, as the soft summer winds gently
wafted their rich odors through the open windows,
far more delicious than the smell of frankincense
and myrrh.

If the readers think this is a pretty picture of an
ancient church, the quaint beauty of which has
impressed the looker-on with admiration, and thus
to favorably notice it, their conjectures will be
true. But when I inform them that within the
green churchyard there is a long row of silent
chambers where my ancestors, on my father's side,
have long been at rest, they will understand why it
is so reverently remembered. And but a few feet
from the western angle of this antique sanctuary —

where my kith and kin are sleeping — closely cling-
ing to one of the buttresses, is a vigorous specimen
of the villainous Rhus toxicodendron, or American
poison vine. To my surprise nobody seemed aware
that its character was almost as bad as the fabled
Upas tree, or that there was any danger in handling
it, and. which leads me to think it cannot possibly
be as baneful in England as it is here. The simple
villagers seemed sceptical about its noxious pro-
perties, and dubiously smiled at the idea of its
being capable of inflicting such severe pain upon
whosoever incautiously handled it. However that
may be, it is nevertheless past my comprehension
how any intelligent people could confound the
name of the pretty innocent modern climber, Am-
polopsis japonica, with that of the vile old poison
vine, Rhus toxicodendron — that terrible pest of the
rural rambler, whose fierce maledictions are often
evoked when feeling the painful effects of the
venomous vine.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

To Intelligent Correspondents. — All com-
munications relating to adz-'ertisements, subscrip-
tions, or other bttsiness, must be addressed to the
publisher, 814 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

All referring to the reading matter of the maga-
zine must be mailed to the editor, Germantown, Pa.

No express packages for the editor received un-
less prepaid ; and marked " Paid through to Ger-
mantown, Pa."

Exaggerated Introductions of New Fruits.
— A communication by Mr. Bassett in this month's
number is very suggestive in its general applica-
tion. Another correspondent writes in the same
strain, though we understand the letter is not in-
tended for publication. To our mind the evil
brings its own cure. There is much more refine-
ment in the world than these low-bred people
imagine, and the vulgar names to fruits, and vul-
gar methods of introduction repulse rather than
attract lovers of new things.

"The Eucalyptus of the Future" is the title
of an interesting paper in the March number of
the Popular Science Monthly, by Dr. Samuel
Lockwood.

Influence of the Gardeners' Monthly. — A
few years ago, straying into a florists' establish-
ment, the writer saw a copy of the Gardeners'
Monthly on the table. Remarking that the mag-
azine seemed to be a regular visitor, the reply was

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

157

given that it was taken only for the sake of the
advertisements. The florist, as he expressed it,
"thought he knew his business without wasting
time reading papers." We were surprised to learn
recently that he had been lately a regular reader
of the articles on steam heating, and that his im-
mense houses will soon be warmed in that way.
This is just what the publisher likes to hear. He
offers no premiums — no extra inducements— for
people to subscribe for the magazine, but to get
out a work which every person who loves fruits or
flowers feels he cannot afford to be without.

Objectionable Names for Fruits.— A corres-
pondent suggests that names like Big Bob, Little
Satan, Sweet Ducky, and Fiddle-stick, ought to be
frowned down by the public, and that if the varie-
ties so unfortunately burdened with ridiculous
names should happen to be worth the trouble —
which the very fact of their having such silly cog-
nomens is much against — the American Pomologi-
cal Society would be doing good service by ignor-
ing such vulgar names, and giving proper ones to
them.

Caragana. — As before noted, the plant which
we can buy under this name in many nur-
series for twenty-five cents, we may also buy for
seventy-five cents, under the name of "Russian
Thornless Acacia," in others. The excuse for
adopting a few score of common names in the
place of one Latin one for a single plant, is gen-
erally that the botanical name is so long and so
hard ; but we see no advantage in this respect
in "Russian Thornless Acacia" over Caragana,
especially when it costs us an extra fifty cents to
learn it.

Old Fashioned Roses. — Those who are ap-
proaching the autumn of life, and wandering in
their earlier years among the ruins of old gardens,
or in those old gardens which it was the pride of
their owners to preserve, as in "the good old
times," must at least have a fascinating recollec-
tion of the old-fashioned roses, which grew and
grew from year to year, taking care of themselves
in a manner to excite the jealousy of the gardener's
art. Then in those days there were cinnamon
roses, apple roses, Scotch and French roses, Pro-
vence roses, musk roses, and roses of a hundred
leaves; and damask roses, with their Maiden's
Blushes, York and Lancasters, and others not only
boiling over with beauty and fragrance, but clus-
tered about by legends and historical stories of
more or less truthfulness, which added very much
to the living pleasures which they gave. The

writer well remembers one which had the flowers
white, but striped with red, which the old gardener
used to tell us came into existence about the time
when the two rival royal houses of York and Lan-
caster coalesced, after years of bloody warfare, of
which all school children have heard. To distin-
guish the adherents of each, one wore white roses
and the other red ones, and thus we had the fa-
mous "War of the Roses." But the roses, dear
things, did not fight. It was natural that in their
love of peace they should so rejoice at the end of
the cruel wars as to produce both colors mixed in
one flower, to show their sympathy with the gen-
eral delight at the peaceful turn of things which
the royal unions .were to bring about. But the
English warriors were not alone to have the whole
glory of this striped rose to themselves. The
monkish legends claimed it in behalf of the good
Saint Francis of Assisi. In his twenty-fifth year
he determined to devote himself to a life of poverty
and religious utility. The great enemy of mankind,
with a foreknowledge of the inroads such a deter-
mined character as Francis must make on his
kingdom, determined to thwart this intention at all
hazards, and threw in his way all sorts of tempta-
tions likely to divert him from his chosen track.

At length Satan, desperate, took the shape of a
beautiful woman and met him as he was walking
in a garden, hoping by her captivating charms to
make him repent that he had ever thought of taking
a vow to remain an unmarried man. But knowing
that he who hesitates under these circumstances is
lost, he would not even look on the fair being who
stood right before him in the garden path, but
turned aside and plunged into a thicket to escape
her attentions. But the clump chanced to be of
strong plants of the damask rose. In his haste to
escape temptation the good young man took no
thought of the savage thorns. His flesh was torn
to pieces and his blood fell among the roots of the
roses. The plants had borne but white flowers
hitherto, but the following year blood streaks ap-
peared among them, and this was the origin of
the striped Damask rose.

And so it was in those days. It is too bad that
cold prose has destroyed the poetry of these old-
time tales — it is worse that the good old flowers
themselves are gone.

Mayor King, of Philadelphia — though a bach-
elor, is fond of flowers, and the windows of the
Mayor's office are gay with pot plants, in a much
more healthy condition of growth than window
flowers in a large city are apt to be. Among the
treasures is a fine healthy specimen of the coffee

158

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

-plant, especially valued as being the gift of John
Hunter, the Receiver of Taxes, and which was
raised from seed by the Tax Receiver. Two re-
markably healthy Screw Pines are among these
privileged plants, and there is a "Dumb Cane-
Arum," a much better floral emblem of silence for
a mayor's office than the Rose of Harpocrates,
since it has the power of enforcing its desire in
this respect. Gardening ought to be popular
among Philadelphia officials with such an illus-
trious example. Among the recently elected " City
Fathers" are John H. Graham, head of the well-
known seed firm of Graham, Emlen & Passmore.
Thomas Meehan, the editor of this magazine, is
also among the "elect."

Walter Elder. — This well-known Philadel-
phia gardener and horticultural writer died on the
1 5th of March, somewhat unexpectedly, though
advanced in years. He was a native of Scotland,
and an enthusiastic lover of his profession. Some
thirty years ago he issued a practical work on gar-
dening which had a wide sale, and nothing gave
him more pleasure than to freely give the results
of his wide experience for the benefit of others.

D.\NIEL B. Smith. — If not to let the left hand
know what the right hand doeth represents the
highest type of manhood, we have surely a good
illustration of it in the life of Daniel B. Smith, who
■died in Germantown on the 29th of March, 1882,
in his ninety- first year. Only a few weeks before
the writer of this attended the graduation exercises
of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, an insti-
tution so famous over the whole United States
that nearly two hundred young men and one
young woman, gathered together from Canada to
Texas, were sent back to their homes amidst the
plaudits of four thousand people who met in the
Philadelphia Academy of Music to greet them.
Possibly not one of all this vast throng — not one
among this large body of successful students, knew
that the chief founder of the institution was Daniel
B. Smith, much less that he was still living, though
then on the bed of death. Possibly no man ever
lived who cared less for applause ; no one who
more truly loved to do good for the mere pleasure
of doing it. He was a diligent student through a
wide range of science, but botany and horticulture
seemed to have the most enduring charms for him.
In his seventy- fifth year he took with the writer of
this a botanical trip of ten miles to " see once
more the Allosurus atropurpurea growing on its
native rocks," and at its conclusion remarked that
it was probably "the last long trip forme." He

was one of the old class of amateur horticultu-
rists, now almost extinct, whose garden traversed
by gravel walks, and lined by neatly kept box
edgings, was a perfect botanic garden of hardy
flowers, which afforded a source of pleasure and
floral study through the whole year.

As soon as he found he had to give up his long
walks among the wild flowers, he spent the later
years pleasantly in going over, correctly naming,
and rearranging his large herbarium, which he
had the pleasure of presenting to the College
which he was instrumental in founding.

In the broad Quaker spirit which animated him,
he had very much at heart the giving of an equal
chance to both sexes and all colors in the pursuit
of knowledge, and possibly few things rendered
him the more ready to depart in peace than the
announcement, in his dying days, that a young
lady, Susan Hayhurst, had for the first time taken
the degree of Doctor in Pharmacy in the College
which he founded.

No stone will mark the spot where his Quaker
brethren have laid him. Full well they know
that even granite will melt away. That his friends
may do for other neighbors what he did for them
was the height of his aspirations for future fame;
and it must have been a great satisfaction to him
to feel that though the time must come when his
name will be forgotten, what he always tried to do
in his quiet way would have a beneficial influence
on human progress.

First Annual Report of the Chief Exec-
utive VlTICULTURAL OFFICER OF THE StATE Vi-

ticultural Commissioners of California for
THE Year 1881. — California has an important
industry in her vineyards, and these reports, pub-
lished by the State, are issued as aids to vineyard
progress. Besides the copious notes suggested by
every day experience in California, this volume
has translations of valuable French works relating
to the vine, so that the California grape-grower
may profit by whatever is happening in the Old
World as well as in his own home. The volume
contains one hundred and ninety-two pages.

Report of Michigan State Pomological
Society. — From Chas. W. Garfield, Secretary,
Lansing, Mich. Near five hundred pages of ex-
tremely interesting matter. This is the seventh
annual one, and published by the State.

Bulletin of the Buffalo Naturalists'
Field Club. — Published by W. H. Hicks, Buf-
falo, N. Y. It is worthy of note that while scien-
tific serials continue to disappear in the Old World,

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

they are continually increasing and seem fairly
well supported here. This is another new one,
with the promise of a long life. Besides interesting
original observations on birds and plants, there are

159

other chapters in it of interest to the field natural-
ist generally. Miss Edna M. Porter, Buffalo,
N. Y., is treasurer of the club, to whom no doubt
inquiries as to subscriptions may be sent.

Horticultural Societies.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

The American Nurserymen's Association. —
Our readers must not forget that the annual meet-
ing of this admirable association will be held this
season at St. Louis, on the 20th of June. The
meetings of the body have been annually growing
in interest, and they prove to be very welcome to
the communities in which they are held. Some-
how the great body of American people have got
to know of the profession only through dealers, or
town florists, and they seem surprised to find so
large a body of highly educated gentlemen among
the profession. The leading newspapers vie with
each other in giving full reports of the proceedings,
and the general influence of the body is much
greater than even the founder of the society antici-
pated. This season the meeting will be under the
presidency of Lieutenant-Governor Norman J.
Colman, of the St. Louis nurseries, and this means
an unusually successful meeting. It is worth a
trip to St. Louis by a horticulturist, to see the mag-
nificent Missouri botanic gardens, and we have
no doubt the warm-hearted proprietor, Henry Shaw,
Esq., will do all he can to give the members of the
society a welcome. We should not be surprised
if Col. Colman should succeed in getting friends
to go on at very little cost to the Rocky Moun-
tains. His energy is fully equal to these pleasant
undertakings. One thing is certain, he will leave
no stone unturned to make those who stay at home
from this meeting eat their fingers with envy of
those who have the good fortune to get away.

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. — The
fifty-fourth annual exhibition will be held in Hor-
ticultural Hall, Broad street, on Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday, 12th, 13th and 14th of Sep-
tember, in conjunction with the American Pomo-

logical Society, which will be the guest of the
Pennsylvania Society. Circulars giving all the
details, may be obtained, on the part of the Horti-
cultural Society, of A. W. Harrison, Secretary,
Horticultural Hall, and on the part of the Ameri-
can Society, of Prof. Beal, Lansing, Mich, Mr.
J. E. Mitchell, 310 York avenue, Philadelphia, as
Chairman of the Committee on Reception, will give
all the information desired on hotels and trans-
portation. Thomas A. Andrews, Superintendent
of Horticultural Hall, will take charge of any arti-
cles for exhibition addressed to his care. It is ex-
pected that there will be a full meeting of dele-
gates from all parts of the country, and it is be-
lieved that this will be the largest and most useful
meeting ever held in this country. The proceed-
ings will end with a banquet on Friday evening
at six o'clock.

Points of a Good Rose.— During a discussion
on roses before the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society, Mr. Moore advised the judging of roses
at exhibitions by points, and the entering of the
points on the prize cards, so that all who read
might learn. He considered hardiness, vigor of
growth, beauty of form and color, fragrance and
constancy of bloom, as indispensable requisites for
a hybrid perpetual rose for general cultivation in
the garden. It is hard to find all these qualities in
any one variety, but the nearer any one comes to
them the better the general cultivator will be satis-
fied with it.

Tree-planting and Fountain Society of
Brooklyn. — According to a circular before us this
is an association for the promotion of planting and
protection of trees; the erection of drinking fount-
ains, and otherwise to suggest and carry out meas-
ures to render the city of Brooklyn more attractive.
The society has rooms where trees, ornamental

i6o

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[May,

plants, flowers, and garden ornaments of every de-
scription are received, exhibited and the meritori-
ous encouraged. Just why a body hke this should
not be called a horticultural society it is difficult to
imagine, except that a large number of horticul-
tural societies have degenerated to mere fruit-grow-
ers' meetings, and have abandoned all endeavors
to foster a spirit of true horticultural improvement
in the community. The Brooklyn folks, evidently
ashamed of the degeneracy, have thought it best
to select some other name.

Limiting the Size of Pots in Competition; —
We read in a Boston paper that the prizes for the
best six Indian azaleas, the best two, the first and
second prizes for four plants in not exceeding ten-
inch pots, and the first and second prizes for a
single plant in not exceeding an eight-inch pot,
were all taken by Hon. Marshall P. Wilder. Some
years ago the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
introduced this plan of competition, and, we be-
lieve, was the first horticultural society to do so.
For some reason this was subsequently abandoned.
We are glad that the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society is continuing the plan of limiting the sizes
of pots. Competition is to encourage good gar-
dening; and the highest test of skill is to grow
plants well in limited space.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Horticultural Societies.— Mrs. S., High-
lands, N. C, writes: "The ladies 'here have
formed themselves into a society, having for its
object the laying out and decoration of some
grounds which shall be held for public use —
planting trees, shrubs, flowers, &c. They first
called themselves the ' Floral Society,' but some
of them, thinking that name did not convey quite
the idea of the work they propose to do, urged a
change to that of the ' Horticultural Society." Now
other members and the local press object to this,
maintaining that it means only a society intending
to plant orchards. Webster says, Horticulture
means the care of gardens. Has the word lost its
original signification ? And is the society mis-
named ?"

[The Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania,
Maryland or other "horticultural societies" would
not feel complimented if told they had only to do
with planting orchards. The ladies have correctly
named their society a horticultural one, and can
afford to laugh at the local critics.

Those bodies which consider orchards and fruit

growing only, are pomological, not horticultural
societies, and their line is rather with agriculture
than horticulture.

The ladies, however, have excuse for mystifica-
tion. It is not uncommon to find departments of
agricultural papers headed " Horticulture," in
which nothing but fruit culture and market gar-
dening are treated of, and even some societies
called "horticultural," wherein little else is talked
about than how to squeeze out the last penny on a
basket of "berries," or the last dollar on a ton of
grapes. These are exactly the questions for pomo-
logical societies or departments, but they come in
only for a secondary place at least in a pure "hor-
ticultural society." ^

Texas Horticultural Society. — A corres-
pondent says : " March 3d, our North Texas Hor-
ticultural Society held its annual election of officers.
The election resulted as follows : For President,
T. V. Munson; Vice President, Edward Perry ;
Secretary, James Nimon ; Treasurer, Willard
Robison. Executive Board, the President and
Vice President, and three other members chosen
by ballot, viz : G. Alkire, A. R. ColHns, J. Nimon.
Appointment by the President of standing com-
mittees for the year was laid over to the next reg-
ular meeting, the first Saturday in April.

" The aim of the society is to be a working,
educative organization, and our exhibitions are
arranged specially with this view. We hope to
make our annual exhibition about the middle of
July, and are beginning to plan its arrangements,
which we hope will lead to a grand instructive
entertainment for all who may attend."

Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society.
— Of the recent meeting at New Orleans a corres-
pondent says : " We had a splendid and valuable
meeting of the Mississippi Valley Horticultural
Society in New Orleans. February 21-24. Not the
poorest feature in it was the complete and enthu-
siastic fraternizing spirit which pervaded the whole,
and was especially observed to freely pass back
and forth from Northern and Southern members.
' We are one and inseparable,' was beautifully
illustrated."

American Pomological Society. — We have
several letters from friends referring to the coming
meeting of this distinguished body in September.
Col. Wilder expects to be present in person, and is
full of enthusiasm at the prospect of again
meeting his many friends. The circulars giving
details have recently been issued.

THE

Gardeners^ Monthly

HORTICULTURIST.

DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE, ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS.

Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN.

Volume XXV.

JUNE, 1883.

Number 294.

Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground.

COMMUNICATIONS.

AMONG THE FLOWERS.
BY VALENTINE BURGEVIN, KINGSTON, N. Y,

I desire to make a few remarks relating to hor-
ticulture in the first part of this century in Ger-
many. The love for flowers is as old as his-
tory. Each nationality or class had and has its
peculiar preference for certain kinds of flowers.
The Chinese and the Indians worship the Nelum-
bium speciosum — Lotus flower. The English have
the Rose, the Scotch the Thistle, the Irish the
Shamrock, the French the Lily, the Germans the
Oak, the Swiss the Edelweis, the Southerners the
Palm, the Mexicans the Cactus, etc. They
selected a certain flower or leaf as a symbol for
merit or regard, to be used on special occasions.
They adorned the head of an artist or a hero with
a laurel wreath, presented the bride with orange
blossoms or a sprig of myrtle, and gave the parting
one a forget-me-not. They endowed each with a
symbolical meaning. The scarlet represented love ;
white, innocence ; blue, hope ; yellow, envy, etc.
The Violet was indicative of prudence ; the Helio-
trope of devotion and the Tulip of beauty. In the
latter part of the last century some learned men as
Linnaeus, Jussieu and de Candolle framed that part
of knowledge into a regular system, (Botany,) as a

third part of the history of nature, as a founda-
tion to build later discoveries of science upon.

The gardening of those days was quite different
from that of to-day. A plot, whose dimensions
were governed by the circumstances of the owner,
at some distance from the dwelling was fenced in
and locked. Shrubs, Ulacs, syringas, snow-balls,
hawthorns, and golden chain (Cytissus laburnum)
were general favorites. Honeysuckles, Wistarias,
Boursalt roses, Dutchman's pipe, and Clematis were
planted and led to run up framework and pillars.
A variety of roses was set out, the old cabbage
rose, moss rose, a half double white and dark red,
and double, yellow Persian, a splendid eglantine
whose flowers were blood red in the inside petals
and yellow on the outside, and also a yellow
flowering eglantine. Centifolia minor and a still
smaller rose of the same character, pink and dark
red, were of the greatest ornaments to our gardens.
We called them the Pentecost rose and they were
always in bloom. At that time too, a pink month-
ly and tea rose were seen in gardens. The
wealthy had in their gardens roses of manifold
varieties which they imported from France, and
with which they ornamented their pleasure
grounds. Elegant perennials ; double pink, blue
and white hepaticas; snow balls, saxifragas, crocus,
tulips of beautiful shades, narcissus, jonquils,
crown imperials, lily of the valley, purple and

1 62

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[June,

white violets and pansies were the spring flowers,
and were followed by splendid beds of ranuncu-
lus, anemones, alstromerias, carnations, hand-
somer than we have them to-day. Stock gillies,
precious wall flowers, asters and balsams were
planted in beds bordered with double daisies,
dazzling primula veris, Spanish grass, auriculas,
pinks, blue dwarf iris and boxwood. The white
lily and golden candlestick grew luxuriantly,
dwarf delphiniums, monkshood, lychnis calce-
donia, double hesperis matronalis, aquilegias,
were of many varieties and grown to perfec-
tion. The hardy phlox and that handsome dark
red peony as well as a large collection of iris, but
rarely the harrdsomest of all, the Iris susiana.
When dahlias were introduced from Mexico, they
were highly valued. The possessor of a plant like
that looked upon it as a treasure. Verbenas were
first only of two kinds, melindris and coerulia ;
and although a great deal thought of at that time
they were replaced by an endless and beautiful
collection of their sisters.

I cannot refrain from mentioning a few plants
with which I have been acquainted and which
made a deep and lasting impression upon my
young day observations :

First — An eglantine rose, a large bushy plant
whose foliage spread spicy and agreeable odors,
whose flowers were blood red inside petals, and
yellow on the outside. There was not, likely, a
more charming bush than this rose was when in
bloom. Its blossoming time was short, but rich,
blooming and elegant.

Second — A perennial spiraea (Venusta) which I
saw only once in a florist's place. The plant
when full grown is from three to four feet high,
the flower about eighteen inches long, a perfect
bouquet. It was of a deep pink color somewhat
like sp. lobata, the form like sp. Billardi. but close
like a bloom of colored pampas grass. I never
saw a more graceful flower and it imparted a
heavenly enjoyment.

Third — A delphinum perennial with very large
steel blue flowers ; it was the largest part of sum-
mer in bloom, and far handsomer than D. chinen-
sis or formosum.

Fourth — A perennial aster about eighteen inches
high and bloomed the latter part of summer, it
was a beautiful, perfect, semi-double purple flower
as large as a German aster, but a delicate grower.

Fifth — Another perennial whose name I was
told was Tropaeolum canadensis. It was between
three and four feet high, clover-like, and blossomed
in July. It was covered with little yellow flowers

shaped like a canary bird — a very interesting
plant; but this, as well as some others, has dis-
appeared to make room for newer and more
fashionable plants, and now only exists in my
rhemory. I have not seen one of them in
thirty-five years.

The hedging of the gardens was delightful to
look upon. Long rows of clipped trees, hedges,
evergreens and shrubs were sheared to various
forms. Orange and lemon trees, laurel and pome-
granate, oleander and myrtle were placed in tubs
and stone receptacles. Garden seats were placed
at convenient places between beautiful fountains
unexcelled at the present day, and which were
playing at certain times for the enjoyment of the
visitors. The above mentioned vines were skill-
fully trained over lattice-work forming shady
garden houses. There were allegorical groups
and single statues representing mythology and
horticulture. The large lawns were bordered
and planted with shade and ornamental trees and
evergreen shrubs such as are described above.
There were carriage drives all around the park.
Perennials in the center and the balance of the
bed filled out with annuals, were planted on both
sides of straight plots. Entrances to residences
and balconies were generally ornainented with
large numbers of plants in tub and pot, and caused
a royal appearance. From an emperor's palace
to a laboring man's cottage flowers were culti-
vated. There may be a reason or an excuse for a
man not cultivating flowers, but if a woman does
not love flowers she cannot be sociable, she lacks
heart and is never amiable. Certain clubs and
corporations in convents made a specialty of
growing and generating varieties in classes of
plants, and raised them to perfection, while all
plants of the known world were exhibited in royal
gardens. Camellias were raised in one place,
azaleas in another, pelargoniums in a third, gerani-
ums, auriculas, alstromerias, stocks, wall flowers,
sweet williams, primulas, tulips, asters, balsams —
whichever kind was preferred — were attended to
with the greatest love.

(To be concluded.)

IMPROVED POLYANTHA ROSES.

BY ANTOINE WINZER, WEST GROVE, PA.

I send you by to-day's mail a few blooms of the
new Polyantha rose Mignonette, also two small
plants of the same variety. I considered it last
winter the finest novelty we had in new roses.
The habit of the plant is good. It is a very free

AND HORTICULTURIST.

163

bloomer, producing flowers in open ground from
June until severe frost stops them in Fall. It will
no doubt prove as hardy as Anna Marie de
Montraval, enduring our winters with slight pro-
tection. There is another Polyantha rose not well
known, Mdlle Cecile Bruner. When I first
bloomed it two years ago, I did not think it was
very nice, as it showed a kind of salmon pink
color; but on trying it. out in open ground last
year on a large scale it proved to be one of the
finest roses in our collection of its class. The
color of the flowers was better than under glass,
showing a fine pink, and the clusters were very
fine ; some containing as many as twenty-five
distinct flowers about an inch in diameter and
double ; the plants were in bloom until Novem-
ber. We have also a great many other New
French and English roses that are very fine.

[Certainly very pretty. These roses make bou-
quets in themselves, and this new class will assur-
edly become very popular. — Ed. G. M.]

NOTES FROM VIRGINIA.
BV MAX, STAUNTON, VA.

Have had what may be called an open winter,
the thermometer never marking lower than 10^ F.
above zero. Occasional snows and sleets but no
snow-storm leaving above three inches on the
ground, and that generally dissipated by the sun
within two or three days. Yet our roses are more
severely injured than for years past. Teas and
Noisettes killed to the root ; Hybrid Perpetuals cut
back to within six to fifteen inches of the ground,
while evergreens have not suffered at all — even
Euonymus japonicus (which is generally injured)
shows no sign of rough weather. Why is this ?
Devoniensis and Bon Silene roses withstood the
winter while T. de Luxembourg and Safrano (all
adjacent) were destroyed.

The white moth is attacking sweet scented
Geraniums here and not touching Coleus in the
same house. Will you or some one of your
correspondents who have used Pyrethrum against
the cabbage worm give manner of use and
results ?

[Plants which stand a temperature of some
degrees below freezing, do not die from "frost," that
is cell-rupture, as geraniums, tomatoes, and such
plants do ; but from evaporation of the juices faster
than the roots can supply them. Just how evap-
oration injured the roses, local examination only
could show.— Ed. G. M.]

CLIMBING PLANTS— AMPELOPSIS.

BV J. R. T., NORTHAMPTON, MASS.

There is no out-of-door decoration upon which
the eye rests with more gratification than the
graceful climbing plants, and where beauty of
foliage is combined with elegance of bloom the
effect is greatly augmented. Some, however, of
the most desirable of this class of plants, bear
but insignificant blossoms. The many yearly
additions to the florist's catalogues put it within
the means of every one to ornament and beautify
his homestead, be it ever so humble. For this
purpose there is nothing superior to the hardy
climbers or creepers, whether to cover an unsight-
ly fence, to festoon an artificial trellis or to adorn
the dwelling house itself. There are scores of
them so well known that it is almost superfluous
to mention any, yet some of the oldest, most
familiar and altogether the best, seem to be least
cultivated. I will therefore, with your permission,
Mr. Editor, name a few (in this and succeeding
articles) that succeed well here, in the hope that
others may be induced to follow the example of
the writer. Should any do so and obtain half the
satisfaction he has from the few under cultivation
on his own premises, he will be amply repaid.

One important point in order to obtain the best
results, is the selection of plants that will success-
fully resist the cold of our New England winters ;
plants that can take care of themselves. Among
climbers I know of none that affords greater satis-
faction than the Ampelopsis qiunquefolia, Virgin-
ian creeper. It belongs to the vine family and is
thus described by Gray :

" Calyx slightly 5 toothed ; Petals, concave,
thick, expanding before they fall ; Disk none ;
Leaves digitate, with 5 oblong, lanceolate sparingly
serrate leaflets. Flower-clusters cymose. Tendrils
fixing themselves to trunks or walls by dilated
sucker like disks at their tips."

It is abundantly hardy, of vigorous growth and
of graceful form. Its flowers are insignificant and
its bernes small and scarcely noticeable. It is
peculiarly adapted to the ornamentation of brick
walls, its little disks or suckers at the extremity of
the tendril, clinging with great tenacity to the
mortar and brick. It requires no training or fasten-
ing. Plant it in moderately rich soil, give it but
ordinary attention and it will rapidly climb the
wall. To me it is surprising that a creeper, com-
bining as it does so many elements of attractive-
ness and withal so easy of cultivation, should not
become more popular. I know not how it may be

1 64

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[June,

in other places, but in this town, till last summer,
I knew of but a single plant of the species in the
neighborhood. The bright, glossy foliage of the
new growth, contrasts admirably with the darker
green of the leaves upon the older wood, the
whole spreading fan like upon the wall, shading
from dark to light and tapering gradually from
the larger leaves to the minutest tendrils, all bright,
fresh and shining. Then as autumn advances it
changes to a magnificent crimson and purple. So
conspicuous and attractive is it that almost daily
some passer by inquires its name and remarks its
beauty. A horticultural writer says of it : "As a
rapid growing plant it is much prized in England
and on the continent of Europe, and employed as
it is in this country to cover walls or to climb old
trees, festooning itself with elegant freedom from
branch to branch." It needs but ordinary care
and though in severe winters the ends of the
shoots may die, the succeeding summer's growth
quickly recovers lost ground and rapidly extends
far beyond. I speak of this well known species,
because it is reliable, easily obtained, costs but a
trifle and will afford genuine pleasure to all lovers
of the beautiful. It is known as the American
Ivy, occupying in American woods and gardens a
similar position to the Ivy of England in that
country. It is sometimes called the five leaved
woodbine, erroneously, however, as the woodbine
properly belongs to the Honeysuckle family.

The tendency at present seems to be to cultivate
foreign plants at the expense of our own native
species. Many of these are so tender that they
can with difficulty be made to live through our
winters, and even then it is questionable whether
they are more beautiful. A finer creeper than the
Ampelopsis, one combining so many excellencies,
can nowhere te found.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Double Tuberoses. — These often degenerate.
Just why they do so has not been clearly demon-
strated. The single ones, however, have -this ad-
vantage, they flower nearly two weeks earlier than
the double ones.

City Squares for Philadelphia. — The city
of Philadelphia, with its 130 square miles, has one
large park of 3,000 acres on its west boundary, of
which it is justly proud. In small squares for the
poor and for children who cannot take a day's
journey to the Park, or if at all but a few times
a year, it is singularly bare. It has but Franklin,

Logan, Rittenhouse, Independence, Washington,
Jefferson, Passyunk and Norris, and these pro-
vided by the wisdom of the more immediate suc-
cessors of William Penn. Since that time miles
and miles of streets have been built, with the only
public ground being the public highways.

At the meeting of the City Councils on April
19th, Councilman Meehan offered an ordinance
providing for small parks and squares for the
future growth of the city. It directs the Depart-
ment of Surveys to so revise the plans of the city
as to block off plots of ground not less than ten
nor more than twenty acres, three or four miles
apart. The city is to set apart a marginal strip
around each plot for building purposes and apply
the proceeds for building new parks. The prrp-
erty to be taken is to be assessed as road dam-
ages are. The bill was referred to the Survey
Committee, and by them referred to the City
Solicitor, to decide whether the city had authority
to take land for this purpose.

Cercis Japonica. — This proves to be one of the
most desirable of very hardy shrubs. It will prob-
ably become common as the " Japan Judas tree."

Azalea Mollis, introduced from Japan, might
have been called new here half a dozen years ago.
At the Arnold Arboretum it endures the winter
quite as well as the Ghent azaleas, and flowers
superbly and promises to supersede them, the
flowers being finer in size and form. At the
arboretum a large number of seedlings have
been raised, from which we may expect plants
every way suited to our climate. — Mr. Falconer in
Country Gentleman.

A Grafted Rose. — At a recent meeting of the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society, William H.
Spooner, chairman of the flower committee, called
attention to a plant of General Jacqueminot rose,
exhibited by Jackson Dawson of the Arnold
Arboretum. It was grafted a year ago upon a
Japan rose, and now has twenty-five blossoms and
buds.

Roses Grafted on the Manetti Stock. —
Over a quarter of a century ago, no nurseryman
in America could get enough Manetti stock to
supply the demand, but they have long been
wholly abandoned. The American florist of to-
day hardly knows what the Manetti stock is. It
was not that is was not a good stock for the rose,
but the tendency to sucker was so strong, and the
leaves and growth so much like "tame roses,"
that the majority of amateurs, and many florists
did not find out that they had only the "wild

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

165

things" left, till every graft had died. People would
not buy a grafted plant at any price, and hence the
stock went into oblivion. It seems very strange to
those not acquainted with the slow progress of the
experience of "foreigners" through the British
Islands to have the rose growers of that region
paying for their experience as freely as if it was all
wholly new. The Gardett now tells us :

" It is, in fact, a great mistake for amateurs to
grow roses on the Manetti stock, for the following
reason : One day a gentleman asked me for advice
about his roses. He said three years ago he
bought six dozen rose bushes ; they flowered well
the first year, but he got very few flowers after-
wards. I went with him to see them, and from
what I saw in his garden I thought he was a clever
man. It was a beautiful place, and he appeared,
to be quite a judge of a good many things ; but
when we came to the roses I discovered they were
not rose trees at all, they were Manetti stocks ;
indeed, there were only one or two pieces of rose to
be seen."

White Pvrus Japonica. — The white Pyrus
japonica of American gardens has a tinge of pink
in it. By the following from the Gardc7i, a pure
white has appeared in England :

"A new white variety of Cedonia japonica now
in full bloom in Messrs. Veitch's nursery at
Coombe Wood, under the name of nivalis, is
among the most chastely beautiful of early flower-
ing shrubs. The flowers are identical with those
of the ordinary kind, but are as white as driven
snow, and it retains its purity throughout the
flowering season, thereby differing in an important
degree from the common white variety of Cydonia
alba, which changes to a pinkish color by age.
This variety nivalis is, like the original, a very
free bloomer, and long shoots are perfect wreaths
of white, so abundant are the blossoms. Beauti-
ful as these snow-white flowers are on the bush,
they seem to reveal additional beauty when cut
and associated with a little greenery, and they last
a considerable time in water and half-opened buds
fully expand, though not such a pure white as
those that expand in the open air. As a com-
panion plant to the high colored varieties of the
favorite Japanese Quince the plant under notice is
recommended. For wreath and other floral de-
vices it is invaluable at this season."

LiLiUM Harrisi. — This is a variety of Japan
species, Lilium longiflorum, but has become natu-
ralized in the island of Bermuda. Importations
have been made from there and sold under the
name of Bermuda lily.

Forsythia suspensa. — This is the F. Fortuni
of English catalogues, as the leaves are both
simple and trifoliate on the same plant. It is a
far more graceful plant than the old Golden Bell,
Forsythia viridissima, and flowers earlier. It

blooms, indeed, under a very low temperature,
and under warm shelter will be quite as early as
the Japan jasmine, Jasminum nudiflorum. It can
be trained on trellises against walls like the jas-
mine. It also may be led up on one stem to make
heads, when it is far more interesting than the
Kilmarnock willow.

Paris Green on Large Trees. — At a recent
meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society,
Mr. J. W. Manning, after speaking of the univer-
sal prevalence of destructive insects, one following
another through the season, said that the most
effectual remedy for the canker worm is London
purple or Paris green, the first being preferable.
Being lighter it will remain suspended in the water
better, and its color is such that it can be seen
better. A slightly heaping teaspoonful to three
gallons of water, or a pound to two hundred
gallons, is about the right proportion ; but the
strength varies, and the exact quantity must be
found by experiment, if too strong it will kill
the leaves, and if not strong enough it will not
kill the worms. It should be applied in a fine
spray, either with a common garden syringe or by
a portable pump with hose attachment. The latter
may be placed in a wagon, with the poisoned
water, for convenience in moving. All the foliage
should be sprinkled. Sometimes it is necessary to
make two applicauons, but frequently a single
application will clear the trees for years. In the
grounds of Amos Hill of Belmont, where it was
used in 1878, and those of the essayist, who in
1880 applied it to thousands of apple and elm trees
in his nursery, few insects have been seen since,
and a second application destroyed these. The
best time is as soon as a perforation of the leaf
can be seen, but it has proved efiectual when the
worms were nearly grown.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Laurel Oak. — A St. Louis correspondent says ;
" I do not think 'there is under culture the true
laurel leaved oak, L. imbricaria I suppose. This
oak grows quite abundantly here in certain soils,
or rather situations, and with its glossy entire
leaves and symmetrical growth is, I think, by no
means destitute of beauty. I have a lot of seed-
lings, both one and two years, of Yucca flaccida,
which I regard as a very valuable yucca, in that
it blooms much younger and much more freely
than Y. filamentosa, as I have noticed that the
latter requires several years after division and

i66

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[June,

removal before they will bloom, while the former
will bloom the second year. At all events, they
will throw up ten stalks of bloom to the other's
one."

The Japan Snowball. — Hardy as the Viburnum
plicatum appears to be almost everywhere, a
correspondent from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, re-
ports that it was killed to the snow line last winter.

Among the Flowers. --We give in this num-
ber another of the interesting contributions to the
Kingston Freeman, with some additions for our
pages, from the pen of our intelligent correspond-
ent, Mr. V. Burgevin, which we are sure our gar-
den-loving readers will appreciate.

Disappearance of the Nelumbium. — A St.'
Louis correspondent says : " I have often thought
of those former articles in your paper concerning
the discrepancy among observers as to the native
habitat or former localities of the noble aquatic,
the Nelumbium luteum. When I first came here,
sixteen years ago, this plant was very common all
around the city, growing in numerous ponds, to be

met with everywhere. Now it is quite scarce, and
on many of these ponds where there were formerly
acres of it, now not a plant is to be found —
caused by the ponds drying up for one or two
consecutive seasons. The plants die out, root and
branch, and do not seem to reproduce themselves
from seed in the same ponds when moisture re-
turns, although they formerly seeded abundantly.
Only in deeper and more enduring water are they
to be found now. The same is also true of the
Pontedera."

Variegated Celery. — "T. S. S.," W^est Troy,
N. Y., writes: " I have mailed you two leaves of
a variegated celery. The plant is now one year
old, and every leaf is as nicely variegated as the
samples I send you. It is now growing in a
7-inch pot. Height of plant, from top of the pot
to top of the leaf, 14 inches; diameter, 22 inches.
It stands the sun well. Please state what you
think of it."

[A very beautiful plant, and though a " vegeta-
ble," would be no mean ornament in a flower
garden.— Ed. G. M.]

Greenhouse and House Gardening,

COMMUNICATIONS.

STEAM HEATING.

BY JOHN BREITMEYER, DETROIT, MICH.

In reply to Mr. E. Holley's question, page 39,
February number, regarding steam heating in
greenhouses, I desire to say :

First — In a greenhouse 20x100 feet, or longer, it
will require a coil of six radiating one-inch pipes
on each side and through the entire length of the
house, to maintain a temperature of 65° during a
severe cold storm, when the thermometer goes
down to 15° or 20° below zero. The main point
in putting in steam-pipes is to have plenty of stop-
valves, so that heating can be regulated according
to the demand of the weather. During ordinary
weather, say when the thermometer goes down to
20° or 240 below freezing point, then two pipes on
each side of the house would be sufficient to main-
tain the desired temperature.

Second — My opinion is that two one-inch pipes

are better for radiating heat than one two-inch.
I explain it thus: The circumference of two
one-inch pipes is greater than that of one two-
inch, therefore more heating surface, and conse-
quently more heat.

Third — As to the heating capacity of a certain
sized boiler the most reliable information can be
obtained from a competent steam-fitter. Ascertain
how many feet of pipe it will take to heat your
house, or houses, and he can easily tell how large
a boiler it will require.

Fourth — I find that steam-heating costs about
one-fourth more in fuel and double the amount of
labor in attending to same, than hot water heating.

Fifth — I find no difference in its working, whether
the pipes are in an ascending or a descending posi-
tion— the condensation of steam in the ascending
pipe does not seem to cause any trouble. One of
the chief points is to have plenty of power in the
boiler, and be careful to keep you pipes above the
water-level of the boiler.

i883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

167

Sixth — Our boiler requires attention every two
or three hours. It would sometimes last longer,
but it is so unreliable that it is safest to watch it
regularly, I find it to be the same with nearly all
local florists who have steam-heating in use.

Seventh — The style of boiler we have in use is
a horizontal tubular; it is claimed that these have
the most heating surface, and are, therefore, rec-
ommended to be the best.

The above are as accurate answers as 1 can
give from the result of our experiment, and trust
it will enlighten Mr. H. and others interested.

It may be agreeable to some of the readers of
the Monthly to learn how we have our steam-
pipes arranged, and how our combined steam and
hot water heating is managed.

Our greenhouses, now twenty in number, cover-
ing an area of more than 50,000 square feet of glass,
are heated by six No. 17 and two No. i6 of Hitch-
ings & Co.'s corrugated fire-box boilers, and two of
Meyers' improved hot water boilers. To these we
have attached about 12.000 feet of four-inch pipes.
As we needed all these houses to grow cut-flowers
and could not heat them to a desired temperature
for that purpose, and were about to make addi-
tions last summer, we decided to put in a steam
boiler in order to tests its merits. The boiler is of
above-described style, 3'^' feet in diameter by 14
feet long, with 54 flues. To this we have attached
about 6,000 feet of pipes of various sizes. The
four-inch supply pipe leads through a house 20x128
feet; from this branches lead into four different
houses with a coil of three one-inch pipes in each
house, ascending from the supply pipe. These
houses are 20 feet wide and the steam-pipes main-
tain a temperature of about 55-. When the ther-
mometer goes down to 26-^ below freezing point
in colder weather we add hot water pipes, of which
we have eight in each house. In this way we use
the steam in fourteen different houses.

Then we have another three-inch supply pipe
leading to four houses 10x120 feet each, heated by
steam exclusively. In each of these houses we
have a coil of three one-inch radiating pipes de-
scending from the supply pipe. The condensed
steam is led to the boiler with a one-inch pipe de-
scending to boiler. With all the pipes in use we
can maintain a temperature of 48^ when the ther-
mometer goes down to 20- below zero.

As steam-heating is now attracting considerable
attention and is the topic of conversation among
florists, I will proceed to discuss a few important
questions on the subject.

First — Is steam-heating really better and cheaper

than hot water? As far as our experience teaches
we must say no. I will first take into considera-
tion the cost of construction. It is very true that
steam can be put in cheaper than hot water, but
the question is : Will it last as long ? Time will
tell ! Now comes fuel and labor. It was claimed
by one or two local writers that steam costs less in
fuel and is better than hot water. 1 would ask how
can these gentlemen make such an assertion when
neither of them ever had any hot water heating
and do not know what it is. Good steam-heating
may be as good as hot water, but I feel safe in
saying that it is not a particle better.

And even if it is as good as it is claimed to be,
and better than hot water in all points, one more
important question is: Will steam heat be as
agreeable to plant life as hot water heat ? I will
mention one case. In the four houses heated by
steam exclusively we have carnations. They were
looking splendidly until the end of December last.
At that time heavy firing commenced and we soon
noticed that they were not doing as they should.
Although kept quite cool they showed a feeble
growth. We put in a lot of cuttings from them
and soon found that it was very difficult to root
them.

On further examination we found that the wood
was "tough;" also that the flowers, after being
open two days, would fade away, while those in
the other houses heated by hot water would last
eight or ten days. Does it not look as if steam
had something to do with it ?

CYPRIPEDIUMS.

BY ALEXANDER CRAMB, NEWBURG, N. Y.

During twenty years experience in gardening I
do not remember having seen or heard of any one
growing Cypripediums on blocks, and until last
year did not think of such idea.

Having a very sickly plant of C. venustum,
which gradually grew less in spite of all I could
do, and not wishing to lose the plant, it occurred
to me to put it on a block of wood or something
similar.

I found among some peat a fern stool which I
used instead of the wood. After washing the few
poor roots the plant had 1 wired the plant to the
stool, using nothing but moss to cover the roots.
This was done about the loth of June. At the end
of July I had the satisfaction of seeing one large
fleshy root, and continued to make roots until late
in the fall. The leaves made during the time are
much larger than the old ones and of a better

1 68

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY,

[June,

color. In December it showed four flowers, and
on one of the flower stems is a lateral not yet
open.

A neighboring gardener has success with a plant
of C. naevium which was very delicate but now
improving, showing one flower. This plant is on
a block of wood. If any of the contributors to the
Monthly have tried this experiment I should like
to know with what success. How long this class
of plants would live and thrive under this treat-
ment is a question. At any rate, when a sickly
plant is established on blocks it is an easy matter
to re-pot again.

[This is a novel idea in Cypripedium growing,
and will surely be of great value to orchid grow-
ers.—Ed. G. M.]

one run of two-inch pipe out under the back side
of the bench and back under the front side to the
boiler. The house 13x60 feet; say 120 feet of pipe.
There has been no trouble in keeping this house at
50° any cold night we have had for the last three
years. Never had to sit up with this fire; could
always leave it at 9 P. M. and find steam on at 7
o'clock in the morning. With the hot water boiler
we have to watch with it all cold nights for the last
seven years. I have raised the temperature in this
house ten degrees in as many minutes. With ten
pounds of steam you can fill the house with it, and
it is very effectual in suppressing the red spider.

HEATING PLANT-HOUSES.

BY W. H. PAGE, NORWICH, CONN.

I have some experience in heating greenhouses
by flues, hot water and steam, and I suppose all
have some advantages over the other, but were I
to heat more houses I think I should prefer steam
to all others.

If I should attempt to answer Mr. Holley's ques-
tions in a late Monthly I would say, in the first
place secure a good boiler with sufficient capacity
to do the work without crowding. If you are to
run one low pressure, then two-inch pipe is best; if
high pressure, then i '4 inch pipe will do as well.
It is difficult to say whether a five-horse-power
boiler is sufficient to heat a certain house, for much
depends upon location and exposure ; but four
houses connected will heat easier than one alone
in proportion. One boiler will heat four houses if
of sufficient capacity for the business. You can
heat one-third more space with steam than by any
other process, with same consumption of fuel. I
would grade all pipes away from the boiler, that
is, let the pipes from the boiler fall about one inch
in eighteen inches, with the returns back about the
same, so the condensation will follow along with
the steam. Then there can be no clashing or
noise.

Much depends upon the kind of boilers and
connections about how long it will run without at-
tention. Many boilers will not keep steam over
four hours without replenishing the fire. All such
are not suitable for the purpose. The boiler should
not be too high, but should have large fire capacity.
In my greenhouse heated by steam, it is in rather
a sheltered situation, is a lean-to, and faces south.
The boiler is of cast-iron, fifteen-inch grate, with

HEATING BY STEAM.

by H. WALZL, DENVER, COL.

Seeing the call in the February number for
"Practical knowledge of hothouse heating," I
herewith submit to you my knowledge of the same.

Before I ever thought of horticulture I went to
work in a machine shop to get a " practical" knowl-
edge of machinery, and while there learned the
use of steam and hot water for heating. Since I
have been in this business I have fired personally
with the common flues, with the Dick and Meyers
hot water boilers, and with Flinn & Emrich steam-
heating boiler of Baltimore, and have seen ordi-
nary horizontal boilers used here for steam-heating.

I think that for hothouse heating the hot water
system is the best, for when once the water is
hot it retains the heat a long time and gives a more
even heat than anything else. Second, it cannot
get out of order after once properly put up. Third,
it does not require a mechanic to run it (which
steam does) and there is no danger of explosion,
which there is in steam if the person running it
does not understand it thoroughly. Fourth, by
the time everything is taken into consideration it
is the cheapest.

On a very large place where it will pay to keep
a man to fire and attend to the heating, who un-
derstands all about boilers, pipes, etc., steam can
be made to do the work at much less cost than
anything else. But if it is not properly put up it
will be an everlasting expense and give no satis-
faction.

Where one can attend to it himself and under-
stands it it is very good, but where you have to
depend on hired help, who very seldom take any
interest in things, and still less often know much
about steam, there is no satisfaction to be had
from steam heat.

As to the Questions asked. First: A one-inch

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

169

pipe is just as good and much cheaper than a
larger one, except where the pipes are very long
and there is danger of the steam condensing be-
fore it reaches the end. Second: Where it takes
a five-horse boiler to heat one house it will not re-
quire more than an, eighteen-horse boiler to heat
four such houses. Third : I prefer the radiators to
receive the steam from the upper end, as in case of
very long radiators the condensed water may in-
terfere with the steam.

It is possible to have steam-heating so arranged
with automatic valves that we need only attend to
it once in six hours. I have done this myself.

DECORATED NAPKIN RINGS.
BY WM. McR., RAPIDAN, V.A..

At a dinnerparty given by my employer, the most
admired decoration was floral napkin rings. The
rings were formed of loops of the green wire used
in making artificial flowers; through the loops
sprays of smilax and stems of cineraria blooms
were twined. They were very pretty, and were
nearly all carried away by the guests as souvenirs.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Hot Water to Kill Insects. — In the first
volume of the Gardeners' Monthly, probably
one of the most valuable papers published was
one on the use of hot water in destroying plant
lice. Many have thanked us since for giving
them such a simple and effectual plan. The fol-
lowing details have recently appeared in the Lon-
don Gardeners' Magazine, and as there are some
suggestions in it, not noted in our original paper
where 130° was given as the degree of limit, it
will be useful to reproduce it here :

"Water is a cheap insecticide insufficiently ap-
preciated, but capable of more extended use than
the majority of those who already believe in it are
aware. It is quite certain that the best cultivation
will not prevent the occurrence amongst plants of
such pests as aphis, red spider, mealy bug, and a
few of their near relatives. Therefore it will not
do to dismiss the subject of plant vermin by say-
ing that good cultivation is a sufficient preventive,
though it is unquestionably true that the most
natural conditions for vigorous growth are also
just those which keep vermin at a distance. We
do not intend here to enter upon a general consid-
eration of the subject, but to relate a few particu-
lars of experiments that have been made at Stoke
Newington, with a view to determine the extent to
which hot water may be employed for the destruc-
tion of the insects that most commonly infest
plants. The few experiments made have been

attended with such promising results that we shall
hope to find opportunity soon for repeating them
in a more extended and systematic manner. For
the present we shall speak of aphis only, and as
that is the most prevalent of plant pests, we trust
that these remarks will be useful to many readers.
It appears, then, that aphides quickly perish if
immersed in water heated to 120-^ Fah. We ob-
tained from various sources plants infested with
green fly, and cleansed them by the simple pro-
cess of dipping. As the experiments were made
in the month of February, we thought it probable
that aphis might endure in June a temperature
many degrees higher than that which proved fatal
to them in the earlier and colder season. Hence
it became desirable to ascertain the degree of heat
the plants could endure in the dipping process.
A number of herbaceous and soft-wooded plants
were therefore subjected to the process of immer-
sion in water heated to various degrees above 120"^.
We found that fuchsias were unharmed at 140"^,
but at 150° the young leaves were slightly in-
jured. Calceolarias suffered at 140°, but the
plants were not killed, though their soft tops per-
ished. Pelargoniums were unhurt up to 150°, but
the slightest rise beyond that figure killed the soft
wood and the young leaves completely. Chinese
primulas were injured by any rise beyond 140°,
and this at last proved to be the most general
maximum, and may be cited as a rule for observ-
ance. Centaureas, sedums, saxifragas, thyrsacan-
thus, justicias, ferns, heliotropes, petunias, be-
gonias, mignonette, and many other plants of soft
texture, were unhurt by being dipped in water at
140", but the slightest rise beyond that point was
followed by blackening of the leaves, and conse-
quent disfigurement of the plant, and at 150° the
process of killing commenced. About ten years
ago we reported in the Floral World that Fairy
or Lawrence roses, which are grown in quantities
in pots for market, could be best kept clean by
dipping in hot water, as at 120° the plant is not
injured, and every aphis upon it is destroyed.
This simple method of removing vermin from
plants is, we are quite satisfied, capable of very
general adoption, in place of more troublesome
and more expensive plans. We shall be glad of
any aid our readers can afford towards the reduc-
tion to system of the facts of the case. To what
extent can we carry on an oftensive warfare
against scale, red spider, and all the rest of the
little foes that plague us in the garden ? The
question can be better answered by many than a
few. It is eminently a question for those who
have opportunity and a liking for experiments,
and who can afford to kill a few plants, if need be,
to make a sure test of the respective powers of
endurance of high temperatures by various orders
and genera.

Leea amabills. — Leaf plants, or those which
are valuable chiefly on account of beautiful foliage,
are still popular, and we have here one of the most
beautiful additions that have been made for along
time. It was introduced by Messrs. Veitch of
London, who give us the following account of it:

170

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[June,

"A very distinct and handsome foliage plant dis- 6 inches long and ij4 to 2 inches broad, with
covered by our collector, Mr. Curtis, in North prominent midribs and numerous oblique symmet-

Borneo. The leaves are compound, each leaf con- rical veins branching from them. When first ex-
sisting of 4 to 6 elliptic-oblong, sharply pointed, panded the leaflets are bright crimson tinged with
opposite leaflets and a terminal one; they are fully a rich shade of brown and marked with a pale rose

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

171

band along the midrib; when mature they are of
a deep bronzy green shaded with brown, reUeved
by a broad silvery white central band which gives
off short branches with every nerve. The novelty
of the coloration of this plant and its striking
aspect, cannot fail to recommend it to cultivators
of ornamental stove plants, to whom it may per-
haps be appropriately described as resembling a
shrubby Cissus discolor.

Tobacco Water for Insects. — W. H. Spang-
ler in Vick's Mo7ithly, believes that tobacco tea,
occasionally syringed over infected plants, is a far
better insecticide than tobacco smoke.

Rose Madam Gabriel Luizet. — At the April
meeting of the Germantown Horticultural Society,
Messrs. Lonsdale & Burton exhibited cut blooms
of the new hybrid perpetual rose Madam Gabriel
Luizet. This is the one which was pronounced by
foreign growers the best of all the roses of recent
introduction. In color it reminds one of the well-
known La France, is exquisitely sweet scented,
and the exhibitors claim it to be an excellent one
for forcing.

Pedigree Roses. — Mr. Bennett believes in the
natural variation in races; others depend on cross-
ing or hybridizing. Mr. Bennett has been and
continues to be successful with his method. An
English paper recently says: "Mr. H. Bennett,
Shepperton, contributed two flowers of a lovely
new seedling rose named Mrs. George Dixon, a
large flower with broad, deep petals, of a rich
satin-rose color — a lovely bit of color; and some
cut blooms of another of his seedlings, W. Francis
Bennett, an invaluable dark button-hole or bou-
quet rose, being neat and pretty in the bud, of a
good dark color, and richly scented."

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Rose Etoile de Lyon.— Nanz & Neuner send
buds of this yellow tea rose which confirm the
good character we have formerly given of it. It
will be a popular variety if its blooming characters
equal its beauty.

Rose Merveille de Lyon. — Nanz & Neuner
send a flower of this hybrid perpetual rose, which
came to hand April 25. It is a large whitish
cupped, and very double rose and seemingly of
much promise. The number of new roses is now
so great that it is not easy to judge of the actual
value of a variety by a flower alone. Habit, free

blooming, fragrance and other points go to make
up the first-class kind in these days. If this should
excel in these points, we fancy there will be few
roses to excel this.

Hot Water for Sickly Plants. — A corres-
pondent calls our attention to the following from
the Garden, and inquires whether "there is any-
thing in it:"

"The Florist asks has any one tried hot water
as a restorative for sickly plants? and then pro-
ceeds to say that M. Willermoz some time since re-
lated that plants in pots may be restored to health
by means of hot water; ill health, he maintains,
ensues from acid substances in the soil, which,
being absorbed by the roots, act as poison. The
small roots wither and cease to act, and the upper
and younger shoots consequently turn yellow, or
become spotted, indicative of their morbid state.
In such cases the usual remedy is to transplant
into fresh soil, in clean pots with good drainage,
and this often with the best results. But his ex-
perience of several years has proved the unfailing
efficacy of the simpler treatment, which consists
in watering abundantly with hot water at a tem-
perature of about 145'^^ Fahr., having previously
stirred the soil of the pots so far as may be done
without injury to the roots. Water is then given
until it runs freely from the pots. In his experi-
ments the water at first came out clear, after-
wards it was sensibly tinged with brown, and gave
an appreciable acid reaction. After this thorough
washing, the pots were kept warm, and the plants
very soon made new roots, immediately followed
by vigorous growth."

To our mind there is a great deal in it. We
know to a certainty that sickly peach trees are
often restored to vigorous health, by the old-fash-
ioned German farmers of Pennsylvania, by pouring
boiling water on the ground about the peach tree.
It cools, of course, somewhat before reaching many
of the roots. Here, however, it is believed to be
beneficial by destroying parasitic insects and para-
sitic fungi, rather than chemically as suggested by
the extract. But let the reasoning be what it may,
we are willing to endorse it as good practice.

Rose Catharine Mermet. — "Anxious I." asks :
"How is this rose pronounced.^ Some say it is
Mermet, others Mermay. These French names
are puzzling to us innocents."

[Anxious Innocent need not be agonized about
it. There is no rule for pronouncing any proper
name, unless it is accented by the owner himself.
Owners of the same name often pronounce it
in various ways. Precisely how Catharine pro-
nounces hers we have no means of determin-
ing. Seeing no accents we may be forgiven if
wrong in pronouncing it as in English — Mermet.
If the lady wishes us to say Mermay, and will

172

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[June,

kindly drop us a line, we will so inform our read-
ers.—Ed. G. M.]

Carnation Albani "P. McK.," Montreal,

Can., writes : " I enclose a bloom of carnation. It is
a seedling of last spring. It has been admired here
and christened Albani. Please let me know through
the columns of the Monthly your opinion of it,
and if it is new."

[A very large salmon colored flower — a color j
popular for loose flower work. The tube is rather I

too short and too thick for the popular idea of a
good flower, especially as it seems to burst the
calyx very deeply on one side. In brief it is a fair
flower, though hardly first-rate. — Ed. G. M.]

Double New Life Geranium. — We have from
Nanz & Neuner a double variety of the well-known
striped geranium, "New life." N. & N. seem very
fortunate in getting hold of first-class new things.
We fancy this will be as popular as their double
Bouvardias have been.

Fruit and Vegetable Gardening.

COMMUNICATIONS.

FRENCH CHESTNUTS.
BY SAMUEL C. MOON, MORRISVILLE, PA.

There are few trees more beautiful or desirable
for ornamental planting in parks or large lawns, or
■about farm yards than the French chestnut. It
has been pretty satisfactorily proven by experi-
ments in various parts of the country that the cul-
ture of large varieties of chestnuts for the fruit is
profitable when good trees can be secured. The
French chestnut is the best, it being the most
hardy and productive of the large varieties. There
is very little, if any difference, between the French
.and Spanish, except in vigor, the former being
more hardy. These terms, as used in nursery cat-
alogues, are synonymous, and if it is certain that
the trees are entirely hardy there is no preference
as regards these names. The Italian is claimed
by some to be the largest variety, but they are not
any better flavored, and the trees are too tender to
be desirable for general cultivation in this latitude.

Seedling chestnuts, hke all other fruit trees, vary
considerably in the important characteristics which
make them valuable, viz. : hardiness, productive-
ness, size and quality of fruit; therefore, it is neces-
sary to plant stock which has been grafted from
bearing trees of known excellence, the same as
would be done in planting apples, pears, cherries,
or other kinds of fruit.

Another great advantage arising from grafting
is early productiveness, worked trees commencing
to bear much earlier than natural stocks.

In the spring of 1876, we grafted a lot of French

chestnut seedlings, which were then about three
feet high. In the autumn of 1878, two years after
grafting, several of the trees had attained a height
of eight feet, and were two inches in diameter of
trunk, with fine, well-branched heads. Some of
them bore fruit that season, the nuts being large,
sound and perfect.

Grafted trees will generally come into profitable
bearing at about the same age as apple trees, or
from eight to ten years after grafting.

The seedlings which are imported from France
are generally tender, and suffer more or less injury
every severe winter, so that if not killed they are a
long time in attaining sufficient size to bear a full
crop of fruit, while stock raised from the seed of
hardy trees which have been acclimated to this
country are much hardier and more desirable.

The characteristics in growth which distinguish
the French from the American chestnut are, the
darker and heavier foliage, the brighter color of
the young wood, and a more compact habit of
growth, the true French chestnut generally form-
ing a low, rounded head, similar to a large apple
tree or Norway maple.

The quality of the nuts varies very much in dif-
ferent trees. When eaten raw there is a slight bit-
terness about the skin of nearly all of them, but
much more in some than in others ; they are not
quite as sweet as the small American nuts, but
when boiled or roasted, and the skin removed,
their taste is very similar to that of the native
variety, many persons being unable to distinguish
between them.

We think that when all the merits of these chest-
nuts are better known, they cannot fail to be ap-

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

173

preciated, and they will become one
popular shade trees.

of the most

INFLUENCE OF STOCK
OF GRAFT ON

ON GRAFT AND
STOCK.

BY JEAN SISLEY, MONPLAISIR, LYONS, FRANCE.

Some people dispute this influence; still lately
my friend Alphonse Karr has cited an example ;
that of hybrid perpetual roses flowering better by
being grafted on the common China rose, than if
grafted on the brier. In my opinion that influence
is general, although not always perceptible.

Let those who have doubts make an experiment.
Plant two wild briers, like those used for standard
roses, near one another; graft one of them with a
Tea rose and let the other grow at random. After
three or four years they will find that the grafted
one has scarcely grown thicker, that the other
has nearly doubled in circumference; and per-
haps the grafted one has died.

Who does not know that pears are grafted on
the quince to obtain pyramidal forms, not vigor-
ously growing, and in consequence early fruiting.
Let those who are not acquainted with this prac-
tice graft the same variety of pear on quince stock
and on a seedling pear of the same age, and they
will soon perceive that the latter is by far the most
vigorous.

I have made in the severe winter of 1871 the
sad experience. All the pear trees in my garden
grafted on quince, were killed by the hard frost,
and those on pear stock survived.

Why do Tea roses, and more particularly the
more delicate varieties, acquire more vigor when
grafted on the seedling brier than on their own
roots?

[As we understand the question of "the influ-
ence of the stock on the graft," it would not in-
clude such as presented by our correspondent.
These properly come under the head of nutrition.
A strong variety grafted on a weaker growing
stock is checked in its luxuriance; and a weak
growing kind receives extra nutrition through a
stronger stock. The same effect is often produced
by applying different manures, different soils, or
different situations — or by "ringing" the bark of
the growing tree.

As we have understood this question of the in-
fluence of the graft on the stock or the stock on
the graft, it has rather had reference to a kind of
hybridization. In other words, can the character
of a tree be so changed by grafting as to produce
such marked variations as could not follow from

mere laws of nutrition alone? There have been
some few observations made which seem to indi-
cate the possibility of some such influence, but
we must say that these have been so few that no
general law that such is the case can be fairly
drawn.— Ed. G. M.]

MANURES.

BY RUSTICUS.

Sir Humphrey Davy writes: "Some inquirers,
adopting that sublime generalization of the an-
cient philosophers, that matter is the same in
essence, and that the different substances consid-
ered as elements by chemists are merely different
arrangements of the indestructible particles, have
endeavored to prove that all the varieties Of the
principles found in plants may be formed from the
substances in the atmosphere, and that vegetable
life is a process in which bodies that the analytical
philosopher is unable to change or to form, are
constantly composed and decomposed. But the
general result of experiments are very much op-
posed to the idea of the composition of the earths
by plants from any of the elements found in the
atmosphere, or in water, and there are various
facts contradictory to the idea."

Some contend that the "ammonia of the air is
sufficient to supply all the wants of the crops, and
have maintained that any other supply of ammonia
is unnecessary." Ammonia is one of the most
valuable ingredients of manures. A certain class
maintains that ammonia determines the value of
manure. I think it the most desirable part of man-
ure. It is well known that before nitrogen can
become assimilated by plants it must be converted
into ammonia. Nitrogen is exceedingly precious.
It is the most costly element. Now, from the
searching experiment of Dr. Laws, the fact is
pretty clearly established that but little nitrogen is
derived from the air, but almost entirely from the
soil and fertilizers.

The exploded theory that artificial manuring is
useless, that earth and atmosphere always contain
and supply it sufficiently, must no longer beguile
the agriculturist. I desire to consider manures.
They are the main pillar of farming. They are a
capital that never fails to produce a handsome
dividend. Often, to dispense with them to save
expense, is really to make expense. Land that
has become much worn, if not well manured, be-
comes to a great degree, dead capital, and to cul-
tivate it is a waste, in the sense that you are not
getting out of it the value of labor, culture and

174

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[June,

seed. Manure, then, gathers infinite importance.
There may come a condition of soil that nothing
but manure will restore. Rotation of crops, fal-
low, trenching and deep plowing cannot fully or
adequately bring it back into good "heart" or fine
"tilth." These means only serve as a partial reno-
vator. Prof. William Rhind, Mareschal College,
Scotland, in his great work, " History of the Vege-
table Kingdom," says : "Soils in a state of culture,
though consisting originally of the due proportion
of ingredients, may yet become exhausted of the
principle of fertility by means of too frequent
cropping, whether by repetition or rotation of the
same, or of different crops. In this case it should
be the object of the phytologist, as well as of the
practical cultivator, to ascertain by what means
fertility is to be restored to an exhausted soil, or
communicated to a new one. Even upon the plan
of rotation, the soil becomes at length exhausted,
and the cultivator obhged to have recourse to
other means of restoring its fertility."

Draining and burning the soil are equally un-
available in renewing land. It may be well to
mention the benefit accruing from burning. It is
the decomposition of the vegetable substances
contained in the turf, and subjected to the action
of the fire, which dispenses part also of the
superfluous moisture, but leaves a residue of
ashes favorable to future vegetation. " But it
often happens," says Rhind, " that the soil can
no longer be ameliorated by any of the fore-
going means, and in this case there must be a
direct and actual application made to it of such
substances as are fitted to restore its fertility.
And hence the indispensable necessity of manures,
which consist chiefly of animal and vegetable
remains, that are buried and finally decomposed
in the soil, from which they are afterwards ab-
sorbed by the root of the plant in a state of solu-
tion." It stands to reason that land cannot forever
be drawn upon and not become sterile ; that is, if
nothing be furnished it to replace what has been
extracted. This is exactly the principle involved
in manuring. Says Morris Copeland, in " Country
Life," "We know that any plant cultivated on an
acre of land for many successive years without
manure, finally reduces that acre to sterility. It
will bear no more of its old crops. The reason
for this seems to be that the constituents of which
that crop is composed are withdrawn to such an
extent that there is not enough left to support new
plants ; not, enough, I mean, in a form adapted to
the plants."

Now, if manures be absolutely necessary, what

are they, and which is the best ? There are many.
First and foremost, the animal manures, fish,
bones of animals, lime, gypsum, wood ashes,
common salt, soot, peat earth, sea weeds, malt
dust, rape cake and linseed cake, green suc-
culent plants, and commercial fertilizers. I would
call special attention to bran as a fertilizer. It is
of great value. I would urge tillers of the soil to
experiment with it on a small scale at first, to test
the matter for themselves. The results will con-
vince them. I have said that constant cropping
without ever fertilizing, will ultimately render it
worthless. Copeland states, "Take the best soil
and cultivate it without manure. For many years
the crops will be undiminished, but will ultimately
decrease. The land is at first in what is called
good heart ; the balance is large and crops can
draw on it to any extent without danger of check ;
but to ensure a continuance of this fertility, and to
exactly carry out nature's laws, we must return to
the soil as much of the constituents of the crops as
they remove. Unless we restore the elements we
take from the soil in crops, we shall ultimately
impoverish it."

Which is the best manure ? Sheep dung.
In a fresh state it consists of water, 68. 7 1 ;
arotized matter, 23.16; saline matter, 8.13, in 100
parts. The 8.13 parts of saline matter is composed
of phosphate of lime, magnesia, silicate of potash,
common salt and silex. Says Copeland, "So pow-
erful is this manure, that it is said that 1,000 sheep
folded on an acre one day, would manure it suffi-
ciently to feed 1,001 sheep, if their manure could
all be saved ; so that by this process, land which
can the first year feed only 1,000 sheep, may the
next year, by their droppings, feed 1,365. Spren-
gle allows that the manure of 1,400 sheep for one
day is equal to manuring highly one acre. In
France it is allowed that one sheep manures about
ten and a half square feet of land per night — when
folded on the land. I dwell particularly on sheep
excrement, for I am a great advocate for sheep
grazing, for various reasons, not the least, their
rich droppings. Horse manure is composed of
water, 75.31; geine, or organic matter, 20,57;
salts, 4.02, in 100 parts. The geine has carbon,
9.56; hydrogen, 1.26; oxygen, 9.31; nitrogen,
0.54. It is nearly double the geine of cow ma-
nure. Cow manure, in 100 parts— Geine, 15.45;
salts, 0.95 ; water, 83.60. Organic matter — Nitro-
gen, .505; carbon, .234; hydrogen, .824; oxygen,
4.818. 100 parts fresh cow dung afford five-
eighths pounds nearly pure ammonia, or about
two pounds two ounces carbonate of ammonia.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

r75

Experiments show that one cow prepares, daily,
85.57153. dung. "Cow dung, for several reasons-
its universality, its sameness of character, its com-
position— may be taken as the type of all ma-
nures, and all may be valued as they approach to
or depart from it. A single cow, fed on hay and
potatoes, will yield 31.025 lbs. dung. This would
have lime enough for 140 bushels of rye, and its
straw, could it all be evenly spread and readily
taken up, and also more than enough nitrogen.'"
Let me direct thought to the agricultural value of
leached ashes (wood). In 100 bushels, Troy
weight, analysis gives : Phosphoric acid, 1 1 >^ lbs.;
silex, 146 lbs.; oxide of iron, 17 lbs.; oxide of
manganese, 51 lbs. ; magnesia, no; carbonate of
lime, 3.072 lbs. ; potash combined with silica, 50
lbs. It is very desirable. Apply manure to sur-
face, and also plow in deep. You thus meet all
requirements.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Degeneracy in Strawberries. — In our coun-
try it is pretty clear varieties of strawberries do not
last long. We have to continually replace old
with new varieties. We have contended that there
is no reason in nature why a variety should not
endure for an indefinite period. No degeneracy is
due to unfavorable conditions which induces a
relaxation of vigor, and the degeneracy is propa-
gated with the variety. In England, where the
climate is peculiarly favorable to the health of the
strawberry plant, old varieties continue in popu-
larity. Keen's seedling and others, near a half
century old, are still the popular favorites to-day.

Soil and Quality in Strawberries.— Re-
ferring to this important consideration, in an
address at New Orleans, Mr. McKay observed
that while it is true that berries grown on a sandy
loam are often as large and apparently as firm and
well colored as on a clay loam, it is equally true
that they are deficient in that solidity, strength of
color and general make up that the same varieties
possess grown on the clay loam. All the facts, so
far as we have been able to gather them, point to
the general conclusion that, all other things being
equal, the strength, beauty and perfection of the
berry is diminished in proportion as free sand ex-
ists in the soil ; not that any of our good land is
without sand, but we use the term free sand where
it readily separates and can be seen in the branches
and little gullies.

Deterioration of the Wilson Straw-
berry.— At the meeting of the Mississippi Valley
Horticultural Association, Mr. Galusha stated that
the Wilson plant was not so robust as many other
varieties of the strawberry, such as the Crescent,
Piper, Cumberland Triumph, Kentucky, and
many others of like constitutional vigor. The
Wilson, and some other varieties of strawberries,
upon the same, or adjoining and similar soil, where
fifteen years since vines of Wilson were healthy
and productive, are now feeble, make but few
plants, and give but one-fourth, at most, the fruit
they formerly gave, and this, too, where the best
plants are used in planting, the ground enriched
with manure, and good care given in the cultiva-
tion. Mr. Galusha then cited several instances
where large raisers of the Wilson had abandoned
that strawberry on account of its great deteriora-
tion by time. There were exceptions to this rule,
however; the Wilson in some localities in Wiscon-
sin, \/estern Michigan and Southern Illinois, the
plants there being vigorous and healthy. The
Wilson strawberry, when allowed to ripen upon
the vine became a rich fruit ; but the Bidwell,
Capt. Jack, the Sucker State and the Piper, when
shipped to large distances, arrived in about as
good order, and were much superior in taste.

Stewed Raspberries. — A correspondent writes
that there is a wonderful difference in the value of
raspberries for stewing, and that those who have
never tasted stewed raspberries have missed one
of the richest epicurean treats that this world
affords,

Russian Currants. — Writing from Russia to
the Iowa Homestead, Prof. Budd says : " Of cur-
rants we find here a new race, with black and red
fruit, decidedly sweet. It is labelled in the botan-
ical garden, Ribes alpina. The fruit of one variety
seen here is as large as the cherry currant. It is
not prized, as the currant is mainly used for sauce
and jelly, for which the common form is preferred.
Many Americans like sweet fruits, and would
think this new race valuable."

The Cherry and La Versaillaise Cur-
rants.— We have always contended that those
who have asserted the identity of these two
are in error. They are readily distinguished when
the true kinds are together. It seems some in
the old world have also confused them, but the
Revue Horticole notes that it is a great mistake to
confound the two. The fruit is much longer and
regular in the bunch than the cherry. The plant

176

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[June,

is more vigorous and more robust, as our contem-
porary well remarks.

Overbearing Pears. — The recent discussion
on the quality of the Kiefifer pear raises the ques-
tion, how many varieties of pear have been pro-
nounced worthless because they have been per-
mitted to overbear, that might have been pro-
nounced delicious if the grower had the knowledge
or disposition to thin the crop ? And again, many
of those which had stood the test of widespread
popular experiment, have gained general approval
simply because they will not attempt to do too
much. Mr. B. O. Curtis, of the Illinois Horticul-
tural Society, says that "many pear trees kill
themselves by over-production. I have a notable
example in the Beurre d'Anjou of a variety that
never overbears and never blights. It annually
produces a moderate crop, evenly distributed over
the branches, a single fruit on a spur, not in clus-
ters as it is with many other sorts. The fruit is
large, of fine appearance and scarcely surpassed
in quality."

Melons Not an Exhaustive CROP.^At a re-
cent meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society, Hon. Marshall P. Wilder said that " he
had grown melons on the same land for ten years ;
the ground has a south aspect. He prepares a
compost of manure, soil and guano, which he
spreads on the land in addition to manuring in
the hills. Surface manuring is very important, as
the plants root from every joint. He has no trouble
with insects ; he gets up in the morning before
they do. He has grown nearly all the kinds in the
catalogues. The Christiana can be grown by any
one who can grow melons at all. The White
Japan is the earliest and most delicate. The
Casaba is vigorous and reliable. The Bay View
resembles it strongly."

The Prentiss Grape. — We have from time to
time expressed the favorable impression this grape
has made on the editor, in so far as he could judge
from specimens of the fruit before him. We now
note that Vick's Magazine expresses a doubt
whether any white variety of grape will prove as
good a market variety as the Prentiss.

Thinning Fruit. — Though we have so often
reminded the pear grower that trees overburdened
with fruit give us pears almost unfit to eat, recent
discussions show the wisdom of continually re-
peating this caution. We are again reminded of
this by the statement of a correspondent of the
Country Gentleman, that "to have the best suc-

cess, most of the pears must have good cultivation
and not be allowed to overbear. The Winter Nelis,
for example, sometimes has its branches loaded
like strings of onions ; if thinned, the fruit will be
larger and keep better."

Plums in Russia. — Prof. Budd says: " No va-
rieties of the plum are grown except of an Asiatic
race, which seems perfectly hardy. The fruit is
superior to our best wild plums in solidity of flesh
but not in flavor. The normal form seems red,
but yellow and black ones are seen here on every
street in reality. I think it will prove valuable if
not destroyed by the curculio. I say this, as it
ripens very early in the season. The fruit of all
the varieties is oblong, with a deep and peculiar
structure on one side like some peaches. Some of
the choice varieties of this race ripen, it is said,
later in the season."

Peaches in Illinois. — Mr. Parker Earle says :
" In the East it is probable that the production
of peaches has kept up with the growth of mar-
kets, and possibly has got ahead, but in the
West the absolute production of peaches is
much less than half what it was a dozen
or fifteen years ago, while the markets have
at least quadrupled in capacity. It is true that
Delaware and Maryland peaches are often sent
West in large quantities, but rarely in fine condi-
tion; and they could not compete at all with
choice peaches grown here."

Improved Blackberries. — Though we have
had the luxury of blackberries for a quarter of a
century, our improved kinds seem unknown to
any extent in Europe. A correspondent of the
Garden has recently visited America, and thus
writes :

"The bramble, or, as usually called, the black-
berry. They have no wild brambles more edible
than our wild ones, and yet by selection and care-
ful culture they have brought the blackberry to be
a fruit in no way to be despised. There are a
great many varieties, and some of them have been
in cultivation for thirty or forty years, but I must
say that I think our wild bramble, which is natu-
rally a most variable plant, would by culture and
selection soon produce something as good as any
the Americans yet have. It may be noticed that
! there are some of our wild brambles much sweeter
[ than others, and some much larger than others,
j and as this seems to belong rather to individual
plants than to varieties, I think it only requires se-
lection to give a good start towards British black-
berries. These I would expect to produce good
crops that would at least pay the trouble of cul-
ture on ground that is at present worth nothing.
Bramble treatment is very similar to that of the

AND HORTICULTURIST.

177

raspberry, but being a more robust grower it is
better to be on poorer soil and to be severely 1
pruned, which keeps it from running too much to
wood. I have no doubt that if fruit of good varie-
ties of this could be produced in quantity enough !
to make it a recognized market fruit it would soon I
come to command good prices."

We have under culture in America the cut
leaved variety of the common English blackberry,
and which fruits regularly every year; but we fear
the chance of ever improving it to the standard of
the American would be small. Better at once
introduce the American varieties, unless, which
indeed may be likely, the English summer is not
warm enough to make the American species grow
well.

Barbed Wire Fences. — These are known in
England as "steel wire hedges."

Vegetable Growing in the South.— It is
said that there are upwards of 2,000 acres devoted
to vegetable culture around Mobile, and this
does not embrace any melon grounds. This space
is equal to 4,000 acres North, as two or three crops
can easily be grown on the same grounds near
Mobile within a year. They begin with cabbage,
ne.\t Irish potatoes, following with cabbage, sweet
potatoes, etc.

Such a cropping, however, would require an
enormous outlay for manure. As a general rule
the want of manure has been one o( the chief diffi-
culties in extensive vegetable gardening in this
region. Where the climate is so mild that the cat-
tle run at large all winter, manure will of necessity
be scarcer than when fed in the stable yard for
half the year.

Fruits and Vegetables at Charleston. —
Charleston has engaged profitably in truck farm-
ing, a pursuit which was virtually unknown in this
district before the war. The value of the Charles-
ton fruits and vegetables, shipped last year to
Northern markets, was over a million dollars.
Charleston, moreover, has created a vast business
in the manufacture of commercial fertilizers.

Market Gardening Near New Orleans. —
Market gardening is conducted in many parts of
the South in the same systematic and profitable
manner in which it is often conducted at the
North. Near New Orleans, Major Rountree
bought a place in 1870, at that time in bad condi-
tion, commenced operations on it the following
year, and in 1873 set out the first orange trees,
which at present are 7,200 in number, 6,000 of
•which will be in bearing this year. Besides the

ordinary varieties, he has 2,500 mandarin trees.
And yet, notwithstanding the extent of the place,
and the variety of the products, so admirably is
everything arranged and conducted that the entire
work is effectually done by a force of not more
than twenty or twenty-five colored hands.

Major Rountree generally makes 800 to 900 bar-
rels of cucumbers and 6,000 to 8,000 boxes toma-
toes annually. He will make about 170,000 heads
of cabbage this year, grown in a plot covering
forty acres. Besides these staple products, a con-
siderable portion of ground is devoted to the cul-
tivation of strawberries, cauliflowers, peaches,
grapes, etc., for family use. There is also an
apiary, with an annual production of eight to ten
barrels of honey.

Everything is conducted in the most methodical
and economical manner, and yet, withal, imbued
by the enterprising and hberal spirit of the pro-
prietor. All of the plants are brought forward
under glass, the place having nearly two acres of
hot beds. The plants are set in the open ground
as soon as the weather will permit, and in that way
these large crops are handled like clock-work, and
go forward in round lots by the car load, all under
the brand which has become a standard one in the
markets of the North and West, viz : the letter R,
surrounded by a circle. So celebrated has this
brand become that the Major's regular consignees,
in Chicago and other large markets, accept it as a
sufficient guarantee of the good quality of the
goods shipped.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Quality of the Kieffer Pear. — A corres-
pondent writes that he bought one of the Kieffer
pears offered by Mr. Satterthwaite for sale at his
stand in the Philadelphia market, paying him
twenty-five cents for the specimen. That it had a
remarkably taking appearance ; but that when he
took it home he found to his sorrow tjiat it was not
worth taking, except as medicine.

This is quite likely, and yet does not prove that
the fruit is not of superior quality when properly
grown. Mr. Satterthwaite stated before the recent
meeting of the Pennsylvania State Horticultural
Association, he had more than a hundred bushels
from trees two and three years grafted, each giving
over a bushel. If Mr. Satterthwaite had thinned
these to half a bushel, the eating qualities would
have been improved. But he grows for profit, and
has to study how to realize the most from his trees.

178

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[June,

If he had thinned half, he would have had to sell
for fifty cents each, instead of twenty-five cents, to
make the same money. It is doubtful if he could
have sold all the pears at fifty cents each, no mat-
ter how good they might have been. Mr. Satter-
thwaite took the right view, but it is folly to take
such experiments as the true test of the eating
quality of the Kieffer pear.

Early Bearing Pear Trees. — " L. J.," Cin-
cinnati, Ohio, writes : " I have a small garden
from which we sell considerable vegetables and
small fruits, and which, being left a widow with a
young family, has helped to support me pretty
well. I have no large fruit trees on the place, but
two pear trees, one of which is a Seckel, and the
other is just coming into bearing, and, I am told,
is the Tyson. They are between twelve and

fifteen years old. From what I can judge by the
little experience I have had, I think I could make
a little on some good late fall pears, and am
thinking of setting out say two dozen this fall. I
think the best will be better for me than a number
of varieties. But the two I have have been so
long coming into bearing, I thought to ask your
advice. What two kinds would you advise me to
take, that are first-rate fall pears, and not so long
before they bear?"

[Try Bartlett and Sheldon.— Ed. G. M.]

Highland Beauty Apple. — We have some
specimens before us, on the 9th of April, in good
preservation. They confirm the opinion we have
given of it heretofore — that it is a pretty looking
apple, an excellent keeper, though by no means a
first class eating variety.

Forestry.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Spare the Forests. — The Michigan Farmer
presents the following excellent bit of common
sense in regard to the common newspaper cry of,
" Spare the Forests:" "Of what use is a forest if
you do not utilize it ? It produces nothing, and
prevents anything else from being produced. Cut
it down and turn it into cash, and in its place grow
crops that will feed the people and enrich the
grower. If timber is wanted, grow it as you would
any other crop, and when it is ready to cut put it
in market with as little compunction as you would
a crop of wheat. Let us look at this question in a
practical way, and do away with such sickly senti-
mentality ?"

Floods and Forests. — The great number of
marked papers and essays sent us on forestry
shows the widespread interest in it. Before us is
a Boston paper with a two-column article, sug-
gested by the late floods in the Ohio and Missis-
sippi. It says :

"We have continuous reports from the West of
overflows and inundations, destruction of city
property and farming lands, loss of life and ruin
of the finances of many, all of which is a blight
on our prosperity. The reason why has been
sought, and the conclusions of many are that the

indiscriminate and lawless manner in which our
forests are felled from the mountains, hills and val-
leys is the true cause for these incredible flows of
water in such immense quantities and at one time.
It is argued, and it seems with reason, that a
mountain side, when wooded, prevents the sudden
melting of the snows and ice, which cause our
freshets; that the dissolution is more regular;
whereas, when exposed to the full rays of the sun
and to the rains, there can be no doubt that the
snows and ice melt with greater rapidity."

All of which is but another illustration of the
point we often make, that impractical people can
write for an hour about that which five minutes of
practical experience would dispel. Everybody
except chronic "writers on forestry" knows that
the recent floods came from very heavy and warm
rains pouring down on a deep deposit of snow, and
that a warm rain will melt snow under trees just
as rapidly as it will melt it out in the open.
The "full rays of the sun" had nothing to do with
these Western floods. But there is little chance of
the crop of such essayists melting away.

Destruction of Forests in Mississippi. —
The town of Wesson, in Mississippi, was struck by
a cyclone on the 23d of April, and the pine forests
in the vicinity utterly uprooted, as well as the
houses destroyed. Wesson is to be sympathized
with. It was one of the first places in the South

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

179

which after the war went into the development of
home industry. Here they grew their own cotton,
and manufactured it on the spot, finally producing
an article as cheaply and as good as that manu-
factured in any Northern State. A visit to these
mills, then in their infancy, some years ago, is
among the pleasant recollections in our editorial
experience.

A Great Planter of Trees. — The Duke of
Athole is one of the most extensive tree-planters in
the world. There are already vast woods and
plantations in Athole and Dunkeld, and as, cf
course, they exist for use as well as ornament,
large numbers of trees have to be planted annually
to maintain the woods. Indeed, every year the
Duke plants from 600,000 to a million trees.
During this season a plantation covering 2,000
acres has been completed. It may be remem-
bered that the Duke of Athole's plantations were
thinned of 80,000 trees by the gale which de-
stroyed the Tay Bridge. When the planter Duke
began operations on a large scale in 1774, the
Dunkeld Hills were almost bare. During his life
the Duke, who may be described as a true bene-
factor to his country, planted 27,000,000 trees, cov-
ering 15,000 acres.

Tree-planting in Kansas. — A Crawford
county correspondent of the Tribune says : " In
this neighborhood there are two plantations which
seem to prove that under intelligent management
success is reasonably certain. The plantations are
each of about five hundred acres, and are note-
worthy for many reasons. One of them is the
property of Mr. H. H. Hunniwell, a Boston capi-
talist. The trees have been planted as an invest-
ment, and although the forest cannot prove imme-
diately remunerative, it bids fair to yield enormous
profits in the future. The other enterprise is con-
ducted on the same plan by the Fort Scott and
Gulf Railroad Company, primarily to furnish ties
and timber for its own use. The millions of sleep-
ers which are needed every year by the roads
crossing the treeless area renders it absolutely ne-
cessary to make some such provision for the
future. The planting of trees on a large scale by
railroad companies, especially by roads which
have ample land grants, is so natural and proper
that operations of this sort have frequently been
undertaken. But owing to carelessness or igno-
rance in selecting the ground, or in choosing va-
rieties, or to improper methods of planting and
management, most of the earlier ventures resulted
in loss, discouragement and final abandonment.

The success of these experiments in Eastern
Kansas ought to stimulate other companies and
capitalists to new efforts, and landowners of small
means by adopting similar methods can soon
double the value of their own property, while at
the same time they can add materially to the com-
fort and prosperity of their neighbors. In both
these cases contracts were made with Robert
Douglas & Sons, of Waukegan, 111. A block of
100,000 seedlings planted in the spring of 1879 on
rich soil in the Fort Scott forest already ranges
from ten to fifteen ft. in height, while the individual
trees vary in circumference from eight to eleven
inches. The catalpas in this plantation weathered
triumphantly the parching drouth of 1 881."

RESPONSiniLITY OF RAILROAD COMP.\NIES FOR

Burning Forests. — At Philadelphia, in the
United States Circuit Court, in the case of Robert
D. Coxe and wife against the West Jersey Rail-
road Company, to recover the value of trees
burned on the lines of the road, caused by sparks
from locomotives, the jury, on April 13, rendered
a verdict for the plaintiff for $586.71.

Box Forests. — An exchange says: "The best
boxwood is brought from the shores of the Black
Sea in Turkey, inferior varieties being obtained in
Persia, in Spain and Portugal, and in the Balearic
Isles. It is said that in 181 5 box-trees to the value
of ^10,000 ($50,000) were cut down at Box Hill,
in Surrey, England ; but the tree is of so very
slow growth that it is seldom raised in that coun-
try except for ornament." This date, however,
must be an error, for the editor of the Gardeners'
Monthly, when on a long botanical tour, made
his bed of the branches and slept soundly all
night under the trees in this Box forest in 1845.
The weird appearance of this forest will ever be
remembered. The trees ranged from the thick-
ness of one's wrist to that of the leg, and were
from ten to twenty feet high. There was not a
blade of grass, but only some shade-loving orchids
to be seen, so dense was the shade. Even at mid-
day the close evergreen foliage left only twilight
beneath. The poets sometimes sing of the " deep
cathedral shade of the forest," but the bare col-
umn-like stems of these box-trees with the brown,
flowerless ground, illustrated the poet's fancy better
than we remember ever seeing anywhere since.

Pine Lands in North Carolina.— It will not
be long before it will be found profitable to plant
trees in even the old Pine Tree State. The suc-
cessful manufacture in Philadelphia of lubricating
oil from rosin, has given a new value to the Caro-

i8o

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[June,

lina pine forest. The amount of annual product
of rosin appears to be decreasing with the increased
demand for it. Already the newspapers of that
State are demanding "legislation." But at the
rate destruction is advancing it will soon pay to
plant without much encouragement from the law.

Growth of Catalpa speciosa. — Mr. Suel
Foster gives the following figures of a tree planted
by Mr. A. Bryant, at Princeton, 111., in 1840:
" Girth two feet from the ground, nine and a half
feet ; girth five feet from the ground, eight feet ;
height of tree, sixty-five feet; spread of branches,
eighteen to twenty-one feet from the trunk on all
sides." This is adding nearly half an inch of
growth a year, and is a good record.

Timber on the Prairies.— Once on a time it
was fashionable to believe that there was some-
thing in the climate or the soil of the prairies
which accounted for the absence of arborebcent
growth. No one would plant trees because every
one knew they would not grow.

The whole United States is indebted to those
early pioneers who proved the falsity of this idea.
The time will come when these men will be sought
for, that posterity may do them honor. In an ad-
dress at Montreal, Dr. Warder, referring to these
benefactors, pays a handsome compliment to Jesse
W. Fell, of Bloomington. There is a large plan-
tation of trees from which the village of Larch-
wood takes its name, planted through the efforts
of Mr. Fell, who in a letter to Dr. Warder says :
"On sixty-one quarter-sections of land we had
planted 323 acres of forest trees, that are now in
various stages of development, from those newly
planted to trees nearly forty feet high. Further,
we had planted on the survey hues, within a more
limited range, 53.68-100 miles of willow-hedging,
and one mile of Osage orange. The latter utterly
died out at the end of the second year."

Kansas Forests.— It is said by newspaper re-
ports, which, however, are not always accurate,
that over 90,000 acres of forest has been planted
in Kansas. Whether strictly correct or not, there
has been a large extent planted.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Russian Mulberry.— An Arlington, Kansas,
correspondent says: "Are you sufficiently ac-
quainted with the so-called Russian mulberry
which was introduced into the LTnited States a few

years ago by the German Russian Mennonites, to
give me its botanical name and history ? The
Mennonites of this county, who came here from
Russia, about sixty miles north of the Azof sea,
brought seeds with them and planted them in the
springs of 1876 and 1877, in this and adjoining
counties. I got some of their first seedlings and
some the next year, and now have many thou-
sands of them growing. I find marked differences
in the trees and leaves ; also in the size and color
of the fruit, some being white, some black and
some a pale red or dirty pink color. I have
thought that, perhaps the black fruited is of the
Morus nigra or Morus tartarica species, and the
white of the Morus alba. But there seems to be a
great difference between these Russian kinds and
the white and black kinds which we had in the
LInited States frpm other sources. The Russian
seems more thrifty, hardy and vigorous, and is
much more productive, so far as I have ob-
served."

[The silk worm mulberry is Morus alba. Plants
from this come with leaves, fruit, and habits vary-
ing just as anything else does. We have black-
berries with white, reddish and black fruit ; white
and yellow peaches ; white, red and black grapes ;
just as we have black, white and rosy Morus alba.
This is translated " white mulberry," and it is still
white mulberry, though it has black fruit. The
Morus nigra of Europe might be translated
" black mulberry," but the black fruited white
mulberry is another thing.

The white or silkworm mulberry has a wide
range in a wild condition, extending through Asia
and Northwest Europe. In different localities
they vary a little, but they are all of the Morus
alba or white mulberry species. There is Morus
japonica, the Japan mulberry ; Morus tartarica,
the Russian mulberry ; Morus Italica and M. mo-
rettiana, Italian mulberries ; Morus sinensis, the
Chinese mulberry, Morus Romana, the Roman
mulberry, and many others, all varying much
as one grape or one apple differs from an-
other variety of apple ; but all Morus alba, and
nothing more.

Just how far one of these varieties may be bet-
ter than others for silk worm feeding is yet an
open question. If we propagate the varieties
from seed the special variety will soon be lost, for
it is the tendency of all such things to vary. We
may decide a Baldwin apple to be a variety just
suited to our wants ; but if we raise it from seeds
it will soon be lost. How the mulberry variety
varies from seeds our correspondent's letter shows.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

The only way surely to keep these varieties is by
cuttings, grafts or layers, as we have to do with
varieties of fruits.

But here is the trouble. It is well known that if
a large propagator gets some disease among his
stock it is disseminated far and wide, till the whole
race becomes contaminated. If the plant is vitia-
ted the insects which feed on them suffer. This
was the real reason for the failure of the mulberry
experiment of some fifty years ago. Then the
kind of Morus alba used was the Multicaulis
variety. It appealed so much to the raisers of the
silk worm by its enormous leaves that there seemed
to be no question about its superiority. It was

raised from cuttings. A weakened vital power
was in this way spread. On its introduction it was
pronounced as "hardy as a rock," and it was. At
length it became, as we read in the reports of those
times, " too tender for the vicinity of Philadelphia."
But this made no difference, for the insects feeding
on diseased leaves fell sick, and with this great dis-
aster to Dr. Philip Physick's cocoonery, the "bot-
tom fell out of the multicaulis speculation," as the
old records say. With all this experience to profit
by, if we were to engage in the silk worm busi-
ness we should stick to seedlings of the pure Morus
alba, and worry very little about improved varie-
ties.—Ed. G. M.]

Natural History ant Science.

COMMUNICATIONS.

GRAFTING THE GRAPEVINE ON THE
L' EGLANTIER (DOG ROSE).

TRANSLATED FOR THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY BY
MISS S. D. M.

We read in the Journal du Loiret of Dec. 13,
1882, as follows:

" We described in our number for November
loth last, an important discovery made by Mons.
Etienne Savary, gardener at Muids, namely, that
the Dog Rose was an excellent stock for the grape-
vine, so fatally compromised by its redoubtable
enemy, the Phylloxera.

"Subsequently, Mons. Eugene Delaire, General
Secretary of the Societt^ d' horticulture d' Orleans,
addressed us a note wherein he remarked that the
same results could be obtained with the black-
berry, since this plant is, like the dog rose, of the
family of Rosacse.

"To-day the energetic practician of Muids ad-
dressed us the following interesting letter:

"MuiDS, December 11, 1882.

"Mr. Editor — I would have answered sooner
the note of the Hon. Mons. Delaire relative to the
freaks concerning the grafting of the grapevine
on the dog rose, but I wished, first of all, to ascer-
tain how many people would appreciate my dis-
covery. Many have written to me on the subject,

most of them believing my method rational, two
only doubting it, but I hope to convert them at
once. I was unaware that any one had grafted
the grapevine on the blackberry, which belongs,
like the dog rose, to the family of Rosacae, so well
observed by Mons. Delaire. I do not believe,
however, that the blackberry roots would be as
good as the dog rose for stocks, and for the follow-
ing reason :

" The pith of the blackberry, occupying about
two-thirds of the stock, will render it difficult, not-
withstanding all the precautions taken to introduce
the graft into the opening of the stock, so that the
liber would accurately adjust itself. Moreover, if
one wishes to lightly bend the head of the graft on
the axis of the stock, the liber is not likely to touch
at all, and the success of the graft will be in
danger.

"The dog rose does not offer this inconvenience ;
its pith and that of the grapevine occupy nearly
the same space. Therefore, on one hundred
grafted vines, one is certain that if the stocks are
vigorous, all will take. The first idea of grafting
the grapevine on the dog rose came to me through
the analogy of their barks. My first grafts were
not made on the dog rose, but on the " ferox " rose,
a rosebush known by the English under the name
of ' Hedge Hog' (Rosier Harrison!), introduced in
our gardens at the commencement of this cen-
tury. I grafted the grapevine on three of these at

l82

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[June,

the end of February, 1873. In July, 1875, ^V
vines were more than three meters in length. I
am unaware whether they are still in the park at
Cercay or not. Since then, I have always grafted
on the dog rose (Rosa canina), and have always
been successful. At present I possess twenty-five
plants of dog rose, grafted only six weeks ago,
with different varieties of grapevines. I force
them under frames. The rosy tint of the grape
vine leaves can already be detected pushing from
the bud.

" This is my way of proceeding : The dog rose
must be grafted on about ten centimeters below
the earth. It is sufficient if the graft has two or
three eyes. A very short graft must be chosen,
that is to say, the eyes very close to each other ;
tie the stock well with wool or cotton, and apply
the wax to it. In grafting let the ground be well
watched, because the grapevine root would give a
chance to Phylloxera. It is necessary to look
ahead with an enemy with which one must combat.

" I have been asked why, since 1873, ^ have
taken no one into the secret of this discovery. On
the contrary, I have done so, but sad to say, some
have not deigned to answer me ; others, like
Mons. Pasteur, answered that they were not qual-
ified to undertake work relating to the Phylloxera.

" Rebuffed and discouraged, I decided to do
nothing more towards propagating or diffusing
what I knew to be of so much value towards ren-
ovating our vineyards, when I received your invi-
tation to address the large circle of your estima-
ble journal.

" To resume. Can one, with the dog rose (Rosa
canina) as the stock, establish a vineyard ? I be-
lieve it. With the blackberry I have doubts,
because it would not give all the conditions of
longevity required for long cultivation.

"Virgil was assuredly a great poet, but I do not
see too much the relations existing between the
immortal author of the ' Eneid ' and the graft on
the dog rose. Let us, therefore, leave to the anti-
podes the discussion whether the grape can be
grafted on the cucumber, and employ ourselves
seriously to the common enemy, the Phylloxera.
"Respectfully, etc.,

"Etienne Savary."

Under the title of " Pretended Grafting of the
Grapevine on the Blackberry," the journal
Provence Agricole et Horticole published the fol-
lowing reflections :

" Much noise has recently been made with the
pretended grafting of the grapevine on the black-
berry, described by the Ardeche to the minister by

an inspector general of agriculture. Proceeding
to verify the fact, there was found no mystery.
The Chasselas grape graft sent out roots into the
ground like a simple cutting, but there was no
union at all with the blackberry. This specimen
has been sent to the School of Agriculture of
Montpelier, and Mons. Foex acknowledged that
the graft did not take, and that the grapevine was
absolved, living with its own roots without any
trace of aid from the blackberry root.

"The laws of grafting are, moreover, well
known. They are exact, and established through
numerous experiences, and these laws of consan-
guinity are not contradicted by any facts. They
have been largely developed, with proofs for their
support by Mons. Ch. Baltet, in his work on ' The
Art of Grafting.'

" It is readily to be seen, in the chapter on the
vine, that the Vitis, Ampelopsis, and Cissus of the
family of Ampelidccs, are the only genera which
can be united to the grapevine by grafting."

[Our American papers are noting with a good
deal of wonderment the so-called great discovery,
"by a distinguished Frenchman," of the success-
ful grafting of the grapevine on the dog rose. We
have thought it would serve a good purpose to
give our readers the fullest account we have seen
of it. It will be observed that, like the grafting of
the apple on the persimmon, which created some
attention in this country some years ago, it is a
case where the " distinguished Frenchman " has
deceived himself. — Ed. G. M.]

HYBRIDIZING ARACEOUS PLANTS.

BY CHARLES CRUCKNELL, ST. LOUIS, MO.

In the article published in the December num-
ber, allusion was made incidentally to the facility
with which Caladiums can be successfully crossed.
I now present some additional facts on the subject
in connection with a class of plants known to gar-
deners by the generic name of Diffenbachia, but
which are also classed by some botanists as a spe-
cies of Caladium.

I was fortunate in bringing these two classes of
plants into bloom at the same time ; therefore you
will see there was every reason for believing the
result would terminate successfully. I used pol-
len of Caladiums bicolor, poecile, HouUetii, Neu-
manii and six other kinds, on flowers of Dieffen-
bachias, picta, Bauseia and Baraquiniana.

One would naturally suppose that if these plants
are closely allied species of the same genus, the
fact of hybridizing them would be a simple matter.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

183

coincident with the skill of the operator and the
means of performance. But I find that Caladium
pollen has not the least effect on the flowers of
Dieffenbachia ; that, after having experimented
for two seasons on at least two dozen flowers, I
could not detect the faintest trace of fertility.

The experiment is another of the series men-
tioned above. It extended over the same period
oftime, was carried on simultaneously, and under
the sam^ conditions. With the same pollen I suc-
cessfully crossed, reciprocally, the Caladiums
without a single failure ; but in attempting to cross
the Dieffenbachias with Caladium pollen the re-
sult has ended in total failure. On the same plants
where this failure occurred I successfully crossed,
reciprocally, the Dieffenbachias. But to this sub-
ject I shall return in a future number, as I have
collected a mass of facts which I cannot utilize at
present.

One puzzling incident in connection with this
matter I may mention here, as affording a strong
contrast to the effect, or rather the non-effect, of
the Caladium pollen. I dusted one of the flowers
of Dieffenbachia picta with pollen taken from
Anthurium crystallinum, which happened to
come in bloom at the time. The effect of this was
curious ; in less than three hours the parts of the
flower so dusted turned black, and in the course
of three or four days shrivelled and dried up. Was
this a sign of incipient fertilization ? The flowers
of Dieffenbachia usually remain fresh and plump
for two or three weeks after being prepared for
hybridizing.

THE MOTION OF ROOTS.

BY PROF. W. J. BEAL.

It has long been known that many parts of
plants possessed the power of spontaneous motion
to a greater or less extent. The late Charles Dar-
win made some very interesting experiments on
this subject. During the past two years I have also
made a great many experiments on this subject.

Roots, stems, and leaves bend to all points o<
the compass successively with a sort of rolling
motion, which Darwin calls circumnutation — a
bowing around. Roots grown in damp air in the
dark will often make a complete coil, and some-
times two or three of them. If a piece of gummed
paper be placed on one side of the root tip it be-
comes unusually excited and begins to coil away
from the paper, sometimes tying itself into a knot,
and often succeeds in rubbing off the paper.

The root generally turns downwards, no matter
in what direction it first protrudes from the seed.

This is not always true, however, in all of the de-
tails. In sprouting 400 or more kernels of Indian
corn in damp air, I found the direction taken by
the root to vary.

During the past summer I tested some 700 ker-
nels of Indian corn in loose soil ; some in the cel-
lar, some in the garden. In damp air roots fre-
quently came to the surface of the soil, where they
apparently grew just as well as they grew below
the surface. In the garden, exposed to the sun, it
is not unusual for roots of corn and beans to come
to the surface and perish.

I planted some Lima beans with the eye edge up-
permost. Many of them came up after a fashion,
but they were a good deal confused. They bent
around in various directions, and were very inter-
esting to study.

In the garden nine out of twenty-five, over one-
third, of the Lima beans planted with the eye up-
permost, sent the radical with all the roots out of
the ground, when the whole bean perished.

Darwin made a large number of experiments on
a great variety of seedling plants, including some
trees, and all, without exception, showed motion
of the roots, stems and leaves. He placed a young
root under a compound microscope, where he
could see it move. He sprouted some beans and
placed the tips of the roots against a smoked
glass to see what kind of tracks they would make.
The tips, in their downward course, had alternately
pressed with greater or less force on the plates,
and had sometimes nearly left them.

As soon as the tip of the radicle protrudes from
the seed-coats, it begins to circumnutate, and the
whole growing part continues to do so, probably
as long as growth continues. When the earth
closely surrounds the roots they may, perhaps, be
quite prevented from circumnutating. The ten-
dency to circumnutate must aid in finding the
places of least resistance in the soil. Geotropism
does not give a root force sufficient to penetrate
the ground, but merely tells it which course to
pursue. The strength of the radicle of a bean is
not enough to indentate the thinnest tin foil when
placed horizontally with the radicle thrust perpen-
dicularly downwards. The radicle in such cases
turns to one side and glides over the tin-foil with-
out makmg any impression. The growing part
does not act like a nail driven into a board, but
more like a wedge of wood driven slowly into a
crevice.

[This is part of an address before the Michigan
State Horticultural Society in December last.^
Ed. G. M.]

1 84

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[June,

EDITORIAL NOTES. i another's satisfaction. Neither genus nor species

seem to have any place in nature. There seems

Hybrids.— Just what is a species no one can ' to have been a provision for continual variation,

Cypripedium albo-purpureum.

answer. Botanists have some idea what they , and for continual destruction. New forms are
mean 'by the term, but no one can define it to born, old forms decay. When the older forms

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST,

185

die, there is a gap in the progeny, and the extremes
seem unlike each other. The measure of this
unlikeness gives us the idea of the genus or species.
The greatest measure of unUkeness forms the
genus, the less the species ; still less, the variety
or race, and the lowest measure of difference dis-

sion, since these lobes are ivory-white. The sepals
have a slight purplish (pinkish) tinge on their bor-
ders. The petals are totally purphsh (pinkish), and
twisted, hanging down and exceeding much the
length of the lip. The staminode is light pur-
plish (pinkish), and adorned on each side with

tinguishes the individual. This is about all there many bristles."

is in it. There is no exact line between either, still Glucose. The immense use of corn in glucose

the degrees exist. There are genera, species and manufacture is exciting some interest in the corn
varieties, though people may not agree as to where I markets of Europe. A London daily paper says:
any one begins or ends. "The exportation of maize from the United States

In former times tests were applied to define the ; ^m veceive a severe check now that a commence-
differences. Thus, it was assumed that no " dis- j ment has been made with the manufacture of glu-
tinct " genera or species could hybridize. Although : ^-^gg sugar ; for, unless many more acres of Indian
it was found some could, it was then assumed 1 ^om are cultivated, there will be little maize to
they would be "mules," or unproductive. But ! gpj^j-g A factory is nearly completed in Chicago
now this position has to be abandoned ; for though ' which will consume about twelve thousand bushels
it is still true that many closely allied genera or ^f maize daily, and produce about 30,000 tons of
species will not cross, others, even more distantly j sugar yearly. Maple sugar and sorghum are un-
related, will, and not only this, but the progeny are \ equal to the demand, but besides mere sugar there
often more fertile than the original parents. Tests jg jj^g manufacture of alcohol, a liquid which enters
of species, like tests for witchcraft, are of no value ' jj-^j-q gQ i-i^anv of the arts of the present day, and

now. The beautiful lady's slipper here illustrated
is a good illustration of fertility in a hybrid. Some
years ago the foreman of Messrs. Vtitch raised a
hybrid between two distinct species, which was

named Cypripedium Dominii. Pollen was taken

from this hybrid and used on another species, C.

Schlimii, and this is the product. It is a hybrid in

the second generation, and still productive. It

has departed so widely from the original parent

that, if found in nature, no botanist would hesi-
tate to regard it as a good species.

And there is no reason why they should not

occur in nature. These plants are often unable to

use their own pollen. Generally it has to be

brought from other flowers. Sometimes it may be

brought from a distinct form or species ; and if the

seeds following such pollinization get a chance to

grow, and the plants again to make seed and

spread, just such a new " species " must come as

would be by such an operation as here noted by

Veitch.

Aside from this bit of illustrative natural history,

the plant has charms for flower lovers. We can-
not do better under this head than^quote what the

introducers tell us about it :

"The flower is even a good deal larger than

that of the lovely C. Sedeni. It is whitish with

purplish (according to English ideas^^of color,

pinkish) on the borders of theTip with many spots

of the same color under it. The spots on the in-
flexed lateral lobes which nearly cover the mouth

of the sack, are darker and make a nice impres-

which in the United States can be produced as
cheaply from maize as from any other starch-con-
taining substance. In the far West maize has
been a ' drug ' for years, so much so that it was
actually cheaper to burn it for fuel than to buy
wood or coal ; but as the Chicago factory is only
the forerunner of others, there is smaller chance of
cheap maize coming to this country."

A New Fungus on the Pea.— In a recent ad-
dress Mr. Wm. Saunders, of London, Ontario,
says: "Examples of what appears to be a new
disease on the pea have lately been brought to my
notice from several localities, under the impression
that it was caused by an insect. The disease
manifests itself in a series of white fleshy swellings
at short intervals along the fibrous roots, varying
in size from one-sixteenth of an inch to one-eighth of
an inch or more in diameter, irregular in form, and
of a solid fleshy structure. Microscopical exami-
nation has convinced me that it is a fungus growth
in the production of which insects play no part.
It appears to have the eft'ect of stunting the growth
of the plants and lessening the crop.

A Moving Mountain.— The Government engi-
neers engaged upon the ship-canal around the
rapids where the Columbia river cuts through the
Cascade Mountains, and the engineers of the Ore-
gon Railway and Navigation Company, whose
railroad runs beside the Government Canal, have
discovered that a point of the mountains, of tre-
mendous height and three miles in extent, is mov-

i86

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[June,

ing down an incline into the river. The fact of a
moving mountain is strange, but not incomprehen-
sible. It seems, says an intelligent correspondent
of the New York Times, that the great river and
the ravines that point to it have cut their way
down through a superincumbent mass of basalt
into a substratum of sandstone. This sandstone,
we will suppose, presents a smooth surface, with an
incline towards the river ; the river cuts under the
basalt into the sandstone, and the natural effect is
for the superincumbent basalt, acting like a simi-
lar formation of ice in a glacier, to slide down hill.
It furnishes an illustration of the manner in which
some of the more remarkable changes in the
earth's surface have been produced, and will
doubtless lead to further scientific investigation.

Poisoned by Lima Bean Roots. — The family
of F. L. Kellogg, at Goleta, Santa Clara county,
were dangerously poisoned a short tinie since by
eating the roots of Lima beans, which they happened
to discover were very palatable. — Pacific Rural
Press.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Hardiness of Evergreens.— Mr. Charles E.
Parnell, of Queen's, Long Island, says :

" In this vicinity March proved very severe on
the more tender evergreens. Euonymus japoni-
cus and all its varieties are killed to the ground,
and so are all hemlock spruce that were removed

or transplanted last season. Irish yews, juniper,
American and Siberian arborvitaes are severely in-
jured, and many are dead."

The question of what influences the hardiness
of plants becomes more intricate every year. It
has become settled that it is not frost merely, but
something else in conjunction therewith. Here in
Germantown some hemlocks have badly suffered,
and so has box edgings, small arborvitaes and
some other things which usually stand a very low
temperature, and yet at no time was the thermom-
eter at zero. On the other hand, plants like the
Euonymus japonicas and Mahonia aquifolia,
which commonly suffer severely, have not lost a
leaf, and are greener and fresher than we have
ever known them. Libocedrus decurrens, which
we have seen killed when growing near Thuja
gigantea, and totally destroyed, while the latter
has been unhurt, has the case reversed this season.
The Libocedrus remains as green as grass, while
it is the Thuja which is browned. It is frost with
wind, frost with sun, frost with drying atmos-
phere, or frost on weak or frost on strong plants —
or some other combination suiting some plants,
which succeed, or not suiting some, which suc-
cumb ; but just what, in each case, it seems very
difficult to say. The only general result which is
clear is, that no result as to what or what is not
hardy can be given as a rule. Because a plant
once dies is no reason why we should not attempt
it again.

Literature , Travels and Personal Notes.

COMMUNICATIONS.

IN MEMORIAM.

BY PATRICK BARRY.

Henry E. Hooker, of Rochester, N. Y., died
on the 1 2th of April last, at the age of fifty-eight
years. His health had been failing for more than
a year past, but hopes of his recovery were enter-
tained until a short time before his death. He was
born in Rochester, and lived there all his life. His
father, the late Horace Hooker, was one of the
pioneers of this section, and was one of the lead-

ing business men of his day. He was among the
first to plant a good collection of fruits, and his
sons grew up with a taste for fruit culture which
gradually attracted them to the nursery business.

Of Henry's two surviving brothers, one, Horace
B. Hooker, is engaged in the nursery business,
and the other, Charles M. Hooker, has one of
the finest fruit farms in Western New York,
almost within the limits of the city of Rochester.

Henry E. Hooker has been known as one of
the leading nurserymen of the United States for
more than thirty years, and no man in the trade
enjoyed in a higher degree the confidence and

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

187

respect of all who had deahngs with him, or who
were in any way brought into his presence. He
was a skillful and careful cultivator ; whatever he
did was well done. Of late years he made a sort
of specialty of the Brighton grape, which he intro-
duced, and of roses, and I have often had occa-
sion to admire his remarkably skillful and success-
ful management of these. He was also a man of
excellent taste, of which his home and grounds
gave ample evidence.

An avenue running through his grounds, planted
with Chinese magnolias and Cembran pine, placed
alternately, is among the finest objects of the kind
I know of. Another, planted with weeping birch,
is also very fine, and both are original and unique.
Mr. Hooker was not a routine man, but a thinker.
His death is justly regarded as a great loss to the
nursery trade and to the community at large. He
was in the prime of life and in a position to make
his usefulness more widely felt than ever. He was
one of the founders of the Western New York
Horticultural Society, for some time its President,
and always one of its most intelligent and staunch-
est supporters. That excellent society owes much
to Henry E. Hooker, and his death will be
sincerely mourned by all its members.

In his social and domestic life Mr. Hooker
was one of the best of men. He leaves a wife and
four daughters, who have in their bereavement, in
an especial manner, the sincere sympathy of the
nurserymen and horticulturists, not only of this
country but of Europe.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

To Intelligent Correspondents. — All (om-
munications relating to advertisements, subscrip-
tions, or other business, tnust be addressed to the
publisher, 814 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

All referring to the reading matter of the maga-
zine must be mailed to the editor, Germantown, Pa.

No express packages for the editor received un-
less prepaid ; and marked "Paid through to Ger-
mantown, Pa."

The Force of Habit. — Scientific men tell us
that in nature results continue long after the causes
which brought them about cease to exist. Ed-
ward Munger, in speaking of the time when he
was a boy, says it was the custom of school
children as you pass a school-house to make a
bow, but in these latter days, as you pass a school-
house, you must keep your eye peeled, or you will

get a brickbat at the side of your head. He still
bows his head, but the devotional feeling is wholly
replaced by others as wide as the poles asunder.

The Tallest Nurseryman in the United
States is said to be Daniel Conger, of Walcott,
N. Y., who stands 6 feet 6 inches. We remember
that when, in a critical moment during the civil
war, he was asked as an influential public speaker
and a leading public man in his community, o go
and make a speech to favor enlistments ; he went,
and from the platform simply said, " I am going to
enlist as a private soldier ; who will go with me?"
No wonder the company was immediately filled,
when they had such a bulwark as this to shelter
them, and still less wonder when, during the war,
he hobbled into our office, from a neighboring
hospital, with a bullet through him. Men of this
size should have two pensions, as surely their
chances of being struck were doubled.

Origin of the Purple Birch. — The Journal
of Horticulture s?Ly?,i\\\s pretty plant was raised in
America. This we take to be a slip of the pen for
" France." The plants in America originally came
from France, and, indeed, the fournal says in the
same paragraph : " It was obtained by chance by
an old hand of the firm of Transon Brothers,
named Dubois, from a sowing of the ordinary birch.
He very soon observed the unaccustomed ap-
pearance of the plant, and after having raised it he
took grafts therefrom, and placed them on young
stocks of the common variety, and afterwards
established them in pots.

Origin of the Manetti Rose. — The origin of
this famous rose is obscure. In a letter to the
Revue Horticole M. Bertin, Sr., says he sowed
some seeds of unknown Bourbon roses in 1832.
Among plants from these he found one very vigor-
ous one. He gave plants to many leading horti-
culturists, such as Servi, and Bertin, the latter of
whom called it Manetti.

To us this does not seem quite clear, for there is
nothing whatever of the Bourbon family of roses in
the Manetti. It is so near in all its characters to
the American Rosa lucida, in all except its ex-
tremely strong growth, that one may suspect more
relationship to it than to the Bourbon race. No
explanation is given of the name, which appears
to be Italian. M. Carriere regards it as of Italian
origin, and proposes to rank it as a species. He
calls it Rosa Bertini.

Cats in a Bombarded City. — A correspondent
of the Salt Lake Contributor thus describes the

1 88

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[June,

suffering of the cats in the bombardment of Alex-
andria:

" But one feature of the scene (so it seemed to
me) that ought to have struck every man in de-
scribing the bombarded city of Alexandria, was
the immense number of bombarded and starving
cats. I had read description after description of
the ruined city, but none of them ever said a word
about the cats. The writers told me how shells
had blown houses to pieces, described all kinds of
horrors, and satiated me with catastrophe and
skeletons, but no one said a word about cats. Now,
it was perfectly impossible to go into Alexandria
after the bombardment and then to sit down and
write about it, or stand up and talk about it, and
not mention the cats. In fact, the whole place was
cats! I never saw such ' lelisity ' in my life. If
you turned the corner you would find a hundred
— I am talking liberally, of course — one hundred
cats sitting on the ruins of a single house. Go a
little farther and you would see two hundred. On
the remains of what had been the bank of Lon-
don, it was stated in a telegram that the writer
counted three hundred and seventeen cats ! New
arrivals were moved with pity for the poor ani-
mals, but the result of sympathy was always disas-
trous. Your pity was ruined and destroyed by
the immediate rush of paupers. If you produced
a mutton chop for one cat, there were three hun-
dred cats waiting next time for three hundred mut-
ton chops. That made charity look rather a
serious matter. After the second day the people,
instead ol taking mutton chops to the cats, would
take revolvers and shoot them."

The Origin of Cultivated Plants. — A work
on this subject from the pen of M. de Candolle has
recently appeared. It treats of 247 species. The
author has utilized evidence from Swiss lake dwell-
ings, from ancient Egyptian monuments, and from
Chinese works, — better interpreted by Dr. Bret-
schneider than by his predecessors. He has ex-
amined many herbaria, consulted travelers, &c.
Of. all the 247 species, except three, he has been
able to say whether they come from the old or the
new world, and to specify with certainty of high
probability the country of their origin. The ex-
ceptions are two species of the genus Cucurbita
and the ordinary kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris).
There are many species, however, that have not
yet been certainly found in a wild state. Where
the country of origin has been little visited by
botanists this is not surprising; but the case is
sometimes otherwise. Certain species very long
cultivated seem to be in course of extinction or
extinct ; they have not been found wild or have
been met with only once, perhaps, in a single
locality in their native region, though the latter has
been well explored. Probably, too, their ancient
home has been more or less of wide extent, con-

sidering the extension of their cultivation among
people that had little connection with each other.
M. de Candolle counts 44 species of the old world
which appear to have been cultivated more than
4,000 years, and 5 of the new, probably culti-
vated as long. Of these 49, six or seven seem to
be extinct or in course of extinction. Maize has
never been found in the wild state. The bean and
tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) have been found only
once; the chick pea, the lentil (Ervum lens and
Ervum ervillia), and wheat have only been found
very rarely and under conditions doubtful as to
the spontaneous quality. Most of these species
present the character of seeds filled with starch,
without any protection against rodents and insects,
who seek them eagerly ; and it is not wonderful
that they should perish in the struggle for exist-
ence. With tobacco (which has been found with
certainty in the wild state only at one point of the
Republic of Ecuador by M. Andre) the case is
different. Since the natives smoked or che^yed
tobacco from Peru to the United States, it is prob-
able that the habitat of the plant was once much
wider. — Gardeners' Magazine.

Annual Report of the N.J. State Geologist,
1882. — From Prof. Cook, State Geologist, New
Brunswick, N. J. This volume is profusely illus-
trated by sketches of some of the most striking
features in the geology of New Jersey — chiefly in
connection with the sandstone formations.

Worcester County (Mass.) Horticultural
Society — Transactions for i883.^From Ed.
W, Lincoln, Secretary. It is always a pleasure to
receive this annual volume. Like that of the Mas-
sachusetts Horticultural Society, it represents the
doings of a class of intelligent horticulturists, who
do much to maintain the dignity of gardening irk
our country.

The Scientific Angler. — By the late David
Foster. Edited by W. C. Harris. New York:-
Orange Judd Company, 1883.

Foster was the most celebrated of English
fishers, and this work was originally the compila-
tion of his sons. Mr. Harris has added copious
notes for American readers, thus giving this excel-
lent work a new value in this country.

Bacteria.— By T. J. Burrill, Ph. D., Springfield,
Illinois, 1882. This is a monograph reprinted from
the report of the Illinois Industrial University, and
to those who have compound microscopes will be
found especially interesting. The class of organ-
isms to which it relates have become famous since

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

naturalists have ventured to grapple w^lth the to Northern markets is enormous, and it repre-
great problem of the origin of life. Prof. Burrill sents a business which will continue to grow and
says that mankind could not continue to exist ; ' be profitable. The publishers of a guide to this
could never have existed, but for these minute business have struck the tide just in time. The
creatures, and on the other hand many of our dis- book will no doubt have the large sale its merits
eases would not be but for them. deserve.

Reports on Experiments, Chiefly with
Kerosene, on the Orange and Cotton Plant
Insects. — By C. V. Riley. Published by the De-
partment of Agriculture.

Kerosene, or coal oil, swims on the top of water,
and hence cannot be well used with a syringe as
an insecticide, unless the operator is skilled in
drawing the water and oil in together while using
it, as some few can. Some years ago we noted
that by using chalk or other substances there
would be sufficient mixing to form a satisfactory
emulsion which could be used to better advan-
tage ; but on the well-known slowness of any good
idea to make way, little use seems to have been i
made of this hint. This work of Prof. Riley is j
founded on the same idea. Many different meth- '
ods of preparing kerosene are given here. One, I
for instance, describes six pounds of the " coontie," i
or Zamia root, washed, grated, and boiled for an i
hour in three gallons of water, strained, and while
hot mixed with four ounces of sal-soda. This
emulsifies one gallon of kerosene. This solution
is added to twenty-four gallons of water. Milk
and other things are used for making an emulsion.

Though evidently very successful as applied to
the insects specified, it must be borne in mind that
it is not a universal panacea. The writer has
seen some applied to the black aphis on cherry
trees, without any beneficial results.

Truck Farming in the South. — By Dr. A.
Ormler. New York: Orange Judd Company. 1883.

"Truck-farming" is a word not found in Wor-
cester or Webster, nor in any authorized version.
We had supposed it was a slang term, confined to
Philadelphia ; and are rather sorry to find it has
spread so far as to get to be the title of an excel-
lent book. We are sorry, because it is mean-
ingless— at least just why a vegetable should be
" truck," we have never been able to find out. It
seems to us that "market gardening" is quite
good enough to use a while longer yet. Even our
author feels that something more than the slangy
name is desirable, for he proceeds to explain that
by the title he means " a guide to the raising of
vegetables for (Northern) markets."

Aside from this objection, the work is a very
valuable one. The quantity of vegetables shipped

Some Microscopic Distinctions Between
Good and Bad Timber of the Same Species. —
By Dr. J. T. Rothrock, of the University of Penn-
sylvania.

This paper has been issued from the regular
proceedings of the American Philosophical So-
ciety. One of the most important facts here de-
duced is that the more rapid the growth the better
the timber in the same species. We have presented
this point several times as regards fast growing
species. The facts show that the old belief, that
slow growing trees made better timber than fast
growing trees, was not the rule. It is, in fact,
chiefly from a consideration of willows and poplars
alone that the belief originated. Now Dr. Roth-
rock shows that it is not even true in the same
species. He first explains why timber is good or
bad. "The difference in the quality of the wood
is obviously in the relative predominance of solid
woody fibre in the good as compared with ducts
in the bad." And he then contends : " For white
oak we may contend, other things being equal, the
specimen of oak timber with the larger year's
growth is the better."

Practical Hints on Rifle Practice with •
Military Arms.— New York : Orange Judd
Company. This is a small treatise of thirty-six
pages, in cloth cover. Useful to those who desire
to excel in the use of firearms.

Geo. Peters, of Troy, Ohio. — We have to re-
cord the death of George Peters, the senior mem-
ber of the firm of George Peters & Sons, Troy,
Ohio, which occurred on the 14th April last. Mr.
Peters was a Pennsylvanian, going to Ohio many
years ago, and founding a nursery there. He was
a prominent member of the Nurserymen's Associa-
tion, and will be missed by the members thereof.
He was known as a very honorable man, fair and
just in all his deahngs. The business will be con-
tinued by his sons.

John Sherwood. — Mr. Sherwood was one of
the grand race of gardeners of the generation now
passing away, whose thorough love of their pro-
fession, and the intelligence they brought to bear
on it made Philadelphia famous in horticulture
over the whole countv. He was one of the earliest

I go

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[June,

supporters of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Soci-
ety, and one of its ablest managers to the last. He
paid great attention to the introduction of new
plants and the improvement of the old races. In
camellias and roses he was particularly successful
in raising new varieties. Of these Rose Sher-
wood's Musk Cluster is still a very popular Noi-
sette rose, and Camellia Sherwoodii and Mrs. Cope
are yet among the most appreciated of these beau-
tiful flowers.

Mr. Sherwood was a native of Scotland, and
was in his seventy-seventh year s^'hen he died, on
the 3d of May. He was particularly welcome
everywhere, by his never-dying good nature. To
have an hour with Sherwood, was always regarded
as better than medicine, and possibly few have
ever passed from gardening circles in Philadelphia
more sincerely esteemed.

Adolph Strauch. — Probably not since the
death of A. J. Downing has landscape gardening
in America met with a greater loss than by the
death of Mr. Adolph Strauch. He was a native
of Prussia, born in 1822, 30th of August, and died
in his sixty-first year. But he was hale and hearty
when the editor saw him last year, and with the
promise of many years of usefulness. He came to
America when comparatively young, and was on his
way from New Orleans when the late R. B. Bowler,
of Cincinnati, a first-class judge of a good gardener,
met and engaged him. Cincinnati has been made
beautiful, chiefly by his teachings, and Dayton,
Nashville and other places have all profited by his
genius. He was remarkable for a disinterested
love of his profession. When the writer of this last
met him, he was shown by Mr. S. a very hand-
some gold watch and chain, presented to him by
some public body he had served without charge,
and which, as he expressed it, he valued more than
he would 1 1, 000.

The estimation in which he was held by the Di-
rectors of the Spring Grove Cemetery, which he
did so much to make famous, is evidenced by the
following, which we are glad to print in full :

"At a special meeting of the Board of Directors
of the Cemetery of Spring Grove, held Thursday,
April 26, 1883, the following memorial was ordered
to be entered on the minutes:

"The Board have received the sad news of the
death of their late Superintendent, Mr. Adolph
Strauch, with a profound sense of the great loss
they have sustained, in common with the lot-own-
ers and the community at large.

" Elected Superintendent in 1854, in his thirty-
second year, he would have reached his sixty-
first birthday on the 30th of August next. At the

meetings of the Board he was always present to
hear, answer, and advise upon whatever concerned
the interests of the Association. His opinions were
valued because, his entire time being spent in the
grounds, nothing, however apparently unimpor-
tant, escaped his vigilant observation.

" Mr. Strauch originated the landscape lawn
system for cemeteries ; gradually developed its
important details, and demonstrated its superiority
so clearly that it has been generally adopted, and
become the type of many others which have been
established within the last ten years. It was clearly
the creation of genius, but an eminently practical
one, made successful by his great industry, tact
and personal popularity. It was not the work of
a few years to overcome natural prejudices or the
customs of a lifetime, or to surmount obstacles
placed in his way by the lot-owners of earlier
years, all of whom some years later became zeal-
ous for the new system, as well as his strongest
friends. The execution of his plans required not
alone years of patient labor, which would have
discouraged ordinary men, but it became neces-
sary to obtain the means by the sale of large indi-
vidual lots to make the system successful, and he
lived to see it accomplished and spoken of with
pride as the sylvan park of the living as well as
the dead, now perhaps the most important posses-
sion of the people of Cincinnati. Years ago he
had filled the measure of his ambition by the con-
sent of his profession, which ranked him as the
equal of Repton and Puckler-Muskau as a master
of art in landscape creation, which had been
finally proved by him to be possible to be success-
fully applied in adorning and making attractive
the last resting places of humanity.

" It is a privilege to say of him, personally, that
he was a favorite amongst all classes. A singular
modesty, combined with a natural, warm-hearted
manner, made friends for him everywhere, who
gave him their confidence and respect. Ever
ready, particularly in times of bereavement, seldom
has any man's advice been sought more confid-
ingly, and rarely has needed counsel been given
more disinterestedly.

"Throughout this long period of service, in a
position of great responsibility, exposed to its inci-
dental temptations, his honesty was never ques-
tioned. He was a man of strict integrity. His
fidelity to every interest of this cemetery is univer-
sally known, as well as the exact truth, that at all
seasons, by night and day, his whole strength,
combined with a rare intelligence, was spent in its
service and for its advancement. Such devotion
is rare. It is simple justice to his memory that we
should bear witness to it.

"The more private relations which he occupied
to the employees of the Association were a sure
test of the man's character. They were honora-
ble, friendly, durable, loving even in special in-
stances ; but by none will he be more sincerely
mourned than by the humble laboring men and
women with whom he was on terms of affec-
tionate sympathy. As the husband and father of
an interesting family, he was truly beloved and
singularly happy. To his children he leaves the

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

igr

heritage of genius, the legacy of a good name, to
be honored at home and abroad, wherever it shall
be spoken.

"On motion, it was resolved that the Directors
will attend his funeral as a body, and that a copy
from the minutes, signed by them and the Secre-
tary, be sent to his family.

"Henrv Probasco, President."

Charles Arnold. ^This famous horticulturist
died at Paris, Ontario, on the 15th of April, in the
sixty-fifth year of his age. He was an untiring
experimenter in the improvement of fruits and his
hybrid grapes, raspberries and grains were excel-
lent acquisitions. He was a native of England,
but had been most of his life in Canada.

Horticultural Societies.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

American Pomological Society — Nine-
teenth Session. — The Pennsylvania Horticultu-
ral Society having invited the American Pomolog-
ical Society to hold its next meeting at Philadel-
phia, the undersigned give notice that the nine-
teenth session of this National Association will be
held in that city, commencing Wednesday, Sep-
tember 12, 1883, at 10 o'clock A. M., and contin-
uing for three days.

This session -^lU take place at the time of the
fifty-fourth annual exhibition of the Pennsylvania
Horticultural Society, at Horticultural Hall, Broad
near Locust street.

All horticultural, pomological, agricultural, and
other kindred, associations in the United States
and British Provinces are invited to send delega-
tions as large as they may deem expedient, and all
persons interested in the cultivation of fruits are
invited to be present and take seats in the Con-
vention. It is expected that there will be a full
attendance of delegates from all quarters of our
country, and that this will he the largest and most
useful meeting ever held by the Society.

The catalogue of fruits published by the Society
includes nearly all the States and Territories, and is
filled with a great amount of information as to the
fruits adapted for culture in the respective locations.
Some of these are yet incomplete, and it is the ob-
ject of the Society, from year to year, to fill the
blanks and bring its catalogue nearer to perfec-
tion. To accomplish this object as fully as possi-
ble, the Chairman of the General Fruit Committee,
P. Barry, Esq., Rochester, N. Y., will send out the
usual circulars of inquiry.

When we consider the great importance of fruit
culture in North America ; its rapid progress during
the last thirty-five years under the beneficent action
of this society ; the great value and rapidly in-
creasing demand for its products at home and
abroad, we feel warranted in urging the attend-
ance of all who are interested in the welfare of our
country and the development of its wonderful re-
sources in this branch of agriculture.

Arrangements have been made with hotels and
some of the railroads terminating in Philadelphia
for a reduction of fare. In most cases it will be
best for delegations to arrange for rates with the
roads in their localities.

A local committee of reception has been ap-
pointed, to whom are confided all matters pertain-
ing to the reception and accommodation of the
members and delegates of the Society. The Chair-
ma' is Hon. J. E. Mitchell, 310 York avenue,
Philadelphia.

At the last meeting of the society it was decided
in future to encourage general exhibitions of fruits,
as well as new varieties or novelties. It is earn-
estly requested that no duplicates appear in any
collection, and that none but choice specimens
shall be placed on exhibition. Exhibitors should
not fail to give notice as far as possible, at an early
date, what room will be needed for their fruits. Six
specimens of a variety will be sufficient except in
fruits of unusual interest. A limited number of
Wilder medals will be awarded to objects of special
merit.

Packages of fruit should be addressed to Thos.
A. Andrews, Horticultural Hall, Broad street,
Philadelphia, for the American Pomological So-
ciety. Freight and express charges should be
prepaid.

192

THE GARDENERS" MONTHLY

[June,

All persons desirous of becoming members can
remit the fee to Benjamin G. Smith, Treasurer,
Cambridge, Mass. Life membership, Twenty
dollars ; Biennial, four dollars. Life members will
be supplied with back numbers of the proceedings
of the Society as far as possible.

Marshall P. Wilder,
President, Boston, Mass.
Prof. W. J. Beal, Secretary, Lansing, Mich.

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. —
This Society commenced in April the resumption
of its noted monthly meetings with marked suc-
cess. It was admirably supported by exhibitors,
and the numerous visitors were highly pleased
with what they saw.

New York Horticultural Society. — This
Society seems to be prospering beyond all antici-
pation. It has now over five hundred members, and
numbers are continually being added. It is a
pleasure to observe that the reports are now made
descriptive, so that even those at a distance may
profit by the reports. From the report of the
April meeting we gather the following instructive
notes :

"New Carnation, 'Buttercup,' from Peter Hen-
derson, Jersey City. Fine light-yellow flower,
with scarlet stripes. Committee would like to see
a plant.

"Clivea miniata (from Africa), from I. Bu-
chanan, 407 Fifth avenue. Good plant, with one
nice spike.

" Hinzie's White Carnation, from C. H. Allen,
Garden City, L. I. Extra fine flower.

"Orchids. — For the best six specimens, $10 and
%t. First to Geo. E. Bennett, gardener to William
White. In this lot the Masdevallia Lindenii, witli
four of its brilliant magenta-winged flowers, being
very conspicuous. Second to John Wallace, Pat-
erson, N. J. Dendrobium Wardianum, with three
spikes and eighteen flowers, made a brilliant show.
The competition was very close for first and sec-
ond awards.

" For the best three specimens, $5 and $3. First
to Frank Cassiday, gardener to L. H. Meyer, Cy-
pripedium Harrisonianum, with five of its massive
bronze flowers, being quite distinct.

" For the best single specimen, $3. To George
E. Bennett. Dendrobium Pierardii, with two spikes
of thirty flowers each. A chaste and lovely
variety.

" For the best three Cyclamens, named, ^3 and
$2. First to John Smith, gardener to James B.
Colgate. These were grown in seven-Inch pots,
averaging seventy-five floweis each, the varieties
being very distinct.

" For the best collection of cut flowers, $5 and
$3. First to John Smith, gardener to James
B. Colgate. This was a very good representative
collection, conspicuous being some fine varieties
of Calceolarias, Azaleas, Roses, and excellent Cin-

erarias— not showing so much taste in arrange-
ment, however, as the collection to which second
premium is awarded, they being quite tastily ar-
ranged, the flowers also being fresh and good. Sec-
ond to Charles E. Parnell, gardener to W. D. F.
Manice.

" For the best six pots Strawberries, $3. To Jo-
seph Dunbar, gardener to Miss S. S. Paton. The
variety being Seth Boyden, averaging fifty berries
on each. The ripe fruit well colored and of good
flavor.

" Caroline Goodridge Rose, from Terrence
Welsh, gardener to F. Goodridge. Showing it is
a continuous bloomer. "

This is not much, to be sure, out of the immense
number of exhibits reported on, but little as it is,
and brief as are the descriptions, the remarks tend
to convey to people at a distance some idea of
why the articles were awarded a premium, and so
far as it goes the Society should be encouraged to
go further in the work so well begun.

Mississippi Valley Horticultural Soci-
ety.—The forthcoming volume of "Transactions
of the Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society
will contain a business directory of those engaged
in horticultural pursuits ; either as producers of
fruits and vegetables for market, as growers of
trees and plants for sale, as manufacturers of fruit
boxes and packages, as cummission men and deal-
ers, as seedmen and florists, or as manufacturers
of horticultural implements and machinery. The
fee is fixed at $5 or $3 for those already members
of the Society. No name will be admitted unless
accompanied by acceptable reference. Each pa-
tron of the directory will be entitled to a bound
volume of the " Transactions of the Society" free,
by mail.

The late meeting in New Orleans was in every
respect a great success. The large number of pa-
pers presented and the discussions thereon, were
of the most practical character. In this respect,
Mr. Parker Earle thinks, it surpassed all meetings
of the kind heretofore held in America. The
"Volume of Transactions " will be published as
early in the summer as possible, and will embrace
all of this valuable material. The Society has no
funds except as obtained from membership, the
lee for which is two dollars yearly. W. H. Ragan,
Clayton, Ind., is Secretary.

Hall of the New York Horticultural So-
ciety.— It seems we gave too much credit to the
generosity of New York when we implied that the
new hall of the Society was bought by subscrip-
tions, in the sense of subscription gifts. The So-
ciety has issued twenty-year bonds at four per
cent, to cover the subscriptions.

THE

Gardeners^ Monthly

HORTICULTURIST.

DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE, ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS.

Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN.

Volume XXV.

JULY, 1883.

Number 295.

Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground,

COMMUNICATIONS.

AMONG THE FLOWERS.

BY VALENTINE BURGEVIN, KINGSTON, N. Y.
(Concluded from page 162.)

Amateurs who chose the cultivation of flowers
for their pleasure have spent part of their fortune
in buying plants, cultivating and exhibiting them
for the benefit of their fellow citizens, and have
harvested a great deal of honor and satisfaction.
Horticultural societies held their yearly exhibitions,
and every lover helped to make them a success.
Rare plants were sent from all around and shared
in the triumph. It was a pleasure to behold these
■elegant temples of Flora where such perfect col-
lections and such great varieties were exhibited.
The aesthetic tastes of the German people seemed
to lead up to these displays. The education of
the humbler class of people even tended towards
it. A laboring man's wife, for instance, saved a
few pennies frci-n her husband's wages, bought a
few plants in market, carried them home in
triumph, placed them before her window together
with her geraniums, balsams, asters, the highly
and general beloved rosemary, sweet basil (without
those a collection of that kind would have been
regarded very imperfect) and other plants which

she had collected and planted in tin basins, paint
kegs and boxes. She smiles happily as she
beholds her flower garden. She loves flowers dear-
ly and wants others to admire them. The children
are allowed a little spot to make a flower garden,
and are encouraged and sustained. Thus a taste
grows up with them, and they may in after life, per-
haps in a different part of the world, create a little
paradise in some wild, isolated and forsaken place,
Who would say then that the cultivation of flowers
was not a blessing of heaven ?

In those days greenhouses and conservatories
were differently constructed to what they are now.
They had sun catchers and were covered with
straw mats and shutters at night. They were
heated by a smoke flue to keep the frost out, which
in very cold weather caused considerable difficul-
ty. Plants were only housed for preservation for
summer blooming ; consequently flowers in winter
were a very scarce article. There were hardly,
fifty years ago, so many flowers in the whole
winter up to March, through the entire Germany
as there are now used during the holidays in the
city of New York alone. Greenhouses began to
look bright from March ist. All the people cared
for was to have plenty of flowers for their exhibi-
tions, which took place in April when masses of
camellias, azaleas, French roses, exquisite cinerar-
ias, and all leading plants in bloom were exhibited

194

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[July.

to the delight of the public and the benefit of the
horticultural societies. A night blooming cereus,
passiflora or a sensitive plant was looked upon
as a wonder of nature. A Stapelia was shown
for its disagreeable smell, and people were laughed
at on account of the funny faces they made when
induced to smell of the flower. Shade trees were
only planted in public places and along roads_
Fruit trees were planted around homes and an-
swered for both purposes. The general landscape
was even delightful to behold. The sunny hills in
March were blue with violets which scented the
spring air with their heavenly odor; the blue-eyed
forget-me-not by the brooks, the nymphseas in the
ponds. The meadows, the roadsides, the woods,
the whole landscape was embellished from spring
to fall with pretty posies. The song of the lark
from the air and of the nightingale from the trees,
can never be forgotten. Ivy covered whole build-
ings, while plants, timely in bloom, were growing
in walls, old ruins and churches. In looking at
this one is reminded of the old story they tell of
an ox which was hoisted up to a steeple to eat the
grass.

The German linden is famous, when in bloom,
for its healing and nourishing fragrance. So also is
the large German honeysuckle, while the German
camomile possesses the greatest medical qualities.
The old people used to say, "Take off your hat
for every camomile flower." No doubt every
plant is good for something if we only knew its
merits. The sweet spring flowers furnish the
first bouquet from the lover to his heart's delight,
and rose and peony petals out of the gardens, and
the beautiful scarlet poppy and the blue cyanus
from the meadows furnish principally the strew
flowers for the memorial processions on Corpus
Christi day. How gracefully sometimes school
girls trim their hats with flowers. Women orna-
ment themselves on various occasions with flowers
and vines, often carrying a bouquet on Sunday
when they go to church. Youths stick a flower in
a button-hole, and men often take a flower between
their hps, and they never had a feast without
some decoration of flowers. The chrysanthe-
mums with their bright colored beautiful flowers
which are distributed in almost every garden, not
only add considerably to the pleasantness of the
last fall days, but together with all the rest of the
flowers which Jack Frost has not yet reached,
they form sacred tributes to the memory of de-
ceased relatives and friends on their graves on All
Saints' day. And with the fading of the flowers
and the brilliant masses of glossy scarlet berries

of the fire-thorn (Mespilus pyracantha) the season

closes.
I Thus it will be seen that in the olden time the

people were not without their delights and their

: pleasures, and if they could not boast of as great

j art and as great varieties as the people of the

, present day in gardening and horticulture, they

I had the substantial satisfaction of feeling that all

their simple, and indeed, sensible tastes were
i •

charmmgly and luxuriantly supplied and gratified.

j Progress is always moving, but memory often

turns back and pauses over the bright spots full

of delightful reminiscenses in the long past.

GRO\A^ING HEDGES.

BY T. G. YEOMANS, WALWORTH, N. Y.

To grow a hedge successfully, a few matters of
importance should receive careful attention.
First, make choice of good plants, as uniform in
size as may be, cutting off the tip of the tap-root,
and the top about two inches above the collar ;
and plant in single row, plants six inches apart,
and cultivate as well as one would a row of pota-
toes. In the spring, one year from planting, cut
back to within six inches of the former cut, and the
second spring cut again to about nine to twelve
inches from the preceding cut; if it grows well
leave it about one foot higher each spring at
cutting, till it reaches the height desired, giving it
at top the desired shape, pointed to the center, and
sloping sharply about half way (from top) to the
ground.

Spring pruning causes more vigorous growth,
while summer pruning checks or retards it ; thus
the trimming in spring, till the hedge is formed,
tends to grow it quickly. Let all future trim-
ming be in summer, which will be easily done
while the wood is soft, and check the growth, thus
easily keeping the hedge in form with only a small
amount of pruning, which should be done two or
three times during the growing season, and will
thus be less labor than one pruning of hard
wood; at all times keep the hedge in more perfect
form.

LAWNS.

BY CHARLES E. PARNELL.

It is an old but a very true saying, that a
smooth, closely-shaven lawn is the simplest and
the loveliest element we can use in the adornment
of our grounds. We may procure the choicest
flowering plants as well as the most rare ornamen-
tal trees and shrubs that our nurserymen and

AND HORTICULTURIST.

195

florists can obtain, but unless we have a good lawn
all our efforts will be in vain, for depend upon it
a good lawn is as necessary to complete the adorn-
ment of our grounds as a good carpet is to com-
plete the furnishing of our rooms. We may take
our rooms and furnish them with the rarest works
of art and the most expensive furniture we can
obtain, but if we leave the rough pine floor
uncovered or unstained, it has anything but
an attractive and finished appearance. There
appears to be something wanting to render them
complete and enjoyable. As it is with our rooms,
so it is with our grounds. If they contain the
most costly plants and the choicest ornamental
trees and shrubs we can obtain, while the lawn is
neglected and uncared lor, what attraction have
they for us ? None ; the simple fact being that
the one thing necessary to render the whole com-
plete and enjoyable is wanting.

If the lawn, then, is so necessary in the adorn-
ment of our grounds, it should be properly
attended to and cared for. I say properly, for a
good lawn is well worth all the time and care an
intelligent person can bestow upon it ; and it is my
opinion that more lawns are ruined from ig-
norance and neglect alone than from any other
cause. If it is our intention to prepare good new
lawns, it is absolutely necessary that the work be
thoroughly and properly done, for a good lawn
will last many years if the ground has been
properly prepared, the proper grass or grasses
selected and sown, and last, but not least, the
whole property attended to and cared for.

In forming a new lawn, the work should not be
too hastily and imperfectly done, as this will prove
to be a serious mistake, and one that cannot be
rectified afterwards. In the first place, we must
see that our grounds have the desired grade, and
that they are thoroughly and properly drained and
in the condition necessary to produce a good crop
of vegetables ; if so, they will produce good
lawns. The preparation of the grounds is best
done in the fall, so that it can become well settled
by the time we are ready to sow the seed in the
spring. Prepare the ground by giving a heavy
dressing of well-decomposed stable manure, and
work it in well by ploughing thoroughly. A sub- i
soil plough should follow the common plough.
Then harrow thoroughly, and finish by levelling
the whole as neatly as possible. As soon as the
weather becomes settled in the spring, apply to
each acre from five to six hundred pounds of bone-
dust ; harrow it in thoroughly, and be careful to
have a good surface soil of from eight to ten

inches in depth throughout the entire ground, and
finish by having the surface as finely pulver-
ized as possible, removing all sticks, stones, etc.

The ground being properly prepared, the next
consideration is the sowing of the seed. This
should be done as early in the spring as possible,
choosing a calm day. The sowing should be care-
fully done in order to distribute the seed equally
over the entire surface, and not in spots, as this
looks bad, and is not creditable to the sower.
Sow thickly at the rate of from four to five bushels
to the acre, and rake the seeds slightly in. Give,
if possible, a sprinkling of soot or wood-ashes, in
order to render the seed distasteful to birds, and
finish by rolling thoroughly.

What varieties of grass to sow in order to
obtain a satisfactory result is really a serious ques-
tion. I have no hesitation in saying : Sow June
or blue grass, Poa pratensis only ; no mixture, no
%fhite clover, nothing but pure, clean June grass.
In advocating the sowing of June grass, pure and
simple, I am aware that I am treading on danger-
ous ground, for I know that many of you will
differ with me. I admit that the June grass will
not form a lawn quite as soon as the various
mixtures known as lawn grass, but a lawn of the
June grass, when obtained, will be found to be
well worth waiting for. June grass will thrive in
almost any soil and situation, with full exposure to
the sun or in partial shade, and in seasons of
drouth, when everything is suffering from want of
moisture, the June grass will retain its verdure to
the last. However, some will insist upon having a
mixture ; and it is said a very good one can be
made by adding two pounds of sweet vernal grass,
Anthoxanthum odoratum, and one pound of white
clover, Trifolium repens, to four bushels of June
grass. This is a mixture highly prized by some,
but I cannot see of what benefit the clover is, for it
is my opinion that it would destroy the young
grass, and eventually die out itself. About the
middle of June our lawn will be looking pretty
green ; but among the young grass a great many
weeds will be noticed, and the temptation to
remove them will be very strong ; but do not do
it, for, depend upon it, any attempt at their re-
moval at this time will do more hurt than good.
About the first of July our lawn will be ready to
be mown ; but we must not cut too low, and the
clippings should be permitted to remain in order to
protect the young and tender roots. After mowing,
roll thoroughly ; and after this mow weekly, if
necessary, until the grass ceases growth. In the
autumn the annual weeds will have disappeared.

196

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[July.

and the perennials can be cut out with a stout
knife.

It often happens that it is very inconvenient to
prepare new lawns, and in such cases we must try
to restore the old. In order to do this properly,
we must commence in the autumn. First, fill up
all inequalities by carefully lifting the sod, filling
in, and replacing it; at the same time, remove all
perennial weeds, and then give a good dressing of
stable manure. As soon as the weather becomes
settled in the spring, the manure should be re-
moved, then rake thoroughly, using a good iron
rake, and be particular to remove all dead grass,
moss, etc. When this is done, give a good dress-
ing of bone-dust, and sow grass seed as for a new
lawn. Roll thoroughly, and, as soon as the grass
is long enough, mow ; mow weekly throughout
the season, excepting in seasons of severe
drought. It seems almost superfluous to remark
that mowing should always be done with a lawn-
mower in preference to the scythe. The work is
thus more quickly accomplished, to say nothing of
its neater and more attractive appearance when
finished.

After the lawn has become established, it should
be properly cared for ; every spring it should be
carefully examined and all perennial weeds re-
moved, a good dressing of bone-dust or ashes
given, and the whole thoroughly raked and rolled.
Mowing should also be attended to from the time
the grass commences to grow in the spring until
growth ceases in autumn. Once a week is none
too often to mow, the clippings being permitted to
remain in order to protect the tender roots ; a rake
should never be used on the lawn after it is cleaned
in the spring. If it becomes necessary to use
a rake to remove the clippings, on account of their
unsightly appearance, it is absolutely certain that
the mowing was not done at the proper time. In
mowing, avoid cutting too close, for, depend upon
it, close mowings and a frequent use of the rake
will soon destroy the finest lawn. Close mowing
encourages the growth of very many troublesome,
noxious little weeds, as well as the great pest of
lawns — crab grass — Panicum sanguinale. It should
be remembered, however, that no lawn can be
maintained in good condition unless it is frequent-
ly and thoroughly rolled. Moles are sometimes
very annoying ; the only remedy for these pests
consists in the proper use of a good trap. A few
words as regards sodding : at the best it is slow
and expensive work, and, unless for places of very
small extent, I would not advise the use of sods.
In forming new lawns, it is sometimes absolutely

necessary to lay sod along the margins of walks,
and also on steep banks, as heavy rains might
wash away the soil before the seed has had
time to vegetate ; any clear sod can be used for
this purpose, care being taken to firm it well with
the back of the spade. In seasons of severe
drought, some resort to watering ; but unless one
has an abundant supply of water and the neces-
sary facilities for doing the work thoroughly, it is
better not to make the attempt, for anything short
of a thorough watering will do more hurt than
good. I think that if the ground is properly pre-
pared, the mowing properly attended to, and the
clippings permitted to remain, in order to protect
the young and tender roots, little or no injury
from drought need be apprehended.

I am often asked, What is the best manure for
lawns ? I do not think that there is anything
better than good stable manure applied just after
the ground becomes frozen in the fall, and re-
moved as soon as the weather becomes settled in
the spring. Some, however, decidedly object to
stable manure, on account of its untidy appear-
ance, and so bone-dust can be substituted. Its
effect, however, will not be noticed so soon. In
forming new and restoring old lawns, an abundant
supply of good stable manure is indispensable.
Guano and commercial fertilizers are much es-
teemed by some, and more or less is said in their
favor ; but as far as my experience has extended,
I have found them to be very variable in their
results. In wet seasons they are very satisfactory ;
but in seasons of drought, the result is quite the
reverse.

Again, some object to the use of stable manure,
for the reason that it contains the seeds of many
noxious weeds, and in this way they would intro-
duce them into their lawns. Now, I would not
apprehend any danger from this source, if the
lawn has been properly attended to, and seeds
sown the very instant vacancies are noticed ; and
I have often noticed that wherever any vacancies
axist they soon become filled with weeds, no
matter what fertilizers have been applied ; and it
is a most essential point in the management of
lawns to encourage the growth of the good grass
as much as possible, and thus prevent noxious
weeds from taking possession.

The arrangement and proper disposition of or-
namental trees and shrubs on the lawn is also very
important and deserves the highest consideration.
In this paper it is impossible to treat of this as fully
as its importance demands, for local circumstances
and personal requirement would render almost

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

197

worthless any suggestions that I might offer. My
only object in alluding to the subject here is the
desire to caution all against planting trees and
shrubs too thickly, and thus destroy the very ob-
ject we have in view when planting them. A room
crowded full of furniture has not a very attractive
appearance ; neither has a lawn when thickly
covered with trees and shrubs. Grass will not
grow in such situations, and in consequence the
whole will not present a very attractive appear-
ance. A few well-grown handsome specimens,
properly arranged and cared for, with a smoothly
mown lawn, will give more satisfaction and pleasure
to all who see it, as well as to the favored pro-
prietor.

Fellow members, I trust that you will be as
lenient in your criticisms as possible, for I acknowl-
edge my inability to instruct you. But, when
called upon to prepare an essay, 1 could not find
it in my power to decline, for I would not wish to
give any person the opportunity to say that the
officers of this Society — a Society that has
so often honored and rewarded me — should ask
me to perform any proper service for them, and
ask in vain.

[This excellent essay was read before the New
York Horticultural Society at its April meeting. —

Ed. G. M.]

«-•-»

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Raising Gladioli from Seed. — It is no more
trouble to raise Gladioli from seed than to raise the
most common vegetable ; with the simplest garden
culture there is an almost absolute certainty of
success. Prepare your bed in spring as for any
hardy annual r the soil should be made fine and
comparatively rich ; sow the seed in drills, cover to
the depth of one inch, hoe and weed sufficient
to keep the soil light and clean, take up the bulbs
after the first frost or before if ripe, store them dur-
ing the winter in a dry cellar or room free from
frost, plant them out again in the spring following,
and in the ensuing summer very many of them
will flower. With the convenience of a hotbed, or
frame, bulbs may be produced from seed in one
season that will very nearly all flower the second.
It will require a little more care and trouble to
grow them in this way, but the increase in the size
of the bulb will more than pay the extra cost.
One of the chief advantages, however, in sowing
in a frame is that in case of a heavy storm, the
young plants may be protected by the sash that
during all heavy rains should be kept closed, as

the young plants rarely recover after the leaves
have been bruised or broken down. I know of no
pleasure in gardening equal to that of growing
plants from seed. — Garden.

Trapping Insects. — Referring to insects which
crawl up or down the trunks of trees, Mr. J. W.
Manning tells the Mass. Horticultural Society:
" For tall elm trees, which cannot be reached with a
syringe, printer's ink on a band of paper round the
trees, or a metallic collar filled with oil, may be
used. A box set round the base of the tree, with a
trough for oil, was used in Mr. Clapp's orchard, in
Dorchester, nearly forty-five years ago. The first
set of boxes lasted twenty years, the second set
still remain. They cost about two shillings each.
The use of these methods would be of more benefit
if a general application should be made to all the
trees infested. It is a singular fact that the canker
worm will eat everything up to a certain division
wall, while beyond the wall not one will be seen.
The orchard of T. C. Thurlow, West Newbury,
was devastated for years by the canker worm,
but the use of printer's ink, at the expense of four
and a half cents per tree, was followed by a crop
of nine hundred barrels of No. i Baldwins, seven
hundred the next year, and fourteen hundred
barrels the third year."

NEW OR RARE PLANTS.

New Crested Ferns. — Those who keep a look-
out for new varieties of native plants often find them
in the woods. At a recent meeting of the German-
town Horticultural Society an exhibitor had present
a distinct variety of Aspidium acrostichoides. The
divisions of the fronds are deeply incised, and the
whole frond of a crimped, or wavy outline, quite
unlike the typical lorm. The same exhibitor has
a crested form of Aspidium Noveboracense, a de-
cided acquisition. Both were obtained from the
woods near Germantown.

Andromeda japonica. — Flowering so early in
the year as this shrub does, it is particularly wel-
come, and its flowers combine a delicacy of color
with elegance of habit seen in no other Andromeda.
In this country it usually is a dwarf bushy shrub,
furnished with leathery bright green foliage. The
flowers, which remmd one of those of Lily of the
Valley in size and color, are borne in a branching
cluster terminating the shoots, each branchlet of
the cluster being a long one-sided spike, all the
flowers being arranged on the under sides of the
stalks. It is an uncommonly pretty shrub, quite

198

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

LJ"iy.

worth growing in pots for conservatory adornment,
though we never remember seeing it treated in
that way. It is one of the most interesting hardy
shrubs in full bloom in the Coombe Wood Nur-
sery. Another species belonging to the same sub-
genus (Pieris) is also worthy of mention. It is A.
calyculata, a North American shrub, with small
bronzy foliage and leafy racemes of white blos-
soms.— Garden.

Magnolia stellata. — There are few hardy
shrubs more beautiful than the present species,
which was exhibited in beautiful condition by
Messrs. Veitch two or three years ago. From a
specimen furnished by that firm the figure in the
Botanical Magazine, tab. 6370, was prepared. A
pot-plant is now blooming in the Winter Garden at
Kew. The flower has about fifteen narrow petals,
white above, and marked with a faint pink central
streak externally. In American gardens it is known
under the name of M. Halleana, under which
name, too, it is figured in our English Floral Maga-
zine, tab. 309. Like so many of the beautiful Japan-
ese plants now cultivated in English gardens, this
species is pretty generally cultivated by the Japan-
ese themselves. According to Franchet and Sava-
tier it assumes the proportions of a small tree in
woods in Central Niphon. — Gardener s Chronicle.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Rhododendrons not Blooming. — "Green-
horn" writes: " I have a bed of six or seven Rho-
dodendrons planted in a space of about 3 feet by
8 feet. They came from a nursery, in March of
1882. They bloomed magnificently last May and
early June, as they all had buds on when received.
The requisite conditions of soil and the preparation
were properly attended to previously, the bed being
trenched out to depth of over two feet, the old
earth removed, and filled with alternate layers of
brush and top garden-soil until even with ground,
when bed was finished off with fine soil 6 to 8
inches higher. This spring nothing but leaf buds
pushed, there being only one solitary flower truss
in the whole lot, while one of the plants did not
even make new growth. Is this condition of things
the natural reaction in first year after transplant-
ing and only what I have a right to expect, look-
ing for better results next spring? Or is there some
fault of my own probable ? Should there be any-
thing done in the way of protection during winter?
The plants were hardy rhododendrons."

[Our correspondent's Rhododendrons have not

bloomed this year because, no doubt, every branch
bore flowers last season. When this is the case,
they bloom but sparingly the following year. The
branches which push from below the corymbs of
flowers do not, as a rule, bloom the next year, and
this gives a biennial character to the plant, in this
respect. If he finds later on, as he probably will,
that every branch is capped with a flower bud,
and will remove a few of them, the disappointment
experienced now will probably not be felt again.
Rhododendrons, although hardy, are the better
for a slight covering of leaves or brush in winter.
They have a better appearance in spring. — Ed.
G. M.]

Spir.^a venusta. — In Mr. Burgevin's paper
reference is made to this spiraea, and a suggestion
made that it is related to the well-known "Queen
of the Prairie" Spiraea lobata. The writer was
favored with a plant, through the kindness of Mr.
Downing, and it proved to be a case of dimor-
phism, known in other plants, but not we believe
m thisgenus of plants. One form has long stamens
and short styles — the other longer styles and short
stamens. They are both dimorphic forms of Spi-
raea lobata, but well worthy of being kept distinct
by cultivators, and for this the specific name in
use, venusta, will be as good as any.

Salvia farinacea. — Mr. Charles E. Parnell
writes: "Would you be so kind as to inform me,
through the Monthly, if there is any difference
between Salvia amabilis and S. farinacea? I
purchased them as distinct varieties, but see no
distinction. Are my plants true to name, or what
is the correct name?

[Botanists find no difference between the two.
Amabilis is regarded as a synonym. Salvia farina-
cea is, however, a very variable species, and we
are not sure but there may be found differences
enough to warrant florists in keeping them apart. —
Ed. G. M.]

Asphalt Walks. — In answer to an inquiry about
these, the following is appropriate : "The Central-
blatt der Bauvenvaltung describes a patented
composition made at a factory in Stargard, Pome-
rania, which has for some years past been used
with perfect success on the Berlin-Stettin railway
for wall copings, water tables, and similar purposes
requiring a water-proof coating. The material is
composed of coal-tar, to which are added clay, as-
phalt, resin, litharge, and sand. It is, in short, a
kmd of artificial asphalt, with the distinction that
it is applied cold, like ordinary cement rendering.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

199

The tenacity of the material, when properly laid,
and its freedom from liability to damage by the
weather are proved by reference to an example in
the coping of a retaining wall which has been ex-
posed for four years to the drainage of a slope 33
feet high. This coping is still perfectly sound and
has not required any repair since it was laid down.
Other works have proved equally satisfactory. In
applying this mortar, as it is termed, the space to
be covered is first thoroughly dried, and after being
well cleaned is primed with hot roofing varnish, the
basis of which is also tar. The mortar is then laid

on cold, to the thickness of about three-eighths of
an inch, with either wood or steel trowels, and is
properly smoothed over. If the area covered is
large, another coating of varnish is applied and
rough sand strewn over the whole. The water-
proof surface thus made is perfectly impregnable
to rain or frost, and practically indestructible. The
cost of the material laid is estimated at not more
than ten cents per square foot, and it is stated that
this price can be reduced, by at least two cents
for large quantities put down by experienced
workmen."

Greenhouse and House Gardening,

COMMUNICATIONS.

STEAM HEATING.

BY AUGUST D. MYLIUS. DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

In your February number, Mr. E. Holley, Hud-
son, N. Y., asks for information concerning steam
heating. The use of steam for heating green-
houses is comparatively new, and those who
desire to use it will probably find it the cheaper
plan to see the different establishments that use
steam or have a good steam fitter to do all the
work ; give written, contracts and warrant every-
thing to satisfaction, rather than attempt the
fixing themselves.

My own experience was a dear one, costing over
$5,000. I have two boilers, combined about 25 to
28 horse-power. They heat six greenhouses, 64
by 23 feet each and dwelling with eight large
rooms ; each room has a heater similar to heaters
in public buildings in large cities. This dwelling
is connected by a narrow hallway with shed of
greenhouses. The hired hands have their rooms
connected with this shed. The main steam pipe
goes through these rooms to the dwelling. My
experience shows that the horizontal boilers are
best for greenhouse heating. The upright boilers
are well enough in hotels, boarding-houses and
large dwellings, where they can be put in the
cellar. In greenhouses they would have to be
low enough to keep pipes 2^4. feet to 3 feet
above the water line. Of course pipes must be
above the water line on the horizontal boiler as

well, but on account of it being a horizontal, it
does not need to be so deep in the ground. One
of our florists here has a self-working sucker on
the boiler, so the boiler can be put on the level
ground, and pipes are all below the water line.
This sucker (or whatever it may be called) draws
all water in the pipes back to boiler and leaves the
steam dry. So far this works well, and if it never
gets out of order it would be good for those who
cannot have the boiler deep enough on account of
water. Greenhouses the size of mine must have
eight to ten one inch pipe all around in each
greenhouse to keep it 60° to 65°, when it is 15°
below zero outside. I have main pipe four feet
above water-line, running through shed, and each
house connected with one pipe i "^^-inch from the
main, which is two-inch. This pipe is connected
with a coil of four one-inch pipes all around walk
back to shed where the four pipes are connected
to a manifold, the same as the connection to a
manifold where it starts from the main pipe. The
manifold at the end of the pipes has an air-cock on
top ; underneath is the return of one-inch to the
boiler, or a main return can be led back to boiler
in the form of a two-inch pipe, and all small one-
inch returns connected to this. All my houses
are now arranged with pipes as above. As to how
long steam will last, or how often a boiler must be
looked after, night or day, any one can see that a
steam boiler must be looked to more than a hot
water one. When fire goes down steam goes
down too. A steam boiler must be looked after at
least every three hours in a cold snap like we had

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[July.

this winter. I had two hands firing at night ;
while one slept six hours the other fired. Taking
it all in all— leaving out pipes — hot water is the
cheaper, but for a large business, or even from
five large greenhouses up, steam is cheaper, all
counted. For a few houses hot water would be my
choice. But, as I am situated now, steam is a
great saving to me. On my dwelling alone I save
from $ioo to $150 in one winter on base burners
and coal for them. I expect to burn sixty tons of
best hard coal this winter.

GREENHOUSE DECORATIONS.

BY N. ROBERTSON, GOVERNMENT GROUNDS,
OTTAWA, CANADA.

This is a subject that we hear very little about,
but one of very great importance to the appearance
of a greenhouse. In what state do we generally
find them ? Plants put on the benches, apparently
more for convenience than with any idea of giving
effect to their decorative capacity, which if placed
in another position to contrast with each other,
they would do.

I do not know that any definite rule could be
laid down for this purpose, but a few hints on one
of my methods of arrangement, may benefit some
by drawing their attention to it; as it seems to me,
it has been unthought of in very many cases.

I will give you, as an example, one of my own
houses and try to describe the plan, so as to be
understood. This house has a center bench seven
feet wide, with a passage running all around, an
outer bench, four feet, doing the same. In the mid-
dle of my center bench I run a line of my tallest
plants, diversifying their foliage as much as possible.
In this line I have a row of turned wooden stands,
placed at such a distance as will not shade the
plants below. These stands rise to a height that
will not show the flower-pots. On these I have
placed such, plants as fan palm, anthuriums,
pandanuses, &c., with very fine effect. From this
line my sides slope downward to the passages, giv-
ing variation to the foliage as much as I can. A
foot from the front I have a line of smaller stands,
run all around about four feet apart, which rises
considerably over the other plants, and if the pots
are kept clean will be no eye-sore — or fancy pots
may be used. I never put on them a larger pot
than a six inch, with such plants as primulas, cycla-
mens, or some of the smaller growing Bromeliads.
This house, facing the noon-day sun, with center
bench so arranged, gives me on its back side a
fine chance to grow shade loving plants, such as
marantas, ferns, &c.

My outside shelf is arranged same as the other,
only all sloping to the passage. It has its row
also of those stands, at the same distance from the
front of the bench. The back part of this outer
shelf I devote mostly to ferns, some of the droop-
ing varieties look most graceful on these stands ;
besides this they take many plants from the
benches that occupy much room, and standing
amongst other plants are never seen properly to
show off their beauty. In fact want of space for
my plants caused me first to adopt this stand
method ; and I now think a house is very incom-
plete without them. The expense is small ; any
turner can make them with little trouble, being
only an upright and a round top put on, the
lower end turned down to fit an auger hole made
in the benches, a shoulder being left on for better
support. Smallest sizes could not cost more than
fifteen cents each ; for large plants they must be
stronger. The stands to be painted green. Even
in the spring of the year, when a large stock of
bedding {!)lants are being got ready, I make them
very ornamental by placing them ribbon fashion
on my benches, instead of having them scattered
all over the house. Thus placed when you go to
put them outside you have them all together ; this
often looks so pretty that one is almost inclined to
have a portion of the house so the whole year.

Cleanliness in your house, your wood work
neatly painted, and your pots nicely washed, all
dead leaves removed ; of the latter nothing need be
said, as it is not only unsightly but the cause of
many other annoyances. I hope that these few
hints may do good, and bring some one else to
the front with his opinions on this subject.

[Excellent suggestions for others besides garden-
ers.—Ed. G. M.]

FACTS ABOUT STEAM HEATING.
BY E. C. REINEMAN, PITTSBURGH, PA.

A great deal has been said in your columns
about steam heating, and its advantages in all
respects in heating greenhouses, over all methods.
I thought I would give my own experience, it being
more practical than some others, and so may be of
some value to parties contemplating putting in
steam for heating purposes. So much is claimed
for steam heating, in regard to saving time, fuel,
attention, regulation of temperature, first cost of
construction, &c., that it is really astonishing that
every florist in the country does not take advantage
of the inducements offered and saddle around at
once and put in steam, especially those in the

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

20 1

East who are the most successful in growing .
plants and flowers, growing them without steam
heat, as well as we do with it. Our city takes the
lead in steam heating, having six large establish-
ments all heated by steam, but nothing extraordi- |
nary is produced in the way of growing cut flowers, I
as all the fine flowers that are used in our city and
and as far west as Chicago, are shipped from the
East.

Our plant house consists of 30,000 ft. of glass,
heated by one boiler of about 25 horse-power, and
to heat this extent of glass it requires over 6000 ft.
of 2-inch pipe, which to heat by low pressure of
steam as some advocate, is ridiculous, we using
as high as 50 lbs. of steam with all the valves
open, to keep near the desired temperature in cold
weather. But if the valves were all shut off from
the boiler the steam guage would indicate about
100 lbs. which is decidedly not low pressure, and
to use 4-inch cast iron pipes that are used for hot
water heating with any or near such pressure,
would be rather dangerous, as we had two or
three bursts with our pipes of 2-inch. Some assert
that houses situated two or three hundred feet
from the boiler are as easily heated as those near
it, which I will show of my own experience does
not prove so, as we have some of our houses
200 ft. from the boiler and some not 10 ft.
which are kept at 65O or 75^* with almost any
pressure of steam, and those 200 ft. away want
about 10 lbs. steam until they get to 65° for there
is naturally more condensation, than near the
boiler, where we have live steam at all times.

In regard to saving fuel, I will give an idea
what we use throughout a season, and then let
others judge for themselves whether there is a
saving of one-half or one-third, which I doubt
very much. We use between 9,000 and 10,000
bushels of coal each season, aggregating about
350 tons, at a cost of between ;f4oo and $500; but
as we haul all our own coal we save very nearly
that amount, which would niake the total cost
of fuel delivered on place about $800 per season.
At the same time bear in mind that we are in the
coal region and have comparatively cheap fuel, as
our prices range from two cents to six or seven
cents from the lowest to best quality of coal.
Summing up our coal bill for last January it
amounted to $73.00. It must also be understood
that it takes a much greater fire to generate steam,
than it does to heat water or flues, and as soon as
your steam goes down, the pipes get cold, whereas
by hot water or flue heating they remain warm
for a long time, and for that reason it requires

close attention to have complete control of tem-
perature by steam heating ; for you have, say 15
lbs. steam on the guage and have the houses at
the desired temperature and then the fire may be
forgotten, as is often the case, the steam goes
down and the houses get colder in less than one
hour. There is no doubt at all that steam heating
takes more attention than any other system, espec-
ially if an even temperature is desired, as our fire
must be looked after every fifteen minutes in cold
weather to keep up steam, and consequently there
must be a competent and reliable man to take
charge of the firing all night, another ex-
pense of no little importance, as we keep our fire-
man from October till the end of May at a salary
of $9.00 per week. Some parties tried to fire with
their greenhouse hands, and had them work one-half
day and fire at night, but they had to give it up,
as it is impossible for a man to do that for any
length of time ; for to fire all night is, as I have
experienced, much harder work than any of the
greenhouse hands' day labor. I would rather
work two full days than fire one night. I will
admit that all large concerns heated by hot water
or flues, need a man all night to look after the
many fires, but for places of 1 5,000 ft. of glass or
little more, it is not necessary ; but with steam
heating you may depend on it that it is impossible
to do without one.

A great mistake with some florists is to have
only one boiler, for if anything should happen to
it, they would be left at the mercy of Jack Frost,
and would probably lose their whole stock, as it
takes considerable time to make repairs, and while
making them you can't have any steam to heat. I
don't want to intimidate any one as concerns
danger, but at the same time I wish to say that
something might happen, and if you have only
one boiler, as we had the first year we started, you
may be tried severely as we were ; in fact once I
gave up all hopes, for the temperature in the
houses got near 32'^'^but we overcame the difficulty
in time to prevent any further trouble. Now we
have two boilers and if the one should "blow up"
and there is anything left of the other one, we
fire in it at once, but there is not much danger of
bursting as long as you have reliable men to fire ;
even hot water boilers will burst ; Mr. P. Hen-
derson told me of two boilers which he had blown
up at one time by careless handling.

In April's issue of the Gardeners' Monthly,
a florist from Philadelphia, estimates for a house
of 22x115 ft., 1000 ft. of i^-inch pipe; now we
have in three of our houses 22x130 ft., 1000 ft. of

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[July.

2-inch pipe in each house, and last winter we had
trouble to keep our houses near 50° in cold
weather, around zero, with 30 lbs. or more of steam
on the guage and all the valves open ; so I doubt
whether that quantity of ij^f-inch pipe would be
sufficient. I intend adding 230 ft. to each house
to keep about 65° in cold weather, but as our
houses are rather higher than the most of that
size, some allowance must be made. To conclude
I will say that I am not against steam heat by any
means, for I would not dream of changing it to
any other system of heating ; but if I had my
houses heated with hot water as perfectly in all
details as Mr. P. Henderson's I would never think
of putting in steam, no matter what induce-
ments were offered.

ERICA CAVENDISHII.

BY JAMES LESLIE, ST. JOHNSBURY, VERMONT.

I wish to say a word for this old favorite. What
handsomer greenhouse plants are there than our
old friend as a specimen covered with its rich
yellow flowers, and at this April season they can
be made to form a very important feature in con-
servatory decoration, and add greatly to the gener-
al display. The same may be said of the Ventri-
cosa section. They are all rich and beautiful.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Hot Water to Kill Insects.— Notwithstand-
ing it is nearly twenty years ago since the Gar-
deners' Monthly published the fact that water
heated to 120'^ or 130°, was the easiest and best
remedy against all sorts of insects which infest
greenhouse plants, people are very much afraid
of it. To encourage these timid people, we give
the following bit of experience contributed by a
correspondent of the Journal of Horticulture :

"Last spring I read in the Journal that the
best way to get rid of insects destructive to Orchids
was to plunge the pots in hot water at a tempera-
ture of 1 20-. I was rather in doubt whether it
was safe to do this, consequently tried two or three
pots that I knew were pretty well full of woodlice,
or, perhaps I should say, appeared so from the
condition of the roots. The contents of these pots
all changed, the insects were killed, and the Or-
chids improved. Seeing that no injury was caused
to the plants, I last August plunged every Orchid
I had in water heated to 120°. I have found that
it has not injured one plant. Dendrobium densi-
florum that I subjected to this treatment has now no
less than forty-two spikes of bloom, and these in a
few days will be fully expanded."

Gloxinia Seed. — To obtain strong plants for
flowering early in the summer you must sow the
seed near the end of January, or early in Febru-
ary. Sow in five or six inch pots, filled almost level
with the rim with a mixture consisting of peat
and sand, the former broken up as fine as possible.
Drainage should be provided for filling the pots to
about one-third of their depth with medium-sized
crocks. Place the pots in any of the structures in
which a temperature of 65° or 70° is maintained
and keep the soil in a moderately moist state.
When of a suitable size and before they become
overcrowded prick off into other pots or into
frames, which should be filled in much the same
manner as the seed pots, and place in a warm
and close position. — Gardener s Magazine.

NEW OR RARE PLANTS.

Camellia C. M. Hovey. — This new variety
fully sustains the high opinion which its American
raisers had formed of it before it crossed the At-
lantic. It is now pronounced by competent au-
thorities to be without exception the finest Camellia
of its color in cultivation — in short, the very ideal
of perfection ; such were our thoughts on seeing a
specimen of it about 8 feet high the other day in
the Camellia house at the Royal Exotic Nursery,
Chelsea, where, though surrounded by every
variety of note in cultivation, it has no peer,
whether we take into consideration its size, growth,
floriferousness, or the size, form, and color of the
flowers. The bush in question was carrying a score
or so of blooms, some of which measured five
inches across. The flowers are perfectly circular;
the petals, though not large, lap over each other
in a beautiful way, and the center, often the weak
point, is not coarse in any stage. The color is a
sort of crimson-lake, with a peculiar and indescrib-
able brightness about it which makes it so much
admired, particularly when seen on the plant as-
sociated with the broad, lively green foliage. Mr.
Hovey, of Boston, the raiser of this variety, might
well be proud of having sent to Europe one of the
finest Camellias, as well as having stolen a march
upon Italian raisers Garden.

Aphelandra punctata. — A pretty South
American plant, in which is combined variegated
foliage and ornamental flowers. The erect stems
bear opposite elliptic acuminate leaves. The
green mid-rib is conspicuous in the middle of a
white central band, which also extends beside the
green veins, this silvery band breaking up on its

ri883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

203

margin into numerous small dots, which produce with green tips, somewhat spreading and recurved.
a pretty and distinct form of variegation. The \ The flowers are tubular, curved, widening upwards

Aphelandra punctata,
blossoms are produced in a decussate spike, com- to the five-lobed spreading limb, and of the same

posed of ovate acuminate bracts, which are spiny-
toothed at the edge, of a bright chrome-yellow

bright yellow color as the bracts. It will form a
valuable addition to the many beautiful acanthace-

204

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[July.

ous plants in cultivation, of which Libonia, Ruellia,
Justicia, and Eranthemum, are familiar types. As
in the case of so many good things, the public are
indebted to Mr. Wm. Bull, for its introduction.

Rose William Allan Richardson. — We have
already recorded the introduction of this rose in
Europe, named in honor of Mr. W. Allan Richard-
son, the well-known horticulturist of Louisville,
Kentucky. Mr. Schultheis tells the London Jour-
nal of Horticulture, that it was first distributed in
1878, by Madame Ducher at Lyons. The growth
is very vigorous, with long branches, much re-
sembling the variety Reve d'Or, with a dark glossy
foliage. It bears at the tips of its branches trusses
of lovely flowers of moderate size, and of a deep
clear orange yellow outside. Under glass the
color changes to reddish orange. He does not
know any rose of that peculiar color.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Yellow Winter Blooming Carnation. —
The following card comes from a correspondent
at Lancaster, Ohio. " I send you per mail this
day two blooms of a yellow carnation which
originated with me from seed brought over from
Germany two years ago. The plant is strong and
vigorous in appearance. Believing that this color
is something new in carnations I concluded to
send you a couple and ask your opinion of them
in the Gardeners' Monthly."

[The flowers are of a clear straw color. We
have had yellow carnations before, but none that
seem as clear and distinct as this. As there is a
growing taste for this class of carnations, we are
disposed to look on this as a valuable improve-
ment.—Ed. G. M.]

EuONYMUS jAPONicus. — This is the name of the
plant referred to in the following from Jonathan
Primrose : "I would like to inquire through the
columns of the Monthly the name of an ever-
green shrub of which I send you a small branch
by mail for examination. It is about four feet high
and in habit resembling the camellia. Although
over thirty years of age it has never blossomed,
has been growing in a tub for a number of years,
being placed outside throughout the summer and
wintered in the cellar."

Double Abutilon. — Nanz & Neuner send us
a double white abutilon. The stamens, have in
some instances, turned to petals, as in the holly-
hock and althaea. This firm seems to have a run
of luck in the matter of double flowers. Just what

ornamental value this double abutilon will have
we could not decide from the specimen before us.

Double Heliotrope. — An Altoona, Pa., cor-
respondent wants to know whether a double helio-
trope which he has will be desirable. If truly
double and as fragrant as the common we should
regard it as a very valuable variety ; indeed we
know of nothing likely to be more popular.

Seedling Geraniums. — " A. C," Baltimore,
Md., writes: "Please give me your opinion of two
seedling geraniums which were raised by me from
seed. The pink one was raised from Master
Christine, and which I named Don Pedro. By so
doing you will oblige a reader of your Monthly."

[These came between two sheets of pasteboard,
and were pressed flat, and came to hand dry. Don
Pedro is a deep pink, the other scarlet. We can
only say that they are large handsome trusses, and
so far as we can judge from the dry material very
good kinds.— Ed. G. M.]

Heating a Small Plant Room or Green-
house.—"Mrs. S. K. D. M.," Buffalo, N. Y., writes
the following list of queries, to which we have
already replied in a private letter; but insert here
in the hope that correspondents will also give their
views :

"What will be the best method of heating a very
small greenhouse (5x9), which I propose adding to
the south side of my dining-room. It would be en-
tered by a double French window from the dining-
room, and the plant bench would extend all along
the east, south and west sides, just leaving space in
the center to stand and work. I propose to floor it
with brick, and carry a pipe from the house hot
air furnace (twenty feet away) under the bench
and back into the room. Will this radiate heat
enough to keep the plants in good condition? If
not, can some one advise nie what will be the best
method of heating the place ? Our winters here
are long, cold, and devoid of sunshine. Any
suggestions about construction, &c., but espec-
ially heating, will be most welcome. I no-
tice your magazine suggests the Florence oil
stone. Do not they smell badly ? And what is
the best simple way of ventilation and drainage
for so small a space ? And will it do to have the
bottom filled with earth, and plant a hardy climb-
ing rose, or something of the sort, that would grow
under the brick floor ? I would not trouble you,
but in books I can only find directions for much
larger places, and it must be possible to arrange a
small place, well exposed as this is, and get good
results. Some one must know how."

' AND HORTICULTURIST.

Fruit and Vegetable Gaebening.

COMMUNICATIONS.

TOMATOES.
BY MR. CHARLES E. PARNELL.

I quite agree with Mr. Hicks (page 82) in his
remarks as to the value of the Acme tomato, and
•do not think that I shall cultivate it another sea-
son. I have from time to time cultivated most if
not all the principal varieties of tomatoes, and no
variety has proved to be so subject to the rot as
the Acme. I have also found the fruit very soft
and watery when fully ripe. On this account I do
not think that it could be carried safely to any dis-
tance. Its peculiar color, pinkish red, is decidedly
•objected to by many persons.

But I do not agree with Mr. H. as to the value
of the Tilden and Trophy ; at least for the garden.
The Trophy proves to be very rough and irregular
in shape, and ripens very unequally. The same
■can be said of the Tilden. In the summer and
fall of 1 88 1 the Trophy rotted as badly as the
Acme, and in this connection it may be of interest
to say that I never noticed the rot among my toma-
toes until I cultivated the Acme.

But is Mr. H. certain that his plants of the Til-
den were correct and true to name ? A year or so
ago I was desirous of obtaining a few plants of
this variety, but could not succeed. I obtained
seeds that were claimed to be Tilden, but when
the fruit ripened it was plain to all that there was
not a Tilden tomato among them. The majority
■of them were the Trophy, the rest, I know not
what.

But I have never had as favorable an opinion of
the Trophy tomato as some have. I always con-
sidered it too rough and coarse a variety for gar-
den cultivation. Yor market purposes it will no
doubt answer very well, as size, not quality is
wanting there. But in the garden we require
something very different ; solidity, smoothness,
productiveness and good quality is there wanted.
The desirable quality of ripening equally on all |
■sides, and close up to the stem, is also most essen-
tial.

Although I do not consider perfection reached
as yet, still I think there is nothing more to be
gained as far as earliness is concerned. I think

we have attained to that desired point, and would
suggest to those who are striving to improve this
desirable esculent to give more attention to shape,
smoothness, uniformity of size and solidity.

After a trial of many varieties, I know of none
better than Hathaway's Excelsior for the main
and later crops. Unfortunately it is several days
later than the Conqueror and Canada Victor, so
that we cannot dispense with the latter varieties as
yet. It may be well to say that I gave the May-
flower a trial last season, and was very much
pleased with it. I consider it one of our most
promising varieties ; but another season's trial is
necessary to determine its full value. I intended
to have given more fully my experience with the
different varieties of tomatoes, for which purpose
last season I made copious notes. But I fear you
could not well spare the necessary space.

ODOROUS HEDGES FOR FRUIT GAKDENS.

BY WM. T. HARDING, MOUNT HOLLY, N. J.

And now comes Pyrus coronaria, better known
as the sweet-scented crab, as a candidate for hedge
favors. With every confidence in its sterling
hedge-worthiness, I cheerfully recommend' it, feel-
ing satisfied it possesses all the requisite qualities
the enterprising planter looks for.

With these modest encomiums, I thus hopefully
present my odorous protege to the appreciative
pubhc. Though decidedly firm and unswerving
in its ligneous standing, its hedging disposition, not-
withstanding, is most excellent. And while sturdily
maintaining its bushy character, will yield to no
previous fruticose competitor, who may claim su-
periority in its line of usefulness. By habit,
sturdy, by nature, healthy, it has a strong tendency
to become very crabbed if maltreated. This den-
izen of the forest will successfully resist the insid-
ious attacks of every kind of depredator, from bug
to bovine. Neither will it give way to the juvenile
transgressor or adult rascal who would unjustly
tread upon its rights, as a steadfast protector of the
alluring strawberry bed, tempting orchard, or se-
ductive melon patch. Wherever it is placed, there
will it remain as rigidly unflinching as did Napo-
leon's Old Guard at Waterloo, and like them, may
die, but will not surrender to mortal marauder,

2o6

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[July.

who attempts to force a way through its strong
opposing front.

Without losing sight of it as a hedge plant, I beg
for a moment to call attention to its merits as an
ornamental tree, as all who are entitled to be
judges of sylvan beauty admit it is eminently so.
And nothing native, or foreign, when planted in
the shrubbery, lawn or pleasure grounds, is better
calculated to please than is the comely little crab
tree.

Well, as I at first began to praise it as a proper
candidate for the hedgerow, knowing from experi-
ence it is a good subject for the shears, having seen
it made positively impenetrable from frequent clip-
ping, I must in conclusion say I consider it a most
desirable plant for that purpose. And it can be as
readily raised in vast quantities from seed as are
hawthorns or apple trees ; and as it makes a rapid
growth when young, will soon form a strong, dense
and beautiful hedge, if proper pains are taken with
it. And I think I hinted at the delicious perfume
of its rich, rosy, pink blossoms, which is not ex-
celled by "Afric's spicy gales," or the exquisite
fragrance of "the Gardens of Gul," or even the
sweet odors of " Araby the blessed."

POISONS AS INSECT REMEDIES IN
VEGETABLES.

BY T. BENNETT, TRENTON, N. J.

In the April number of the Monthly, I notice a
gentleman from Connecticut recommends helle-
bore as a certain remedy for the destruction of the
caterpillar or slug on any plant ; and seems to
imply also that it is a good way to get rid of the
cabbage worm or caterpillar. I have no doubt that
his statement is true, but he does not tell us that
the hellebore is poisonous. It may do very well
to apply such remedies to rose bushes, or other
plants not eatable, but I don't believe in applying
deadly poisons to cabbage. It seems good
enough to put Paris green on potatoes, but then it
is the tuber that is eaten, and not the vine. If the
vine was the part made use of it would be very
different. I wish to say that I have been a long
time in possession of a remedy for getting rid of
these pests on cabbages without endangering hu-
man life ; but as I think the matter is now of some
importance, I will hold it until I see what I can
make out of it before I give it away. I would
have no objection to go in with some man of means
and enterprise, who would be able to plant exten-
sively, when I have no doubt the thing would be
very profitable to both parties.

FRUIT CULTURE IN SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA.

BY GEO. H. PARSONS, COLORADO SPRINGS, COL.

Physical Features. — The most strongly marked
feature in the physical geography of the State of
California are the chains of mountains that run
parallel with the coast for hundreds of miles.
There are two of these great chains, one rising ab-
ruptly almost from the sea line, like a long wall,
with only here and there a shallow coast valley, as
at Santa Cruz. This is known as the Coast
Range. The other is the great uplifted crest of the
Sierra Nevada, which through the whole length of
the State, in one unbroken chain, forms the east-
ern horizon of the coast. This range, with its
great altitude, its heavy snows, and its immense
condensing power, is the source of all the import-
ant rivers of California.

These two ranges of mountains divide the lands
of the State into two classes of widely differing cli-
matic features. The humid coast valleys, lying
outside of the Coast Range, facing the ocean, and
marked by a comparatively great precipitation of
moisture and slight evaporation, and the more arid
interior valleys, lying between the two ranges and
characterized by just the reverse, a light rainfall
and an excessive evaporation.

The winter rain-current, which is a southwesterly
wind blowing in from the sea, has to cross this
Coast Range before it can reach and water the in-
terior valleys. According to a well-known law, it
parts with much of its moisture and, climbing the
elevation, gives a comparatively damp and foggy
climate on the ocean face of the range. After
crossing the range the rain-current, thus deprived
of a large portion of its moisture, passes on to give
a lighter rainfall upon the level plains of the inte-
rior, until it reaches the tall line of the Sierra, where
with the cold of a still greater elevation the remain-
ing moisture is wrung out of the clouds. This
winter rain-current, in its sweep inland, passes over
the crest of the Coast Range in a more or less con-
tinuous sheet ; yet like a vast aerial river it avails
itself of every break and depression of the range
to pour through in still denser volume. And it is
oppositfe these breaks and depressions of the range
that we find the line of greatest rainfall in the inte-
rior valleys, as the lower and more humid portion
of the current has at these points been able to
reach the interior without having its moisture
wrung out in crossing the range.

The influence of the Coast Range upon the cli-
mate of the interior valleys is felt in still another
way ; by obstructing the inward flow of the daily

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

207

sea breeze, with its moister air, its lower tempera-
ture, and the frequent night fogs, evaporation goes
on in these valleys with scarcely a check the mo-
ment the rains are over.

The direction of the two ranges, the Coast and
the Sierra, has also its influence, and that far from
a favorable one ; for by their course from north to
south they leave the country open to the full
sweep, both winter and summer, of the harsh, dry,
parching north wind, which checks and retards all
vegetation, and neutralizes the effect of much of
the rainfall.

By examining the physical features described
above, we find they may be changed in three ways
to give a moister and more productive climate to
the interior valleys, which are more fertile than
the coast lands, but lack rain.

1st. Drop the Coast Range of mountains until it
is practically obliterated. By doing this the great
winter rain-current would no longer be obstructed
in its landward flow, and the humid ocean air hav-
ing ready access, evaporation would be checked
and a dry hot air no longer greedily suck up the
surface moisture of the soil.

2d. Keep up the elevation of the Sierra, but
bring it slightly nearer the coast, so that it may
condense all the moisture possible from the rain-
currents.

3d. Wall the land in upon the northwest with
mountains, so as to shelter it from the drying
winds that now sweep over it, in winter checking
and retarding, by their chill, the growth of vege-
tation, and in summer parching it up and blasting
the tender shoots.

The above changes are exactly what have taken
place in Southern California. Out of the broken
confusion of the Tehichipi and Tejon mountains,
where the Sierra and Coast Ranges seem to be-
come inextricably entangled, the Sierra at length
emerges and turns eastward under the local name
of Sierra Madre as the northern wall of the Los
Angeles and San Bernardino country, then turn-
ing southward it goes on to form the backbone of
the peninsula of Lower California. Stray frag-
ments of the Coast Range rise at different points but
reach no great height. This breaking down of the
coast range throws the whole valley system of the
southern part of California open to the sea, making
it practically a vast system of coast valleys, with
the Sierra as a background. The sharp turn east-
ward of the coast line south of Point Conception
also brings the sea nearer to the Sierra, making its
influence more felt, while the deflection of the
Sierra to an almost due east direction, turns it

into a huge barrier, raised directly across the path
of the cold, dry north wind, which sweeps the up-
per portion of the State. Under the shelter of its
peaks, which range in elevation from 6,000 to
11,000 feet, these southern valleys nestle, looking
from the snow-clad crests above them out toward
the warm southern sea.

Boundaries. — This highly-favored region, "beau-
tiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth," is
known by the general name of Southern Califor-
nia. It extends from the southern boundary line
of the State northward along the coast for two
hundred miles to Santa Barbara, and eastward
over one hundred miles to the Sierra range. It
embraces the counties of Santa Barbara, Ventura,
Los Angeles, San Diego and the southern portion
of San Bernardino, including within these bounda-
ries about twenty millions of acres. Its main fea-
tures are a coast plateau rising from the sea to an
elevation of 1,500 feet, and numerous valleys or
interior plateaus, at a greater elevation, opening
into it from the mountains.

Climate. — The climate of this region is as varied
as the face of the country. Along the coast plateau
the range of the thermometer is very slight and
uniform, the extremes being 65" to 80° in summer
and 25- to 35° in winter. The following table
shows the average temperature for each month,
during the last five years in the central part of Los
Angeles county:

January SO'-x .July esj^

February fiT^'^ ■ August m

March 5^^% ; September (iiji^

April 57 j October 61i|

Mav 61 V4 I November 55

Juiip 66V4 I December 53

The interior plateau, owing to the greater dryness
of its atmosphere and proximity to the Sierras, has
a much higher range of temperature, the thermom-
eter rising sometimes to loo"^. But these extremes
of temperature occur only during a few days in
the year, and on account of the dryness of the at-
mosphere are more endurable than a much lower
temperature in the Eastern States. Sultry or hot
nights are unknown in any part, and sunstroke is
an unheard of thing.

I'l^ef Season. — There are but two seasons, the
wet and the dry. The former begins in Novem-
ber and terminates in April, and the latter extends
from April to November. The wet season can be
best compared to one of the pleasantest of Eastern
springs, as it is the season of green grass, wild
flowers, budding trees, and mild, delightful out-ot-
doors weather. The rains generally occur at night.

2o8

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[July.

and the days are clear and sparkling. The annual
rainfall will average ten to fifteen inches. Fogs
prevail near the sea coast at the beginning and
termination of the rainy season. Thunderstorms,
cyclones and hurricanes are unknown. At inter-
vals come the northers, which blow without cessa-
tion for twenty-four to eighty hours at a time;
sometimes warm and sometimes cold ; always dry
and parching, and when coming before rain, ac-
companied by a fine impalpable dust. Being
broken by crossing the mountains, no serious
damage is done, except where their forces are con-
centrated by some canon or depression in the
mountains or hills. In the southern portion of
this region, and in some specially well protected
places, these winds are scarcely felt. The fogs and
winds are apt 10 follow certain well-defined
courses, and frost has its sections of preference.

Dry Season. — During the dry season there is lit-
tle of the harsh dryness of the climate in the north-
ern part of California. Rains are common in the
mountains, with a moist, cloudy air in the valleys,
which is very useful by materially checking evap-
oration. The prevailing winds, being from the
southwest, are dry and invigorating, and blow only
during the day. At night the land breeze sets in
from the mountains to the sea, always making the
nights cool and pleasant. On account of the utter
lack of rain during this season, it becomes the
time of rest for all vegetation, and little growth is
made. To produce growth upon such plants as
need it, irrigation is required, which is carried on
by canals from the streams or by artesian wells.
Water underlies the whole of the region, often
within five feet of the surface. When very near
the surface no irrigation is necessary if the soil be
properly cultivated, so as to bring the water within
reach of the roots. At greater depths the water is
brought to the surface by artesian wells. The
underground flow of this water is so great that the
number of flowing artesian wells in Southern Cal-
ifornia is estimated at one hundred.

Soil. — The soil of the plains west of the Sierras
is formed by the decomposition of the granite of
the Sierras, and of the low hills scattered over the
plains, with that from the calcareous and sandstone
formation of the Coast Range. It is generally of
a reddish brown or chocolate color and gravelly
nature, and apparently deficient in vegetable mat-
ter, excepting along the borders of the streams and
foothills, but is in truth rich in everything required
for healthy, vigorous and fruitful plant-growth.
The land requires generally but little preparation
for the plow, except along the margins of the

streams and foothills, and is easily worked and
cultivated.

The happy combination of all these various ad-
vantageous features of Southern California render
it the finest fruit country in the world. It is one of
the few places where temperate fruits flourish
alongside the tropical, and where the apricot can
be successfully grown as an orchard fruit. The
climate is wonderfully adapted to both animal and
vegetable life, and the most delightful occupation
in the world can be carried on under the most
pleasant auspices.

Best Portion. — It is impossible to say which is
the best portion of this region. New places are
continually springing up, all with certain advan-
tages, and a selection must depend largely upon
personal tastes and wishes. The settler must first
make up his mind what he wants, and then make
his choice by careful personal examination or by
adopting the advice of reliable and disinterested
parties who have had long experience in the coun-
try. As a rule, it is best to invest in unimproved
property, for it is much cheaper and will rise in
value more rapidly.

Orchard Site. — Too much care cannot be exer-
cised in the selection of a site for an orchard, and
there are certain general laws that should govern it.

1st. The lowest temperature must not be below
25O, and the highest should be 80° to loo'^.

2d. The location should not be low or wet, but
elevated and open to the free circulation of the air.
The table or mesa lands near the mountains, well
protected against the winds, are the best.

3d. The cool, moist atmosphere of the coast
brings brown scale and black rust to the oranges
and mildew to the grapes. To avoid this it is
necessary in Los Angeles county to go back to the
hills twenty miles in some places. At San DiegOi
the climate being warmer, ten or fifteen miles is a
sufficient distance from the coast to get rid of the
disease.

4th. Some means of abundant irrigation is im-
perative. The water may be near enough to the
surface during most years to suffice for mature
trees with proper cultivation, but young trees newly
planted will always require more water than can
be had naturally.

5th. The soil should be a deep, sandy or gravelly
loam, with an admixture of some clay and a
gravelly substratum free from hardpan, or with the
hardpan not less than six feet from the surface.

Planting Season. — The site for the orchard
having been selected, the land is fenced, plowed
and harrowed and made ready for planting. The

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

209

best season for planting fruit trees in Southern
California depends much upon the soil, location
and kind of fruit. Serious losses often attend too
early planting in low bottom lands from excess of
water. March and April are perhaps the best
months for planting on bottom lands, while higher
and drier lands may be planted earlier, as soon as
the soil becomes thoroughly wet to work well. Care
should be taken not to plant too close, and irriga-
tion should be carefully used, for if applied too
freely the fruit will be large and juicy, but of in.
ferior flavor.

Kind of Fruits to Plant. — The most profitable
fruit to grow is the olive, next to that the orange,
lemon and lime, then the grape for raisin and
wine, then apricots, peaches, pears, plums and
other temperate fruits. As much of an assortment
as possible should be grown so as not to be de-
pendent upon one kind, although no one place will
produce every kind of fruit to perfection. Apples,
pears and plums are best suited to strong alluvial
bottom land, if a little clay the better, while the
cherry, peach and apricot do best on a higher and
lighter soil. The temperate fruits, excepting grapes,
do best near the seacoast, but grapes, oranges and
olives require for perfection the warmer and
drier air of the interior. Grapes and olives grow
and flourish in a soil almost too poor for anything
else, but it must be light and the situation elevated
and warm.

It will not be necessary here to describe the best

methods of planting and cultivating each fruit.

This must be learned by the orchardist practically.

Some general information regarding the starting of

an orchard will be sufficient. More than this must

be learned by examining the best orchard, and

exercising fully the Yankee privilege of asking

questions.

(To be concluded.)

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Destroying the Cabbage Caterpillar. —
There are plenty of methods of destroying the
cabbage caterpillar, but most of them cost more
than the cabbages are worth. A friend of ours
employed a boy last year to kill them with a pen-
knife, and thought it as cheap and effectual as
anything he had tried. Most other remedies take
time in preparation before beginning work. It is,
however, well to place on record all that has been
done. At the New Jersey experimental station it
has been found that the fumes of benzine, as well

as the liquid, caused almost instant death, but when
applied to the cabbages, small, whitish excres-
cences appeared on the leaves. Hot water applied
to the cabbage destroyed a portion of the worms,
causing also the leaves to turn yellow. One ounce
of saltpetre and two pounds o< common salt dis-
solved in three gallons of water formed an appli-
cation which was partly efficient. The most satis-
factory remedy tested, however, consisted of a mix-
ture of half a pound each of hard soap and kerosene
oil in three gallons of water. This was applied Au-
gust 26, and examination the following day showed
many, if not all of the worms destroyed. The
growing cabbage presents such a mass of leaves
in which the caterpillars may be concealed that it
is hardly possible to reach all the worms at one
application. It is of importance, therefore, to re-
peat the use of any remedy at frequent intervals.

Kieffer Pear. — Very warm discussions con-
tinue in our exchanges in regard to the merits of
this pear. Mr. Hovey makes a very fair summary
of some of the points in the Massachusetts Plough-
man. The fact is that it is really a good addition to
the list of pears, and may be the parent of a very
valuable race. Its great misfortune is that it re-
ceived exaggerated praise from its introducers, who
have no right to complain when the reaction errs
on the other side.

Mr. Yeoman's Pear Orchard.— The celebrated
eight acres of dwarf pears at Walworth, New
York, noticed in our pages years ago, still consti-
tute a triumph in dwarf pear culture. According
to a recent visit of a correspondent of the Rural
Home, " the pear trees have been planted a good
many years, but they have been so persistently
headed back that the highest branches are hardly
beyond reach, while the trunks are four or five
inches in diameter. They have yielded a fine rev-
enue for many years and have some fruit this
year."

Figs in the Old Wor'ld. — Mr. W. B. West, of
Stockton, gives the following account to the Pa-
cific Rural Press :

" The Smyrna fig remains upon the tree until it
falls oft" of Its own accord, which occurs when
nearly cured. To complete the drying, the figs are
spread out in the sun upon a layer of dry grass for
a few days. During this time the fruit attracts in-
sects, which deposit the eggs that produce the
worms so often found in the imported fig. No
doubt the California grower, with more enlight-
ened treatment and appliances, will be able to do
away with this serious objection to imported fruit.

"After the figs are sufficiently dried, they are

2ib

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[July,

packed in camel's hair sacks, being pressed down
into a solid mass, frequently by the feet of the op-
erator, and are then shipped by rail to the mer-
chants of Smyrna.

"The work of grading and packing the fig is
mostly done by women. The figs are dumped
from the sacks upon the floor of the warehouse, to
be separated into different grades. The operators
are seated beside the heaps of figs, and each is
provided with five baskets, or as many as there
are different grades, into which the fruit is to be
assorted.

"The poorest quality is used only for distilling
purposes, being mostly shipped to France. The
next grade is ground up and made into fig paste.
The next quality, most of which have a sun scald
oh one side, or other defect, is packed in barrels or
kegs, as we frequently see them in this market.
The number one and two grades are packed into
boxes and drums, as we find them at all the retail
fruit stands of the city.

" The packing is done by a different set of hands
from the graders, and in different apartments. The
finest figs undergo a considerable amount of man-
ipulation, being pulled and stretched out, in order,
when pressed and flattened at the top of the pack-
age, that they may appear much larger than they
really are. Smyrna figs are not dipped into lye or
other solution ; the only application, if it can fairly
be called such, is that each operator is provided
with a basin of sea water, into which the tips of
the fingers are occasionally dipped, to prevent
them from sticking."

The Dandelion has of late become very popu-
lar as a salad herb in England. It requires the
same routine in the way of culture as Chicory,
viz., sow in April in drills, take up the roots when
fully grown in autumn, and plant in a dark warm
cellar or mushroom house. The young blanched
leaves are excellent for making up winter salads,
and they come in at a time when the ordinary sup-
ply of out-door materials for salading is at its
lowest ebb. — Field.

Japan Persimmons. — Mr. A. Stoddart, of Pen-
sacola, has, probably, some of the oldest and
largest imported trees in the State, and the Com-
mercial of that city says: "The fruit makes one
of the best preserves — by many preferred to the
guava — is easily dried, and is largely used in this
way in Japan in the place of dried figs, which it is
said to excel in taste and flavor."

Fruit in Mexico. — Mr. John E. Russell, in
an address before the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society, remarked that he did not think apples
could be grown in Mexico, even on the Highlands.
Peaches can be grown ; he saw them dried and
pressed into boxes, and called matacatunes by the
Indians. Figs grow in every part, and pineapples

in many parts. The pineapples of commerce com-
pared with those ripened on the plant as a wild
pasture apple compares with a Baldwin. Oranges
are produced wherever the ground is not too high.
Grapevines in Central America grow most luxuri-
antly, but produce no fruit.

Sugar in Corn. — Just how much sugar there is
in Indian corn depends on the variety, the climate,
and many other circumstances ; but for all practi-
cal purposes, three per cent, may be assumed as
data for calculations.

Canning Tomatoes. — The Prairie Farmer re-
marks: "The tomato canning industry has within
the short space of three years, more than doubled,
and notwithstanding its present gigantic dimen-
sions, reaching over two million cases for the
season closing in November last, the business may
be said to be yet in its infancy."

Truffles in Philadelphia. — Under this name
the common Puff-ball is sold in Philadelphia, in
the autumn, at fifteen cents per pound ; but they
are very good when young and fresh.

To Get Rid of Rats. — I shall be glad to give
" Plague " a hint how to banish his rats. I lived
twenty years in an old country house, and on three
separate occasions I had an invasion of rats — not
a single rat, but a colony each time. The first
time and the first notice of them was a flutter in
the pigeon loft,, and on going to see I found eight
rats in full pursuit. I got steel traps, &c., and
caught several, but no diminution was perceptible,
there was such a quantity about the place. I then
tried the following experiment : I got a box trap,
and, after a deal of trouble and patience, caught a
rat, and, getting his tail under the door, tied a
string to it, then pulled him out, and shaking him
till he hung quietly head down, I caught him with
my finger and thumb by the back of the neck and
cut off the string. I next painted him all over
with gas tar, except the head, which must not be
touched. This is essential. When I had put as
much tar upon him as I could get to stick, I took
him to his hole, and let him run in, and saw no
more of either him or his companions for that
time, till a fresh colony came some years after,
which was banished the same way. Care must be
taken not to hurt him, and if tar gets on his eyes,
mouth, or nose, you must kill him and get another,
as he must be able to run through all the holes in
the house. I should like to hear if "Plague"
succeeds with the experiment. — H. W. in Garden-
ing Illustrated.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

211

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

The Earliest Peaches South. — Mr. William
Watson writes : " We had our first ripe peaches
to-day, Alexander in the lead. Saunders, Wilder,
Downing, Ey. Canada and other sorts, claimed to
be earlier than Alexander, will not be in for over a
week yet. Could you give in the Monthly the
time of ripening in the different Southern States?
It would be of interest to parties planting for
market to know what the prospects for competition
will be. We can now ship to St. Louis, Chicago
and other large markets. Crop prospects in Texas
fine, and the crop of Northern tree agents is simply
immense."

The Primo Strawberry. — D. Smith, of New-
burgh, New York, says: "The Primo Strawberry
more than holds its own, with us. It increases in
favor. Competent judges, to whom it with some
forty other varieties were submitted, gave it their

decided preference. It has during the past year
been more largely disseminated in this vicinity,
and we wait patiently for further developments in
relation to it.

Ridding Gardens of Moles. — A lady whose
garden is very much disturbed by moles, and who
has not found traps a success for the destruction
of the animals, wishes to know what can be done
to abate the nuisance. Where traps fail, the next
best thing to do is to let a lad watch the garden
for a day, and as soon as the moles are seen to
throw up the earth, dig them out with a spade.
This plan is often followed. The person watching
may have some employment near, and every half
hour would be often enough to approach where
the burrows are. The place must be approached
very quietly, as the least sound frightens away the
mole. Run the spade into the ground behind
where the earth is rising to cut off all retreat, and
the work is done.

Forestry,

COMMUNICATIONS.

FOREST FIRES.

BY PROF. C. S. SARGENT.

The necessity of devising methods for prevent-
ing the spread of forest fires cannot, with the grow-
ing demands of a larger population upon our
forests, be longer safely neglected. The forest
question has become a question of dollars and
cents ; we cannot longer afford to allow our forests
to burn.

The proportion of actually productive forest to
population is in New England already too low, and
we have long imported most of our forest supplies
from Canada, from the Western pineries, and from
the South. The center of lumber distribution has
moved westward from New England to beyond
the Hudson, and then to the shores of Lake
Michigan.

The extent of the loss which the country ex-
periences every year from the destruction of wood-
lands by fire is enormous, and could the actual
amount of such losses be computed they would
astonish even those most famihar with the condi-
tion of the American forests. The division of the

tenth census which has been specially engaged
during the past three yeats in studying the forests
of the country, has endeavored to gather statistics
of the extent and value of the forests burned dur-
ing the year 1880. The results obtained from this
investigation have not been published yet. The
information is often vague and untrustworthy, and
even after the most careful analysis is so liable to
mislead that it will be safer, for the present at least,
to use the results as a basis for general discussion,
without drawing actual deductions so far as the
whole country is concerned from statistical state-
ments in which danger of error is of necessity con-
siderable. Enough, however, will be shown to
indicate, with all due allowance for defective re-
turns, that the extent of forest fires throughout the
country is infinitely greater than has ever been
seriously supposed.

In Massachusetts, to be sure, the amount of
property destroyed in this manner is shown to be
comparatively small, and it is fair to assume in a
community like this that estimates are more care-
fully made and more accurately returned than in
the thinly settled forest regions of the far Western
States and Territories. And yet in Massachusetts,
in the year 1880, according to these returns, 13,899

212

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[July.

acres of woods were burned over, the loss being
given at over one hundred thousand dollars. In
Pennsylvania, where the value of forest property is
more appreciated than in Massachusetts, and the
lumbering interests are only second to those of
Michigan, 685,738 acres of forest are reported
burned over during the year, with a loss of over
three million dollars. It is not probable that these
statements are exaggerated, and in the case of
Pennsylvania they undoubtedly do not fully repre-
sent the actual loss from this cause. The returns
show that 3,988 acres of the forest destroyed by
fire during that year in Massachusetts were in
Barnstable County ; that Berkshire County lost
1,377 acres; that Hampshire lost 1,150; Essex,
1,780; while in Bristol, Dukes and Hampden the
loss was in each case below 1,000 acres, and that
Franklin only suffered a loss of one hundred
acres.

During the present year a great tract of tree-
covered land, probably nearly 7,000 acres in extent,
not very valuable forest to be sure, still of very
great prospective value at least, was burned over
in Barnstable County, and the average annual
losses by forest fires in Massachusetts may prob-
ably be safely put down at some 10,000 acres.
The loss is considerable, but hardly enough to
cause any serious anxiety if it was confined to the
actual destruction of the wood growing upon the
land. But forest fires destroy not only the grow-
ing wood but the fertility of the soil itself and its
capacity to produce valuable trees again ; they,
destroy, moreover, the confidence of the com-
munity in the value and stabihty of forest property.
The destruction by fire, then, of the wood standing
upon a few thousand acres, more or less, does not
by any means represent the entire or more than a
small portion of the loss which forest fires entail
upon the State.

Sufficient attention has not been paid to the
effects of forest fires upon the soil and the subse-
quent growth of plants. We have been accus-
tomed, in treating forest fires, too generally to
consider the damage done to the growing wood
alone, and have not considered the much greater
loss the land itself suffers from being burned over.
If only a portion of the trees growing on a tract of
land are cut, a sufficient number being left to pro-
tect the soil and produce a supply of seed, — if these
are guarded from fire and browsing animals which,
next to fire, are the most active and destructive
enemies of the forest, the same Species will con-
tinue to grow almost indefinitely and a constant
succession of young trees will regularly spring up

to replace those which have been removed. This
is a system of forest management very often adopt-
ed, especially with certain varieties of trees, where
scientific forest management prevails; and it is on
many accounts a very sensible and economical
method, although, of course, susceptible of very
considerable modifications to meet peculiar cases
of forest growth or climatic conditions. If, on the
other hand, a forest is destroyed by fire which kills
the trees and undergrowth of shrubs and herbs,
the same species, except in the case of some of our
least valuable trees, rarely spring up again. Let
us take the case of a white pine forest, because the
white pine is probably the most valuable forest
tree to-day in New England and because we are
all familiar with its habit of growth. If a forest of
white pine is destroyed by fire this tree does not
spring up again. The land which, if only a part
of the trees had been cut, would have continued
to produce pines indefinitely, is not covered again
with any growth of trees for a considerable period.
The fire-weed first makes its appearance. The
light seed of this plant is often blown for a long
distance, and falling upon bare ground germinates
quickly, and finally covers the burned surface
with vegetation. Birds drop the seeds of rasp-
berries and blackberries, which find sufficient
nourishment and light for germination. These, as
they grow, cover the ground, and afford protec-
tion to the stones of the little mountain cherry,
dropped by birds also, or the light seeds of the gray
birch, or some of the willows or poplars, which are
constantly blowing about, and which will germi-
nate anywhere upon unshaded ground, however
barren.

These are generally the first trees which succeed
a white pine forest destroyed by fire ; but years
often elapse before the ground is covered even with
such trees. Nature works slowly, and the wounds
made by fire on the earth's covering of trees are
only healed under the most favorable conditions
through the gradual growth and decay of many
generations of plants. The cherries and the birch
and poplars are short lived, and unless burned up,
when the same process of recovering the soil com-
mences again, are succeeded by more valuable
broad-leaved trees. Squirrels and other animals
deposit acorns and nuts in the ground, and the
wind brings the seeds of maples, ashes, and the
valuable birches. Such seeds find protection
among the poplars and willows which had sprung
up on the burned land, and as these die, the
more valuable trees get a chance to grow and
gradually occupy the ground. This new forest of

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

213

hard-Wood trees, if protected from fire, will long
occupy the ground, and the original pine forest
will not appear again until the land, long enriched
by an annual deposit of leaves, has been again
stripped of its tree-covering, and mellowed by years
of cultivation. Such land nearly all over New
England, if freed from the plough and the scythe,
and guarded from fire and pasturage, grows up
again with pine. The different processes, however,
by which white pine land, on which the forest has
been destroyed by fire, has been again brought
into the condition to produce spontaneously an-
other crop of pine, have occupied a long period of
time, — so long, indeed, that it must extend through
generations of human life. The forest fire, then,
which destroyed the pine trees growing upon the
land, destroyed, also, the capacity of the land to
produce again a similar crop of trees during a
period which may be set down at from fifty to one
hundred years. The damage inflicted upon the land
by forest fires is, of course, not irreparable in a
climate like that of New England, where the an-
nual rain-fall is sufficient to always ensure a growth
of trees of some sort, if the ground is left entirely
undisturbed, and sooner or later, in the ordinary
workings of nature's laws, forests will succeed
each other here. But in some parts of the country
where the rain-fall is so slight that there is a con-
stant'and severe struggle between the forest and
the plain, and where trees under the most favor-
able conditions barely exist, a forest fire not only
kills the forest but it makes any future growth of
trees impossible.

We, in New England, are more fortunate, and it
is entirely within our power to regulate the compo-
sition of our forests, and maintain a proper propor-
tion between forest areas and farming land.

If, however, forests are subject to constant and
unnecessary danger of destruction by fire, there
can be no proper system of forest management in-
troduced into the usual economy of the community.
There is little inducement to plant a forest, or pro-
tect and encourage the growth of natural wood-
lands, so long as the condition of public sentiment
is such that the authors of forest fires are not held
responsible for their acts. A man cannot be ex-
pected to expend money or labor on his trees, or
allow them to grow a year after he can find a
market for them, if he has the danger of forest fires
constantly before his eyes. There is no induce-
ment, under these circumstances, to allow a forest
to mature for limber; it is safer to cut it off for
cord-wood at the earliest possible moment, and
thus reduce the risk of probable loss by fire.

Under these circumstances it is useless to adopt
any of the methods of thinning or pruning by
which the value of young forest trees for timber
may be vastly improved, or to guard the woods
from roaming and destructive cattle ; and it follows
that a large portion of the profits which our forests
could be made to yield, under a different policy
are lost.

The forest fires, then, destroy the trees. They
destroy the capacity of the land to produce again
during long years similar trees ; and, finally, they
so shake the public confidence in the permanent
value of forest property that, even in a State like
Massachusetts from which the original forest has
long disappeared, and where the value of all forest
products is enormously high, capital will not en-
gage in forest production, which, with the condi-
tion of our forests, could certainly be made
enormously profitable, until the risks from fire are
reduced to a minimum. This is a matter of special
interest to New England to-day, because upon it
largely depends the country's supply of white pine,
and the greatly enhanced value in the early future
of much New England land.

(To be concluded.)

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Forest Destruction in China. — Writing to
the London Garden, Mr. Maries says: "Many
grand trees and shrubs must have been completely
lost by the unmerciful cutting and burning of all
vegetation on the hills in China ; none but the
toughest could possibly survive. Year after year
they are lopped to the ground, and when the coarse
grass gets too thick they burn, or if S tiger or
leopard is in the mountain they burn again. This
has been going on for centuries now. They never
plant or take the slightest trouble to grow trees,
and the result is bare, barren tracts of mountain
land, once evidently forest, now useless. I visited
Kuikiang Mountains in April, 1878, when the hills
were covered with a growth of two or three years.
I went to the same places in December the same
year, and all was either cut or burnt. It was with
the greatest difficulty I was able to get a few of
the fine plants 1 found there the April before.
Many of the plants when growing in England
still bore the marks of the Chinese mountain fire."

Forest Fires. — In view of the great import-
ance of this topic, we give this month, part of a
paper by Prof Sargent; originally communicated
to the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture.

214

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[July.

Natural History and Science.

COMMUNICATIONS.

LOWER CALIFORNIA BOTANY.

BY CHAS. H. SHINN.

Dr. C. C. Parry is doing a good deal too, in the
way of exploration of the Pacific coast. In the
Spring of 1882, he made a journey into the pen-
insula of Lower California. Starting from San
Diego, last winter, as he writes to a San Francisco
paper, he repeated this journey, taking however
a somewhat different course, and extending his
journey further. The party of six persons, includ-
ing two ladies, proceeded to Encenada, six miles
South of the Mexican line. After four days jour-
ney they reached Sanyal, on All Saints' Bay, and
from here made excursions in various directions.

Dr. Parry says that the new horse-chestnut
.Esculus Parryi, found last year, was abundant and
beautiful. A Manzineta with willow-shaped leaves,
though referred to the Mexican Arctostaphylos
polifolia, is perhaps distinct, and is very orna-
mental. The new wild rose, Rosa minutifolia, was
abundant, and has aroused so much interest abroad
that it is now to be introduced into cultivation. It
has minute foliage covering the branches closely,
is of low- spreading growth, and shows pink or
white flowers on a glandular mossy cup. A good
deal is expected of it when brought under scientific
treatment.

A peculiar cactus that Dr. Parry speaks of as
found on this journey, is that species of Cereus that
Dr. Engelmann proposes to call C. guminosus,
because of its furnishing a water-proof varnish,
used by the natives. It grows in a discordant and
miscellaneous manner, sprawling over the ground,
its large joints being unable to uphold themselves.
The fruit is said to resemble the strawberry, and to
be delicious; so of course, there are Indian festas,
at a great rate when it is in its prime. The century
plant seen here is Agave Shawii, a handsome
species with orange-hued flowers on a thick stalk,
densely clustered. This, as other species, fur-
nishes the mezcal, and also fiber. Rumex hy-
menosepalus, a native dock, that the natives call
Canai argie, or sour stems, has, it is said, been
found to contain eighty per cent, of tannic acid, in
its dried tubers. It is abundant in the sand of the

dry river beds, and may prove of considerable
commercial value. Dr. Parry evidently thinks
that the resources of this peninsula have been
unduly neglected, and looks forward to better days
for "Baja California."

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Expedition to Cape Horn. — The French
government is fitting out an expedition exclusively
for scientific discovery to Cape Horn. P. Hariot,
a student of the celebrated Van Tieghew of the
museum of Natural History at Paris, is to have
charge of the Botanical Department. He is said
to be comparatively young, and full of ardor, and
botanists of France are calculating on a good
feast of riches from the exploration.

Destruction of Rare Native Plants. — Since
travelling is so fashionable, and people can get to
the most inaccessible spots of former times, rare
plants are being everywhere destroyed. Societies
for the preservation of wild flowers, are being
formed in Switzerland, and other European
countries.

The Annual Insect Crop. — It is worthy of
note that on the first appearance of an insect in
any locality, they seem to increase in great num-
bers from year to year ; but'after this the numbers
every year seem about the same. Mr. Moore, of
Concord, Mass., has noticed of the Rose-bug :
'As long ago as I can remember I saw them
as thick as they are now. In 1823 John Lowell
described an apple tree as covered with them, and
about the same time Dr. Green, of Marshfield,
gathered eighty in his hand, from a rose bush, at
one grab." This is about the general experience.

Creeping Arums. — In our country we know
plants of the Arum family chiefly from the Indian
Turnip of our woods, or from the Richardia
^thiopica or calla lily of our greenhouses. In
tropical countries they send out rootlets from the
stem, and these enter the old or dead bark of trees,
and often climb to great heights in this manner,
and give a very peculiar character to the forest
scenery. We give here a representation of one of
these climbing arums, Pothos aurea, which is be-

AND HORTICULTURIST.

2f5

sides so beauti'u' in its native country a giand in^ habit, has been imported from the Solomon
novel ornament of our greenhouses. I Island?. The leaves are strikingly variegated,

Mr. Wm. Bull, of Chelsea, London, who recent- heart-shaped, and unequal sided, of a dark green,
ly introduced it to the notice of cultivators says : j boldly and irregularly marked by bands or fan-
" This remarkably distinct Aroid, which is of climb- tastic-shaped blotches of creamy yellow, here and

2l6

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY,

[July.

there suffused with pale yellowish-green. Being
of free growth, and having a boldly marked
variegation, it will be an ornamental object in the
tropical plant stove, where it will find itself at
home in clothing walls and artificial rockwork."

From which it appears that it will attach itself
to walls as well as to trees.

A New Kentucky Coffee.— One of the most
interesting botanical facts is the close relationship
of the Flora of the Eastern United States with
that of Asia, a fact first brought prominently to
notice by Dr. Asa Gray, and which receives new
strength from botanical discoveries from year to
year. A Kentucky coffee allied to one in America
is now among the most recent of these. The con-
venient name Kentucky coffee, is widely applied,
though the tree is not by any means confined to
Kentucky. It has become a mere name without any
of its original geographical meaning — and in this
light perhaps Chinese Kentucky coffee will do as
well as any other name. This is what the Garden-
er s Chronicle says of it :

" In the last number of Hooker's Icones Plan-
taruin are figures and descriptions of some re-
markable new plants from various parts of the
world, among them a few of more than passing
interest. First, there is a species of Gymnocladus
from China — G. Chinensis, Baillon. This is the
second species of the genus, and it is quite distinct
from G. Canadensis, which is cultivated, though
not very commonly, in this country. As Professor
Oliver remarks, Gymnocladus is the second
arboreous genus recently discovered in China,
previously regarded as homotypic, and peculiar to
Eastern North America ; the other being Lirioden-
dron, collected in Kiukiang, by Dr. Shearer and
Mr. Maries. The Chinese Gymnocladus differs
from the American in the more numerous and
much narrower leaflets, which are not acuminate,
and in the thick but slightly compressed pod.
The seeds are almost spherical, and about three
quarters of an inch in diameter. The pod is three
to four inches long, and hard and horny in the'
dried state, but capable of swelling up greatly in j
water. Mr. F. S. A. Bourne, of Her Majesty's
Consular service, who sent specimens of it to Kew i
from Fokien, states that the fruit is used for wash- !
ing purposes. The outer shell is steeped for two j
days in water, and the liquid resulting, is used as
soft soap, or it can be dried into hard soap. !
Whether the seeds have the same saponaceous !
property we do not know, but it would seem that !
they have' some economic application, as they '
are figured in the late Mr. Hanbury's " Notes j
on Chinese Materia Medica " (Science Papers, I
p. 238, fig. 5). Then only the seeds were known. I
Mr. Maries collected flowering specimens of the ]
Gymnocladus Chinensis at Kiukiang, and he may I
have collected seeds also. Possibly, too, Messrs. |
Veitch have living plants of it at the present time, j
We should think the tree would be hardy in this

country, though our summers are probably not hot
enough for it to produce fruit."

Bees and Honey. — Mr. Thomas Meehan, in a
note in the Bulletin, of the Torry Botanical Club,
says : " I find that the behavior of bees is governed
by circumstances. When flowers are abundant
they visit those only which they prefer ; at other
times they examine anything which comes in their
way. At the time I am writing, May 18, there is
a dearth of garden flowers. Those of the early
spring are gone, and the later ones are not well
formed. But Columbines in many species are in
bloom. The humble bee bores the end of the
nectaries and sucks the honey stored there ; and
the honey bee follows and sucks from the same
hole what may be left, or what may be afterward
generated from the honey gland. I have often
watched closely to learn whether the honey bee
bored for honey. Its quick motions are unfavor-
able to correct observation. I thought once I had
caught it boring lilac flowers, but I afterward
counted all the flowers that had been bored by
the humble bee, and then watched the work of
the honey bee on the cluster, and there were no
more bored afterward than before. The colum.-
bines (Aquilegia), with curved nectaries, such as
A. vulgaris and A. olympica, are very favorable for
observation, as the slit is made on the upper side
of the curve, and the honey bee can be easily seen
following after the crumbs that may have been
left on the strong one's table. I have no doubt,
however, that it would bore for itself if it had the
power, and perhaps it sometimes does. The hum-
ble bee and the honey bee are evidently not the
insects for which the columbine had its beauti-
fully contrived nectar cup provided to induce cross
fertilization ; and what particular insect was de-
signed to be the favored one, so that it, and no
other, could turn its tongue around these twisted
spurs to get at the honey in the end, I think no
student has yet discovered."

Failure of the Maple Sugar Crop. — A
correspondent writes : " I see by the papers that
the failure of the maple sugar crop in Delaware
County, New York, is the completest for years,
and will damage the farmers some hundreds of
thousands of dollars. What is meant by the
failure of this crop ? I thought there was always
sap in trees in the spring of the year ? Will some
one in the sugar making districts please explain?"

The Discoverer of Beet Sugar. — On the
7th of last August a century had elapsed since the
death of Andreas Sigismund Marggraf, the dis-

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

217

coverer of beet root sugar. He was born March
3, 1709, in Berlin, and died August 7, 1782. At
that day he ranked among the foremost of the
chemists and physicists of his time. At the age of
twenty-nine he was elected a member of the
"Society of Sciences," at Berlin. In 1744 this
society was reorganized under the title of the
"Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts," and
Marggraf was assigned to the physical section,
and in 1760 became the director of that section.

In 1780 the Academy of Sciences, in Paris,
nominated him as foreign member.

The domain of chemistry was enriched by him
with a large number of important discoveries, and
he it was who first appreciated the value of the
microscope as an aid in chemical analysis and 1
research. An investigation of the nature of the !
sap of plants led him to study those constituents :
to which it owes its sweet taste, and to the dis-
covery of a substance present in different plants
and exactly like the sugar obtained from the sugar
cane of India. He obtained sugar from different
plants, especially from the mangolds, now known
and cultivated under the name of sugar beets. He
also instituted numerous experiments regarding
the best method of preparing pure sugar from
these plants. Marggraf was a man of science;
he never thought of making any practical use of
his discoveries, even when he was convinced of
their practical value.

His successor and pupil, Franz Carl Achard,
who was born in Berlin, April 28, 1753, and died
on his estate in Schlesia, April 20, 1821, converted
Marggraf 's discovery into a valuable agricultural
reality, by devoting his mental and physical
strength, as well as his means, to experiments on
a large scale. He died before he saw the fruits of
his labors ripen. Achard was the founder of the
German beet sugar industry.

The Art which Produces a Cabbage.— At a
November meeting of the Academy of Natural
Sciences, of Philadelphia, Mr. Meehan exhibited a
specimen of a cabbage which had, before blos-
soming, grown to the unusual height of three feet,
the spiral coil of the stem, which was to the left,
having been thus drawn out without any corres-
ponding increase in the number of leaf scars.
The Cabbage, in its natural condition, is an insig-
nificant plant, without any such head of leaves as
makes it of commercial value when cultivated.
The desired effect is produced by sowing the seeds
of the wild cabbage at a period of the year so
late as not to allow the formation of flowers, in

which case the vegetative vigor of the plant is
expended in the production of the mass of leaves,
which become better developed and denser as the
process of cultivation continues.

Sunken Forests. — In Neltnor's Grower, Mr. M.
S. Hubbell states that Professor Teas, of Missouri,
gives us an account of his visit to the sunken
lands in Eastern Missouri. Hundreds of thous-
ands of acres of dense forest was sunken there by
the convulsions of 18 12. This sunken tract has
since been covered with water from one to ten
feet deep, and all timber, including most of our
native durable varieties, has long since perished,
except the Catalpa, which though dead and in the
water for seventy years, still stands erect. This of
course means that the dead trees have all rotted
away, except the Catalpas. We refer to the para-
graph for the sake of the sunken forest question,
—a matter that has had but little scientific re-
search.

Concerning Figs. — There are very many
strange and inexplicable things in nature, and man
is led by instinct or observation to do many acts
which appear also to be strange and contradictory.
This thought occurs upon reading Count Laubach's
recent report upon fig culture at Naples. One of
the most pressing duties of the farmer and fruit
cultivator is to wage ceaseless war upon insects
which infest and destroy the products of his fields.
And yet we have afforded us in the cultivation of
the fig a paradox which will surprise most of our
readers. The wild fig, which grows plentifully in
fig-growing countries, is uniformly perforated by
an insect, which bores into the fruit and hatches
out a brood of insects, which devour the fruit be-
fore they leave their home. It would appear not
to.be a very desirable insect to have about a fig
orchard, but such is not the fact, for the fig cul-
tivators of Italy and Asia Minor go into the fields
and gather the insect-infested wild figs, and hang
them on the branches of the cultivated fruit, in
order that the insect may enter it. Can anything
be stranger than this ? The fig-growers think that
the entrance of the insects prevents the fruit from
falling off the trees, hastens its maturity, and im-
proves its taste. This operation is called caprifica-
tion (from caprificus, the Latin name of the wild
fig), and the name of the insect tribe is the Blas-
tophagas. Our farmers would call insect pests
with such a name "blast your phizes," no doubt.

When the insect enters and lays its eggs in the
wild fig it does so to winter and secure food for its
young. When the eggs are laid in the wild fig

2l8

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[July.

they are hatched, and destroy the fruit ; when in
the cultivated, they are laid in the wrong place,
and therefore the progeny never develop. But
they do an important work, for they carry with
them into the cultivated fig, which usually has
only female flowers, the male pollen, and thus
cause the formation of seeds. Those who have
been consumers of the delicious fig in its dried
state cannot fail to have observed that connected
with the best fruit there is very often a worm-hole
in the end of each specimen, and this is the work
of the insect alluded to. — Journal of Chemistry.

Our Tulip Tree in China. — Mr. Maries says
in the Garden : " I continued on down the
other side of the mountain into the valley to a
large dilapidated temple, and with great difficulty
obtained permission to live in it. The priests were
a sect called Tauists. What a sight was here in
the temple yard, surrounded with large trees of
Larix Ksmpferi, and in front two of the largest
Cryptomerias I have ever seen, one measuring
9 ft. in diameter, and the other over 8 ft. and quite
200 ft. high. Just below were growing lots of fine
trees of Magnolia conspicua in full flower, and the
Liriodendron tulipiferum, hitherto only known
from North America. It was in flower, and I
gathered dried specimens to send to England. I
consider it to be a different species from the
American, though very near it. It is not so large
as the American tree. The ones I saw were prob-
ably 70 ft. high, and leaves very small compared
with the American variety. The priests said the
trees were planted by the old Bhuddist priests,
together with the Magnolias, Cryptomerias, and
Larix. 1 think it very probable that both the
Salisburia, Liriodendron, and Podocarpus will some
day be found wild in the mountainous portion of
Chinese Thibet, from whence they were probably
brought by the old Bhuddist missionaries, just the

same as the Cryptomeria was taken by them to
China, for I believe the Cryptomeria does not
grow wild in any other country but Japan. It cer-
tainly is not wild in China, as is generally sup-
posed. I might say that I did not find young
seedling trees of Liriodendron, Cryptomeria, and
Magnolia ; if they were indigenous, one would
think that there would be plenty of young seed-
lings as with other trees. These sacred trees of
the old Bhuddists are mysteries still, and will be
till the unknown recesses of Thibet be opened up.
They may be the remains of old forest trees."

Uses of Structures. — Much attention has
been given of late to noting the behavior of plants
and seeds in connection with what seems to be
their own immediate good ; and a free rein has
been given to the imagination in pursuing this
path in natural science. In Geranium, Stipa and
some others, the dry styles or long awns are
hygrometric, and twist or untwist according to the
humid conditions of the atmosphere. This has
been regarded as an adaptation for screwing the
seed into the ground. In falling to the earth the
feathery apex will, of course, cause the heavier
seed to fall perpendicularly to the ground. But
just how the coiling of the awns could screw the
seed into the ground without something denser than
the atmosphere for the end of the spiral to press
against has presented a difficulty to the mechani-
cal mind, and has led some to doubt whether the
real secret of the adaptation has been exposed. If
correct, it would seem that Dundreary's idea, that
the " tail might wag the dog," is not unreasonable.
However, Prof. Beal has recently published an
account of some experiments with Stipa sparta
seeds. He finds that the seeds set perpendicular
to the surface do bury themselves in the earth.
The exact mode of their doing it is not explained.
— Independeti t.

Literature ^ Travels and Person al Notes.

COMMUNICATIONS.

GARDENING IN KANSAS.

BY JOHN BUCHI, SALINA, KANSAS.

I received your welcome Monthly for March,
and found it full of interesting news. I gather

from it that gardening in the East is advancing
very much. Out here we are getting along nicely
too, and although living near the desert — as you
were pleased to call it last year — you could not
find a finer landscape than we have at present.
It would rejoice the heart of any lover of flowers

AND HORTICULTURIST.

219

to see the variety of bloom the next two months
will give. The wonder is that they are not more
in demand in the East for hardy border plants.
There are here wild flowers, finer and larger
than any of the cultivated ones.

Hundreds of fine grasses, cactus, and curiosities
abound, and if I knew some certain time that you
would have a meeting in the interest of flowers I
would send some.

Five years ago I visited this part of Kansas and
was so delighted with it that I made up my mind
to go west. I packed up a car in Pittsburgh with
sashes and all things needed at first in gardening,
and after many ups and downs I have not re-
gretted it. I have a good home, good greenhouse,
100 hot-bed sash, water-pipes, &c., occupying a
half-acre ; can sell all I raise on the place. I have
ten acres of the best land planted with fruit and
vegetables, and better still, all is free of debt at
present.

My business will not grow to the size of Ellwan-
ger & Barry's, or Landreth's, but into a very
nice one for me. Salina is well situated, being in
one of the finest valleys. There are prospects of
getting this season two new railroads here. We
have water-works, three flour mills, one that makes
600 barrels of flour per day, fine opera house of
three stories, &c., and in short the desert is not
so bad a place to live in after all.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Specimens of Plants, Fruits and Flowers.
— When these are desired for editorial examina-
tion, they should be addressed to Thomas
Meehan, Germantown, Philadelphia, and not to
the publication ofiice in the city, as this necessi-
tates a re-shipment to Germantown, and often
several days' delay.

Character of Nurserymen. — An editorial on
the death of a Rochester nurseryman, in the Ameri-
can Rural Home, has the following : " As he was
but a man he was liable to mistakes, but we do not
believe that he ever intentionally deceived or
wronged a customer. We fear that the number of
nurserymen of whom this may be truthfully
said is not large."

We think that it is a mistake to say that the
great majority of nurserymen will intentionally
deceive and wrong a customer. We prefer to
believe that the editor of the Rural Home has had
the misfortune to write hurriedly what he would
not have done under due reflection.

Horticulture in Spain. — Mr. Charles Joly
continues his essays on horticulture, as at present,
in different parts of the globe. Since his essays
on the horticulture of England and of the United
States, one on that of Spain has appeared. He
tells us that political and religious troubles in
Spain, as well as in Italy, has retarded the progress
of horticulture — but for all this recent occurrences
develop the fact that science, horticulture included,
has a wonderful vitality in these countries. The
northern plateau, and the central portions of
Spain, have a sad and denuded appearance ; but
the plains of Valencia and of Andalusia, both in
culture and the beauty of its native vegetation, is
not exceeded by any country on the globe.

A Raid on the Silver Maple. — In a recent
address Dr. Warder says: "And now in condemn-
ing the next tree and banishing it from the streets,
another set of our good people will feel oppressed.
T\it Nursery ma7i %-A.^'s,: * * * 'The water maple
is so easily grown, so quickly attains saleable
size, it is so certainly transplanted, and the cus-
tomers get it so cheaply, 'tis no wonder that thou-
sands are planted in every Western town. And
yet it is a poor tree for any purpose when com-
pared with others of its own class. It has neither
beauty, majesty, nor strength to recommend it, but
breaks with every storm. However, it has its use
as a civilizer, and is an advance on the poplar
tribe. It may have a temporary occupation of the
streets under promise of being removed as soon as
its legitimate companions, the Norway maples, the
red maples, and other slow-growing trees, have
come to need the space the water maples have
been granted between them. It may be planted
as an alternate for its temporary shade, but only
on condition that it shall be removed in due time.' "
Instead of the Nurseryman feeling "oppressed" by
these remarks, we fancy he will rather give the
good doctor thanks. It is a mistake to suppose
that because a tree can be cheaply raised it is
therefore a profitable tree.

Enormous Fruit. — There are pictures of a
raspberry going the rounds which gives the fruit of
an astounding size. It represents seven fruits, cover-
ing not merely the palm of the hand, but extend-
ing up to the upper joint of the finger and thumb.
The size seemed so enormous that we took meas-
urements. The thumb is three-eighths and the
finger two-eighths of an inch wide, while the rasp-
berries are one inch. The hand appears to be in-
tended for that of a full-grown lady, judging by
the way the dress ornaments are arranged ; so we

220

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[July.

have a raspberry which is three times the thickness
of an adult's thumb and four times the thickness of
a lady's finger. We were about to note that this
variety must be "a whopper," when the editorial
•eye caught sight of a "testimonial" from a promi-
nent horticulturist. It says : " the hand with rasp-
berries is a good representation of the variety —
•only that they do not show full size-^they are
larger." We thought a berry three inches in
diameter — nine inches in circumference — ought to
satisfy any one, but if it is to be larger than this,
oh ! goodness. But we fancy there was a merry
twinkle in the eye when this "testimonial" was
dashed off.

Hot Water Circulation in the Olden
Time. — During a visit of the writer of this to the
Isle of Wight, in 1877, the remains of an old
Koman villa were being exhumed, near Newport.
It had been covered by the gravitation of the soil
during near two thousand years. If there be the
slightest inclination, every rain causes a movement
of the surface downwards, and though the surface
be nearly level, a ruin below the highest point, but
a few acres away, will become covered in time,
though never an earth-worm had been called into
being. The uncovering of these ruins, exposed
the remains of the ancient baths. The warmed
water flowed through cemented channels. By an
Isle of Wight paper, we note that another of these
•old villas has been unearthed, some four miles
from the one above referred to. The "puzzle," in
the extract given below, could also be explained
in'^all probability, on the theory of the circulation
of warm water through a hot-water bath :

"Some new discoveries have been made at Brad-
ing which will not only excite much interest, but
also become a puzzle to the archaeologist. The first
is a large square mass of masonry about four yards
on each side. In the center is a square depression,
the bottom of which is paved with a large flag.
The walls enclosing it are over three feet thick.
At the bottom of the wall are spouts, evidently for
the purpose of letting off some liquid. The most
probable suggestion is that it is a cochlea, or press,
but whether used as a clothes press or an oil press
is doubtful. Near this is a curious- structure, one
part composed ot a long narrow enclosure, while
another at right angles to it forms a kind of circu-
lar enclosure. What was the purpose of this it 'is
impossible to say. At the other end of the villa
there has been laid bare a square room with a cir-
cular base of masonry in the center. This base
may be that of a nymphceum, which was used in
elegant houses for placing plants, shrubs, and
flowers upon. This part of the villa may have
been the entrance."

The History of the Amaryllis. — In the

Botanical Magazine it was an Amaryllis for a
period of about thirty-five years. Then it became
a Hippeastrum for a period of forty-five years.
But in describing a splendid species, discovered in
Peru by Messrs. Veitch and Sons' collector, Mr.
Pearce, in June, 1867, Sir J. D. Hooker named it
Amaryllis pardina. Having done so, he felt
bound to justify the proceeding, and he did so by
saying that the differences recognized by Herbert
were so slight and variable as to be of no practical
value. Therefore the original generic designation
was restored ; Linnaeus triumphed, and Amaryllis
is herself again. The introduction of A. pardina
opens a new chapter in the history of this flower.
Its name implies that it is spotted like the
leopard, but that quality is not much valued by
the florists. It is of more importance to say that
this flower is distinguished by great breadth of
petal and the absence of a funnel, a fact favorable
to the expansion of the flowers to a symmetrical
face. More than any of its race introduced up to
the year 1867, A. pardina stirred the blood of
florists and gave new zest to the labors of the
hybridists, who, however, soon discovered that,
with all its fine qualities, it is not the model for
breeding from that they would themselves have
created had they been permitted to assist in the
work of the third day as recorded in the Book
of Genesis. But the model was ready for all that ;
like many other desirable things, it was made with
the rest on the third day and remained to be dis-
covered. This was secured in Peru by Mr. Pearce.
It appears that the King of the Belgians, one of the
most generous and enlightened patrons of horti-
culture in this flowery world, admired the flower
when it was shown at South Kensington in the
year 1869, and it was named in honor of his visit
Amaryllis Leopoldi. It is as truly the king of the
Amaryllises as Lilium auratum is the queen of
Lilies. It possesses all the elements of a perfect
florist's flower in breadth of petal, depth of color, a
sharply defined star, and petals superbly tipped
with white or an approximation thereto. It is
sufficiently defective as a florists flower to afford
work for the hybridist, and excitement to the
critics, and to give peculiar interest to the splendid
series of varieties that, chiefly by its aid, have been
raised by Messrs. Veitch & Sons, of Chelsea. The
hybrids figured in the year 1865 in Van Houtte's
■' Flore des Serres" were, in a way, wonders of
their time, but we have got far beyond the flowers
with funnels and indefinite green stains, and look
for expanded flowers of the most perfect symmetry
both of form and color, and with novel markings

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

to give the charm of variety to collections. — ;
Garden.

History of the Grape. — In a review of
Mr. Barron's recent book on the grape, the
Gardeners' Chronicle says: "In the first chapter i
we have an historical sketch, which we should
prefer to have dispensed with. It would be
rather difficult to establish that 'Juno's crown
was made of the vine,' in view of the fact that
the existence of Juno herself is open to ques-
tion ! We should deprecate any discussion upon
such a point, which is not of a practical char-
acter, but if the history had to be gone into at
all, it might as well have been stated that by far
the earliest records of the vine are the fossil im-
prints of Montpellier and those of Provence, both
of unknown date, but in any case long prior to any
human record, Egyptian or otherwise, mentioned
by the author. The Swiss and Italian lake-dwell-
ers also knew the vine in the Bronze Age, but no
one knows precisely when that age was. Mr. Bar-
ron tells us that Syria 'would appear' to be the
native country of the vine, and that is possible,
but no evidence is given in support of the assump-
tion, while the balance of authority, as summed
up by De CandoUe in his 'Origine des Plantes
Cultivees,' recently noticed in our columns, points
rather to the south of the Caucasus and the ad-
jacent region between the Black and the Caspian
Seas as the home of the vine. Before this question
can be settled however, we shall have to be sure
about a matter on which Mr. Barron is silent.
What was the origin of our cultivated vines ? Do
all our European and Western Asiatic vines (for
we may safely exclude the American species and
numerous other species from the Eastern tropics)
proceed from one species — that which we now call
V. vinifera — or have two or more species con-
curred in developing that now very artificial
product, the cultivated vine ? In the Caucasus
there is one species and two varieties, from
which — we are speaking on the strength of
information collected by De Candolle — the numer-
ous varieties cultivated in Armenia have evidently
sprung. Kegel, however, leans to the opinion that
our cultivated Vine is a hybrid between V. labrusca
and V. vulpina, both natives of North America,
the Himalayas, Japan, and China; and if vari-
ability in the offspring is any test, the hybrid origin
would in so far be strengthened, but in any case,
in the case of a plant cultivated for so long a period
over so large an area, there has been both time and
opportunity for plenty of variation even without
cross-breeding. The total number of varieties de-

scribed from all countries is estimated at about
2,000, but in this country the number grown is rela-
tively very small. Mr. Barron gives some interest-
ing figures relating to this point — he tells us that in
1768, eighteen sorts were described by Miller, in
i79i,Speechly recorded fifty, in 1810, Forsyth men-
tioned fifty-three. The catalogue of the Horticul-
tural Society in l83[, drawn up by Robert Thomp-
son, contained 182 names (that of 1842, which we
have not at hand, is said by Darwin to have com-
prised ninety-nine varieties ), while Hogg's Fruit
Manualo{ 1875 contains descriptions of 143. Mr.
Barron himself enumerated loo, but he purposely
omits mention of many inferior varieties."

Cinchonas in the Cape de Verd Islands.

Professor Henriquez, alluding to M. Van Gorkom's
recently published treatise on Cinchonas (see p. 84),
informs us that in the Cape de Verd Islands, es-
pecially at St. Antao, and at St. Thome, where
there are already thousands of plants of C. suc-
cirubra, officinalis and Ledgeriana, analyses have
been made of the bark of some of these species,
and with most satisfactory results. Most of these
plants were sent from the Botanic Garden at Coim-
bra, whence seeds were also sent. The plants have
been multiplied by cuttings. — Gardener s Chron.

Commencement of Cultivation. — The Gar-
deners' Chronicle says : " Of the actual commence-
ment of cultivation on a large scale little or noth-
ing is known. A Fig is represented in the pyra-
mids of Ghizeh, which have an antiquity esti-
mated by various writers at a period varying from
1,500 to 4,200 years before the Christian era. In
China, 2,700 years before Christ, religious cere-
monies were instituted in connection with agricul-
tural pursuits. But these dates, even if trust-
worthy, evidently do not go back far enough.
China, south-west Asia (with Egypt), and tropical
America, are the three principal regions in which
the cultivation of leading agricultural plants
originated, and from which it spread."

A Tertio-millennial. — Philadelphia has just
had its Bi-Centennial, but we have older cities
now. Santa Fe is about to hold its 250th birth-
day. The New Mexicans intend to have a grand
time over it. There will be a great exposition
interspersed with all sorts of fun and frolic, ex-
tending from July 2nd to August 3rd. Truly we
are becoming something more than a young coun-
try when these things are.

Mr. H. H. Rushy. — This energetic botanical
. collector is again in the South. Early in May he
had reached Fort Whipple, in Arizona.

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[Juiy>

W. G. BuRK. — Death has been busy of late
among the correspondents of the Gardeners'
Monthly. We have still another loss to deplore.
Under the signature of B. or W. G. B., we have
had many an interesting sketch from the pen of
W. G. Burk, of Media, Pa. He was born in
Delaware Co., Pa., in January, 1804, near where
he died on the 28th of April last. He was by
turns school-master, physician, druggist, and
finally retired to a farm twenty years ago. He
was fond of horticulture and most of the Natural
Sciences, and especially devoted to botanical pur-
suits, a taste he possessed in common with his
brother Isaac, well known for his devotion to the
building of the famous herbarium of the Academy
of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

North American Mosses. — It is gratifying to
know that the life-work of the late Professor Thos.
P. James is not to be thrown away. The Manual
of Noj^th American Mosses, by Lesquereux and
James is already announced as on the press.

Systematic Census of Australian Plants.
— By Baron Ferdinand Von .Mueller. Part ist,
Vasculares. Issued by the Government of Victo-
ria at Melbourne.

Bentham's Flora of Australia, is now the stand-
dard work on Australian plants. But as in so
many cases, the growth of knowledge has pro-
duced a great number of new species, not known
when the earlier volumes were being prepared, and
a new volume as a supplement might be issued.
This, however, is a work of great magnitude, and
it may be some years before it is completed.
Baron Mueller, whose work did so much to make
the Flora of Australia possible, may give this
supplement at some time ; and in the meantime he
gives this list, which is an excellent substitute ;
for he not only gives the names of everything
known to 1882, but references to the works in
which they were originally described. By this
those who are studying Australian plants in the
vicinity of good libraries, can identify those not
included in the main work.

American scientific men are accustomed to hard
labor, and get through with an immense amount
of sohd work. But with all this familiarity with
intelligent industry it is yet a marvel how Dr.
Mueller accomplishes so much.

Insects Injurious to Fruits. — By Wm.
Saunders, of London, Ontario. Philadelphia,
published by J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1883.

It was with much pleasure that we announced
the preparation of this work some months ago,

because from the peculiar studies of the author,
we were led to expect a work of unusual excel-
lence. It is not often that scientific eminence and
practical knowledge of horticultural topics are
so eminently united in one man, and this union of
advantages could not but tell in the production of
a work like this. Now that it has actually appeared
it is an additional pleasure to find the anticipations
more than fulfilled, and we are sure the fruit
grower will feel that it is one of the most valuable
works that ever appeared on his library shelves.
Every insect known to have an injurious influence
is treated of, both in scientific and popular
language, and insect remedies noted wherever
they are positively ascertained. Besides this they
are introduced to us by excellent figures of the
insects themselves, so that each can be readily
identified. Besides the intelligent and complete
manner in which the subject is handled, the
publisher deserves praise. Though the work
contains 436 pages and has 440 wood cuts, and
the paper and printing of first-class character, it is
issued at only ^3, which we think remarkable.

We note that the entomologists seem to have as
much trouble with the popular names as botanists
have, and the solution seems to us about as unsat-
isfactory. Mr. Saunders finds popular names not
very numerous, but he endeavors to start them by
translations of the scientific names. If the object
of popular names is to have something easier than
the technical ones, mere translations seem no
easier. Turning at random over the leaves, we
cannot for instance, think that " white lined
Dielephila " any easier than Dielephila lineata.
Mr. Saunders, however, wisely compromises. He
gives the people the specific name only for com-
mon use, reserving the generic for the use of the
more scientific. To try to make the whole name
common — to have, say, "The white-lined lover of
the ' Diel,' " would certainly be too much of a
good thing for even the most voracious feeder on
popular names. The subject is an exceedingly
difficult one to handle. Every body admits the
value of popular names for the popular vocabulary,
but just how to get at them in any satisfactory
way, or to keep them in satisfactory shape after
they have been started, is the great trouble.

The Bee-keepers' Manual. — By Professor
A. J. Cook, Lansing, Mich. Published by the
author.

A little boy remarked to the writer of this not
long ago, that he thought the poor bee had a hard
time of it, working from daylight to dark as hard

1883.1

AND HORTICULTURIST.

223

as could be with no time for play ! It does seem a
hard life, yet if the bee could only spare a moment
to think, it might have some satisfaction in know-
ing that it made other people work as well as itself.
At least Professor Cook has to work. Only think
of a book of this kind going through ten editions
since 1876. Professor Cook has worked hard to
keep abreast of all knowledge on bee-keeping. It
is no wonder the book sells so well.

Forestry. — The Journal of Forestry has
changed its title to simply Forestry, a commenda-
ble reform. Long names are abominable, espec-
ially to the hard worked editor, who is always
anxious to give full credit to an exchange.
Mr. Francis George Heath has become its editor,
though its publishers still continue to be William
Rider & Son, London. Forest culture, as usually
treated, is a dry subject ; but treated as Forestry
treats it becomes as juicy and enjoyable as a plate of
strawberries smothered in cream.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

To Intelligent Correspondents. — All com-
munications relating to advertisements, subscrip-
tions, or other business, must be addressed to the
fublisher, 814 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

All referring to the reading matter of the maga-
zine must be mailed to the editor, Germantown, Pa.

No express packages for the editor received un-
less prepaid ; and marked ''Paid through to Ger-
mantown, Pa.''

The English Sparrow — "Crow-foot." —
What is the latest conclusion in regard to the
English sparrow? Is it a grain eater, or an insect-
ivorous bird? As a few of them have appeared in
our vicinity, I am the more anxious to make up
my mind concerning this bird."

[We have only to repeat what we have said
before, that modern ornithology shows few, if any,
birds are either strictly graminivorous or strictly
insectivorous. Take for instance the common
yellow bird, one of the worst depredators on
seeds in the summer time, feeds wholly on
small insects in the early part of the season.
The various kinds of aphis are especially welcome
to the yellow bird in spring time. The English
sparrow is no exception. It will eat anything
whatever that is most conveniently at hand.
It does not propose to starve when there are few
insects to be had, and it rejoices on a flesh diet
when seeds are scarce. You can form your own

conclusions from these facts. It increases very
rapidly. If it gets in your grain fields and among
your fruits, the facts may endanger your reputa-
tion as a meek and mild mannered man. There is
however always this consolation, that no bird can
live out in our northern climate, when the ground
is covered for weeks with snow. So the English
sparrow must keep to the large towns for protec-
tion. It has been of immense use in some towns.
American birds are too shy. They avoid close
contact with humanity. The English sparrow re-
mains among men. This is its only advantage.
It will aid in clearing out insects from cities, when
other birds will not. But it will do damage as well
as be useful; and just which of the two it will prove
must depend on each person's experience. Every
person should be left free to protect, or to encour-
age it as he may see fit. — Ed. G. M.]

Frauds. — Mr. A. Dohles, Waterloo, New York,
writes: "This morning I was visited by a man who
represented himself to be a writer for the Garden-
ers' Monthly. He sat down in my room, wrote
a lengthy article on my business, and after he had
finished he offered me as many copies as I wished
for ten cents a copy, which would have the article
in it which he wrote up. He also offered me the
magazine for one year for only one dollar. As
the individual looked very doubtful, I required of
him a certificate from you, which he could not
show; therefore I declined his kind offer, and told
him I would pay on receipt of the papers. If I
am not very much mistaken he is a mis-representa-
tive of your journal, and collects funds under false
pretences. He came from Auburn and, I think, is
traveling West to try his profession. I should like
to hear from you about this matter, as I think he
ought to be stopped if he does crooked business.

[The publisher has sent his thanks directly to
Mr. Dohles, and we publish the letter for the
benefit of others. There is one rule which no one
should ever forget, namely, though a publisher or
a nurseryman, or a business man of any kind may
send out canvassers for names, or orders, he never
expects any person to pay money to a stranger, or
indeed to any one, stranger or not, before he has
the goods. Any unknown fellow therefore, who
goes tramping around the country and asks money
before the goods are delivered, is invariably a fraud.
The only matter of surprise is that people should
be found willing to pay money to any stranger
before they have the goods. We are unable to
help any one who does such things as these. — Ed.
G. M.]

224

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[July.

EORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES.

COMMUNICATIONS.

colony, par excellence, of the southern counties.
Napa county is the wine region of the central
region, as Los Angeles is of the south.

A CONVENTION OF CALIFORNIA
GRAPE GROWERS.

BY CHARLES H. SHINN.

A few weeks ago three hundred viticulturists of
Napa County, California, met in Napa city, and
held a convention that seems to have been highly
interesting. They first discussed preparation of
the ground, proper soil, &c. The hillsides were
preferred by many, and the northern exposures
often produced the best grapes. Among the va-
rieties of wine-grapes recommended were those of
the Rhenish, Burgundy, Medoc and Sauterne dis-
tricts, including the Pinots Reislings, Verdor, San-
vignon, Mallec, Semilon, &c. The Petit Pintor '
was excellent. The Mattereaux was hardy and !
made a good claret. The Lenoir was desirable for
its coloring quahties. The Black Burgundy, Black
ReisHng and Chabronet are choice wines. There
was a great deal of talk among the members on
the subject of table-grapes, for shipment East.
Last year table-grapes of the best quahty
brought $50 or ^60 per ton, while wine grapes
were only $25 or #30. The flame colored Tokay,
and the Black Morocco were good shipping va-
rieties. The white Tokay, and the Emperor were
great favorites for this purpose. Among early
grapes, the white St. Peter is notable. One gentle-
man reported obtaining eight tons to the acre from
the second crop of this variety — and probably
twelve tons from the first crop. His vineyard is
on the richest of soil, and is highly stimulated with
bone dust and other fertilizers. The most import-
ant piece of work the convention did was to take
up the subject of "unequal and unjust freights" on
their wine. The grape-growers and wine-makers
of the State say they are charged too much to
carry their products to market. The attempt
is being made to organize a union throughout
CaUfornia, to petition Congress, and to take proper
legal steps to ascertain the rights of shippers.

Reports so far received, from various parts of
California show that the viticultural industry is
being organized in almostevery county where vine
yards thrive, and the local societies prosper, as a
rule. The Riverside horticultural society, and
those of Pasadena, Pomona and other points in the
southern counties often discuss raisin-making, as
well as the wine industry. The centers of the latter,
in the South, are at Los Angeles and in San Ga-
briel valley. There is no wine, to speak of. made
at Riverside or Pasadena. Anaheim is the wine

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. —
The Fifty-fourth Annual Exhibition will be held
at Horticultural Hall, Broad Street, above Spruce,
in connection with the nineteenth biennial ses-
sion of the American Pomological Society, to
open on Tuesday, September nth, at 8 P. M.,
and continue on Wednesday, Thursday and Fri-
day, 1 2th, 13th, and 14th, 1883, from 10 a. m. to lo
p. M. All contributions to be entered on or before
Tuesday, September 4th.

American Pomological Society. — Essays
to be read at the meeting in Philadelphia, on
September 12th to 14th. The following named
gentlemen (the list is alphabetically arranged j will
prepare papers: — Hon. P. J. Berckmans, President
of the Georgia Horticultural Society; Prof. T. J.
Burrill, lUinois Industrial University, on Diseases
of Plants; Prof. J. L. Budd, Iowa Agricultural
College, on Experimental Horticulture west of the
Lakes; Col. N. J. Colman, Editor of the Rural
World, Missouri, on Utilizing our Fruits; Prof. J.
Henry Comstock, Cornell University, on Insects of
the Orchard ; Dr. W. G. Farlow, Professor of
Cryptogamic Botany, Harvard University, onUre-
dineae (rusts and mildews); Charles A. Green,
Editor of the Fruit Grower, on Certainties and
Uncertainties; Samuel Hape, Esq., Atlanta, Geo.,
j on the Effect of the Evening Sun on Fruit
Trees; Byron D. Halsted, D. Sc, Editor of the
I American Agriculturist, on Fungi ; Josiah Hoopes,
I Ex-President of Fruit Growers' Society of Penn-
sylvania, on Peach Culture in Pennsylvania;
Prof. W. R. Lanzenby, Ohio State University, on
Dichogomy in Cultivated Plants; i. e., noting ex-
amples where the stamens of a flower mature
before the stigmas, or the stigmas before the sta-
mens; Hon. T. T. Lyon, President Michigan State
Horticultural Society, on How can we best main-
tain a high standard of quality in fruits, as against
the tendencies of commercial pomology; J. C.
Plumb, Milton, Wisconsin ; Prof. C. V. Riley,
U. S. Entomologist, on Recent advances in Horti-
cultural Entomology; Dr. E. Lewis Sturtevant,
Director of the New York Experiment Station, on
Some things the Station can do for Horticulture ;
Prof. S. M. Tracy, Missouri University, Secretary
of the Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society.

THE

GARDENERS' MONTHLY

AND

HORTICULTURIST.

DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE. ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS.

Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN.

Volume XXV.

AUGUST, 1883.

Number 296.

Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground.

COMMUNICATIONS.

TROP^OLUM CANARIENSIS.

BY MRS. M. D. WELLCOME.

Your contributor who writes so interestingly
"Amonjg the Flowers," refers to the above plant,
better known as the Canary Bird flower. I am
surprised to find him saying, " I have not seen one
of them in thirty-five years."

1 wish I could show him mine, and he would
not talk of them as being "three and four feet
high, clover-like." It has for several years been a
favorite climber with me, and I would not be at all
satisfied if I did not have at least eight or ten of
them. They grow from ten to eighteen feet in one
season from seed sown in May. I have them
trained on strings around a very tall cherry tree,
which does not have low nor large branches.
When they have climbed to the boughs they run
out on them in every direction, and with their
handsome light green laciniated foliage and lemon-
colored bird-like flowers, borne in great profusion,
they are a charming sight. Last summer I planted
a Coboea scandens with them, and the inter-
minghng of the yellow blossoms with the green
and purple bells was "just lovely." So pleased
was I with the effect that I have the same arrange-
ment this season. They begin to bloom in June
and continue until sharp frosts.

A writer in Vick's Magazine, 1879, writes enthu-
siastically of a sight he had of them when on a
visit to Alnwick Castle, in the north of England.
"The first thing that struck me on entering the
town was a bay window most charmingly draped
with beautiful light green climbers and literally
covered with bright lemon-yellow flowers. Now
this appeared so strange to me — for the chilly
night air had already affected the geranium and
other tender outdoor plants — that I had to cross
the street, take the Yankee liberty to open the gate,
go inside and examine the thrifty beauty. I con-
fess 1 was not only surprised but greatly interested
to find it was only the Canary flower, Tropasolum
peregrinum, a member of the Nasturtium family,
and I concluded at once that there should be one
cottage in America next summer worth coming
miles to see on account of its climbing plants of
light green foliage and rich yellow masses of
Canary bird flower. This beautiful plant is an
annual, and in some of the seed farms near London
whole acres of it are raised for seed ; the plants
are trained on long trellises, and in the blooming
season the display is simply gorgeous."

In the various periodicals to which I contribute
flower articles, I have called attention to this
charming climber and urged its cultivation, and
although too late for this season we do hope you
will make a note of it and include a packet in
your seed order next spring.

226

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

1 would also recommend Tropaeolum Lobbianum
as a very attractive climber. They differ materi-
ally from the common running Nasturtium. They
will grow from ten to twenty feet in height.

T. L. Coleur de Bismark is brown ; Geant des
Batailles, carmine ; Roi des Noirs, black ; Von
Moltke, bright bluish rose.

THE EGLANTINE ROSE.

BV MRS. D. W., OF SUMMERVILLE, S. C.

The Eglantine Rose, so often mentioned in our i
American botanical works, appears to be different [
from what I remember it in England and France j
over forty years ago.

The Eglantine, "L'Eglantinier," has small bright
dark green foUage, is a running rose— or can be
made so. It bears single purely white flowers (the
petals rather thick), with quantities of bright yel- I
low stamens. The fragrance of the flower is de-
hciously faint and sweet, while the Dog Rose, of
Europe and of our own land, bears pink blossoms,
some pale, some deeply colored, the largest and
most brilliant I ever saw being those of Nova j
Scotia and Canada. The fohage is paler than that |
of the Eglantine, and scentless; the flower of
much finer texture, and the fragrance entirely un-
like the Eglantine.

The Sweet Briar, so common in Europe and so t
beloved by peer and peasant, bears a small in- 1
significant pink rose, while its rough fohage, full
of thorns, is valued for its fresh, pungent frag-
rance, retained even long after being dried. The
Sweet Briar grows to be a tall, wide-spreading
bush; in the summer perfectly covered with its
tiny blossoms.

Again, with regard to the Eglantine, I have a
vivid recollection of an Eglantine growing luxuri-
antly over a building on my father's estate in Eng-
land, which was always known by that name, and
the white flowers eagerly culled for their pleasant
peculiar fragrance.

UNWORTHY NOVELTIES.

BY VIRGINIAN, WALKERTON, VA.

Permit a stranger heartily to thank Mrs. R. B.
Edson for her "Random Jottings" in the May
number of the Monthly, and especially for her
last paragraph. Surely people have been long
enough humbugged with the wonderful Hydrangea
paniculata grandiflora. Like many others, I too
invested half a dollar in a little plant some years
ago. It grew and bloomed abundantly. For a
while the "'head" was of a pale green, then for

two or three weeks white, and in that condition
nearly as good as the old-fashioned Snow Ball,
but soon changed to a dull, dingy, dirty pink, a
disgrace to the lawn.

In moving my residence I left that behind. It
was one of the few plants I had no wish to take
with me. I can find no one here who thinks it
nearly as good as the old Snow Ball.

I see still freely advertised another plant of which
I bought a specimen some years ago, and threw
away after blooming it — the Tritoma, sometimes
called Red-hot Poker plant. Please let me say, if
any one wants a stiff, ungraceful, coarse, glaring,
vulgar-looking thing, let him get the Tritoma; it
will fill the bill.

There are so many plants and flowers of charm-
ing gracefulness and exquisite beauty, why should
we spend our money and give our space for things
that, to say the least, are far inferior to hundreds
of others ?

THE PERILS OF BEE-KEEPING.

BY A VICTIM.

I am led sometimes to doubt whether the. poeti-
cal parson, Dr. Watts, knew as much as he might
have done about entomology, or as much as he
ought about botany, when he exclaimed,

I '-How doth the little Imsy liee

I Improve eat-h shilling hour,

And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower.''

My good neighbors, the observant Mr. Bumbles
and the somewhat sceptical Bodgers, coincide with
me, and say "the learned D.D., was mistaken
about 'every opening flower.' 'Stramonium!'
whispers Bumbles. ' Aconitum !' mutters Bod-
gers. Rank poisons, both 'of them, which bees
never touch."
' Alas ! how often does the apiaryphobist dip his
pen in the viscid secretions found in the honey-
comb and write sweet effusions about "The am-
brosial hive,'' &c. While the nectar is on his lips
he becomes wonderfully loquacious, and with a
zeal worthy a better cause discourses much about
the merits of his beloved bee pets. But "the gay
deceiver" says not a word about " the dirks be-
neath their doublets." " Smooth in speech; per-
suasive ;" beware of the honey-mouthed man, and,
like "the deceits of the world, the flesh and the
devil," shun him. Remember, too, that in the cup
we daily drink most of us find as much wormwood
and gall as sugar and honey.

" 'Twas in the pleasant month of May,
When bees from flower to flower did bum,"

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

227

and flit through the blooming fields and gardens of
"Merrie England," as they are wont to do. It was
there the writer was sadly bee-deviled, some years
ago. Then, and there, I had charge of a "lordly
place," where good gardening was well carried out
and duly appreciated. The noble proprietor and
his gentle lady, living in luxury and ease, lacked
but one additional pleasure to make them the hap-
piest of earthly mortals. Satiated with every in-
dulgence wealth or power could command, and
sighing for novelties unknown, the new delight,
the bliss untasted, the crowning joy, so eagerly
sought for, was at last discovered — to be an apiary.
Unhappy delusion ! But no matter; their hearts
were set upon keeping bees. So, to complete the
sum-total of terrestrial enjoyments, began the hor-
rid business.

Both "my Lord and my Lady " evinced anequal
enthusiasm for every branch of natural history, as
the various and curious denizens about the park
amply testified. But hitherto they had not experi-
enced the delights of bee-keeping. So it was de-
cided they would, and they did so.

Books on the subject were consulted, such as
" Baxter on Bees," (I only wish the bees had been
on Baxter) "The Apiirian's Guide," (a treacherous
guide he proved) "The History and Management
of Bees," &c. In fact, all that could be learned
from bee maniacs about the bee business was
eagerly sought for. Inquiries were made of old
Bellows, the village blacksmith, and Mr. Whop-
straw, the thatcher, who w^ere supposed to "know
a thing or two " about bees. The wiseacres both
declared "it would be the best thing his lordship
could possibly do." Their wisdom no one could
gainsay. The sages' pronunciamento settled all
doubts (but my own) and convinced everybody
(but the writer).

A rustic structure was soon in progress, and
when completed and stocked with a number of
hives, was known as the bee-house or apiary; a
misnomer for " Inferno," as the sequel will show.

For a time all went on well ; the bees seemed to
flourish and so did I. As a bee purveyor I flat-
tered myself that 1 succeeded admirably. Almost
everything in the vegetable kingdom, from buck-
wheat to borage, was cultivated for their special
use and pleasure. The first flowers, if not the first
fruits of the season were for them. If they could
but find an opening into any hothouse or other
glass structure where beautiful exotics were bloom-
ing, fuchsias especially, they seemed to delight in
entering and destroying them. Whether it was
from wanting honey or from wanton wickedness I

cannot say. But it seemed more like malicious
mischief, from the wilful way they beat, buzzed and
banged about the flowers than anything else.

Summer and autumn passed by, and at length
frost and snow put an end to their revels out-
side, and the shrill wintry winds blew gusty and
chill.

Then the two bee oracles, Messrs. Whopstraw
and Bellows, conjointly advised that they, the
bees, should receive a daily allowance of sugar
and old ale during the winter months. They as-
sured me "it would warm the blood in their little
hearts and would cause them to love me more
than anything else ; and would, moreover, be the
making of them by springtime." The two savants
had considerately put me in possession of a talis-
man that would protect me from every bane and
evil that might lurk in the hearts of bees. Follow-
ing their advice (I will vouch for it), no baccha-
nahans feasted or fared better than. they.

They must have had a jolly time of it. I have
often wondered since if it was possible for little
bees to get drunk and kick up a fuss, or play the
fool, after the manner of big bipeds. I am in-
chned to think so, and can only attribute some of
their strange vagaries to alcoholic excitement or
delirium tremens.

The rigors of the winter season passed by and
gentle spring was ushered in, with March winds
and April showers. May, smiling May, had come
again and was lovingly opening the sweetest flow-
ers, and all nature seemed blithe and gay. All
hands in the gardens and grounds were busy, as
the slanting rays of the morning sun shone through
the apiary and warmed and wakened the little
workers within.

Fain would I conceal what follows and " tell it
not in Gath." But a duty I oweto my fellow-crea-
tures urges me to dispel all apiarian dissimulations
I can and burst the bee bubble. The old and
fraudulent "South Sea bubble" was not more fal-
lacious than the modern bee fanciers' delusions.

While directing some operations in the rosary,
between the aviary and apiary, and adjacent to
the mansion, I heard the dulcet notes of a lady
fair, accompanied by a harp, sing softly the song
"When the bee sips her sweets from the lip of a
flower." Fascinated with the seraphic melody of
the enchantress I paused, and while listening to
the voice of the charmer observed at my feet a
struggle between three belligerent bees. The com-
bat seemed unequal, two to one. As a lover of
fair play my sympathies went to the weakest side
as they always do, and dire was the consequence.

228

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

With good intent, be it said, I separated them and
thought no more about it. Two of them flew
straight to the hive, and the other took wing in an
opposite direction. Soon after, in the neighbor-
hood of the hives, was heard a strange buzzing and
a noisy commotion within. There was mischief
brewing. Presently a score or more flew in my
face, singing "Business, business, mind your own
business," and viciously stung me. Like skirmish-
ers in the front, they were closely followed by an
army of some thousands of infuriated foes, who
spitefully charged upon me from all sides, like a
legion of devils. Maddened with the venom of
their poisoned weapons, I fought the noxious tor-
mentors off as best I could, and yeUing with pain
made off for home as fast as I could run. Although
I had but a short distance to go, I could scarcely
see my way in at the door. If " our soldiers swore
terribly in Flanders," perhaps they were justified.
And if at anytime justifiable swearing is admiss-
ible, I think it is when ten thousand fiendish bees
assail us, and there seems to be no other way of
overcoming their atrocious and diabolical designs.
I am not an adept in the art of war, and to a
knowledge of military science I lay no claim. I
confess to knowing more about plowshares and
pruning-hooks than swords and spears.

The infernal furies drove me as near to the di-
viding line of the valley and shadow of death as I
have ever been before or since. No professional
bruiser's eyes were more effectually bunged up
than mine. Neither were the features of anything
living so shockingly deformed or frightfully dis-
torted. Talk about "the human face divine," my
own neither looked human nor divine. For the
time being I was a marked man, if not "a man of
mark." And was, moreover, distinguished by being
the only one of the kind in the universe. Certainly,
no homogeneous being bore any resemblance to
me. My friends failed to recognize me, and even
my dog, the hitherto faithful "Toby," disowned
me.

If Job had been my name, I, perchance, might
have borne the affliction patiently and felt thankful
under the circumstances. But no Jewish virtues
possessed me then. My name was William, an
Anglo-Saxon, and I suffered accordingly. The
combined medical skill of Doctors Drastic, Bolus
and Bleedem, coupled with a sound constitution,
saved me ; and a merciful Providence has spared
me to make known the perils of bee-keeping. Hav-
ing accomplished the pious duty assigned me of
informing my fellow-creatures of the evil thatbefel
me (as a warning to others), when " Pandora's

box " was opened and a legion of bee-devils flew
out and encompassed me round about — must con-
clude.

As my mission is now ended, and it only remains
for me to say that whenever I see "the little busy
bee," it reminds me of Hamlet's words. "He poi-
sons him i' the garden."

Bee — An insect that makes honey and wax, says
Worcester.

Bee — An insect that makes me flee away, says

W. T. Harding.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rose Sidonie. — The French Journal des
Roses does not wholly devote itself to new roses.
In the October number it gives a colored plate of
the beautiful old hybrid perpetual Sidonie, which
to day is not surpassed by any new one, when we
take into consideration a number of good points.
It is especially interesting as being the parent of
the whole race of hybrid perpetuals. It was
raised, in 1820, from an English hybrid China
rose, named as the Portland, or Portland Damask,
a hybrid with the Rosa Indica and Rosa gallica.
The raiser of Sidonie was a Mons. Godefroy,
florist of Ville d'Avry in France.

Japan Maples. — A report of the Massachusetts
Horticultural Society say s : " Mr. Strong mentioned
first the Japanese maples of the polymorphum
type, which may be properly classed as shrubs.
There can be but one opinion as to the exceeding
beauty of many of them. The variety known as
atro-sanguineum purpureum is perhaps the best for
our climate. But it is greatly to be feared that
none of these are likely to prove vigorous, though
it is probable they will withstand our winters if they
mature a healthy summer growth. The difficulty is
with our hot suns. On the estate of Mr. Hunnewell,
where they Rave the benefit of shelter and moisture,
they seem to thrive, and are superlatively beauti-
ful. But at Messrs. Parsons' nursery in Flushing,
where they have been largely propagated, they do
not get from the frames to the open ground to any
extent. The general experience is that they will
require such careful nursing as will unfit them for
ordinary cultivation." We quite agree with the
estimate placed on the atro-purpureum, or atro-
sanguineum, as it seems to be indifferently called.
Most ot these maples are curious, but this one has
the germs of the widest popularity.

As to hardiness, the tenderness noted at Flush-

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

229

ing we should regard as due to local or temporary j
causes. The writer has an atro-purpureum before
him as he writes, which is approaching six feet
high; and while some things supposed generally
hardy have been killed, some in one winter, some
in others, this plant has never shown any injury.
It is on its own roots — not grafted — though we do
not know this should make any difference. The
purple English oak, growing twenty feet from it,
has been killed, when the maple was uninjured.

Improved Hepaticas. — We have occasionally
referred to these as among the most desirable of
our spring flowers, and they bear cultivation very
well. There are several shades of color, and some
with double flowers, mostly from plants that have
been found wild. From the following from a cor-
respondent of the Garden, it would seem as if
there were to be some earnest attempts by florists
at their improvement. Perhaps our own gardeners
will like to share in this interesting effort :

"These are plants that will repay the trouble of
raising them from seed, as thereby a great variety
of color is gained, and we shall soon find multi-
plied the terrific names given in catalogues to
these first glances of the spring. The seed does
not germinate till the following spring, but it should
be sown when ripe. I have now several pans full
of seedlings, which will not bloom till next year,
though they were sown in April, 1875 ; for all that
I shall be well repaid, as the flowers were care-
fully hybridized, and the pans have required little
attention after sowing the seed. Turfy loam mixed
about half-and-half with cocoanut fibre is the best
compost for sowing all such seed as will have to
remain a long time in the pans ; this compost does
not become sour or consolidated."

Pansies for Bedding. — My neighbor, Mr.
Beard, an enthusiastic horticulturist, grows the
finest pansies that I have ever seen. A few months
ago the Massachusetts Horticultural Society
awarded him a silver medal for his pansies. He
sows his seed in August, and grows his young
plants in cold frames, which are well wrapped up
in winter by a bank of litter with a board over it
around the frames, and straw mats with light
wooden shutters over them, over the sashes. His
pansies keep growing all winter long, begin to
bloom in January or February, are at their best in
March and April, and by a little shading from strong
sunshine, and lots of water should they need it,
they bear their blossoms copiously till June arrives,
by which time their blossoms, on account of the
excessive heat, become too small to satisfy his
taste, then every plant is rooted out and thrown
away. The soil he uses is fresh loam, with a
heavy addition of old rotted manure and leaf

mould. Last spring, in front of his house, in ad-
dition to his beds of spring flowers, were vases
filled with pansies of a size and richness so un-
common as to elicit the admiration of the whole
neighborhood, and sow the healthy seeds of emu-
lation. For two months before the advent of
geraniums and petunias we can thus enjoy our
pansies. Connoisseurs sometimes perpetuate the
finer pansies by renewing them from cuttings
every year, but so very fine is the Lemoine strain,
that pansies from cuttings seem a waste of time. —
W. Falconer in Coutttry Gentle/nan.

Zebra Grass. — Eulalia Japonica is not far in-
ferior in beauty to the famed Pampas grass, and
especially when growing in good strong bunches.
As an ornamental parlor grass it is particularly de-
sirable. Besides it has the advantage of being
entirely hardy.

A White Daphne Gwenka. — In regard to the
discovery of the white variety of this in China,
Mr. Maries tells the Garden:

"As I left Kuikiang and rambled along amongst
the old graves and bushes on the roadside 1 no-
ticed several light-colored varieties of the Daphne
Gwenka. It struck me there might be a white
one, and I was somehow always looking for a
white variety. When near the hills I saw in the
distance, across the paddy fields, a white patch of
flowers. I went, and found to my inexpressible
delight a pure white variety of the Daphne, with
much larger flowers than the lilac one, and slightly
scented. 1 took up the plant carefully, and sent
to Kuikiang for pots and potted it. It grew, and
was eventually safely landed at Coombe W^ood
Nursery, where it thrives well. It was growing in
stiff yellow loam; in fact, I never found Daphne
Gwenka in anything else except loass and stiff
yellow loam. It thrives admirably in gravel at
Coombe Wood. The best way to grow it is to
prune it down after flowering, so as to get long
young growths, on which the flowers are produced
the following spring from the ground to the top of
the branches. 1 have seen it four feet long in
China, just as Mr. Van Volxem described it to me
— a 'grappe des fleurs.' The white variety is evi-
dently a rarity, as the Chinese said they never saw
a white one before."

Rosa rugosa. — For many years Rosa Kamt-
chatica has been growing in old Germantown
gardens. The newly introduced Rosa rugosa
seems to be the same thing, and as far as we can
judge from Lindley's monograph of roses, the de-
scribed differences have little specific value.

Cultivating the Japan Lily. — It is well
known that of thousands of Japan lilies planted in
this country annually few survive. The true reason
has not been discovered. It has been thought that

230

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

there was so/.ie delicacy of constitution ; but per-
haps the true state of the case has been offered in
the following, which we take from an address by
Mr. W. E. Endicott before the Massachusetts
Horticultural Society :

" It is well known to possess a delicacy of con-
stitution, owing to which the bulbs, after flowering
pretty well for a year or two, dwindle and die.
The essayist said he had planted great numbers
in all soils and positions, but all have gone the
same way, except a lot of six planted ten years
ago in ordinary garden soil. All but two are in
good condition ; one of these had the shoot
knocked off by a careless person, and the bulb of
the other was pierced by the underground shoot of
a plant of Arundo Donax. This imperfect success
the essayist ascribed to the fact that the bulbs were
originally planted twelve or fifteen inches below
the surface of the soil, and he has come to the
conclusion that all lilies should be planted deep
rather than shallow. To get a sound, strong stock
of Lilium auratum, they should be raised from seed
here. This has been found true in England, where
such sell for from one-quarter to one-half more
than imported bulbs. It is beneficial to this and
other species to provide at least a partial shelter for
the lower half of the stem. A remarkable point
about the L. auratum is the variability in the time
of flowering, which ranges from June to Septem-
ber, and, stranger still, the plant which flowers
early one year will bloom later the next."

<« ■ »-

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Plants for Names.— A box by mail, marked
from H. Webber, Cumberland, Maryland, came to
hand, and contained specimens of two native
plants, Castilleja coccinea and Cypripedium
acaule. No letter has been received referring to
them, but we suppose them sent for names.

Clematis for Bedding.— A. L. Siler, Hillsdale,
Utah, writes : " You may say to your Canadian
correspondent that Clematis montana is the plant
that he wants for a bedding plant; it is not a
climber but a trailing plant, with large purple
flowers, produced in May and June. It prefers a
rocky or gravely poor soil, and grows when it gets
but little moisture. It is hardier than the oak, and
is the plant that a Canadian would naturally want.
Clematis Douglasii might give him some satisfac-
tion, but it is a herbacious perennial. Say to A.
B. C, of Bucyrus, Ohio, that seed of any of the
plants named in his inquiry in the April number
will grow if scattered on the ground in the fall of
the year."

Jap.an M.\ples. — E. Manning, nearHarrisburgh.
Franklin Co., Ohio, writes : "What is your opinion
of the new Japan maples; do they generally suc-

ceed or not in latitudes like central Ohio ? My
own experience of eight varieties of them is any-
thing but favorable. I have only one left, and I
think it will soon go the way of the rest."

[We can only say that, excepting our corres-
pondent's, we have received no complaints that
the Japan maples do not thrive in his latitude.
They thrive exceedingly well in Philadelphia,
growing rapidly, and standing both heat and cold
without the least injury. — Ed. G. M.]

Seedling Clematis. — D. Smith, Newburgh,
N. Y., writes: "By post I this day send you a few
flowers of my seedling Clematis, Mary, which I
raised three years ago, and which I consider a de-
cided acquisition. Plant, perfectly hardy — none of
the Clematis family more so — an excellent bloomer.
The flowers, it is believed, equal in beauty, size,
etc,, either of the early blooming varieties, stand-
ing well the rays of the sun, etc. Supposed to be
a seedling from the Sophia, but of a darker color
and firmer texture ; perhaps accidentally crossed
by some other variety. If the flowers are received
in good condition, would like your opinion of it.
I have no plants for sale."

[The flowers came in good condition. We would
call the seedling a rich violet color, and it is cer-
tainly a desirable sort. There are, however, such
a variety of Clematises nowadays that it is im-
possible to say whether or not this one differs from
any now known. The well-known sort, azurea
grandiflora, approaches it in color, but is lighter,
and has narrower petals. — Ed. G. M.]

Cergis Canadensis. — I. S. C, New Jersey,
writes : " Inclosed I send you a twig of a tree that
is on my grounds and which 1 do not know the
name of. The tree is about fifteen years old, and
is about twenty feet high. It is now covered with
bloom, and has been for about a week, and will
continue so for a week longer. Please give me its
name, and can it be propagated by cutting ?"

[The specimens are Cercis Canadensis, the Am-
erican Judas tree. As shown by our correspond-
ent's inquiry this tree is not so generally known as
it deserves to be. Given room to develop, it forms
a symmetrical tree and seldom fails to flower pro-
fusely every spring. Cercis Japonica, the Japan
Judas, has richer colored flowers, and is a great
acquisition. The name Judas tree is a corruption
of the French Arbre de J mire — Tree of Judea —
Cercis Siliquastrum — and, after corrupting the
name, the English supposed it to be the "tree
whereon Judas did verily hang himself." — Ed.
G. M.J

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

231

Greenhouse and House Gardening,

COMMUNICATIONS.

REMARKS ON STEAM HEATING.

BY CHARLES BURLEY, EXETER, N. H.

Ihave used steam for two 'winters in my green-
houses, in place of the hot-water system, which had
furnished the heat for the previous twelve years ;
and if my experience will be a help to those who
still doubt, I am disposed to add something to the
valuablecontributions in your April and May num-
bers.

I adopted the Exeter Machine Co.'s boiler, for
the reason that 1 knew of its value in heating dwell-
ings, public buildings, &c., in this region, where it
meets with unqualified approbation. I am very
glad to see that Mr. Evans and Mr. Simpson have
found this boiler and the heating by steam as easily
understood and managed as I have done, and I
am free to say that all who adopt the system of low
pressure, with theboilerand plans of piping houses
recommended by the experienced workmen of the
Exeter Company, will not be disappointed.

The specially valuable point in the sectional
boiler is, as Mr. Simpson says, that more sections
can be added in case more heat is wanted. An-
other important feature should be mentioned, and
that is, in case of accident from improper manage-
ment : The sections do not explode, tearing every-
thing to pieces ; they simply crack, and you have
notice at once by the steam or water oozing out.
In such case the cracked section can be removed,
the connecting joints plugged, and the heating go
on till a new section is ready. With ordinary care,
however, such a contingency will not arise, for the
sections will never give out if there is sufficient
water in the boiler.

My boiler has twenty-four sections, in two bat-
teries of twelve sections each, set over two fire
boxes. In moderate weather one fire will make
steam fast enough to heat the six houses, equal to
12,000 feet of glass. The second fire is lighted
when the weather requires it. It will readily be
seen that this plan of two fire boxes is specially
valuable in case of accident to the boiler.

Five pounds pressure has proved in my houses
to be sufficient to meet the coldest teinperature,
even at the extreme ends of the houses. Two or

three pounds is more often the register of the
gauge, and the thermometer in the houses will
stand at 60-. I have never been able with hot
water pipes to raise the temperature so high in my
largest houses at night as with steam at five pounds
and less; hence I do not see the need of fifteen to
twenty pounds pressure, which appears to be Mr.
Bochman's register (see p. 105 of your April issue).

Some of your correspondents advise the use of
large pipes. Under high pressure Mr. Bochman's
reasonsmay be good ; but for good resultsin warm,
as well as cold winter weather, I would prefer four
l-inch or i '4 -inch pipes to two 2-inch pipes, the
cost of putting up being about the same. I think
the large pipes objectionable from the fact that the
heat cannot be kept low enough in moderate
weather. With four lines, instead of two, the tem-
perature is under better control. I have adopted,
as a compromise, this plan : A large main of 2-inch
pipe runs the entire length of the house, about
twelve inches from the ridge, the gradient line be-
ing, say ten inches in the hundred feet, downward
toward the extreme end, where branches of smaller
pipe lead to the coils and manifolds, as shown by
Mr. Evans on pages 102-3. (April number, G. M.)
These coils have a like gradient downward to the
inner end of the house, and hence the return water
is flowing freely in all, and finally drops into the
main drip and returns to tlie boiler.

The entire series of pipes must, of course, at the
lowest point be some fifteen inches above the water
line in the boiler, thus dispensing with automatic
traps, t&c.

Here we have a large pipe heating the upper
part of the house, and a series of three or more
small pipes, which are opened or closed as occa-
sion requires, on the sides. The advantage of this
system will be apparent to any one who will look
into it. I believe the large pipe near the roof does
an important part of the heating, and is a test of the
idea suggested in the editorial notes of the G. M.,
page 107. An all-important requisite is good draft.
Burning anthracite coal with a sluggish draft is
very expensive. We all know that it can be re-
duced by dampers ; but we must not be content
with anything short of a strong upward current
when occasion requires.

232

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

THE MANETTI ROSE.

BY MR. H. B. ELLWANGER, ROCHESTER, N. Y.

I know that the Gardeners' Monthly' would
never with intention mislead its readers ; permit
me, therefore, to make some corrections of the state-
ments in your June number on the Manetti rose.

Since the Manetti became known as a desirable
stock on which to graft roses our firm has made
use of them, importing or growing a considerable
quantity each year. This June we will have 55,000
roses in flower that are on Manetti roots, and we
have planted out for our July budding upwards of
90,000 Manetti stocks and 10,000 Grifferaie stocks.
This is one-third of our entire stock of roses, and
will show in what estimation we hold the Manetti.

There are many florists in this State, in New Jer-
sey, Long Island and Massachusetts, who use (for
forcing) plants from cuttings, only when budded
ones are not to be had. There is a large number
of amateur Rosarians who will have their plants,
of certain kinds, worked on the Manetti stock, or
who will not have them at all.

To say, then, that the use of this stock has been
wholly abandoned shows you have been misin-
formed. The desirableness of its use remains open
for discussion, but the fact of its large and con-
tinued use is easily proved and is not an open ques-
tion.

Now, as to the qualities, good and bad, of the
Manetti as a foster parent. Horticulturists do not
find all desired qualities done up in one parcel ;
every variety of fruit or flower is lacking in some
good feature to be found in another sort. So it is
with the Manetti. It does sometimes (often, if you
will) throw out suckers /rom the roots which, if un-
disturbed, ultimately choke the variety it has been
budded with. This is certainly an objectionable
feature, but it will not weigh much when placed in
the balance and compared with the qualities which
commend it for use. By budding roses on a stock
like the Manetti or Grifferaie we propagate many
varieties which cannot be grown from cuttings, at
least not without great loss; such kinds are Baron-
ess Rothschild, Abel Grand, Marguerite de St.
Armande, Crested Moss, Gracilis, Persian Yellow,
etc. ; we also propagate varieties of somewhat fee-
ble habit, like Horace Vernet, Louis Van Houtte,
Marie Baumann, Xavier Olibo, etc. These sorts are
among the most beautiful roses, but they need the
vigor of growth which another stock can alone
supply.

The Manetti is a very distinct rose, and the
suckers it throws are easily told by any observant

person from any sort in general cultivation. Most
roses have five leaflets, though there are a number
of light-colored sorts with seven. The Manetti has
seven leaflets, often nine, of deep green ; the shoots
and thorns are of reddish tinge ; when once recog-
nized it is ever afterwards easily distinguished.

The matter may be summed up thus : Persons
who know nothing of roses should obtain varieties
which are on their own roots, and be content with
kinds like Jacqueminot, La Reine and Paul Ney-
ron. Amateurs who are capable of discriminating
may be safely trusted to plant budded roses of
such kinds as are improved by being worked ; the
suckers of the Manetti are easily cut off and give
very little annoyance to those who know roses.

In England there have always been some to op-
pose the use of a stock for roses, on account of the
trouble the suckers would occasion ignorant plant-
ers, but there are now more budded plants in Eng-
land than at any previous time. If we could keep
off the bugs with as little labor as we expend in
keeping oft' Manetti suckers, the culture of roses
would be a very simple affair.

[Mr. E. is no doubt correct about the Manetti
being in use in America for some years past ; but
the period we refer to as the time when they were
abandoned goes back to twenty years ago at least.
And perhaps we were not strictly correct in saying
that the stock had entirelv gone out of use, even at
that time. It would be best to say that they were,
about thirty years ago, in almost universal use and
then came to be almost abandoned.

In other respects we can endorse what Mr. Ell-
wanger says. It is unquestionable that many roses
will do much better on the Manetti than on their
own roots, and any one who knows that his roses
are grafted on this stock, who knows how to tell
the suckers from the stock and has the good sense
to take them off as they appear, will never be sorry
he has a grafted rose. It was not this, however,
which rendered the Manetti stock unpopular, but
that the majority of people who bought roses had
not this knowledge and good sense. In short, the
Manetti is a good thing for the intelligent grower
and a poor thing for the rest. — Ed. G. M.]

HEATING GREENHOUSES.

BY JAMES CURRIE, MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

I have read with interest the valuable hints on
hot water and steam heating by Walter Elder in
the Monthly, page 72. I am much pleased to
see the subject receive the attention it deserves, in
fact, calls for, as it has been an open and interest-

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

ing question for years whether hot water or steam
is to be preferred for heating greenhouses. The
question yet remains unsettled, as is fully shown
by the many learned and thoroughly experienced
advocates of both systems who from time to time
give us their experience and opinions.

I hope to again see the subject referred to in
your valuable columns, and trust that many of
those who have had the opportunity to make ex-
periments may give us their experience. I am fully
assured that hundreds of my brethren in the pro-
fession, as well as countless amateurs all over the
horticultural world, are greedy to learn more of this
subject.

But what I wished to refer to more particularly
at this time is your remarks appended to that arti-
cle.

You say "no one has answered why hot-water
pipes must be made to ascend. Hot water, as well
as cold, will travel faster going down hill." Now,
it strikes me that that last sentence settles the
much-disputed question forever, and clearly shows
why hot-water pipes should not be made to ascend,
except where unavoidable. But as the opinion
still prevails that they ought to ascend two, four,
six or more inches, according to the various theo-
ries, in every hundred feet from the boiler, and al-
though I am not prepared to prove or disprove any
of the theories, yet I have been constrained by my
interest in the subject to submit to you one or two
of my experiences in both systems of conducting
the water.

Like the majority of my old-country brethren, as
well as those of this country, I have, from the time
I first gave the subject my attention and until quite
recently, been led to belive that in all hot water ar-
rangements the flow must have a gentle and even
rise from the boiler to the end of the house orturn-
ing point of the pipe, and a like descent fromthese
back to the boiler. In accordance with that "fixed
law," I have until lately laid all pipes with great
care, and sometimes at a great disadvantage and
loss, on that plan. And when I say, with great
care, lat me add that on whatever plan the pipes
may be laid, I have always found it paid to lay
them with care, avoiding all unnecessary undula-
tions or bends, as all such, in some measure, tend
to obstruct the flow of the water.

As an instance, I will briefly give an experience
I had over a year ago. At that time we built a
range of greenhouses, five in number. As the op-
portunity offered I determined to put to the test a
plan I had heard of and had often thought of, that
of laying the pipes as nearly level as possible. We

used the ordinary 4-inch soil pipe, many of the
lengths of which are a little bent, consequently the
entire line is slightly undulating. The main, a
5-inch pipe, passes along the ends of the houses,
under the floor level. At each side of each house
an offset raises the water from the main to about
twelve inches above that level. From that point
the piers or supports for the pipes were built on one
level, the pipes being laid on them, the flow above
the return, as is customary, each return bend be-
ing furnished with a 4-inch air-escape tube.

All being in readiness and the fire started, a gen-
tle warmth was soon perceptible all along the
pipes in all the houses, but as the water reached a
higher temperature the pipes in several of the lines
gradually grew colder, and I immediately con-
cluded that there was air collected at those points
where the stoppages occurred. After several at-
tempts to overcome the difficulty, I at last had all
the pipes raised at the return ends about two inches
(the houses are about 55 feet long), and the air
immediately rushed out of the escape pipes, and
since then there has been no trouble from that
source. The experiment was enough to show me
that nothing was to be gained by laying the pipes
level, and also that there is indeed very little mo-
tive power in hot water, and that what little there
is had better be utilized to the best advantage.

Since that time 1 have become a convert to what
we call here the "down-hill plan" of conducting
the water. Although very sceptical for along time,
I am at last convinced that it is superior to all
other plans. I need not here give my reasons for
thinking so, as should I, it would simply be to re-
peat what Mr. S. C. Moon has said in his able arti-
cle on page 75 of the Monthly.

Although he has not said so, he undoubtedly
means the tanks which receives the hot water di-
rect from the boiler to be furnished with a tight-
fitting cover ; if not, I would beg leave to suggest
that a cover should be fitted to the tank to prevent
the evaporation of and loss of heat, and that for
the escape of air a small "^.-inch tube be inserted
in the cover.

Where a cheaper arrangement may be desirable,
a very good substitute for the tank may be had in.
a perpendicular 4 or 5-inch pipe, according to the
size of the flow. This pipe to be carried up about
four or five feet above the level of the top of the
supply tank; and, by the way, I have found in
practice that the more this tank is elevated above
the boiler, and provided the inlet to the boiler be
in the return pipe and, 1 think, better close to the
boiler, (a very small tube will answer the purpose)

234

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

the better will be the flow. But to return to the
upright pipe. At about one foot below the bottom
level of the supply tank, in this pipe let there be
inserted a tee, to which the main is attached,
dropped from that point as may be necessary or
desirable. The air as it rises from the boiler will
float to the surface of the water in the upright pipe
and escape, and the water will pass off at the side
outlet comparatively free of air.

Last summer one of our florist firms in town made
an addition to their establishment by building two
more houses, each 10x95 feet, and heated by a
4-inch flow and return pipe on each side of each
house. Previous to that, the two small boilers
which heat the .range seemed to be taxed to their
utmost to furnish the necessary heat. It was, how-
ever, decided, by way of experiment, to attach to
them the additional 800 feet laid on the "down-hill
plan." The old pipes are on the old plan. No
particular attention was paid to having them at
any point on a level with any of the other pipes.
The experiment proved much more successful than
was ever anticipated. The whole system of pipes
now work admirably, all heating simultaneously
and evenly, and yet the boilers are not overtaxed.
I am confident had those pipes been laid on the old
plan, no such satisfactory result would have fol-
lowed.

But, Mr. Editor, I have already occupied too
much of your time ; I hope you will excuse me.
The subject is one I am fond of talking about, and
it is possible I exceed the bounds of patience.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rose Triomphe n' Angers. — At a recent meet-
ing of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society Mr.
Strong said that there is no rose so free flowering
as the Triomphe d'Angers, or that would be so sat-
isfactory to the public. He cultivates it as a sub-
stitute for General Jacqueminot. It is not an ex-
hibition rose.

Begonia D.wisii. — Messrs. James Veitch e^
Son, Chelsea, England, write that the credit of the
introduction of Begonia Davisii, which was given
to Messrs. Haage & Schmidt in our May number,
really belongs to them. It was introduced, they
say, by them through the collector, whose name it
bears, nearly ten years ago.

Origin of Modern F".\shiokable Floral
Decorations. — The English Court Journal?,a.ys :
"To trace the advent of these elaborate decora-

tions we must go back some fourteen years, when
Sir Edward Scott had the first grand floral ball at
his mansion in Grosvenor Square. The order to a
well-known florist was that he (Sir Edward) wished
his to be the handsomest ball of the season, and
that he would place his house in the hands of the
florist for three days to do as he liked, regardless
of expense. The decorations caused a perfect
furore, and it was the means of entirely revolu-
tionizing the style of artistic decoration not only in
London, but in every part of the United Kingdom,
and, indeed, the whole of Europe and America.
What Sir Edward did then to gratify and please
his friends for a few hours has been a lasting and
continually increasing incentive to the cultivation
of flowers, and a great benefit to many thousands
of his fellow creatures. It was the great incentive
to the cultivation of flowers — a source of pleasure
which conveyed a gleam of sunshine into millions
of homes, and which has enabled many thousands
to earn an honest living, creating within them-
selves a better life, and diffusing its beneficent in-
fluence o'er all around."

Popular Love of P' lowers. — A London paper
says that " any one who can remember the homes
of the poor in London fifteen or twenty years ago
in our back streets and slums will bear us out in
saying that scarcely a flower-pot was seen in their
rooms or on their window-ledges outside. At the
period in which we write you can scarcely go
through a street and find a window without some
plants in it, either outside or in. This lact being
recognized, we come to the natural conclusion that
the taste for flowers has increased more than ten
thousand fold during the last twelve or fourteen
years, and that consequently horticultural and
floricultural knowledge has infused into the mind
of the people generally a greater love for flowers,
thereby improving their tastes and tending to make
their homes happier. Then we have to look at the
effect of a love for flowers from a commercial point
of view. Twelve years ago the number of growers
who attended Covcnt Garden Market cpuld be
counted by the number of fingers on our hands.
Now they are to be counted by hundreds, and the
people employed in the production of flowers by
many thousands."

DiPLADENiA CARISSIMA. — It is gr?tifying to
note that amidst the rage for foliage plants those
with handsome flowers are not forgotten. The
tribe of Apocy naceae gives us many beautiful plants,
usually with sweet, waxy flowers, of which the
Stephanotis and Rhyncospermum jasminoides are

AND HORTICULTURIST.

235

familiar examples. This is a new introduction of , marked opposite the center of the oblique limb
Mr. Bull, who gives it the following character : "A 1 segments by radiating lines of bright rose. The

charming variety of this attractive genus of stove ] flowers are about five inches in diameter, of good
climbers, producing racemes of lovely flowers of a form and thick wax-hke substance. From its dis-
soft, delicate bluish-pink color, with an openthroat, ' tinct character, free habit, and the pleasing colcr

2^6

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

of the flowers, it will prove an excellent companion
for the magnificent D. Brearleyana, and like it,
will make a first-rate exhibition plant."

Begonia Weltoniensis. — This is a plant emi-
nently suited to the wants of amateurs, as it is of
such easy culture and such excellent habit of
growth that failure is well nigh impossible. And
it is one of the very best of window plants in cul-
tivation. We grow a quantity of it for vases and
conservatory decoration, for it requires neither
stakes nor ties to make it into an excellent shaped
specimen. Cuttings of it strike freely in moist
heat, and if put in early, make a nice succession to
the old roots that are dried off and treated exactly
the same as Gloxinias or Achimenes. We lay the
pots on their sides under the stages of intermediate
houses when the winter temperature is about 50'^,
and in February they are taken out, the old foli-
age cut clean off and a good soaking of water

given and set up on a light shelf, when they quickly
push up a number of shoots, the points of which
are taken off for cuttings, and the old ball of earth
is shaken away and the plants potted in light, rich
soil ; in the same sized pots as before they are
grown on in warm frames or any of the forcing
houses, when a brisk, moist temperature is main-
tained for the earliest flowering batch, and others
are kept in cool houses or Irames, and the flower-
ing points pinched out to form successions. As
soon as the earliest lot show flower they are re-
moved to cooler quarters, when they develop lovely
plants and last a long time in beauty ; the foliage
alone is very pretty, but when surmounted by a
cloud of pretty pink flowers the effect is very good.
At our local cottage garden show this plant is a
great acquisition to collections of window plants
shown by cottage and amateur gardeners. — James
Groom, in Gardening' Illustrated.

Fruit and Vegetable Gardening.

COMMUNICATIONS.

FRUIT CULTURE IN SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA.

BY GEO. H. PARSONS, COLORADO SPRINGS, COL.
(Concluded from page 209. )
Oranges. — Oranges are hardier than lemons,
and lemons are hardier than limes. They will all
stand a good deal of frost, when at full bearing
ao'e, but cold weather causes a thick rind and
a lack of juice, and in the lemon a lack of
citric acid. Hence oranges from Riverside, in the
interior, are quoted at $5.00 to |i 0.00 per thousand
higher than those at Los Angeles near the coast.
San Gabriel valley and the valley running fifty
miles east and west and about twenty-five
miles wide, in which are situated Pomona, Cuca-
monga, San Bernardino, Ontario and Riverside
are among the best known and most successful
regions for the growth of citrus fruits. The atmos-
phere of these valleys is so dry and warm in sum-
mer that the scale will not be found on one tree
in a hundred and the black fungus is unknown.
Here the oranges ripen from January to June and

ought not to be shipped before March, when the
Horida crop is gone.

The trees should be carefully selected and poor
ones never bought on account of their cheapness.
The best are two or three year old buds or strong
three year old native orange stock. The selection
of varieties is of great importance, for different
kinds bring different prices, but cost the same to
plant. The varieties of oranges that have succeed-
ed best in California so far, are Mediterranean
Sweet, Riverside Navel, Maltese Blood, and Thin-
skinned St. Michael. The best varieties of lemons
planted here, are Lisbon and Eureka, and of limes
the best is the Mexican.

Ten acres is enough for a citrus orchard, and
one hundred trees, twenty feet apart, are planted
to the acre. Oranges and lemons will bear freely
at eight years old, and will be in full bearing at
twelve years old, yielding then one thousand fruits
per tree, per annum. Limes are in full bearing at
five years old and are as profitable as oranges.
The net profits from full bearing trees are $500 to
$1,500 per acre.

The profits of orange culture may be shown by

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

237

the following figures, carefully collated from the
experience of prominent fruit growers in California.
The estimates are low and abundant allowance
has been made for errors and accidents.

COST OF ORCH.A.RU.

]() aci-es of laud, @ SlOO per acre ?f 1,0U0

lOmi trees, S years, budded on 3 year-old stocks 1,000

Plaiting and caie of orcliard, first year 200

fare of orchard for 2 yeai s (q; $io per year per acre. . 300

Capital required *_2^00

RECEIPT.S FROM ORCH.VRD.

Third vear, from trees 9 years old, -50,000 oranges, @

sisperiono ;. g. 7.50

Cost of marketing 250

Profit 20 i, or () ■; per year $ 500

Fourth year, 100,000 (q f 15 per lOOO $ 1

Care of orchard and marketing fruit

Profit 40 r;, or 15 '} per year S 1,000

Fifth year, 500,000 (fd $15 per 1000 S 7,

Care of orchard and marlietitig fruit 2,

Profit 200';, or .")2 '; per year S 5,000

Sixth ye.ir, 1,000,000 @ $15 per 1000 nrx

Care of orchard and marketing fruit 5.

Profit 400 '^r, or 110 <■} per year.

810,000

The price obtained for the oranges in the above
estimate is for common sorts. For the finer varieties
already named $40 or $50 per 1,000 is generally
obtained. The market is always good, and with
our rapidly growing country and increasing wealth,
it is not likely to fail.

Grapes. — Vineyards are perhaps the most im-
portant form of fruit culture, and have the advant-
age of bearing sooner after planting than any other
fruit. The red granite soil of California, and the
hot cloudless weather of the interior, are specially
fitted to develop the rich saccharine properties of
the grape and the fine aroma of the raisin. On
the coast where the fogs are frequent, or on rich
bottom soils, where the water is within six feet of
the surface, the grape although it may be large,
is apt to be sour and watery, and to lack the fine
appearance which only perpetual sunshine can
give. On the other side where there is not suf-
ficient moisture to produce a luxuriant growth of
rind the grapes and consequently the raisins are
apt to be what might be calle'd lean.

In California where there is almost perpetual
sunshine, a level piece of land is best for a vine,
yard, and a hill-side of northern exposure prefera-
ble to one facing south. Level ground will absorb
nearly all the water that falls as rain, while a slope
will shed it. If a hill-side be used, it should be
terraced. The best soil for the grape is a finely
divided sandy loam, easily worked, and absorbing
and retaining water readily. A sandy soil, by its

porosity, has more capacity than a clay soil, to
take up air in the day-time, and draw out its
moisture during the night. In preparing a vine-
yard, the ground is plowed as deep as possible
four weeks before planting. Just before planting
it is harrowed as smooth as possible. For wine
the vines should be planted six by six feet, and
for raisins eight by ten feet.

Irrigation should be provided, but used very
sparingly, for the vines require very little water
and will do perfectly well during many seasons,
without any more than nature supplies. By ex-
cessive irrigation the grapes are made watery and
insipid, and inferior for wine or raisins. The phy-
loxera is the most deadly enemy of the vine, and
has destroyed all the vineyards in many places.
It has not yet appeared in Southern California, and
possibly never may, for energetic measures are
adopted to prevent its introduction, and irrigation
prevents its growth and spread. Yet the safest
way is to plant only varieties grafted on the native
stock, which is very hardy and does not succumb
to its attacks.

The most profitable use of the grape is for
raisins, next for wine and lastly for table use.
Very nearly all the raisins in California are made
from grapes dried in the open air between the rows
of the vineyard. Still it is better to have a drier
on hand in case of necessity. The California wine
is of very fine quality and improving each year.
Much of it is marked and sold as celebrated
European wines of different brands, for if marked
from California it does not bring so good a price.
The variety most used for raisins is Muscat of
Alexandria, but the Sultana is supplanting it in
many places, making an excellent quality of both
wine and raisins. The best varieties for wine,
varying according to locality, are Blanc Ellu, Zin-
fandel, Bergen, Burgundy, and Black Malvoisii.

For Raisins. — The cost and profits of a vine-
yard for raisins is shown as follows :

COST OF VINEYARD.

10 acres of land

5.000 vines, 2 years old, @ $100 per 1000. . . .
Planting and care of vineyard, first year.

Care of Vineyard, second year '

Incidental

$ 1,000

500

250

IW

100

Capital re(iuired ^ 2,000

NET RECEIl'TS.

Second year, 500 boxes raisins @ SI. 60 .
Cost of marketing

800
.300

Profit 25 r;, or 12 f» per year.

Third year, 1,500 boxes raisins @ 11.60.
Care of vineyard and marketing

8 500

2,400
1,000

Profit 70 fr, or .32 ^ per year % 1,400

238

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

Fourth year, 2.000 boxes @ »1.60 S 3,200

Care of vineyard and marketing 1,JOO

Profit 90 ';, or 46 < per year S^^OO

l-'ifth year, 2,500 boxes (a 11.60 S 4,000

Care of vineyard and marketing 1,800

Profit llOfo, or 59;,' per year $_2^00

For Wine. — The profits of a vineyard for wine
are as follows :

COST OF VINEYARD.

10 acres of land ^

10,000 2 year-old vines @ f 100 per 1000

Planting and care of vineyard, first year.

Care of vineyard for second year

Incidental

Capital required.

S 1,000

1.0' 0

250

150

100

$ 2,500

NET RECEIPTS.

Second year, 4 year-old vines, 30 tons of grapes, 4,500

gallons @ 20c

Cost of marketing

S 900
400

Profit 20 ';, or 10 ,' per

$ 500

Third year, 50 tons grapes, 7,500 gallons @ 20c.
Care of vineyard and marketing

Profit 40 fJ, or 20 < per year

Fourth year, 75 tons grapes, 11,250 gallons @ 20c.
I'are of vineyard and marketing

S 1,500
500

S 1,000

S 2,2.50
750

Profit 69 ::,, or 30 :; per year J_1^00

Fifth year, 100 tons grapes, 15,000 gallons @ 20c.
Care of vineyard and marketing

« 3,000
1,000

in good bearing at seven years old and will yield a
profit of $500 per acre. In nine years they will be
in full bearing, yielding a profit of at least fiooc
per acre. The profits of an olive orchard for the
first five years will be about the same as shown for
an orange orchard.

Apricots. — The apricot is one of the most
profitable and reliable of fruits in California. In
its culture there is this advantage, it is a practical
monopoly of Middle and Southern California, for
it does not succeed as an orchard fruit .in any

I other part of the United States, nor in any part of

; Europe. It may be safely said that there is no
fruit cultivated in semi-tropic California that pays

^ better during the early years of the orchard, nor
one with which the grower is more independent of
the market for fresh fruits. It is a favorite fruit
with the dryers and canners, and if from any
cause there is not a ready sale for the fresh fruit,

[ he can purchase a dryer and evaporate the fruit,
producing an article that will command ready
sale at the highest market price. The trees do
best near the coast, where the foliage can inhale
the moisture of the daily breeze. The leading
varieties are Moorpark, Golden and Royal.

The profits from apricots are shown as follows :

Profit 80 '.', or 40 •, per year

. . $ 2,0<i0

The market for raisins and wine is always good,
for the reason that they are not perishable, but
will keep for any length of time.

Olives. — Olives have the advantage over all
other fruits in being longer lived, and an orchard
once possessed is possessed for all time. Trees are
now in full vigor which were planted many cen-
turies ago. Those planted in Southern California
over one hundred years ago, by the early Spanish
missionaries, are now yielding crops valued at
$150 per tree. They have also the advantage of
growing and flourishing in soil almost too poor for
anything else. A stony soil is best suited to them
and locations contiguous to the sea. They require
a climate whose mean annual temperature is not
less than 57°. The mean temperature of the
coldest month should not be less than 41°, and the
thermometer should at no time drop below 14O.
At Santa Barbara and San Diego especially, they
have proven very remunerative. The Olives of
Southern California are preferred by epicures to
those of foreign importation, owing to their pecu-
liar nutty flavor. The best variety is the Spanish
oUve, which is large and fine flavored. They
require very little water and attention. Trees are

COST OF ORCHARD.

10 acres of land

1.000 budded trees @ 25c

Planting and cultivation, first year

Care of orchard, 2 years, @ 8150 per year.
Incidental

1,000

250

200

300

50

Capital required S 1,800

NET RECEIPT.S.

Third year, 25,000 lbs. of fruit @ 3c.
Cost of marketing

750
250

Profit 28 f^ or 9 ;; per year S 500

Fourth year, 50,000 lbs. @ 3c. . . .
Care of orchard and marketing.

1,500
500

Profit 55 ;, or 20 'i per year SJ_^0O

The aim should be to have the fruit weigh eight
or ten to the pound. Smaller than this are not
used in canning.

Other Fruits. — Apples, cherries, peaches and
plums may be treated like apricots and yield large
returns, but are not so profitable as those named
before. Many other fruits are grown in Southern
California, but not enough is known about them to
warrant any positive statements. Figs, walnuts,
Maderia nuts, almonds and bananas have all been
planted and fruited with great success. But they
are too much of an experiment as yet, and beginners
in fruit culture should confine themselves to the
staple products, oranges, olives, grapes and
apricots.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST,

239

General Orchard. — With a capital of $10,000,
an orchard of forty acres can be planted and
cared for until it is bearing enough to take care of
itself. The best arrangement of such an orchard
would be ten acres in oranges, ten acres in olives,
eight acres in grapes for raisins, five acres in
grapes for wine, five acres in apricots and two
acres for house, barn and garden. The profits of
such an orchard for five years would be as follows:

COST OF OKCHAHl).

40 acres of land S 4,000

Buildings, fences, &c., i acres l,ii7o

1,000 orange trees. 6 year-old budded, 10 " 750

1 ,000 olive trees, @ 75c., 10 " 750

4,000 grape vines, for rnisins. 2 vear, 8 " liiO

6,000 •' •' " wine, '" 5 " UOO

500 apricots (?« 25e., 5 " 125

Planting and cultivating, first year, 3^20 per acre tiOO

Cultivating, second year. §15 per acre 600

Capital ^10,000

NET KECEIPTS.

Second year, from grapes for raisins ?^ 400

From grapes for wine 250

Profit 7% 4, or 3:*4 '; per year t>50

Third year, from grapes for raisins 81,100

From grapes for win j 500

" oranges 500

" olives 500

" apricots 250

Profit 28 ;., or 12 ', per year 2,850

Fourtli year, from grapes for raisins >-l,450

From grapes for wine 750

' ' oranges 1 ,000

" olives 1,0(10

'■ apricots 500

Profit 47 fi, or 20 '. per year 4,700

Fifth year, from grapes for raisins SI. 800

From grapes for wine l.dOO

" oranges 5,000

" olives 5,000

" apricots 2,500

Profits 153 •,, or 15,300

Total receipts, profit 235 v, or 47 't per year §23,500

As a general rule it would be better to divide
an orchard of the above kind, and raise the
oranges and grapes in the interior, and olives and
apricots near the seacoast.

EARLY PEACHES UNSATISFACTORY.

BY J. M., PHILADELPHIA.

I am the owner of a small assortment of fruit
trees, some peach trees among the rest, and I wish
to relate how disappointed I have been with such
early sorts as Alexander, for instance. 1 have a
tree of this sort which is and has been a model of
good health and of a shapely tree, and of which I
had expected great things in the way of fruit. The
first year of flowering it set about a dozen fruit, and
of this number ripened about the half, the rest
were stung, and dropped off at different times be-
fore ripening. The second year was a repetition

of the first, only on a larger scale, a lesser propor-
tion remaining on to ripen than before. I had later
ripening sorts that were doing better than this, and
making up my mind that the earliest peaches were
not the ones for me, I budded my Alexander with
four good later sorts, viz.. Stump the World, Moun-
tain Rose, Oldmixon and Smock Late. However,
I did not utterly condemn it, but left the centre
limb untouched, thinking if it did well this season
it should remain. But again the results are to be
as before. The fruit set well, but at this writing,
June 26th, nearly all the fruit have dropped from
the stings of insects. I shall cut out the last limb
of the early kind and let the four named as bud-
ded on it take the lead next year. I shall do this
because my later sorts, such as Crawford's Early
and Susquehanna do not suffer to near the extent
the Alexander does.

HELLEBORE FOR DESTROYING INSECTS.

BY G. GEDULDIG, NORWICH, CONN.

In the iVIay number "Reader," Berwyn, Pa., asks
if hellebore is not dangerous to use on cabbages.
In answer to that I say no; it gets only on the
outer leaves and the next rain washes it off. I have
used it for over eight years and have never found
any harm from it. It is not necessary to use enough
of it to hurt any one. It is sometimes used dry on
currant bushes, and in larger quantities than on
cabbage. Is there any record of any one ever
having been poisoned from eating currants after-
wards ? I kill any caterpillar with it on roses, or-
anges, etc. I believe it is the only remedy for cot-
ton worms. On roses I have used it when they
were in flower, when necessary, without spoiling
the flowers. Thirty gallons of water to one pound
of hellebore is about right. Everybody maybe as-
sured that no danger to them or those who eat the
cabbage would come from the use of hellebore.

[Probably hellebore, used in the liquid form ad-
vised by our correspondent, would injure no one,
but poisons on vegetables should be used with cau-
tion.—Ed. G. M.]

EDITORIAL NOTES.

An Economical Insecticide. — I am using at
the present time a decoction for the destruction of
green and black aphides, thrips, and mealy bug on
vines, which I find answers the end in view capi-
tally, costs really nothing, and is within the power
of anyone with a garden to manufacture at home.
I bruise with a mallet 40 lbs. of common laurel

!4o

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

leaves and young shoots, put them into a copper
with about 30 gallons of soft water, which is boiled
for about an hour. The liquor is then of a nice
sherry color, and, of course, very poisonous, but,
perhaps, not more so than many insecticides. The
above proportions of leaves and water I have used
in the diluted state, with soft soap in some cases to
give it adhesiveness, and have found no ill results
to occur even i-n tlie case of tender young growths
of either indoor oiyhardy plants. It has been used
this season, after exhdustii^g pur bought in reme-
dies, on peaches out-of-doors and in the peach
houses after the fruit was picked, on cherries in-
fested with that troublesome black-fly, on melons
for red spider, and on all with equally good effect,
and it is so cheap that one need not be afraid of
using it too abundantly. We keep now a good
quantity of it always on hand, so that it can be got
at for dipping or syringing at any time. For mealy
bug I use it now instead of methylated spirit, and
find it just as efficient as the latter. It is advisable
when using it on trees carrying fruits to wash it off
before it has had sufficient time to dry on the fruit.
I mean to try it on apple trees overrun with Ameri-
can blight, and also as a winter dressing in stronger
proportions than the above, and I anticipate good
results from its use.

[We desire to call particular attention to this
from a correspondent of the London Garden, be-
cause it probably contains the germ of a very use-
ful hint to us. It is well known to entomologists
that the odor of prussic acid is deadly to many in-
sects, and the "common laurel leaves" here referred
to is the cherry laurel, cerasus lauro-cerasus, the
leaves of which abound in prussic acid. We can-
not get these leaves in America, but peach leaves
or the leaves of the wild cherry would probably
do quite as well. — Ed. G. M.]

Disease in Peach Trees in California. — A
correspondent from Chico, California, sends sam-
ple of diseased peach branches, unlike anything
known in the East, and asks for information. It so
happens that the editor has himself recently visited
California, and saw the same disease in the So-
nora. Mocassin and Tuolumne Valleys, and gath-
ered what information he could in regard to the
trouble. At some future time he will publish what
he has been able to ascertain about it. It seems
to have more relation to the twig blight in apples
than any other disease ; but the peach growers in
California with whom the editor talked about it,
connected it in some way with the curl.

Popular Strawberries. — The display of straw-

berries at the June meeting of the Germantown
Horticultural Society was an unusually large one.
There were exhibited dishes of such sorts as Down-
er's Kentucky, Colfax, Kirkwood, Cumberland
Triumph, Sharpless, Captain Jack, President Lin-
coln, Dolly Varden, Glendale, Boyden, Crescent
Seedling and Primo. The schedule called for two
sorts. The successful exhibitors' kinds, for both
first and second premiums, were Sharpless and
Captain Jack; and the same sorts have led at the
meetings for several seasons past. There were
Sharpless berries exhibited measuring 7 to 8 inches
in circumference. The Captain Jack is an even
and beautiful berry, and both sorts are of excellent
flavor.

The Currant of Commerce. — Most people
who have given the matter a thought know that
the currant of the grocer is a kind of grape, which
grows in Greece, and differs from the ordinary
grape in the fact that the berries are very small
and rarely, if ever, produce a seed. The many,
however, scarcely give the matter a thought, and
fewschool boyscould answer the question, What is

a currant? So we give with this a sketch of the fruit
known to gardeners as the Black Corinth grape,
and which is taken from a very valuable work,
"Vines and Vine Culture," referring to the foreign
grape, by Mr. Archibald F. Barron, of the Royal
Horticultural Society's Gardens, at Chiswick, Lon-
don.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

241

We have never seen this grape growing, and
hence do not know whether the failure to perfect
seed is owing to a deficiency of pollen or an im-
perfect pistil.

Hardy Raspberries. — Every once in a while
some variety is introduced, with the caution not to
get that other variety over the way if you want
something thatisentirely hardy. The Turner was at
one time the only genuine hardy kind, the Brandy-
wine was the only true hardy, and if the Thwack
was anything at all, it was the genuine hardy, if
anything was.

Now we have another "only" hardy one. "The
Turner close by were nearly all killed to the
ground, and but very few show any foliage a foot
above the ground, and cannot bear a crop of fruit.
The Brandywine, close by their side, is in very
nearly the same condition and cannot bear a crop.
Thwack, adjoining them, are no better, and will
not produce any fruit this season."

We have no doubt of the correctness of this
statement. The gentleman who gives it is well
known for careful statements. But what we wish
to ask is, what constitutes a hardy raspberry?

Preserving AND Drying Fruits. — Mr. Charles
Joly, of Paris, is doing inestimable service to the
French people, by keeping them informed of what
the rest of the world is doing, and by which they
may profit. An address of his on the subject cited,
before the Societ'k Nationale et Central d Horficul-
fure de la France, has just been issued in pamph-
let form, which shows that while the business in
Paris, Nantes and Bordeaux at one time almost
controlled the world, these cities now have power-
ful rivals in the United States, Australia and Bra-
zil. Steam has revolutionized the fruit trade, and
Mr. Joly says that pineapples from Florida are
sold in the streets of London at the same price that
first-class apples bring. New Orleans comes in for
a good share of favorable notice — "New Orleans,
where its numerouslanguages, as well as its products,
furnish the best living example of what happened
at the destruction of the Tower of Babel." The
address is filled with statistics of the American fruit
trade, given in detail, and is profusely illustrated
by representations of American fruit peelers and
the various first-class appliances by which Ameri-
cans dry and prepare fruits.

Cracking of Pears. — How little is really known
in Europe of the diseases of fruits is evidenced by
the statement of opinion in a leading English hor-
ticultural magazine that cracking in the pear is
from "a want of heat," and it recommends that the

pears liable to crack should have the warmest as-
pects. It does not seem to be known in England
that pears crack in the United States, where surely
there is heat enough for any pear.

To Make Liquid Manure. — Mr. J. B. Moore's
method is to get a large tub and place two strips of
board across it, and on these to put a flour barrel
filled with manure, and having holes bored in it.
Water is then poured into the barrel and leaches
through into the tub. It mus't be diluted for use.

The Date in California.— The date palm in
California has produced fruit in several instances.
It takes from 15 to 25 years for the trees to become
old enough to bear. The male and female flowers
are borne on separate plants. The ancients knew
that it was necessary for the flowers to be artifici-
ally fertihzed and practised it on the Date, though
it does not appear that they knew anything of the
sexes of flowers as understood in these modern
times.

Fig Culture in CALiFORNiA.^At a recent
meeting of the California Horticultural Society Mr.
Rixford remarked that the Smyrna, he had heard,
i produces more than one crop, but it is only one
I crop (the second) which is used for drying. In
I regard to the caprification process, it is considered
I in Asia Minor essential, and unless it is practiced
the crop fails. As you know, the blossoms of the
fig are inside of the fig, and the claim is that an
insect crawls into the fig, and moving about carries
the pollen from the anthers to the stigmas. The
importance of fig culture on this coast can hardly
be over-estimated. There is no reason why Cali-
fornia should not produce all the figs which we
need on this coast.

Cucumbers in the Old World.— We, in
America, where vegetables of so many kinds can
be had from nature for little more than the ask-
ing, can have no idea how much labor and skill
has to be exercised before much can be had in any
part of the old world. Cucumbers, for instance,
have to be raised in wooden frames, or hot-bed
sash, and the heat furnished by stable manure, the
whole carefully tended day by day, and more
added around the outside, as the temperature de-
clines. LTnder these circumstances every slight
advantage in a variety is noticed, so as to get the
greatest number and size of products under the few
square feet of glass. A new cucumber, " Koenigs-
doerffer's Indefatigable," comes highly recom-
mended from a German source.

Clapp's Favorite Pear.— This variety is in

242

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

size and quality very little if any inferior to Bart-
lett, and matures about two weeks earlier.

The Sunflower as an Industrial Plant. —
It may not be generally known that the sunflower
(Helianthus annuus), which has lately been
brought into such notoriety by the "aesthetic"
school, has considerable claims to attention from
an industrial point of view. Its somewhat nut-like
seeds — or, as Baron Ferdinand von Muller de-
scribes them " seed-like nutlets " — afford an excel-
lent oil, which is not only useful as a lubricant for
machinery, but is one of the best of table oils. The
seeds, again, afford admirable food for poultry, the
stocks furnish a good textile fibre, and the blos-
soms yield a brilliant, lasting yellow dye. So
highly does Baron von Muller think of the virtues
of the plantthat he includes it in his list of selected
plants suitable for acclimatization and industrial
cultivation in the Colony of Victoria. As much as
fifty bushels of seedlings have been obtained from
an acre of ground, under favorable conditions, and
as much as fifty gallons of oil can be pressed from
such a crop. When he states that about six pounds
of seeds are required to sow an acre, from which
such an enormous return is possible, it is scarcely
surprising to be told that "the return from a sun-
flower field is attained within a few months." The
plants, the same authority states, prefer calcareous
soil. Baron von Muller, however, has not by any
means exhausted the list of virtues which the plant
possesses. The Chinese, who have so far appreci-
ated its properties as to use its fibre in adulterating
and dyeing their silk fabrics, and its oil not only as
a lubricant but as an illuminant, state that its flow-
ers supply the best bee food, and that the "cake"
left after expressing the oil is superior to linseed
cake as a food for cattle. The leaves are also em-
ployed as a substitute for or for mixing with tobac-
co, and as an ingredient in soap manufacture the
oil is highly prized. In face of such testimony to
its good qualities, it is interesting to know that sev-
eral acres of land are to be sown with sunflowers
in the Thames valley next year. Will the "aes-
thetes" discard the flower as a symbol of their
faith when they find it is actually turned to com-
mercial purposes ? — Colonies and India.

Quality of Pears. — The Revue Horticole in-
timates that the quality of a good pear depends
in a great measure on the quality of the person
who has charge of it. A fruit, worthless in one
man's hands, may be first-rate in the hands of an-
other. It observes that the quality of the fruit is
determined by modifications of conditions at the

time fermentation begins ; for what we call ripen-
ing is but the incipient stage of fermentation.
For instance, in the case of the Vicar of Wink-
field, to have this fruit good, it must go gradually
to complete maturity. Other kinds are better
when maturity is rapid.

A Good Bee Plant. — Under the name of
"White Sage," says the Pacific Rural Press, Cali-
fornians know some half dozen species of plants
which are not sages at all, but Audibertias, all of
which are famous honey-giving flowers, Audibertia
polystachya especially so.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Destroying CabbageWorms. — "Reader," Ber-
wyn. Pa., writes: A correspondent in the May num-
ber of the Monthly, wrote in regard to a poisoning
preparation he recommended for destroying "cab-
bage slug," viz. Hellebore and water. We find
air-slacked lime to answer the purpose nicely.

Bloomsdale Pearl Onion D. Landreth &

Sons, Philadelphia, write: We send you for ex-
amination three bulbs of Bloomsdale pearl onions
grown in Mississippi from sets furnished by us.
The sets were planted November 5th, and the ma-
ture onions pulled April 12th. You will perceive
they measure 19 inches in average circumference,
and the combined weight of the three is 4 pounds
14 ounces. We have over a bushel of specimens
sent us by customers in the Southern States, and
should like you to see them, as they constitute the
most remarkable exhibition of onions we haveever
seen. No variety that we have ever seen is so
rapid in development. The flesh, as you will per-
ceive, is pure white, translucent, very delicate and
so free from astringent oil that the bulbs can be
eaten uncooked as freely as apples. Due to the

j precocious character ol the sets, they cannot well
be kept for spring planting. We therefore recom-
mend them for autumn or winter planting, and

; anywhere south of the Susquehanna they are found

j perfectly hardy.

[The above-mentioned specimens came to hand
and were truly of prodigious size, and were all our
correspondents claim them to be.

We obtained a few of the sets of this onion in
the spring of 1882, but were rather late in planting
them. Their earliness and mild flavor struck us
as being such desirable qualities that an endeavor
was made to obtain some the present season for
further trial, but the order was sent too late. — Ed.
G. M.]

1883.

AND HORTICULTURIST.

243

Forestry.

COMMUNICATIONS.

FOREST FIRES.

BY PROF. C. S. SARGENT.
(Concluded from page 213.)

Not a small part of central and southern New
England, no longer profitable for agriculture, is
now growing up with white pine ; and this white
pine, if it can only be protected, will, in a few years,
it is safe to predict, exceed in value the net profit
all the New England farms can produce during
the next fifty years. In some parts of New Eng-
land this second growth of pine has been growing
for a considerable time, and has already given rise
to large and profitable industries. The value of
logs cut in Massachusetts during the census year,
reached nearly two million dollars; at least one-
half were second-growth white pine. More than
one hundred million feet of second-growth white
pine were sawed during the same year in Vermont
and New Hampshire, and nearly if not quite as
much more in Maine. The manufacture of wooden
ware, an important and growing Massachusetts in-
dustry depending upon this second-growth pine,
has made Winchendon, Worcester county, the great
center of this business in the United States, if not
in the world. These young forests of pine are al-
ready, then, of great value to New England; at no
very distant day they must become one of the most
important factors in its prosperity. The problem
growing out of the actual condition of the coun-
try's supply of white pine, and the effects which
any serious diminution of this supply must have
upon our prosperity as a nation, need not be con-
sidered here at any great length.

The entire supply of white pine growing in the
United States and ready for the axe does not to-
day greatly, if at all, exceed eighty billion feet, and
this estimate includes small and inferior trees,
which a few years ago would not have been con-
sidered at all in making such an estimate.

The annual production of white pine lumber is
not now far from ten billion feet, and the demand
is constantly and rapidly increasing. The publi-
cation of these facts a few months ago has greatly
increased, and in some cases more than doubled,
the value of pine lands in parts of the country ; and
it does not require any particular powers of fore-

sight to be able to predict that the price of white
pine must advance to still higher figures. Enough
is now known of our forests to permit the positive
statement that no great unexplored body of this pine
remains; and that, with the exception of the narrow
redwood ijelt of the California coast, no North Ame-
rican forest can yield in quantity any substitute for
white pine, the most generally valuable and most
generally used of American lumber. Under these
circumstances, the growing pine of New England
will soon become an important element in the coun-
try's supply. In no other section is there so much
young pine growing; and if we cannot compete
with the West or the South in the production of
cereals and wheat, we have at least in our favor soil
and chmate better suited to grow pine than any
other part of the country. New England cannot
allow jhjs opportunity for increased prosperity to
be lost. The demand for white pine is rapidly in-
creasing; the extent of the supply is at last known;
no available substitute exists to any great extent;
i we possess already a considerable quantity of
young pine, and greater natural advantages than
other parts of the country for growing a much
larger amount. A market is assured for all
that can be produced, and we may look forward
with certainty to obtaining prices for pine which
promise, if we can judge the future by the past, to
make the value of the land covered with thrifty
growing pine much greater than that which can
ever be obtained for the best agricultural land in
the State.

The single danger which threatens property of
this nature is the one, real or imaginary, of de-
struction by forest fires. If this danger, and the
dread of it, could be removed, or at least greatly
reduced, an investment in young pine growing in
New England would promise to capital, in the long
run, larger returns than could be derived from al-
most any other legitimate business enterprise ; but
so long as this dread of fire exists capital will natu-
ally content itself with smaller and more certain
returns. If under these circumstances it is desira-
ble to foster and develop the growth of New Eng-
land forests, better legislation than now exists for
their protection must be secured; and then the
public mind must be educated to the importance
of forest protection, that the enforcement of such

244

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

laws as may appear necessary for this purpose may
be possible.

Legislation in advance of public sentiment can-
not be expected to accomplish any very marked
results; and unless we can learn to appreciate the
rapidly increasing value of our woods in their com-
mercial aspect, the passage of laws, however care-
fully prepared, will not avail a great deal. But to
return to the immediate question of forest fires in
Massachusetts. The census investigation showed
that during the year 1880 fifty-two such fires were
set by sparks from locomotives; that forty spread
from carelessly burned brush heaps; that hunters
caused thirty-seven ; that nineteen careless smok-
ers dropped their lighted cigars or burning ashes
from their pipes and so caused disastrous confla-
grations. In three instances the origin of forest
fires is ascribed to the burning of charcoal, and in
only eight cases to malice. It appears, then, that
the railroads are responsible for the greatest num-
ber of these fires; and that the remainder may be
generally traced to sheer carelessness. The rail-
roads are already held responsible for die actual
damage they inflict upon property in this way; but,
as has been shown, the destruction of trees is
only a small part of the real damage caused by
forest fires. Still the railroads cannot be held re-
sponsible under the law for the prospective dam-
age represented by a partial or entire destruction
of the plant-producing capacity of soil which they
have burned; nor can they well be made to pay
for the loss of confidence in forest property which
such fires cause. Such damages can neither be
estimated nor collected. Fires set by locomotives
can, however, be largely prevented by the general
adoption of some effectual spark-arrester.

It is true that such a contrivance has not yet
been perfected to the entire satisfaction of railroad
experts; but if the railroads were compelled to
adopt some of the existing patents, American in-
genuity and skill can be depended on to perfect
them.

It is a case where supply will quickly follow the
demand. As a first step, then, towards checking
the spread of forest fires, the Legislature should
compel all railroad corporations operating within
the State to provide their locomotives with spark-
consumers. Such appliances are in general use in
Europe, and locomotives should not be longer op-
erated without them in this State.

One of the principal dangers to the forest, and
more especially to the coniferous forest, which we
in Massachusetts, when we increase our lumbering
operations, shall soon learn to dread more gener-

ally than at present, comes from the custom of
leaving scattered about the ground the tops and
branches of the trees cut down during the winter.
This debris becomes, by the middle of the follow-
ing summer, as dry as tinder, and furnishes the
very best material to feed a fire started in the
woods. Any enactment intended to prevent forest
fires should contain a provision compelling, under
penalty of fine, the collection and careful burning
during the winter in which the trees ai'e cut, of all
parts of them not actually carried from the ground.
The possibility of successfully dealing with persons
carelessly setting fire to forests is more difficult and
more remote. Such persons rarely confess their
carelessness, and still find protection in public in-
difference.

But until public sentiment makes it possible to
convict a p^.rson setting carelessly or wantonly a
forest fire, and to hold him responsible under the
law for the damage he inflicts, the solution of these
questions will not be very near. The following was
passed by the last Legislature:

An Act for the Protection of Forests Against

Fires.

Whoever wantonly and recklessly sets fire to
any material which causes the destruction or in-
jury of any growing or standing wood of another,
shall be punished by fine not exceeding one hun-
dred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail
not exceeding six months.

The passage of such a bill, defective as it is, in-
dicates at least a feeling that at last the forests of
Massachusetts should be protected. The law as it
now stands upon the statute book should, however,
be amended. It is not comprehensive enough and
it is not severe enough. It would not be very dif-
ficult to draft a bill to cover the necessities of the
case, if the feelings of the community in regard to
the value of forest property were more advanced;
but with the existing apathy in regard to the sub-
ject, and the impossibility of securing now, with-
out a full discussion by the press and the people of
the forest question, the enforcement of any proper
law upon the subject, it seems better to present the
subject thus generally for your discussion and con-
sideration, without attempting to sketch even the
form of such a bill as seems necessary to afford
Massachusetts protection from forest fires. The
better understanding of the forest question as it ex-
ists in New England to-day, which must follow any
discussion of this subject, is the best guarantee that
our forests will in time be protected, and that they
will receive the care and attention which in their
present economic aspect, if in no other, they de-
serve at our hands.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

245

I commend the subject to the most careful con-
sideration of the press and the farmers of New

England.

•-»»

EDITORIAL NOTES.

The Eucalyptus in Florida.— The Blue Gum
seems at home in Florida. Trees at Leesburg are
20 feet high, with trunks 18 inches round, four
years from the seed. Pity such a fast growing
tree should give such worthless timber.

Location and Quality in Timber. — We noted
recently that location had much to do with quality
in the same species of timber tree. A correspon-
dent of the London Garden writes of an English-
grown American black walnut: "You will note
that the wood has obtained from our English soil
the very character American wood is so deficient
in, viz., hardness and weight, approaching in this
respect the character of Italian walnut, or what is
represented by the words good quality. I am now
making from this tree a sideboard which will, I
think, be a beautiful specimen of work."

Fuel in China. — A correspondent of the Gar-
deners' Chronicle writing from the West River, in
China, says that there are no natural woods left, ex-
cept far up in the country, from whence enormous
logs of " China Fir" are floated down. For fuel
Pinus sinensis is extensively planted, but these are
cut down when mere saplings. There is very little
grass on the hills, but ferns — Gleichenia dichoto-
ma — abound and cover the ground in every direc-
tion. The fern is cut and dried and used exten-
sively for fuel, even the limestone in the limekilns,
which are numerous, is burnt with this fuel only.

A Large Water-Pitch Tree. — The Lartcaster
Farmer says:

"A friend has handed us a description of a mam-
moth water-pitch tree, which stands in front of the
dwelling of Mr. Jacob Sener, near this city, which
may be designated as the mammoth of the county.
It is one hundred and ten years old, about one
hundred and fifty feet high, and measures twenty-
three-feet around the trunk. One of the lower limbs
measures sixty-one feet in length, and five and a
half feet in circumference. This tree was planted
by Mr. Baer more than a century ago. He had
been out riding on horseback, and used a twig as
a riding whip; when he returned home he stuck it
in the ground, and the present tree is the product.
It looks as though it might live another century,
and is a striking illustration of what great results
may grow from apparent trifles."

This is copied in order to inquire. What is a
water-pitch tree ? especially as it is desirable to

place the paragraph among the enormous number
relating to. famous specimens which have been
raised to magnificent trees after having been used
as "riding whips."

Timber Trees of England.— England has only
eight indigenous timber trees — oak, yew, Scotch
pine, ash, wych elm, beech, linden and sycamore
—so says the Gardeners Chronicle. The syca-
more is probably the "sycamore maple," and not
the buttonwood or plane as it would be under-
stood in America.

Value of Locations in Timber Planting. —
It has been stated in an English paper that black
walnut timber grown in the United States is worth
four shillings ($1), and Canadian black walnut
^1.25 per foot (cubic?) in Bristol, England, where
there is a large demand for it. It is doubtful
whether this will hold good of walnut timber grown
in some portions of the Union. In the Far West,
where trees suffer severely in winter and their vital
powers are much strained, it is likely timber may
not be as sound as in locations where there are no
set-backs from droughts, or extreme cold winds or
temperature; for it is well known that what affects
the health of a tree affects the durable quality of
the timber also. The matter is, however, one re-
quiring the careful attention of timber planters,
for there is no doubt that though " walnut from the
States," as given in this quotation, is a very indef-
inite statement, there is a great deal of judgment
required in selecting a good location with the view
to the most perfect success.

Perfume from Acacia. — As Acacia Farnesi-
ana thrives very well in the Gulf States, the follow-
ing floating newspaper paragraph may have some '
value to our readers there: "Important in refer-
ence to their value in rural economy are the Aca-
cia Farnesiana, which produce the fragrant flowers
so much used in perfumery, and the A. homo-
malla, the wood of which is highly prized and
dearly paid for by manufacturers of fans. In every
Moorish garden in North Africa there can be seen
a few trees of the A. Farnesiana, of which the
flowers are gathered by women and children for
family use; whilst in France and Italy it furnishes
a not unimportant article of commerce. In the
district of Cannes alone 36,000 pounds of flowers
are yearly produced, for which the perfumers pay
from 50 to 75 cents per pound, which would amount
to about 145,000. One tree furnishes, according
to age, from one to five or more pounds ; and one
acre planted with about eight hundred trees would
produce in a few years a notable increase of in-

246

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

come to many of our farmers, some pin money to
their wives, besides making farm work and farm
life both pleasant and profitable to their children. '
But this pleasant prospect cannot be realized as i
long as the extraction of perfumes is not under-
taken, because the Acacia flowers, like most of|
those flowers whose perfume is extracted, must be
treated while fresh and on the spot." '

Figures in Forestry Planting. — More than !
anything else we need just now exact figures ot
the income from forestry planting, and we have 1
much pleasure in giving from the pen of Mr. J. T. |
Allen to the Country Gentleman the following ex- !
cellent note: "Mr. J. T. Griffin, near Omaha, is j
just thinning a tract of 15 acres planted in i860.
The trees are 50 feet high, and average 10 inches j
in diameter one foot from the ground. Taking out
the poorest, he is getting from each tree an average
of 2^ posts, worth 25 cents each, and two posts
for wire fence worth 12 ', cents each, giving ^{96.25
per acre, and leaving 324 of the best trees. The
tops for fuel more than pay interest, expense of
cultivation, &c. The remaining trees have straight
bodies, 12 to 15 feet to a limb. His plan of culti-
vation has been to plant the nuts ten feet apart
each way and cultivate in corn for three years.
The corn at 35 cents per bushel would amount to
$73.50, or a total, with posts, to date of )«I75.75 per
acre. At the end of five years the tract was seeded
to blue grass, furnishing excellent winter pasturage
and protection for sheep. In commencing again a
plantation of walnuts, at the age of two or three
years he would plant between each two a poplar
to act as nurses to draw up the walnuts. These
should be cut down as soon as a body is grown,
*leaving a young saw-log in form, if not in size.
The value of the cottonwood for fuel, fencing cat-
tle yards, or roofs for cattle and sheep sheds, would
be considerable. "

Timber on the Pacific Coast. — Fir, pine, oak
and cedar of unsurpassed quality and practically
unlimited in quantity clothe the mountains, over-
hang the rivers, and shadow the plains of the Puget
Sound district, Washington Ter. On a moderate
estimate it is calculated that this region will yield
the almost unimaginable quantity of 160,000,000,-
000 feet of valuable timber. The trees attain a re-
markable development both in height and beauty.
The yellow fir is frequently found growing to a
height of 250 feet, the white cedar to 100 feet, with
a girth of over 60 feet; the white oak is 70 feet in
height, while ordinary sized specimens of the sugar
pine yield from 6,000 to 8,000 feet of cut lumber.

The unfortunate part of the reflection is that the
greater part of it will be old and rotten — perhaps
cleared off as an incumbrance to the ground — be-
fore any use can be made of it, and perhaps not
fifty years will go over before even this rich ar-
boreal region will be clamoring for encouragement
to the planting of more trees.

Clearing Ground of Stumps. — We cut down
trees, and then spend a great deal in blowing out
or tearing out the stumps. A machine for taking
down the trees, stumps and all, has been invented
in Australia. Perhaps it would cost less to saw off
the stumps after the tree fell than to blow them
out afterwards. However, the machine is thus de-
scribed :

"A machine, or rather apparatus, for pulling
down trees has recently been introduced with suc-
cess into Queensland. The machine consists of
chains, iron rods, a powerful lever, and an iron
plate with holes in which to place iron pins on
which the lever works. A ladder of 20 or 30 feet
in length is also necessary for placing the chain
sufficiently high on the tree to be pulled down to
enable a good strain to be obtained. The whole
affair can be easily carried about on a light spring
cart, and only weighs about 3 cwt. The rods are
not more than five-eighths of an inch in thickness,
the chain links are about the same, while the rods
along or at each side of the iron plate are three-
quarters of an inch in thickness. The first experi-
ment was made with a tree about seventy feet in
heiglit and six feet six inches in girth, which
yielded quickly to the strain which the lever
brought to bear upon it, was very shortly removed
out of its equilibrium, and fell to the ground with a
crash in a few minutes from the commencement of
the trial, bringing the roots out of the ground with
it for a depth of three feet and several feet in cir-
cumference. Another tree of larger proportions
and apparently a more difficult one was next
tackled. It was a closely-knit box tree, situated
on the side of a hill and evidently had a firm hold
of the ground by the extensive roots attached. In
twenty minutes after the chain was put around it
this monster of the forest, which must have reared
its head and withstood the storms of many years,
was laid level with the ground. In another in-
stance the doomed tree withstood an enormous
tension. Three times was the length of the lever
plate (which is 7 ft.) exhausted before its roots
would give up their hold of the ground. It at last,
after having been held by the branches of a neigh-
boring tree, fell to the ground. An examination
of the powerful roots showed the cause of the great
pull that was required to unseat it. On applying
the tape it proved to be 66 feet long, with a girth
of 4 '/j feet, and the wood was of a most tough de-
scription. The machine was manufactured at Cam-
perdown, in Victoria, in which district similar ma-
chines have been at work and have done such ef-
fective service that they have earned the name of
'The Forest Devil."'

i883.

AND HORTICULTURIST.

247

Natural History and Science.

COMMUNICATIONS.

RELATIONS OF PLANTS TO NATIONAL
PROSPERITY.

.\BSTRACT OF LECTURE BY PROFESSOR RriTH-
R0( K, FAIRMOUNT P.\RK.

The lecturer began by a statement of the com-
pUcations which arose in \'irginia over the propor-
tion of land to be devoted to corn and tobacco.
This commenced before there was a Pilgrim on
Massachusetts soil. Greed for gain led to making
the corn crop subservient to the tobacco. The
result was a period of scarcity, and, when the Vir-
ginia settlers made a demand upon the Chicka-
hominy Indians for corn, they were refused so
contemptuously that a fight ensued, in which a
number of Indians were killed and others cap-
tured. The whites gained the victory, but
awakened Indian hate which culminated in a
bloody retribution years afterwards.

On the other hand, within a few years after the
landing of the Pilgrims, they had corn to spare,
and the neighboring tribes "came to depend upon
the men of Plymouth for their supply." Thus the
want of corn in \'irginia was a cause of war,
while in .Massachusetts the superabundance was a
bond of peace. In Virginia it became necessary
to limit the production of tobacco by law. In
1623 tobacco was a legal tender in \'irginia.
When, in 1692, William and Mary College received
its royal charter, it was enacted that the College
should receive one penny a pound on all the
tobacco exported from Virginia and Maryland,
towards its support. When the Church of Eng-
land was recognized as the Stale denomination
in Maryland, a portion of its revenue came from
the same source. This was in 1698. Corn was
cultivated in Peru prior even to the Inca rule, and
also in Mexico and New iVlexico at the time of the
invasions of Cortez and Coronado. It proved
a source of revenue to the Aztec throne, and
entered into the religion of the country, where to
ensure a good crop human sacrifices were offered.
The public granaries of the country were drawn
upon by Cortez, so that the very food of the in-
habitants was made to assist in their subjugation.

The last census gave the annual yield of corn

and rye combined in this country at 1,774,783,271
bushels. The data derived from the same
source led the lecturer to estimate that one of the
products of these grains — whiskey — gave us about
107,000 insane, criminals and paupers. It would
be interesting to know how much of those grains
was required to blight so much manhood, and to
determine whether, if used in some other way, the
same quantity would not have yielded a better
return to the country.* The above estimate only
included those under restraint, and not those of
the unnumbered host who were still at liberty to
beat their wives and starve their children. The
lecturer thought a tariff on Canadian lumber
a mistake, as, without a proportionate benefit to us,
it placed a premium on the destruction of our own
supply.

Rice among the cereals flourished in grounds
where noiie of the others would grow. Hence it
utilized large areas in India, China and Japan, and
in our own country, which would otherwise have
been unproductive. Though containing less nitrogen
than wheat, it has, nevertheless, been the almost
exclusive food of some of the hardest worked and
most enduring races on earth. It was introduced
into our country in 1694 by a vessel from Mada-
gascar, which put into Charleston in distress.
One of the most \ aluable characteristics of this
grain is its capacity for adapting itself to varying
conditions of soil and climate.

Food plants from their abundance may lead to
national and individual indolence, as in the
Tropics. In such cases, the stimulus growing out
of the demands which temperate regions make
upon equatorial lands for their productions, is to
the inhabitants of the latter, of inestimable import-
ance. Accumulation of wealth by individuals,
as well also as the science of political economy,
are characteristic of temperate regions, and mainly
of the North Temperate. These distinguishing
features both grow, directly or indirectly, out of
the need of preparing for times of non-production
in times of production. Such an occasion can
hardly arise under the Equator. Hence, while the
tropics furnish the raw product for their own
commerce, the capital, machinery and brains,
which transport the product, come from the tem-
perate part of the globe.

348

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

ON THE RELATIONS OF HEAT TO THE
SEXES OF FLOWERS.

BY PROF. THOMAS MEEHAN.

At the meeting of the Botanical section of the
Academy of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia,
on April 9th, Mr. Thomas Meehan referred to his
past communications to the Academy showing
that in monjecious plants female flowers would
remain at rest under a temperature which was
sufficient to excite the male flowers to active de-
velopment. Hence, a few comparatively warm
days in winter or early spring would bring the
male flowers to maturity, while the female flowers
remained to advance only under a higher and
more constant temperature.' In this manner the
explanation was offered why such trees were often
barren. The male flowers disappeared before the
females opened, and hence the latter were unfer-
tilized. He referred especially to some branches
of Corylus Avellana, the English Hazel nut, which
he exhibited before the section last spring, in
which the male flowers (catkins) were past
maturity, the anthers having opened and dis-
charged their pollen, and the catkins crumbling
under a light touch ; but there were no appearances
of action in the female flower buds. There were
no nuts on this tree last season. The present
season was one of unusually low temperature.
There had not been spasmodic warmth enough to
bring forward the particularly excitable maple tree
blossoms. The hazel nut had not therefore had
its male blossoms brought prematurely forward.
He exhibited specimens from the same tree as la?t
season, showing the catkins in a young condi-
tion of development, only half the flowers
showing their anthers, while the female flower
buds had their pretty purple stigmas protruding
from nearly all of them. Mr. Meehan remarked
that his observations the past few seasons had
been so carefully made that he hardly regarded
confirmation necessary, but believed the further
exhibition of these specimens might at least serve
to draw renewed attention to his former communi-
cations.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

MiCHAUX Lectures. — Among the most popular
of institutions is the Michaux Series of Lectures,
given by Prof. Rothrock in Fairmount Park, Phila-
delphia. The eminent botanist, Michaux, left a
sum of money, in trust, to the American Philo-
sophical Society for the promotion of botany and

arboriculture, and a portion of the fund is devoted
to this purpose. They are so popular that often
there is scarcely standing room. The abstracts we
give were prepared for the Public Ledger.

Removing Tendrils from Grape Vines. — It
has from time immemorial been considered excel-
lent practice to remove the tendrils from growing
grape vines. It seems scarcely credible that a prac-
tice so universal with the best grape growers, and
which has hitherto been unquestioned, should really
be a bad one. But this is what the yournal of
Horticulture has mustered up the courage to say :

"We do not consider it a good plan to pinch off
the tendrils from the leading growths of young
vines so closely as is practiced by many persons.
We remember once noticing some thousands of
remarkably fine vines in pots in Mr. Rivers' nurse-
ry at Sawbridgeworth. The pots were standing on
the hot water pipes, and the growths trained about
18 inches apart up the roof above. The grower of
these vines was justly proud of his work. They
bristled with tendrils, som.e of them a foot long, and
nearly as thick as quills. From a few of the vines,
however, the tendrils had been pinched off closely,
with the object of noting the effect. Only a dozen
or so were so treated, and in every instance they
were weaker than the others, which led the culti-
vator to remark: 'Depend upon it if you want the
vines to grow strong and well you must let them
put out their horns.' "

An Interesting Arad. — In our last we gave a
sketch of a plant of the Arum family which climbed
trees and walls. We now give, in contrast, one
which does not climb at all — one from Central
America, introduced by Mr. Wm. Bull, Anthur-
ium insigne. It will be observed that while in the
former plant the leaves were scattered along a
slender stem, so that there may, perhaps, be but
ten leaves along a distance of ten feet, we have
here the ten leaves all from one central crown. We
often see this varying mode of growth on one tree.
For instance, on the pear tree or the larch tree,
there are long growing shoots and there are spurs.
There will be quite as many leaves from a spur in
one season as from the long shoot, and we learn that
a spur is nothing more than along shoot which has
become so very much coiled up in its spiral growth
as to lose its elongated character. What occurs
on a single plant, in the instance cited, becomes a
distinctive character in other genera or species of
plants. At any rate, the manner of growth of this
Aroid is precisely that of a spur in a pear tree or
larch. There might seem no reason why it should
not elongate and have leaves along a scattered
stem, as in the Pothos, noted last month, when it
would probably form another species of Anthurium,

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

249

or possibly change so much with that variation, in plant as this should exist as a spur and another
other respects, as to be regarded as a new genus, have the longitudinal character. But the'fact that

We do know — at least gardeners know — why a
pear tree bears spurs instead of branches; but no
one seems to have been able to tell why such a

we can get a glimpse of the law in the pear or
larch shows that there is no reason why we may
not some day get to know all about it in such cases

250

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

as these ; and these considerations give great en-
couragement to those who believe they may some ]
day be able not merely to give good guesses as to
a belief that species and genera have been evolved
out of one another, but actually to show how the
species are made, and possibly make them to order.
Mr. Bull says this plant is a real beauty for the
cultivator. It is, he says, a noble and striking Or-
ontiad, imported from the United States of Colom-
bia. The leaves have terete petioles, which are
slightly sheathing at the base. The leaf-blade is
three-lobed, deflexed at first, afterwards elevated,
the middle lobe lanceolate, and the two lateral
lobes semi-ovate, being most developed on their
exterior edge ; these lateral lobes have from three to
five longitudinal ribs, and the central one is pin-
nately veined, with a connecting veinlet running
about half an inch within the margin. The young
leaves have a bronzy tinge before taking on the
full green of the mature foliage. It is a very strik-
ing plant, and one which should be found in all
collections of choice novelties. This was one of
the new plants with which Mr. B. gained the first
prize at the International Horticultural Exhibition,
held at Ghent in 1878, and the first prize at the
Great Show of the Royal Horticultural Society,
held at Kensington in 1880.

Favored Climates. — We often hear of the cold
inhospitable northern regions, and favored south-
ern climates, where Nature does everything, and
all man has to do is to lie on his back and let the
generous harvest drop into his mouth. But, read-
ing the Tropical Agriculturist, one of our ex-
changes from India,. we find they are pestered be-
yond measure by all sorts of ills. The larva; of
the cockchafer, or as we know it here the "May-
beetle, feeds on the roots of the coffee to such an
extent, and the leaf fungus preys so alarmingly on
the foliage, that it takes labors like those of Her-
cules to get a successful coffee crop. So with Cin-
chona, which, grown for quinine, we are told in
the United States, is such a grand success in Cey-
lon. The climate is good enough for it and it grows,
but what with blights, and moulds and insects, the
cultivator often gets sick at heart. As for the in-
sects, as a last resort, they talk of introducing the
English sparrow. On this subject the controversy
waxeth warm. Some assert that these birds have
proved such an unmitigated nuisance that large re-
wards are offered for their destruction, while others
point to the United States, where, it is confidently
asserted, "heavy penalties have been enacted by
Legislatures and city governments for their protec-

tion, as much as five dollars per bird being the fine
on those who destroy them."

These proceedings go to confirm a point we have
often made — that when it is desired to bolster up
any doubtful cause, it is much better to go to the
other end of the world or to ages dead and buried
long ago for arguments in support thereof, than to
what people can verify for themselves.

Variation of Plants. — The innate tendency
of plants to vary, irrespective of any external in-
fluences, and of which so much has been made
by those who look on this tendency to vary as
the primary law in the evolution of new species —
receives continual elucidation from new discover-
ers. A recent contribution is from the pen of
Mr. H. Veitch, of New Haven. He shows that
wheat is strictly a self-fertilizer — poUinization
being effected in the bud — and that it is impossible
for the pollen from one plant to reach the stigma
of another. Yet, as far as history goes back,
varieties of wheat continually appear, and new
varieties are being introduced by seedsmen unto
this day. These varieties are selected from the
crop in an ordinary wheat-field. The plants all
grow under the same conditions, and are sur-
rounded by the same circumstances, yet these
variations occur under the influence of some
hidden law. These variations, once produced,
come under the laws of heredity, reproducing
themselves with tolerable exactness for a while,
but sending out here and there striking depar-
tures, which the cultivator selects and preserves
when they chance to profit him. — Independent.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Biennial Flowering of Native Orchids. —
"J. M." writes: "Will you allow me to inquire of
the readers of the Monthly if any of them have
observed a tendency in our native orchids to bloom
profusely but every other year? Several years ago
I was desirous of obtaining a few flowering speci-
mens of Goodyera pubescens, and visited for the
purpose a place where the plants grew by the hun-
dred. I could not find a single plant flowering
that year. The present season, on a like errand, I
went to where some one hundred plants of Cypri-
pedium acaule were growing. The half of the
number were large and vigorous, but there was not
one had flowered in the lot, though past their sea-
son. Can any one say if this is usual with orchids?

188 3.J

AND HORTICULTURIST.

251

LiTMAWM, Travels and Personal Notes.

COMMUNICATIONS.

EDITORIAL LETTER.
CiiiXESE CASH'. ^Merced County. Cal., .lime 20. 188.j.
Editors are supposed to know everything — and,
indeed, if they are sharp, they may, learn much,
and get into fair habits of imparting what they
know. I, as one of the fraternity, love to know as
much as possible of what I am talking about, and
hence I love to travel. We learn much from books
— we all have to learn from books — but the editor
should get his knowledge at first hands if possible.
There are very few parts of this great country that
I have not seen. It is my habit to take quiet runs,
now and then, and say nothing about it. But I had
never seen the Pacific coast ; and though I had a
pretty fair knowledge from reading, and could gen-
erally talk and write fairly about Pacific coast af-
fairs, it never seemed that I could write as I ought
till I had seen this fairy land for myself. So one
evening in May I took my wife and a younger son
and started on my long journey of, as we figured
it out, eleven thousand miles. To-day is but the
20th of June, and we are not yet but half-way
on our journey — but as I hope to be home before
this letter gets into the reader's hands, I pen it ; it
is too cool where I write, alongside the Merced
river, for the frisky mosquito to worry me much, as
it has been doing all day. I shall be pretty well
on towards Behring Straits soon, and then it will
be wholly too cool for these pests, I suppose ; but
I find every region has its own annoyances, and I
suppose even there, where we lay ourselves down
to sleep with the sun going round the horizon like
as on a race course, instead of setting down below,
as a sober sun should, some trouble or another
will be found even there. People who stay at home
have no idea of what the zealous traveler has to
suffer. With my varied interests I have to be al-
ways on the go. I love to see nice farms, fine or-
chards and pretty gardens. I must make botanical
collections, study the rocks and minerals, keep an
eye on geology, watch for anthropological tit-bits.

and keep an eye on choice bits of physical knowl-
edge, as they happen to turn up. Forestry and tree
science generally has never to be forgotten — and
then with my love of noting what men and women'
do and drawing lessons therefrom for use in public
affairs, it will be seen that I have a fair share of
the world's work to do. I am surely one of the
weary travelers we hear tell of now and then — at
least we should be weary if, with all our labors and
discomforts, our experience was not ever new. To-
day we are driving through dust so thick that we
can scarcely breathe — to-morrow plodding over
some dreary desert, with the alkaline winds drying
our lips so that they crack and bleed whenever we
smile. Now we are on the top of a snow-covered
eminence, with the wind freezing us on one side,
while the clear, bright sun warms us on the other;
and again, we are going down along some uneven
plain on the seats of a stage coach, tossing up and
down and almost making the poor being wish he was
an oyster, or anything but a creature with a back-
bone in him. One time he is among the rich and
the great, with much of the fearful restrictions
which ultra-fashionable life throws about him; and
then again, as at this moment, trying to write an
editorial by the flicker of a tallow candle, in an
humble cabin, with his hands so swollen by mos-
quito bites that they look like two griddle cakes,
while his face in the small piece of looking-glass
stuck in a crack over the door looks more like a
rough, red raspberry than the handsome, smooth
face he once called his own. Sometimes with
nothing to eat for twenty-four hours and thirsting
for water to drink — at other times with so much of
the good things of this world that your next friend
is tempted to tell you that a "dose of podophyllin"
will soon set you all right, and every fellow you
meet tells you of a certain remedy, till you almost
wish you may never have another good dinner in
your life. Only a few days ago I was toiling up a
mountain trail to get a view from "Glacier Point."
I was favored by an "extra sure-footed pony"
for the ascent. On and on we went for five hour?

252

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

or more. I was told to have faith in the animal —
she knew more than to put herself in danger. It
is a good thing to have faith. But somehow, when
I turned my face aside to look at the fine trees or
handsome flowers, or to glance at the glorious
landscape thousands of feet below, my faith failed
me, and I would have to look again at the animal's
head and see how it behaved ; and it was strange
how it would behave. To go up a mountain trail
we zigzag to and fro, and at every angle my pony
would stop and look straight over, surveying the
scene below as if she enjoyed it as we might, but
to me looking as if she was going crazy and might
at any time take a fancy for a flying leap over the
precipice. However, we had a glorious day in
spite of all our little vexations, till, on returning
down the mountain, we found the riderless horse
of one of our botanical friends. He had chosen to
ride on before, having a faster walking horse than
lis, and then he would dismount, collect plants and
-put them in his portfolio. But there was his plant
press on the pommel of his saddle, but no botanist
anywhere to be seen. We shouted " Doctor, Doc-
tor," and "Yo hoi Yo hoi" till we were hoarse.
Whether a bear had taken him, or an Indian had
ran off with him, or he had fallen over a precipice,
or some similar trouble had befallen him, was can-
vassed over and over again, but all this was set
aside as untenable. The guide settled it all by de-
•claring that the Doctor's "disappearance war mys-
terious," and we could get no further. It ieW to
my lot to lead the Doctor's horse, with his plant
press, down the mountain side, while my wife
would every now and then ride to my side and
wonder how she could meet the poor Doctor's wife
when we got down to our rendezvous for the night.
It spoiled all our pleasure for the rest of the day.
But all was well in the end. In the dim twilight
we saw our lost friend at the cabin door. His
horse had slid by him while he was gathering a
plant, and no amount of " wo, John," would induce
him to stop. If the Doctor walked fast, the horse
walked faster, and when the Doctor ran, the horse
ran too. At length the Doctor thought to head the
creature oft" by cutting across one of the zigzag
stretches, but it so happened on this occasion there
was no stretch there, or he missed it among the un-
derbrush, and there was nothing left for him to do
but to work his way down the mountain side,
among the rocks and around precipices, among
deer brush, mountain mahogany and nutmeg
bushes, which, by good luck, he accomplished
with only torn pantaloons and a little scared. So
.there is always something to mar our pleasures —

some rattlesnake in every mountain, some serpent
in every paradise. However, I fancy I shall have
much to tell that will interest the readers of the
Gardeners' Monthly before I get through. This
letter is only written to let the publisher know that
the Editor, so far, is still happy in plodding along
on his marked out wav. T. M.

HOW I SPENT AN HOUR AT LORILLARD'S
RURAL RKTREAT.

BY \VM. T. HARDING, MOUNT HOLLY, N. J.

Although the season was far advanced, yet the
blushing, sweet face of bonnie May was still smil-
ing upon the vernal scene, made beautiful by her
flowery presence in forest, field and garden. Mo-
mentary glimpses of pretty spring blossoms on
bush and tree suddenly appeared and disappeared
like kaleidoscopic flashes, as the train darted through
a pleasing landscape among cultivated fields and
green meadows profusely sprinkled with wild flow-
ers. The ever changing features of harmonious
Nature, as I joyfully gazed on her charms while
speeding along, seemed as beautiful as ever; when,
presto, like a dissolving view, they were gradually
obscured and faded away as I approached the
unromantic Jobstown station.

Situated about a half a mile from where the loco-
motive left me is the celebrated Rancocas farm and
gardens of P. Lorillard, Esq. The courteous and
intelligent chief of the horticultural department,
Mr. John G. Gardener, kindly admitted the writer
to view the extensive hothouse structures, gardens
and grounds over which he successfully presides.
The continuous range of five hundred feet of forc-
ing houses is unbroken to the centre, from which
a span-roofed projection runs out forty feet to the
front, and which is planted on each side with a row
of thrifty-looking Black Hamburg grape vines.

To facilitate the production of flowers, fruit or
vegetables, and where different temperatures are
required while forcing, convenient sized compart-
ments, divided with glass partitions, are arranged
consecutively from end to end. All the stages,
shelves, boxes, benches, etc., inside are exact du-
plicates, and can be readily changed or removed
as circumstances require. And the whole of this
vast area of glass, besides the long outside rows of
pits and frames, are effectually heated with a num-
ber of Hitching's large-sized boilers, which can be
used separately or combined, according to the heat
required. The furnace room is a spacious cellar,
placed under the centre of the structure, from which
ramify the hot water pipes to every compartment.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

253

and by simply turning a valve or two the tempera-
ture may be increased or diminished at the will of
the operator.

An automatic steam engine for forcing warm or
cold water into every house, pit or frame, acts like
a charm, expedites the work and saves much man-
ual labor. No insidious green fly, destructive cat-
erpillar, evil red spider, sly thrip, treacherous mealy
bug, sinister plant louse, or other^^vile insect can
exist where exasperated "Pluvious," with his aque-
ous weapons attacks them. And in support of my
assertions I need only to refer to Passifloraquadran-
gularis and Gardenia florida, either of which may
aptly be termed the home of Aphis lanigera, or
where "they most do congregate," which were here
to be seen as clean, vigorous and floriferous as 1
ever saw them. The first-named plants occupied
the back of one of the houses and were trained on
a trellis overhead, and from which hung a fine
crop of good sized, oval shaped fruit. The peculiar
flavor, to those who fancy them, is considered de-
licious ; while the latter, with their snow white
purity and exquisite perfume, seemed fit for the
goddesses of to-day.

In the center of a house fifty-three feet long some
early sweet corn was planted on the 14th of May
as an experiment, to which a high temperature
will be given as soon as the last large cauliflowers
are cut from the sides. From the 24th of Decem-
ber Mr. Lorillard's table has been daily supplied
with fine, tender, fresh cauliflowers. Another simi-
lar sized house had each day amply furnished
quantities of dwarf or snap-short beans from No-
vember 1st; successive sowings of which are made
to keep up the supply, as each crop bears picking
about a month. The portable shelves, which run
through the whole range of houses, are suspended
near the glass, and on them are placed pots of
strawberry plants for early forcing.

Suitable pots, of "Mr. G.'s designing, are used.
They are not so tapering as the ordinary kinds and
nearly straight in shape, with a larger hole than
usual in the bottom, through which the roots
are encouraged to grow into a bed of prepared
moss and bone dust, kept constantly moist, and
with astonishing results. Sir Charles Napier is an
excellent kind to force, fruit of which was first
picked February 9th. The same may be said of
Stuart, Topeka and Sharpless.

In a house devoted to tomato growing, from
which continuous pickings had been made from
the first week in October, was still bearing the
kind known as "Perfection;" and in four others
of the same dimensions, viz., fifty feet each,

flourished luxuriant plants of the handsome Ran-
cocas seedling tomato. Well may Mr. Gardener
be proud of his superb seedling, a cross between
Acme and Trophy. It is much superior to its fa-
mous progenitors, and may be considered the ne
plus ultra of its kind. Like the melons, grapes and
cucumbers, of which there were excellent exam-
ples of successful cultivation, the tomatoes were
trained on wire trellises, near the sashes, from
which beautifully formed, clean, red-ripe fruit hung
in amazing profusion.

Early peach forcing is also extensively carried
out; and among the first to mature is the Early
Rivers, which ripens in sixteen weeks from the
time of blossoming. The next to follow is Early
Louise, which requires two weeks longer. Royal
George still maintains its good character, while the
good old Grosse Mignonne continues to favor its
admirers with abundance of large, rich, juicy fruit,
some twenty weeks after the time of blooming.
Diamond, too, is a gem of the first water.

Growing figs in pots is also a success. The two
favorite kinds are Black Ischia and Black Italian.
Ripe Black Hamburg grapes were cut early in
April, and from one year old vines, in pots, eight
pounds each were gathered. There is also a
house of fine and vigorous Muscats, which promise
well for the future. The same may be said of the
pineapples, which were strong, healthy plants for
their age.

Among the many attractive features of this unique
establishment are two rose houses, well stocked
with good blooming plants in pots. One was filled
with choice Teas, principally Pearl, Mermet, C.
Cook, Niphetos, etc., and the famous old Malmai-
son which, as a good, steady bloomer, is not to be
excelled. The hybrid perpetual house was chiefly
occupied with Jacqueminots, Paul Nerons, Anna
des Diesbachs, Baroness Rothschilds, Countess of
Oxfords, with some of John Hopper, which for
perfect form and fragrance has no equal.

Of Orchids were some good Calanthe Veitchi's
and a beautiful pure white seedUng, raised from a
cross between C. Veitchi and C. occulata rubra;
splendid Dendrobium chrysanthum, Oncidiums,
Laelias, Gongoras, Phaltenopsis, Vandas, Brassa-
volas, maxillarias, etc. Vanilla aromatica seemed
as much at home here as in its native habitat.
The beautiful Tacsonia Exoniensis was grand in-
deed. The same applies to Eucharis Amazonica,
whose pure white, sweet-scented flowers are much
admired. To supply the immense demand for this
lovely flower several hundred fine plants are
grown.

254

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY,

[August,

Splendid large specimens of Allamanda Schot-
tii, in full bloom, for lawn decoration, were ready
to put out, and which must have a charming effect
throughout the season.

Of ferns, chiefly Adiantum cuneatum and A.
Farleyense were grown, in large quantities for bou-
quet making. Prominent among a variety of beau-
tiful plants stood a huge plant of Phormium tenax
var., or striped New Zealand flax.

Both indoors and outside were large tanks con-
taining a choice collection of aquatics, from the
magnificent Victoria Regia to the beautiful odorif-
erous Nymphias, interesting Nelumbiums and
Papyrus, curious Cyperus, singular floating Pistia,
with a number of other pretty water plants, such
as Villarsia, Pontederia, Aponogeton, Sarracenea,
etc. For the first time I saw a fine plant of the
truly elegant Asparagus plumosus nanus, which is
far more beautiful than A. plumosus scandens.
Nothing herbaceous could possibly more closely
resemble pretty little green feathers than the plant
under notice. As yet it is new and scarce and
somewhat difficult to propagate, but will become
more popular than either ferns or smilax for flor-
ists' use when more abundant.

The large mushroom house, in which immense
quantities are grown, as well as the well-stocked
vegetable garden of fourteen acres, which supplies,
besides the family, the heads of departments with
first-class vegetables, are sights to see. There are
five acres of asparagus forforcing, two acres of which
are annually used for that purpose, and two more
are planted yearly to be ready to keep up the stock.
The excellent condition of all these things I briefly
mention attest the skill and good management of
Mr. Gardener, of whom it may be truly said "he
is the right man in the right place ;" and, happily,
his princely employer duly appreciates his worth.

In conclusion, what a gratification Mr. G. must
experience when he sees "how doth the httle busy
bee improve each shining hour" beneath a canopy
of glass in the winter time. The novel idea oc-
curred to him of introducing a hive of bees into
the forcing houses to fertilize the peach and straw-
berry blossoms. Holes for ingress and egress were
made in the glass partitions, through which they
passed from house to house and did their work
most effectively. Many ingenious devices have
been tried to produce artificial fertiUzation, but
these skilful little operators have a far better
method of impregnating flowers than man can
devise with all his wisdom. Not a blossom seemed
to escape their delicate attention, as no abortive
flowers were seen.

CHAMPAGNE.

The very interesting chapter on the grapes from
which champagne is made, is given from the Lon-
don Daily Telegraph :

GATHERING THE CHAMPAGNE GRAPES.

Within an easy distance of the town of Rheims,
and connected with it by a convenient railway,
will be found the various localities which yield the
grapes from which the popular wine called cham-
pagne is made. Covering all the hills and scat-
tered about the plain, occupying every square foot
of available space, the vine steadily asserts itself,
and, despite the monotonous regularity of the rows,
the straitness of the intersecting avenues, and the
millions of light grey short sticks to which the
I vines are attached, it would be unjust to deny the
existence of a certain picturesque effect. The
gentle undulation of the soil about Rheims con-
siderably favors the growth of the grape. All the
vine gardens obtain the full force of the sun, and
it may be safely said that they obtain a maximum
of heat and a minimum of shadow. The land in
France is so very valuable, and the system of
peasant proprietorship is so usually followed, that
we find in the neighborhood of Rheims a general
and equal division of space.

It is commonly but erroneously supposed that
each particular brand of champagne is made from
the grapes grown on one vineyard, and, further,
that every proprietor makes his wine from his or her
own ground. This is by no manner of means the
case. The Clicquots, the Moats, the Mumms, the
Roederers, the Goulets, and the Pommerys, all
have special tracts, and naturally employ their
own grapes; but at vintage time it is necessary to
buy liberally from the humbler growers in order
to meet the demands of their gigantic establish-
ments. There is another reason why there should
be a mutual exchange of the champagne fruit.
This popular wine only obtains its perfection by a
careful, artistic, and judicious mixture of juices
obtained from the first-class vineyards. It is said
that among these Ay is renowned for the sweetness
of the grapes ; Cramant for its sparkling proper-
ties ; Verzenay for bouquet ; and Bouzy for force
or vinosite. Doctors differ on the subject of these
mixtures. Some manufacturers insist upon care-
fully divided proportions of Sillery, Verzenay, and
Bouzy ; of Mareuil, Ay, and Dizy ; and Pierry,
Cramant, Avizi, and Mesnil ; whilst others content
themselves with Ay, Pierry, and Cramant. Be
this as it may, the true art of champagne-making

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

255

is in the mixture of the various qualities when the
fermentation of the wine in cask is complete about
Christmas time. It requires a careful intelligence
to buy judiciously at the time of the vendanges,
and to prophesy correctly concerning the ultimate
value of the perfected grape ; but the great art is
when the proportions of fermented juice are poured
into the huge mixing vat in the cool cellars of the
manufactory.

I was struck with the cleanliness, decorum, and
cheerful character of all employed on the various
vineyards I have visited. There was no noise or
disturbance anywhere, and wherever I found the
laborers, hard at work among the vines, dressing
the grapes for the press, or returning from their
work, there was the same order, civility, and
frequent merriment. The adjacent towns, villages,
farms, and barns fairly accommodate this influx
of visitors, and, so far as I could see, there were
no signs whatever of drunkenness or disorder.
The pickers are summoned by beat of drum at
daybreak each morning in the market-place of the
villages adjacent to the vineyards, and then and
there a price is made for the day's labor. This
varies according to the work required to be done
and the speed with which it is necessary to accom-
plish it. The bargain struck, away go men, women,
and children into the vineyard, each provided with
a small basket and a pocket knife, curved like a reap-
ing hook. They are divided into gangs, each headed
by an overseer, and as the small hand baskets are
filled they are carried to the end of the row, where
specially selected hands are employed in what is
called dressing the grapes for the press. In what
are known as good years this operation is con.
sidered useless, and the manufacturer is compelled
to purchase the vintage, good and bad together,
just as it comes from the field. But any such
reckless system is utterly impossible in most of
the vineyards this year. At Verzenay, for instance,
will be found a considerable quantity of rottenness,
much worm-eaten and mildewed fruit, which if
pressed in its present condition would assuredly
have the effect of tainting the wine. So the
system of dressing, happily for the manufacturer,
is almost universal.

Each bunch as it is tumbled into the crate at
the side of the vineyard is carefully gone over by
female fingers ; the bad and cankered parts are
rejected, diseased stalks are pruned away, and
some attempt is made to send the grapes to the
press in a decent condition. But even this hurried
inspection is not all that could be desired, and the
sharpest eye is apt to be deceived, particularly in

the Verzenay vintage of this year. We frequently
discovered in the very heart of what looked a
regular well-grown bunch, a grape or so absolutely
rotten and capable of infecting its companions
when they were heaped together in the press. The
dressed fruit, when carefully finished and inspected,
is quickly borne away in carts to the nearest press,
usually situated in the village, and the refuse re-
maining represents the loss in quantity to the pro-
prietor. The general color of the grape in the
Rheims district is black ; but there are celebrated
vineyards, such as Cramant, which only grow
white grapes. It will occur, doubtless, to some-
one to ask if the laborers are permitted to go upon
\ the old hospitable principle of "eat what you Hke
i and pocket none." Nearly every sensible pro-
prietor places no restriction on the obvious tempta-
tion of the enjoyment of ripe grapes on a hot day.
It is found far the most economical plan in the
end, for the first day's debauch ends in such
serious inconvenience, and very often loss of
wages, that the grapes are left alone from that
moment. Women and children are found to be
the most skilful pickers, and the men are for the
most part employed in carrying the baskets to
and fro, emptying the crates, and loading the

wagons.

«-•-•

EDITORIAL NOTES.

To Intelligent Correspondents. — All com-
munications relating to advertisements, subscrip-
tions, or other business, must be addressed to the
publisher, 814 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

All referring to the reading tnatter of the maga-
zine must be mailed to the editor, Germantown, Pa.

No express packages for the editor received un-
less prepaid ; and marked '' Paid through to Ger-
mantown, Pa."

William Brown. — Just as we go to press we
have word of the death of William Brown, a promi-
nent seed collector, of Montreal, Canada. It oc-
curred on the 6th of July. Mr. Brown was well
and favorably known in the United States, as well
as in Canada.

Samuel Kinsey. — It is with much regret we
have to announce the death of Samuel Kinsey, a
prominent nurseryman, of Kinsey's Station, Ohio.
Mr. Kinsey belonged to the Nurserymen's Associa-
tion, and it was from one of the members of that
body that we had the information of his death. He
had done much to build up the nursery business
in Ohio, and he was very generally esteemed.

=56

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[August,

Horticultural Societies.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

American Pomological Society. — Referring
to the forthcoming session of the American Pomo-
logical Society, which commences at Philadelphia,
Wednesday, September 12th, Marshall P. Wilder
writes : " I notice with pleasure that you keep the
American Pomological Society before the public.
The meeting will be a grand one. Delegations
are being reported from many States and Socie-
ties. The Massachusetts Horticultural Society
sends twenty-five, Rhode Island, ten, and New
England will come on in full force. Nova
Scotia and Canada are in the field, and the South
and West will come in with full representations.
So the good work goes on. So may it ever pros-
per, and our land continue to be the most remark-
able for its fruits as it is for its love of liberty and
human rights."

Denison, Texas, Horticultural Society.—
From the report of the spring meeting of the above
named Society we extract the following useful
information concerning grapes and peaches :

" To illustrate the comparative effects of rot
upon different varieties of grapes, Mr. Munson
presented Irving, Concord, Duchess, Noah, Aga-
wam, Lindley, Salem and Hartford as showing
some I'Ot ; Brighton, Lady Washington, Black
Eagle, Rogers No. 2, and Wilder, rotting severely ;
Delaware, Walter, Rochester, Moore's Early,
Champion, Elvira, Triumph, Martha, Pocklington,
Lady, Prentiss, Herbemont, Mary Ann and
Goethe, showing the slightest signs of rot in a few
scattering berries ; Early Victor, Perkins, Ives,
Cynthiana, Bacchus and a choice Postoak re-
moved from the woods, show no sign of rot.

" Mr. M. had Alexander, Amsden, Brice, Ashby,
Baker, Kelly's Early, Williams' Early, Larkins,
Climax, Engles' Climax, Hynes' Nectar, Cally
Scaflf, Eureka, Wilder, Waterloo, Alpha, Bowers'
Early, Gov. Garland, Musser, and others, which
could scarcely be distinguished one from the
other, except that Musser is again a little the
earliest, Alexander a little the largest and Wilder,
Bowers' Early, Waterloo and Excelsior a little the
latest. All are productive enough, sure bearers,
and like their parent, Hale's Early, subject to rot
in wet weather, or in heavy damp lands."

Michigan Horticultural Society— Twelfth
Annual Report.— T. H. Forster, Librarian,
sends us the annual report for 1882. It is as full
of information as it is possible for a work of this
kind to be. There are reports of intelligent dis-
cussions on almost every horticultural topic that

I could be mentioned. It contains a great amount
of valuable information. Reports from many
branch societies are embraced, giving it additional
value. The Secretary's Portfolio is replete with
valuable information. The following extract from
the introductory note will show what he has aimed
to do. " Again, during the year 1882, 1 have been
gathering from every available source facts, obser-
vations, experiments, and opinions in the field of
horticulture, and from the great amount of mater-
ial garnered, I have sifted and pruned, abstracted
and epitomized, placing the results of this long and
oftentimes perplexing labor in the condensed form
which follows this prefatory note. A very
large amount of very valuable information has
been thrown out, not because it was unworthy, not
because it was uninteresting, but lor the reason
that everything could not be taken, and it was de-
sirable to get such matter as would interest and
instruct the largest number of enquirers." T. T.
Lyon is President, and Charles W, Garfield,
Secretary.

i Georgia State Horticultural Society —
j Eighth Annual Session. — The Eighth Annual
I Session of this Society will be held in the City of
i Barnesville, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,
August 1st, 2d and 3d, 1883.

j It is earnestly hoped that there will be a full
attendance of all the Fruit growers and progres-
sive Horticulturists of Georgia, as the reunion
promises to be one of the most important ever
held by the Society.

The citizens of Barnesville, appreciating the

I importance of the labors of the Society, have

, made ample arrangements in every particular for

the accommodation of the members, who will

have free entertainment. A beautiful hall for the

meetings of the Society, and large space for the

display of fruits, flowers and vegetables have been

I provided for.

' The following railroads will make a rate of four
! cents per mile ; pay full fare going, and upon
' presentation of certificates of the officers of the
; Society, the ticket agents will issue return tickets
I at one cent per mile : Georgia, Central & South-
western, Western & Atlantic, Atlanta & West
Point, Air Line.

The Southern Express Company have agreed to
carry, free of charge, all packages of fruits and
' vegetables intended for the Exhibition. Such
packages should be addressed A. J. Blalock, Esq.,
for Georgia State Horticultural Society, Barnes-
ville, Georgia. The name of sender plainly
marked upon the package, and all articles sent in
time to reach destination not later than 10 o'clock,
August 1st.

THE

Gardeners^ Monthly

HORTICULTURIST.

DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE. ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS.

Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN.

Volume XXV.

SEPTEMBER, 1883.

Number 297,

Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground.

COMMUNICATIONS.

A FEW RARE PLANTS AND SHRUBS.

BY MRS. M. D. WELLCOME.

It is interesting to watch the growth and de-
velopment of new and rare plants, and every year
I add some of these to my collection.

In an article published July 1882, I mentioned
two hardy shrubs that were valuable. They have
endured another winter and are both attractive —
each with its own individual beauty, which is in
striking contrast. Dimorphanthus is grand, and
though its enormous multifid leaves die wholly in
winter, in spring they start into growth with such
rapidity that in June they stand revealed a yard in
length, and nearly as broad. Hypericum is ex-
ceedingly graceful and when it is weighted with its
golden blossoms, which continue for several
months, it is beautiful. I have added to these
other hardy shrubs, from distant places, as I
cannot find them nearer home : Abelia rupestris, a
dwarf compact shrub, bearing pure white flowers
in long racemes, during summer and fall. Andro-
meda arborea. Sorrel Tree, described as a rare
American small tree, knx)wn in Europe as the
Lily of the Valley tree, from the resemblance of
its bloom to that lovely flower.

Carpenteria Californica. This is an extremely
rare shrub, even in its native habitat. It is a

handsome shrub, the flowers being large, pure
white, with yellow tipped stamens. The leaves are
broadly lance-shaped, of thick texture, with re-
curved margins; it grows from six to fifteen feet in
height and is very bushy. One of the most valu-
able shrubs which have been introduced for years.
Desmodium Japonicum — a pretty dwarf Japa-
nese shrub, quite hardy. Its drooping branches
are entirely hidden by millions of its white flowers,
which are freely produced from August to begin-
ning of winter. Idesia polycarpa — a very beau-
tiful new Japanese tree ; the flowers are of a
yellowish green, and spring from the axils of the
upper leaves, in long gracefully drooping racemes.
They are deliciously fragrant, and are followed by
numerous orange berries about the size of a large
cherry. Phygelius capensis — this pretty Pent-
stemon-like plant I have found quite hardy, it
having passed several winters out doors without
protection. It grows from three to four feet high
and has numerous semi-herbaceous stems, each
terminated by a long branching raceme of brilliant
scarlet flowers. It is a most persistent bloomer,
beginning in May or June and continuing up to
frost. The London Garden says, "This is one
of the most ornamental hardy plants in cultiva-
tion."

Of the new plants not hardy, I will specify a few
so recently received I am not able to report from
personal knowledge. Lasiandra macrantha flori

258

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[September,

bunda — a magnificent plant of good habit and
a most profuse bloomer; the flowers are rich violet
blue, between five and six inches in diameter, and
produced nearly all the year through. Impa-
tiens Sanderiana — the finest floral novelty of
the seasdfi. It is a superb plant of compact habit,
and very branching, perfectly covered with bril-
liant scarlet flowers which are individually 1% inch-
es in diameter. This magnificent new introduction
was discovered by one of the collectors in Asia,
and I can confidently recommend it as one of
the finest novelties introduced for years. Collect-
ors saw plants eighteen inches high with three
hundred flowers.

Gynura aurantiaca — a hardy plant of such or-
namental character as to allow of one's saying that
it is not surpassed by any other plant of the same
class. The stem and leaves are clothed their
entire length with a thick covering of hairs, soft
to the touch, and of a beautiful deep violet color
which gives an appearance of the richest velvet to
the plant, and when combined with the brilliant
orange of the flowers, the aspect of the plant is
truly superb. Considered the finest of bedding
plants.

Sietzia Brasiliensis — this belongs to the ges-
neriaceous class of plants, and is a very curious
new plant with blue flowers beautifully spotted.
A very attractive trailing plant, lovely for basket,
with round pea-green leaves elegantly striped with
white, is Fittonia argyroneura.

I am greatly pleased with a new Zonale gera-
nium, named Apple Blossom. There has long been
a very profuse blooming pelargonium with that
name, but this is a veritable Zonale, imported from
England about three years ago, but as yet little
known. Although mine is a wee plant, it has
been bearing for three weeks its second truss of
flowers, which are white suffused with rosy pink,
and, at a short distance, resemble the blossoms
for which it is very appropriately named. The
pips are so large on the small plant, I think that
on one well grown they must be of unusual size.
Other choice novelties I will defer to a future
article.

SOME JULY BLOOMING PERENNIALS.
BY B.

Passing through my garden to-day, I was struck
with the beauty of seyeral yellow flowered per-
ennials in bloom, and it occurred to me that much
of the interest of our borders, in the month of July,
comes from the blooming of flowers of this color.
The first to attract my attention, perhaps from the

height the plant grows, for it was the tallest of the
lot, was the Heliopsis laevis. It grows fully five
feet high, and its large flowers are very conspicu-
ous. The next I met, and a good one it is, was the
Chrysopsis villosa. This grows to a height of
three feet, is loaded with flowers always, and
blooms for a long time. A later blooming
species, C. Mariana, is equally as handsome.
The next I came to was the conspicuous Rud-
beckia hirta, which, although common in the fields
near by, I would not like to be without in my
border. Following this came Lysimachia ciliata,
one of the best of the genus, except perhaps, quad-
rifolia.' If not mistaken, all our native Lysimach-
ias are yellow. Lepachys columnaris and Rud-
beckia trifolia came next under notice. The first
is very conspicuous, on account of its columnar
disk.

Finishing my walk, I passed some nice plants of
Aquilegia chrysantha, still w'^th a few flowers on,
as it will have for some tims yet. I would not like
to be without these yellow flowers.

CORNUS ALTERNIFOLIA.

BY E. L.

Possibly what I am about to say may not be
news to the majority of your readers. I wish to
say, what a beautiful ornamental shrub is the
Cornus alternifolia, often called blue dogwood.
The flowers are not very attractive, and it is not
to them it owes its character, but chiefly to the
fruit, which when ripe in July and August, gives
to the shrub a character unapproached by any
other shrub I know. Even without the fruit it is
a pretty object, on account of the drooping habit
of its branches. The tendency of the shrub is to
become spreading, having what is termed a de-
pressed head. This makes the fruit, which is
usually borne in great profusion, quite conspicuous,
and is what gives the peculiarly desirable charac-
ter to the tree. The fruit itself is of a purplish blue
color and has reddish stems. This is in pleasing
contrast to the deep green of the leaves and
branches.

There is not enough use made in landscape
gardening of trees and shrubs chiefly valuable for
their ornamental fruit. There is a great variety of
such sorts, and when it is remembered that their
chief attraction is in the late summer and fall
months, when flowers are generally scarce, it is an
additional reason for the more extended use of
them.

[The vase-like form is unique. — Ed. G. M.]

r883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

259

MEMORIALS.

BY EMMA B. DUNHAM.

I think the conceit of planting memorial trees, a
very pretty one. Would it not be still more
interesting should the initial of the name of the tree
correspond with the initial letter of the person's
name, whose memory is to be perpetuated? For
instance, plant a Linden or Locust for Lily and
Lucy; a Mountain Ash for Mary Anna; a Syca-
more or Spruce for Samuel. For the memory of
parents, if the land will admit of a double row of
trees, or an avenue is desired to be shaded, one
row might consist of—

Fir, Ash, Tamarisk, Hickory, Evergreen, Ki)ck Maple.
The other of

Maple, Oak, Tulip, Hawthorn, Elm, Red Bud.

Perhaps I have not chosen the trees which
together will be the most effective. I mention
them as they come to my mind, that I may make
clear my meaning. In Southern latitudes most
lovely combinations may be found. And in the
small gardens of the North, many a pretty fancy
can be written in living letters with the hardy
flowering shrubs.

CLEMATIS COCCINEA.
BY CHAS. E. PARNELL, QUEENS, NEW YORK.

The scarlet flowering Clematis, Clematis coc-
cinea, is a very handsome hardy herbaceous
perennial climbing plant, belonging to the natural
order Ranunculacete. As the plant is a herba-
ceous one, the stems die down every winter. In
the spring it throws up from ten to twelve strong
shoots which attain a height of from eight to ten
feet, at the same time covering a space of from ten
to twelve in breadth; the foliage being deeply
lobed and of a rich glossy green color. The bell-
shaped coral red flowers are produced from the
axils of the leaves, on strong wiry peduncles, in
the greatest profusion, from July until frost. Even
if the plant never blossomed it would be well worth
cultivating for its elegant green foliage alone; but
when we add to this an immense number of rich,
deep coral red flowers, which shine as if they were
polished, words are wanting to fully describe the
beauties of this magnificent climber. The plant is
of robust healthy growth, and as it is a native of
our South-western States, is perfectly hardy in this
latitude. It will grow freely in any moderately en-
riched deep soil and in any situation, provided it
will get the benefit of a few hours sunshine each
day, in order to strengthen the vine. Another

point in its favor is its freedom from all insect pests
that prove to be so destructive to our climbing
vines, to say nothing of the trouble and annoyance
they cause to the cultivator.

In order to keep the plant in a flourishing con-
dition it should be given every fall a liberal dress-
ing of well decayed manure, and this should be
dug in carefully in the spring. Keeping the plant
free from weeds at all times and training the shoots
to their proper places occasionally, during their
season of growth, will do much to increase the
beauty of the plant. For the introduction of this
desirable novelty into cultivation we are indebted
to the enterprising firm of Hallock & Thorpe, of
Queens, N. Y. It is customary with many intro-
ducers to praise all novelties a little more than
their merits entitle them to, but Messrs. Hallock &
Thorpe have only told a plain tale, and said but
very little concerning the merits of this desirable
novelty ; but that they consider it thoroughly re-
liable can be seen from the fact that they have
offered a liberal series of prizes for the best grown
and flowering specimens during the season of 1884.
That this competition will do much to further de-
velop the desirable qualities of this Clematis I do
not doubt, and I trust that some magnificent and
well-grown specimens will be reported by our en-
thusiastic plant cultivators.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Culture of the English Ivy. — This famous
classical plant thrives remarkably well in Virginia.
The writer has seen churches and other old build-
ings in that State as beautifully covered as in the
old world. Further south it is often seen in fair
beauty, though generally only on the north side
of buildings, or on places where the winter's sun
does not strike warmly on them. But they are ad-
mirably adapted to use as pot or tub plants, and
fpi" this there are many remarkably interesting
varieties. It is not generally known that if the
fruiting branches are propagated from, the plant
! will assume an arborescent growth, and they may
be trained to a stem which forms a head like a
Kilmarnock willow, and then flowers and has a
profusion of beautiful black berries, than which
nothing can well be more ornamental. A few
years ago, the late John Jay Smith, of German-
town, had a fine plant of this character which
bore yellow berries, and now we hear a red berried
variety has been discovered in Europe. If some
little trouble were taken by an enterprising florist.

26o

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[September,

to introduce ivies in this shape to the American
public, they would probably be appreciated.

Improvement of American Violets. — The
sweet-scented violet of Europe, Viola odorata,
is far superior to any we have, in fragrance. In-
deed, the few species like V. blanc'a, which have
some fragrance, are not at all showy. In size and
color our Viola cucullata, V. pedata, and others,
are far superior to the European scented ones.
Our large Early Blue violet (V. cucullata) would
be superior to any of the European race, if only
fragrance could be given to it, and as it often has
a little, the quality could no doubt be developed
by careful selection.

We make these reflections through reading the
following, in the Garden: "Mr. Lee, of Clive-
don, sends us flowers of a seedling violet, some-
what similar in appearance to V. canina, but richer
in color and deliciously fragrant, the individual
blossoms being as large as those of Victoria Re-
gina, and of good substance. Apart from its
beauty and novelty as regards color, this variety is
interesting as being a step nearer the acquisition
of a really blue violet than any we have yet had, and
which would in many respects be an acquisition."
This Viola canina is the Enghsh Dog Violet, and
nearly the same as our native Viola Muhlenbergii,
which is found here in shady woods. It has no more
odor, naturally, than our Early Blue, but if it can
be developed to a sweet-scented kind, why not our
Early Blue?

The Hackberry as a Street Tree. — We are
glad to encourage the planting of other trees than
the common Silver Maple for street trees. It is
the most unfit of all trees. It does very well for a
half dozen years or so, but is too "sprawly " in the
long run. Dr. Warder says : "In many Western
towns the hackberry has been planted successfully
for its dense shade, though rather quiet and
sombre in tone. In the forest it often becomes a,
large tree."

In Staunton, Virginia, the writer noticed it to be
extensively used. It went there under the name
of Sugarberry, the small pea-like fruit having a
sugary taste. The botanical name, Celtis, is not
hard. Nettle tree was once its commonest
name.

Winter Treatment of Roses. — Mr. J. B.
Moore of Concord, is a famous Massachusetts
Rose grower. He plants in rows, four feet apart,
and tries to keep the ground clean and free from
weeds, and in the fall to bank up the plants about
a foot high with earth from the spaces between the

rows. When the earth is removed from around
the plants in spring they are pruned, the weak,
poor wood being cut out, and the slow-growing
varieties cut back to six or eight inches, while the
stronger growers should be left ten or twelve inches
in length.

Chinese Cemeteries. — Mr. Maries tells us, in
the Garden: "I have told you elsewhere, about
how the Chinese dispose of their dead at Shanghai.
They are little better here at Kuikiang. Go where
you will there are graveyards in the fields, on the
hills, in the valleys. You can always see the end
of a coffin sticking out of the bank, and perhaps a
skull or a few bones near. Here people are not
placed outside to dry up, but they are buried as
soon as dead, not always in the strongest made
coffins, and often ( if the man be poor) not deep in
the ground. Most of the rich Chinese choose a
place near the hills, and are buried in a brick
tomb with a tablet with name, &c., on it in front.
A mound of earth is thrown up round the tomb
and trees planted — Willows, Cupressus, and Juni-
pers generally, also Yews, with a small road cut
through the mound in front of the tablet. The re-
lations of the deceased come every year to^pray,
or, as they say, 'Chin chin.' They then fire off a
lot of crackers, offer food to the departed spirit,
have a ramble and enjoy themselves generally,
and go home for another year. The only few
decent trees one sees are either round a temple or
near a grave."

The Bsst Time for Planting. — At a recent
meeting of the Germantown (Pa.) Horticultural
Society, Joseph Meehan, in speaking of "The Best
Time to Transplant Trees,"said in substance : "This
is not an easy question to answer. We may say cer-
tain seasons are favorable ones, but to name any
time as invariably the best, cannot be done. A great
deal of the success in transplanting trees depends
on the season following. A mild winter may
follow fall planting, or a cool, moist summer that
of spring. In such cases the plantings would most
likely be successful. There are two things required
for success in planting, viz: the saving of all fibres
and a favorable season following. Trees cannot
live without fibres. Roots are of little account,
except to sustain the tree in place. It is the small
thread-like roots which feed the tree through their
tips. A tree with all its fibres saved is safe at any
time. Florists carry out this principle nowadays
in potting plants. When the soil is worn out the
plant is washed of the earth around its roots.
Thus every fibre is saved and the plant grows

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

261

right on. But in moving large trees it is almost
impossible to save every root and fibre ; some are
generally lost. A very favorable time to the pro-
duction of new fibres is early fall, as has been
often proved. Trees transplanted in September
will throw out at once a lot of fibres which will
supply the tree with sap for the winter. Early
fall is much better than late fall, when roots have
been lost in digging, on account of this renewal of
fibres. Early spring planting is good, because the
ground becomes settled before the buds burst and
evaporation commences. Fibres have time to
form before the leaves, and thus the necessary
moisture is supplied. The most unfavorable time
to transplant a tree, which has lost many roots,
is just as the buds are bursting. The young leaves
are calling for moisture rapidly, and the fibres or
mouths to convey the food are not there, and the
tree dies. It may be repeated then that trees with
all their fibres are safe in spring or fall. Early
fall is an excellent time, as the ground being warm
it induces new fibres to form. Early spring is
good as the tree settles in position before growth
commences."

Garrya elliptica. — Very few of the beautiful
plants of California thrive in the Eastern States,
but there would probably be no difficulty in get-
ting them to succeed further south. As gardening
is now in a comparatively flourishing condition in
the Southern States, it may be as well for our
nurserymen who have Southern trade, to experi-
ment with some of the best. One of the prettiest
of California shrubs is Garrya elHptica. We know
of no attempts to introduce it. We are reminded
of its beauty by a note in the Garden, referring to
its behaviour in England:

"It is by no means so much planted as its merits
deserve; for it must I think be admitted that this
Garrya is a winter flowering evergreen par excel-

lence. In character of growth it resembles the
Elaeagnus, but in appearance it is altogether dis-
tinct, and when early frosts are not too severe to
injure its flowers the long tasselated spikes that
droop so gracefully are to my mind particularly
refreshing. Like the preceding, we also cut the
Garrya pretty freely for indoor decoration. These
two plants and some flowering branches of Lau-
rustinus tastefully arranged with a few bright
I flowers in a large vase make no mean ornament
j on a dull day in the month of December. We
find no difficulty in growing the Garrya in any
I kind of soil or situation, but its proper place is no
doubt in the front line of a choice shrubbery
border. It is, probably, quite hardy even in the
north of England; here, in the west, the severest
winters do not injure it. The proper time for trans-
planting this plant I consider to be the month of

April."

— — --<«■»-

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Flowering of the Victoria Lily. — E. D.
Sturtevant, Bordentown, New Jersey, whose notes
on the flowering of the Victoria regia in the open
air, we published last year, writes us that the first
flower of this season opened July 20th, forty-five
days earlier than last year.

Laurel Oak. — "C. E. M.," Philadelphia, writes :
"Replying to your St. Louis correspondent, who in
the June number of the Monthly says he does
not think the true laurel oak, Quercus imbricaria,
is under cultivation, I would say that it has been
pretty widely disseminated hereabouts. Thous-
ands of trees of it are raised and sold by Philadel-
phia nurserymen annually, finding their way to
parks and public grounds to a great extent. There
are a few nice specimens in Fairmount Park,
Philadelphia, and also in some private grounds.
I can endorse what is said of its beauty. Its
leaves are unlike any other oak, North or South,
and it is a rapid and synnnetrical grower."

Greenhouse and House Gardening.

COMMUNICATIONS.

BILBERGIA THYRSOIDEA.

BY CHARLES E. PARNELL, QUEENS, NEW YORK.

The thyrse flowering Bilbergia (Bilbergia thyrs-
oidea) is a very singular and attractive stove, or

hot-house plant, belonging to the natural order,
Bromeliaceae. Its native country is Brazil, where,
it is said, it can be found growing abundantly on
rocks near the city of Rio Janeiro. It is a plant
that to some extent resembles a pine-apple in
its manner of growth, the leaves being loosely
arranged and of a dark green color, rather

262

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[September,

wavy, having small serratures and terminating in
a short, abrupt point. From the center of the
plant arises the inflorescence, consisting of a strik-
ingly beautiful oblong cone, or thyrse, having a
crimson stalk, or stem, and rich crimson bracts
very regularly arranged. The flowers are, when
fully expanded, about the same size as the bracts
and of nearly the same color, the oblong sepals
being much shorter than the closed up straight,
erect petals ; as the cone or thyrse remains in
perfection for two or three weeks, some idea can
be formed of its beauty, the contrast between the
bright green leaves and the dark crimson cone
being so very striking. Well grown specimens
flower freely during the autumn months, or from
September to December.

Propagation is effected by division of the plant,
and this operation is best performed just before the
the plant starts into growth. In order to cultivate
this Bilbergia satisfactorily, it should be potted
in a compost of one-half well rotted sods and
one-half rotted cow manure, or leaf mould, and
also mix a quantity of charcoal (broken fine) with
the compost. Use a pot suitable to the size of the
plant, and take every care to drain it well. When
growing, keep it in as warm and moist a situation
as one has at his command, and give a good
supply of water; but when in a dormant state very
little is required, and at that time a temperature of
from 55° to 60^ suffices. In the cultivation of Bil-
bergias it is well to remember the fact that great
heat and moisture given them, during their season
of growth, causes an increase in the size and vigor
in the growth of the plant, and consequently an
increase in the size of the flowering thyrse; and,
whether it is desired to increase the plant or not, it
should be repotted every season before its growth
commences. Good, strong plants can be obtained
of our principal florists at a reasonable price.

HOT WATER BETTER THAN STEAM
HEATING.

BY SAMOEL PERKINS, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

Being deeply interested in anything that apper-
tains to the heating or management of greenhouses,
I have read closely and studied carefully the
different articles submitted by your numerous
correspondents. There has been a great deal
said in favor of steam as a means of heating and
its adaptability to greenhouse purposes; in fact
some parties have made very extravagant state-
ments, claiming that it required less attention,
could be safely left for ten hours, and would save

at least one-third the amount of coal that would
be required by a hot water apparatus. One would
think from these statements that all a florist had
to do would be to put in steam and be happy. I
was much pleased to read in your July number
the articles by Mr. Mylius and Mr. Brenneman, for
I consider that they treated the matter very fairly —
and being the result of practical experience must
naturally be given full credit. They both unite in
stating that steam heaters require more attention
than hot water — Mr. Brenneman stating that the
fire in his boiler must be attended to every fifteen
minutes in cold weather to keep up steam. Mr.
Mylius does not go so far as this, but still he says
that a steam boiler must be looked after at least
every three hours in a cold snap. I have spoken
to three parties who have steam in their houses
and they fully indorse the above statements ; in
fact one of the parties after testing a steam heater
for two winters has taken it out and put in hot
water ; he said he used about the same amount of
fuel that he would have used with hot water, and
yet the parties that put it up claimed that he would
save one-third.

Now then, let us take Mr. Brenneman's statement
in regard to fuel and see how it compares with a
hot water apparatus. He says : " Our plant-house
consists of 30,000 feet of glass, heated by one
boiler of 25 horse-power, having 6,000 ft. of 2-inch
pipe, and using about 350 tons of coal." Taking
this statement as a standard let us see what hot
water would do under the same conditions. Accor-
ing to practical experience plant-houses requiring
30,000 feet of glass to cover them would require
about 13,000 ft. of 4-inch pipe to maintain a tem-
perature of 65° when the thermometer outside
stood at 20° below zero. I know from practical
experience that a hot water boiler of good pattern
will not consume more than 36 tons of coal for
every 1,500 ft. 4-inch pipe used. Therefore if we
use 36 tons per 1,500 ft. pipe and require 13,000 ft.
pipe to heat 30,000 feet of glass, we should use
about 312 tons of coal. I fail to see where the
saving of fuel comes in, for Mr. Brenneman could
have saved fuel by using hot water.

To give some color to my statements I would
like to mention two cases to show that I have
reasonable grounds on which to base my calcula-
tions. In the first place I would mention Mr. Gus.
Messeberg, Florist, Flatbush, L. 1., he has at
present about 18,000 square feet of glass heated
by hot water boilers manufactured by Thos. W.
Weathered, N. Y., the total amount of coal con-
sumed last winter being 150 tons. The man attend-

1883-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

263

ing the fire stated to me that he had lost only one
night's rest during the whole winter. The other
case I would mention is that of David Deans,
Florist, Astoria, L. I. He fired two of Mr.
Weathered's boilers for seven months (lacking two
days) ; the boilers heated 3,100 ft. of 4-inch pipe,
amount of coal consumed 70 tons. These houses
were used principally for roses and of course had
to be kept at a good heat. I do not wish to take
up too much of your space but would like to state
that in my opinion most of the greenhouses of
to-day are underpiped, florists putting in as little
pipe as possible under a mistaken idea of economy.
I believe in putting plenty of pipe in a house, in
fact sufficient to heat to the desired temperature
in any weather without straining; by so doing you
will save coal and attention ; of course we must
have plenty of boiler. I feel fully assured that
a greenhouse heated by hot water, the work
being done by good mechanics, will have a system
of heat that no steam heater can equal, in ease of
management, permanence of temperature, and
general wear and tear.

useful in early fall and spring for heating my
propagating bed, which I have on top of the
furnace and return flue, by making a small fire
and the use of the short flue.

This plan may not be new to your readers, but
it was to me, and I would not be without it for
any money so long as I have to heat a greenhouse
with flues.

THE DRAFT OF FLUES.

BY HENRY MATERN, SANDUSKY, OHIO.

I saw in the March number of the Monthly
that trouble in starting fires in greenhouses with
flues is not over yet. I had my share of it, too ;
but by the way I have my flues arranged now, trou-
ble is not known, and it is a pleasure to start a fire.

About four to ten feet from the furnace build a
flue on the top of the lower one and back over
the furnace into a short chimney. Connect the
extreme end of the upper flue with the lower one
by a damper between the connections, made of
heavy sheet iron, hung on a square frame, which
is fitted in between the opening of the upper and
lower flue. The damper when dropped will close
up the lower flue and open the upper one, making
an almost direct draft for the smoke to pass out.
Now you can start your fire ; it will roar. In a
short time your coal will be ignited, and furnace
and part of the flue well heated. Now raise your
damper. I do this by an iron rod on which the
damper is fastened. It runs through a hole in the
brick and is then bent so that it will stand parallel
with the outside of the flue when closed, and is
kept up by a weight hung on the extreme end of
it. With smoke and gases almost gone, a hot fire
in the furnace and part of the flue well heated,
there will be circulation through the whole length
without any difficulty. I also find this plan very

HINTS ON NEW AND RARE PLANTS, ETC.

BY N. ROBERTSON, SUPT. OF GOVERNMENT
GROUNDS, OTT.-VWA, CANADA.

Besides new plants there are others which may
be called rare because they are not frequently
seen in collections, although, perhaps, introduced
for ■ several years, — because they have not been
brought before the public with proper representa-
tions, or because intending purchasers fear the
getting of inferior or other varieties under the old
names.

In England, at the present time, an inferior
palm is being sold for that most beautiful of all
palms, as it is said to be, Pritchardia grandis.
How very disappointing this comes to be to pur-
chasers I Two years ago I saw Begonia Louis
Chretien advertised, and I sent for it. On getting
it I saw that it in no way resembled the descrip-
tion I had seen of it. This year, in ordering from
another party, one was put in that corresponded
exactly with what I had read of it, and it well de-
serves all that is said about it, being the grandest
of all the ornamental foliage begonias yet seen.
No one who likes such plants should be without it
in their collections.

Then, again, in the cactus tribe of plants confu-
sion reigns supreme. I was anxious to make a
collection of these plants, but after my first, second
and third attempts I abandoned the idea altogether,
there being such a duplication of sorts under other
names. No work of much importance, I believe,
has been as yet published on this tribe of plants,
though it is said one is to be published from
Kew, where they have such a fine collection of
them. People say there is little of interest in
cactuses, but years ago I made a bed of them
to test this. Every one near went to see this bed,
and many lingered long looking and examining
those natural curiosities, as they may be termed.
But my principal aim is to bring to the notice of
plant growers some of those new or rare plants
worthy of a place in every collection. Gynura
aurantiaca is a new, distinct and beautiful plant,
very attractive ; besides, its easy cultivation brings
it within the reach of every one. Peperomia pros-

264

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[September,

trata is another grand addition to basket plants ; its parents was a Baroness Rothschild cannot be
its beautiful, tiny, marked foliage, resembling ar- \ questioned, the short heavy wood and the quantity
gentea. It will undoubtedly be much prized, of its peculiarly arranged leafage furnishing ample
Philodendrum Carderi will be much thought of. testimony on that point. But there was evidently
It has been well said that the glossy, shaded another and considerable factor at work. I know
green, satiny surface of the leaves imparts a won- ; it is spoken of as a sport but do not recollect that
drous degree of beauty to it. Pothos aurea ; of the raiser is responsible for the statement, and the
this plant I cannot say much as my plant is very flower is strong presumptive evidence to the con-
young, and as yet does not bear out its charac- trary. The rare beauty of Baroness Rothschild
ter, none of those " fantastic shaped blotches of ' consists in the shell-form of its large petals and
creamy yellow " having yet appeared. Another the pearly, glistening freshness of its color. Now
plant which is said to have the fault of losing we miss both these qualities in the new variety,
its variegation for a time is' Lavatera arborea The outer petals are of good size, but the center is
variegata. It came from the seed at first, and, closely filled with shorter ones arranged wonder-
with all the markings represented to have, but fully like those in Malmaison, and the ground
has lost them since. If they come out agairt as coloring of white is creamy, not clear. I hardly
they did at first, it is truly represented in Ficus need mention that in these respects it has wandered
Parcelli. I have many more, but will wait their \ far from its nominal source. The rose is beautiful,
further development before I express any opinion the fine outer petals recurving so softly as to charm
on them. even a virtuoso. Its size is good, not great, and

To fern lovers Adiantum Williamsii will cer- ; the buds open readily, which argues well for its
tainly be thought very fine, especially when the ' use in forcing. In all the specimens I met with
fronds are in a young state. It is truly said that there was a very apparent shade of pink — absent

its value cannot be overestimated. Microlephia
hirta cristata fully bears out all that has been said
of it. The fronds have a charming drooping

in the extreme outer row but showing through from
the center — which lacked brilliancy from being on
a creamy base. In short it is a beautiful white

habit, making it a beautiful plant for baskets as j rose but not what would be naturally expected
well as a fine ornament in a pot. Nephrolepis ] from a white Baroness Rothschild, and in my
Duffi, now introduced some years, but not yet j estimation, not so fine as Madame Lacharme when
often seen in collections, is perhaps one of the that rose happily consents to open.

neatest and most beautiful of all ferns, from its

upright and unique habit. It is of easy propaga-
tion, hardy constitution, and will make a lasting
addition to this class of plants ; besides this, it is
always a splendid ornament on a table. Lastraea

HOW TO CLEAM A COMMON FLUE.

BY CHIP.

While it is to me very interesting to read the

Richardsii multifida is a variety that deserves the : pros and cons in favor of steam or hot water
descriptions given of its beauty. It is one of the heating, I venture to give my " How to Clean a

most handsome among ferns ; no one should be
without this one in their collections.

Common Flue." In one house I heat with a flue.
It is made in the best manner, is over 70 feet long

It would be of great benefit to many if growers ; and has 14-inch square tiles on top, lapped in
of new or rare plants would let us know what are i grooves. To clean it without taking off every ten

their views on many of the new introductions.

MERVEILLE DE LYON ROSE.

BY W. F. HIBBERD, LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

feet or so, was of some consideration to me. Well,
I take oft' one tile, say about 7 or 8 feet from the
fireplace, also one next to the bend or entrance of
the chimney. Then I get a cat, take a ball of
cotton twine, such as is used for tying up flowers.
We hear much about the rose Merveille de Lyon fasten one end to one of pussy's hind legs, intro-
as a white Baroness Rothschild and I fear some j duce her in one of the openings, and by kind per-
misconception of its characteristics will result, j suasion make her creep through the flue, playing
Early in the spring I saw at one of our florists' j out twine as quick as she goes. If she stops on
very perfect flowers, on imported plants that the way, a gentle pull will soon set her in motion ;
had bloomed as I venture to say few imported watch for pussy on the other end, relieve her ;
plants are ever bloomed; and later I found a then' fasten a rope or strong garden line to the
number at another establishment. That one of twine and draw it through. Get old bags, tie up

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

265

in as big a bundle as will conveniently go through
your flue and keep at see-sawing — so to speak —
until your flue is clean.

on slender black stipes, arching over elegantly at
the top, and dividing into from four to six linear
pinnae. The red color of the young fronds adds

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Adiantum tetraphyllum gracile. — This
beautiful Maiden-hair fern was sent by one of the
collectors of Mr. Wm. Bull from the United States
of Colombia. It is of moderate stature, and remark-
able for the beautiful reddish tint assumed by its
fronds when first developed, and continuing until
they are fairly expanded. The fronds are bipinnate,

very much to the ornamental aspect of the plant,
which is moreover of an elegant mode of growth.

ToDEAS AT Glasnevin. — The house devoted to
Filmy Ferns is in a well shaded position. It is
not usually open to the public, as the delicate
leaves would be easily injured, and cold draughts
of air are especially hurtful to them, though even
in the coldest weather no artificial heat is given.
Todeas grow there to perfection. The largest

266

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[September,

specimen of T. superba has leaves 3 feet long, and
the plant is about 5>^ feet through. Some leaves
of T. pellucida measure nearly 2/4 feet in length,
and the plant is about 5^ feet across ; its drooping
habit is very graceful. T. plumosa resembles T.
pellucida, but it is more finely cut and a of darker
green shade, more like that of T. superba. Though
still a young plant, it is one of great beauty. T.
Fraseri has leaves over 31^ feet long. Smaller
plants of this fern are grown in a wall of Filmy
Ferns, which extends the full length of one side
of the house. The position shows to advantage
the large drooping feather-like leaves of this Todea.
T. barbara (T. Africana) differs entirely from these
Filmy Todeas, it much more resembles a Lastrea
in habit. The leaves are by no means filmy, nor
has it the beautiful coloring of the other Todeas.
The two plants of it are grown in different houses,
and probably in a higher temperature than that of
the Filmy Fern-house. — C. M. Owen, in Garden-
ers' Chronicle.

A High-priced Rose Coming to Philadel-
phia.— In a late number of the Gardeners' Chroni-
cle is the following reference to a purchase of a new
rose by a Philadelphia florist. We presume Mr.
Evans, of Rowlandville, Phila., to be the purchaser
referred to.

"Some of our rose loving readers may be inter-
ested to know that one of Mr. Bennett's seedlings
has recently been the subject of a trade bargain,
which in magnitude we imagine has not before
been exceeded in this, if in any other country
where a rose has been the subject bartered. We
believe we are divulging no secret when we state
that an enterprising Philadelphia plant merchant,
Mr. Evans, has bought half Mr. Bennett's stock
of the crimson tea rose, William Francis Bennett,
for ^750, and has legally bound himself not to
sell or otherwise dispose of any bud, cutting, or
scion, but only the flowers, for a term of four
years. The rose in question is not much known,
except to those who have visited Mr. Bennett's
rose nursery at Shepperton, or previously at Staple-
ford, but it has made its mark in Covent Garden
and other markets, many thousands of its bloom-
buds having been sold at highly remunerative
prices. As we have before stated, it is one of the
most persistent of winter bloomers. As with Wel-
lington's soldiers at Waterloo, so it is with this rose
— when one bud is cut off another quickly takes
its place. It partakes largely of the Niphetos form,
and is a glowing crimson in color. When we re-
inember that in America, roses in winter realise
sums that make the English grower's mouth water,
it needs no great stretch of imagination to convince
us that Mr. Evans" speculation must soon prove a
profitable investment."

It is called "William Francis Bennett."

Double Flowers. — In order to obtain double

flowers, it has been thought advisable to make use
of the pollen from double flowers, where it is pos-
sible to obtain it, and to apply it to the stigma of
single flowers from which it is desired to procure
double-flowered seedlings. M. Lemoine, desirous
of experimenting with lilacs, found that the only
double-flowered lilac then known had no stamens,
and consequently no pollen. He therefore de-
cided to reverse the process, and to fertilize the
stigmas of certain double-flowered lilacs with the
pollen from some of the best single varieties. The
experiment was so far a success, that out of forty
seedlings thirty at least yielded semi-double or
double-flowers, one of them being very remark-
able for its beauty. — Florist.

Insects. — Dr. H. P. Walcott tells the Massachu-
setts Horticultural Society : The insect enemies of
the chrysanthemum are the green aphis through the
season, the black aphis later, the grasshopper and
a root louse. The aphides can be destroyed with
tobacco water ; the grasshoppers must be picked
off by the hand, but no remedy is known for the
root louse. The formation of the plants is effected
by pinching ; but to obtain perfection of flower,
the Japanese should not be pinched more than
once, or the large flowered more than twice,
while the pompons may be pinched with safety to
any extent up to the middle of August.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Stigmaphyllum ciliatum. — "J. A. T.," New
York, writes : " Will you be kind enough to tell
me the name of the enclosed specimen ? It blooms
profusely every summer, and, although I have
had it for some years and many have seen it, I
have not been able to get its name. The flowers
are yellow, as you will see, and are quite pretty, I
think."

[The plant is Stigmaphyllum ciliatum, a lovely
climber, which, though long in cultivation, is
found in but few collections. It is from Brazil.^
Ed. G. M.]

Seedling Coleus. — W. S. Johnston, Greenville,
Pa., writes: "I send you a sample of seedling
coleus raised here. They are all good bedders.
What do you think of them ? I also enclose a
bloom of a double Bouvardia. It is a sport from
a double white. Is it worth anything ? "

[The specimens came in good condition. It is
quite impossible to say whether they are valuable
or not. There are some pretty colors among
them. Coleus are chiefly valuable for bedding

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

267

purposes. If any of these should possess unusual
and desirable colors and prove good bedders they
would be sought for, no doubt. There have been
numbers of seedlings raised within the past few
years, more than many persons have any idea of,

yet the older sorts for bedding have not yet been
superseded.

It is not unusual for the double white Bouvardia
to produce pale pink flowers like the specimen
sent.— Ed. G. M.]

Fruit and Vegetable Gardening,

COMMUNICATIONS.

NEW EARLY PEACHES.

BY H. M. ENGLE.

In September number of Gardeners' Monthly
of 1882, I gave the result of my experience with
new early peaches. From the crop this season I
see no reason to change my views of the same,
and therefore feel justified in repeating my former
assertion, viz. : that there is not actually three
days difference in the time of ripening of all the
native new varieties claimed to be two to three
weeks earlier than Hale's.

My method of testing cannot be questioned,
/*. e., fruiting them on trees of other varieties ripen-
ing at the same period, which I consider the only
true method of testing comparative earliness. In
my experience there has not been a season that
the time of ripening was not reversed, so I have
given up to say which is the earliest, until I can be
more positive on this question.

I have not tested all the new varieties earlier
than Hale's, but have fruited between twenty and
thirty of them, and have others of the same class
forthcoming, and when I find any that I am sure
can be recommended as uniformly earliest, the
public shall know it. In size, appearance, and
quality they prove also to be about as near alike as
in time of ripening, and I would venture to select
specimens of all those varieties that I have
fruited, and that the most expert judges could not
name them except by chance. It is still to be
hoped that the limit of earliness has not yet been
reached, and that by planting seeds from speci-
mens of the earliest ripening, varieties earlier than
any we now have may be obtained.

Until this season I had flattered myself that
these new kinds would not become so subject to

rot as Hale's, but the unusual wet weather near the
ripening period caused them to rot badly.

Early Surprise which was disseminated as
extra early proves to ripen with Hale's, but, unless
it will rot much, will just fill the place of the
latter. It is equal, if not superior, to Hale's in
every respect, and in my opinion will prove a
valuable acquisition where the latter does not
succeed. I am still waiting for a freestone to make
its appearance as fine and as early as the earliest.

Wheatly was represented as filling the bill, but
am told that it is like all early ones, half cling. I
have as yet seen no perfect freestone as early as
Hale's.

TWO GOOD APPLES.

BY C. B. O., BUCKS CO., \'A.

The apple crop is a partial failure over this part
of country, except the Krauser and Water apples.
The Water apple is a great favorite here on ac-
count of its wonderful bearing qualities, and the
beautiful growth of the tree. It is of excellent
quality, both for cooking and eating. The fruit is
too tender to ship to distant markets. This is the
hardiest apple in my collection, both on account of
drouth and freezing. In some soils, it is more or
less apt to rot on the tree, and must be sold as a
fall fruit. The Krauser has no superior as a
winter apple for market. The tree is a beautiful
grower, an abundant bearer, and the fruit invaria-
bly fair and hangs well to the tree, which is essen-
tial to Winter fruit. The tree is perhaps not quite
so hardy as the Water to resist our severe winters.
The Krauser bears its fruit on the inside of the
tree as well as the outside, and produces about
twice as many apples as you expect when com-
mencing to pick them.

[The Water is remarkably productive every-
where.— Ed. G. M.]

268

THE GARDENERS* MONTHLY

[September,

PHILADELPHIA MARKET-GARDENING AND
SEED GROWING.

BY A CONTRIBUTOR.

Philadelphia is the Metropolitan City of a grand
old State, one which not only furnishes all the
anthracite coal and the best of iron to the sister-
hood of States, but, according to the United States
Census Report of 1881, her farmers bring her to a
commanding position as an agricultural State,
ranking — first in rye; second in hay, buckwheat
and potatoes ; third in oats and tobacco; fourth
in milch cows; seventh in sheep; fifth in the
number of farms — these last numbering two hun-
dred and fourteen thousand. Thus, may Phila-
delphians be proud of Pennsylvania's position in an
agricultural way based, firstly, upon the wealth of
money her products bring to the pockets of her
farmers and, secondly, to the noble position she
occupies in providing food for mankind — she is an
Empire! One of our most gifted men said, "Agri-
culture feeds us, to a great extent clothes us; with-
out it we should not have manufactures, and we
should not have commerce."

In an agricultural community no man occupies
a more important position than he who provides
seed-stock of esculents and cereals for his fellow-
agriculturists. If of good quality and well selected,
he is a public benefactor — if impure, his careless-
ness or ignorance entails a loss falling directly or
indirectly upon every one. Seed farming is in this
view the most important of agricultural pursuits,
and upon it I propose to draw some reflections,
but will first briefly touch upon the subject of mar-
ket-gardening.

Gardening like other pursuits had its origin in
the supply of primitive wants ; these increasing,
with development on every hand, its details ex-
tended till the "gooseberry bush and cabbage,"
which comprehended a garden in the eyes of Lord
Walpole, over-lept the fence and went abroad into
the fields to out rank in its money returns acre for
acre any other agricultural pursuit. Vegetables
are among the most important of foods, being alike
used by rich and poor. To a colonist they are
invaluable, and when he makes a garden and has
plants in growth he begins to feel himself again ;
'tis evidence of ownership ; he has made wild na-
^ ture his servant. Socrates said, "It is the source
of health, strength, plenty, riches, and honest
pleasure." An eminent English writer said, "It is
amid its scenes and pursuits that life flows pure,
the heart more calmly beats." The same idea
expressive of the pleasure of a country life is con-
veyed in the words of another English worthy of
ancient days; this party was like many of the "cits"
who now-a-days visit our friends in the Jerseys.
"Who so valueth or eateth with so keen a relish
the peach he buyeth of the stall-woman in a
market, as that which he gathereth after great
pains and perhaps peril encountered in the search."

The Romans introduced into England their styles
of gardening, but with their expulsion the art, if art
it was, was lost. It was not till near the reign of
Henry VIII, 1547, that cabbages, salads, carrots,
turnips and many other esculents were success-

fully grown in Holland. Queen Catherine, it is
reported, used to send a special messenger to Hol-
land when she wanted a salad. It must have been
stale when she got it! Peas were first brought
into England in the time of Elizabeth, a quaint
writer of that age remarking, " Peas brought from
Holland are fit dainties for ladies, they come so
far and cost so dear."

British gardening which principally took the
form of ornate horticultural embellishment, may
be said to have been greatly developed under
Elizabeth, a little over three hundred years ago.
Not till the reign of George II, one hundred and
fifty years ago, was it worthy of much notice, but
under his successor it was more fully developed,
especially as respects the culture of esculent
vegetables, much stimulated by seeds and plants
sent over from the American Colonies. It is said
this strange and wonderful wealth of plants, a
new creation, was the impulse that developed
English styles of landscape gardening, about
which the English poet Grey, said, "Our skill in
gardening, or rather laying out grounds, is the
only taste we can call our own, the only proof of
original talent in the matters of pleasure." This
English poet certainly was a truthful man. Thus
it will readily be perceived, that though gardening
is the most ancient of the pursuits of man, it was
certainly carried on in a very simple manner up
to one hundred and fifty years ago ; indeed, all
garden seeds used in England were obtained from
Holland up to the year 1700.

The first work on English gardening was pub-
lished by Thomas Tasser, who in 1758 enumerated
one hundred and fifty species of garden plants,
introducing them as follows : " Seedes and Herbs
for the Kychen, Herbs and Rootes for salietts and
sawce, Herbes and Roots tuboile or tubutter.
Stewing Herbs of all sortes, Herbes, branches and
flours for windowes and pots. Herbs to still in sum-
mer, Necessarie Herbs to grow in the garden for
Physic not reherst before."

Anterior to the American Revolution, the settlers
in the Colonies sent abroad to their friends for their
supply of seeds, and in those days their wants were
very simple ; quite one-half of the vegetables now
used being then unknown — it was before the days
of tomatoes, egg plants, sugar corn and okra, —
squashes, watermelons and canteloupes were very
rare and of such families of plants as were in use the
members were of very limited numbers and such,
indeed, as would to-day be considered of very poor
development. The total number of exotics in
England up to this date did not much exceed one
thousand species, but about that time the gardener
was abroad and the number rapidly arose to five
thousand. Up to 1737 the classification of plants
was not scientific, but an inharmonious system
prevailed, which was so much improved upon by
the immortal Linnaeus, that he is looked upon the
world over as the elevator of botany into a science,
and giving an impetus to agricultural and horti-
cultural affairs, far exceeding all efforts preceding
his day. His investigations and those of others
swept away a mass of ignorance connected with
vegetable physiology and put the cultivator on a
plane of higher thought and action.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

269

The noise of the guns of the Revolution had
hardly died away, when in 1784 the first seed es-
tablishment in America was founded at Philadel-
phia by David Landreth ; seven acres then being
considered an area quite sufficient to meet the
demand for seeds and plants. The originator of
that enterprise laid the foundation so solidly that
his grandsons to-day continue the business, now
in its one hundred and first year !

At various intervals other seed firms have
sprung into existence, in Philadelphia, till now
there are in this city eight or nine well-known
firms. Thus Philadelphia to-day holds, as it
always has, the preeminence in the seed business
— leading all other cities in the Union both in the
aggregate of seeds sold and, better still, in quality
of stock — due to its situation amidst countless
market gardeners, a culture inaugurated by the
early Swedish colonists, whose descendants to-day
follow the pursuits of their fathers ; constituting the
most discriminating class of market-gardeners to
be found anywhere.

In a horticultural sense Philadelphia has always
been famous — for many years the largest city and
the most wealthy — people of means and leisure
were attracted to it as a most agreeable residence ;
and thus were reared those old historic country
homes which, circling round, lent such a charm
that no praises were too high for the lips and pens
of men famous during the last century — Washing-
ton, the poet Moore, Lafayette, Talleyrand, Baron
Steuben and Louis Philippe.

Situated on the iertile banks of the Delaware,
the city is surrounded in every direction by mar-
ket-gardens— we should say market-farms, to better
illustrate the extent — the chain extending over
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Mary-
land. Soils under summer sun producing vegeta-
bles of the semi-tropics as well as of the more tem-
perate zones, pouring into the city's markets a rich
return for seeds distributed, each farmer on the
constant watch for some accidental development,
or sport of nature as it is termed, exceedmg its
parent in earliness of maturity, weight, color,
form or flavor. None of the markets of Europe
present such a range of esculent foods as do these
■of Philadelphia. In England the only good vege-
tables are the blanched sprouts of perennial
plants, and potatoes, turnips, cauliflowers, lettuce
and cabbage, the three latter full of slugs. Their
peas are tough, beans stringy, tomatoes flavorless,
melons squashy, vegetable marrows miserable.

Nowhere in the world is such an acreage of
vegetable farmers as those looking to Philadelphia
for their seed supplies. The southern half of New
Jersey is in proper rotation almost all devoted to
trucking, and this section comprises three million
acres of land. One and one-third million acres
including all Delaware and the Eastern Shore
counties of Maryland forms the peach growing pe-
ninsula, at the base of which stands Philadelphia,
and is as largely devoted to trucking as to peach
growing. To this add the countless vegetable
growers in the four Pennsylvania counties adjacent
to Philadelphia, and we have an area of five mil-
lion acres of land suitable for vegetable farming
and on a very large part of which the business is

pursued, practically and profitably. The vegeta-
ble crops are varied in themselves, and are alter-
nated with fruit, grain and grass, the rotation
bringing around in proper time the culture in
truck of nearly the entire acreage. Southern New
Jersey has been called the " vegetable garden " of
the Union. It possesses everything to insure suc-
cess, soil, climate, natural fertilizers, almost limit-
less rail and water communications to almost
limitless markets. The system of diversified agri-
cultures as carried on in Jersey has transformed
the peninsula portion of the State from a wilder-
ness of piney barrens to almost an unbroken truck
patch. Esculent vegetables, fruits, berries, grapes
and wine making, and now every indication of
successful sugar making, affording a system of
culture broad enough to ensure success, let the
climatic fluctuations of the seasons be what they
may.

It may not be out of place to briefly refer to the
developing pursuits of sugar making from the
cane of early amber and early orange sorghum,
and as an example of what can be done by the
market-gardeners of New Jersey, Prof. Cook, of
the New Jersey Agricultural State Board, reports
that " One field of twenty acres, produced over
252 tons, from which were derived 24.060 pounds
of salable sugar and ^14,000 gallons of best quality
syrup. The total yi'eld of sugar as returned was
319,944 pounds, to which is to be added 40,000
gallons of dense syrup, worth at wholesale thirty-
eight cents a gallon. The purity of the juice was
remarkable, the co-efficient of purity of single
canes being as high as ninety-two per cent while
the average was at no time, less than eighty one."

The appellation " Jerseymen " is indeed synony-
mous with market-gardener, so general is that
pursuit in the State. Hundreds of thousands of
tons of vegetables grown from the seed distributed
from Philadelphia, never enter that city even in
transit ; they are sent by steamer and sailing vessel
to the ports on our Northern and Eastern coasts,
New York to Halifax, and by rail to the cides of the
West. Immense quantities of tomatoes and sugar
corn are canned to be shipped to the uttermost
parts ; and to illustrate will here state that 1,100,000
bushels of tomatoes were sealed up into cans in
the State of New Jersey alone, and in Delaware,
Maryland and Pennsylvania 1,477,000 bushels;
again. New Jersey puts up an immense quantity of
salted green pickles, Burhngton county alone salt-
ing over 100,000 bushels— incredible some might
say, but nevertheless correct. One grower and
canner of sugar corn in Maryland plants 2500
acres annually, sealing and distributing the crop
wherever commerce extends. The product known
equally well at Hammerfest, the most northern
city in the world, as at Cape Town the most
southern.

Horticulture, one of the most important of the
domestic and refining arts, first among other
specialties comprehends the growth of esculent
vegetables, has, it will be perceived, so extended
as to require large areas of farm lands, and it
is difficult now to distinguish between the Hor-
ticulturist and the Agriculturist — some market-
gardeners cultivating up to seven hundred acres.

270

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[September,

The farm-gardener has an interesting pursuit in
his culture of vegetables, one offering a rare oppor-
tunity to the observing mind ; the ever-changing
influences of heat and cold, wet and drought,
fertihty and barrenness, producing effects which
some time seized upon by the intelligent grower
puts him for a time a wav ahead of his competitors.
Gardening is an art worthy of the pursuit of the most
intelligent mind; it is a scientific study every day;
its scope has been enlarged during the past thirty
years by the discoveries m vegetable nutrition, the
chemical constituents of plants, soils and fertilizers,
vegetable physiology and botanical affiliations ;
these all make high farming a science, and one of
the most delightful. The hand of man directed
by practical and scientific experience laying, as it
were, at the feet of nature such materials as nature
can take hold of and shape in her own forms. The
farm is a laboratory where man is an active agent.

The successful market-gardener must unite the
qualifications of the trucker, farmer, merchant and
philosopher, for he must investigate the laws of
vegetation as well as the laws of sale. Advanced
market-gardening, thus it will be seen, is a techni-
cal pursuit and one requiring considerable means
and a consideration of costs may not be out of
place. The capital required in market-gardening
far exceeds ordinary farming. The suburban
market-gardens about Philadelphia are only
worked at double the expense of others more
remote — quite five hundred dollars per acre being
the capital necessary to stock and conduct them.

This extraordinary expense is somewhat balanced
by the frequency with which such gardeners can
send their vegetables to market, and the fresh con-
dition in which they are delivered ; whereas the
distant country gardener has to consign his pro-
duce to commission men, taking such prices as the
market affords under forced sales.

High as may seem the estimate of I500 per
acre as necessary capital, it is nothing compared
with the expenses of some market-gardeners near
London and Paris. Land on the outskirts of those
cities rents for $200 and $300 per acre, often twice
that much. In the suburbs of Paris the writer
has visited a market-garden of three acres which
annually pays a rental of $1800 and yet affords a
large profit to its intelligent cultivator.

From this hasty review of market-gardening one
readily perceives that in it is invested a deal of
capital guided by intelligence and technical ex-
perience. Success, however, hinges firstly upon
the purity of the seeds sown, and it is here the
seedsman enters the arena as an active participant
— one wielding an immense power for good or evil.

Seedsmen may be divided into two classes —
merchants and seed growers.

The grower of seeds must be, first of all, an able
gardener or else he will fail in the beginning, for
he must do all that the trucker does and then he is
only half way through ; he must await, after the
development of a vegetable fit for market, the slow
production of seed. He is thus twice a cultivator,
running twice the risks of a market gardener, wet
and drought, heat and cold, tornado and insect
injur.es, insufficient or excessive fertility. The in-
telligent seed grower, recognizing the superiority

of individual plants in physical characteristics and
in potency of seed, the results sometimes of nature's
sports and at other times of cross-fertilization,
selects them from his general crop, and breeds up
varieties of old species sometimes so distinct as
hardly to be recognized. But he must not breed
too high ; he must bring to the culture of his crop
of seed, if not scientific, at least very practical ob-
servations upon the subject of sterility, a condition
so very frequently showing itself under systems of
high culture, over-feeding and interbreeding —
these influences producing an excessive growth of
tissue, abortive flowers, and consequently little
seed.

Many seed crops take fourteen to fifteen months
from the sowing until harvest ; for instance, cab-
bages, cauliflower, beet, parsnip, carrots, salsify,
celery, onion, parsley and many others, all have
to be sown during spring months, April and May,
and do not produce their seed until the second
July or August following. All these vegetables,
perfect for domestic purposes, being developed the
autumn of the year in which they are sown, but
the genera being of biennial forms they have to be
carried over to obey nature's laws. Thus the seed
farmer is, we say, twice a cultivator and subject to
extended injurious influences which do not attach
to market-gardening.

Under these conditions the reader will perceive
that seed farming cannot every year be a success.
There is a certainty of some influences being detri-
mental to some crops, some being better developed
by moisture, some by moderate heat, others by
tropical sun. In no location can all crops be
grown equally well. As a farmer well knows that
certain parts of his farm are better suited for cer-
tain crops than others, so the seed grower knows
that different counties in different States have their
particular advantages.

The seed grower, wherever he be lound, will be
recognized among the more advanced farmers of
his section. To be successful he must have made
many steps forward ; he must have best land, im-
plements and barns; he must spend money freely
for fertilizers and wages ; he must be a student of
nature and a good administrator, for his plans must
be laid further ahead than those of any ordinary
farmer, and further than most merchants.

Within the past twenty years seed farming in the
United States has taken an extraordinary growth ;
for before that time seed farmers could almost be
counted on the fingers ; now specialists in the
seed production are found everywhere in the East
and West. '

Discriminating planters demand American
grown seeds ; they have been too often deceived
in the trash shipped from Europe. They know
from experience that European seeds cannot be
relied upon to be as good in quality or vitality as
American ; they know that they are ripened in a
climate of much moisture, and consequently do
not possess such powers of germination as ours, and
they know that the American seed grower as a
man is, in intelligence, observation and tact so far
ahead of the peasant cultivators of Europe, as to
leave no room for comparison as to the results of
his labors.

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

The European, however, working at thirty to
forty cents per day, produces seeds which in the
eyes of some merchants have the merit of being
cheap, and accordingly large quantities are brought
to this country and sold by dealers who masquer-
ade as American merchants. They always forget
however, to tell their customers the origin of their
stocks.

To a market gardener the quality of seeds he
buys is of the utmost importance. The stock from
which they are grown must be of acclimatized
habit, must be judiciously selected of best individ-
ual types, thoroughly culled of all sports of root,
leaf, or seed, properly harvested to insure the
highest percentage of germination, and properly
stored and labeled to guard against subsequent
error in nomenclature. All these and others, are of
vital necessity, as the trucker cannot afford to
plant, manure, and cultivate crops which, if bad,
only prove bad after months of patient labor and
large expense.

Native American grown seeds unquestionably
do best under our American sun — foreign stocks
do not bear our tropical heat. Under these
circumstances the most satisfactory way is to buy
American grown seed, and to get it from the
producer — those who can say themselves that they
grow the stocks they have for sale.

Among the Philadelphia seed firms is one which
stands out boldly as a producer of native seeds.
Its reputation has been made upon American
stock, and it continues still, as it has been for one
hundred years, the largest producer on this conti-
nent. Such a reputation is to be envied — such a
wide acknowledgement of merit is the outgrowth
of practical business management, technical abil-
ity and honest dealing.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Success in Business.— There can be no doubt
but much of the failures in making fruit growing
profitable, as well as in making profitable the
various departments of the farm and garden,
arises from the indifference to excellence so many
exhibit. At the recent meeting of the Western
New York State Horticultural Society, Mr. Barry
reviewed the nursery business. Let the struggle
be as to who will grow the best, not the cheapest.
Above all, let nurserymen do all in their power to
free the profession from these foul excrescences,
the fraudulent, irresponsible agents, peddlers, or
whatever names they may be known by. The

cultivation of exotic plants, flowers and plants for
house and lawn decoration is not improving as it
should, considering the increase of wealth and
taste among our people. The cheapening process
has been carried on to such an extent that it is
almost impossible to get well-grown, vigorous
plants. In regard to the sending of plants through
the mails the speaker said : " On the whole I am in-
clined to think that the sending of puny little plants
a few days or weeks old, with scarcely the breath
of life in them, through the mail bags does more
harm than good." It is not the mail plants only
that are poor and unsatisfactory, but the tendency
is to fill the markets with a class of plants so poor
as to be dear at any price.

Peaches in California. — Yellow peaches
thrive much better than the white variety, the trees
of the latter kind being troubled a good deal with
curled leaf.

The Californian Walnut. — Attempts to culti-
vate this at Philadelphia have proved futile. It
lives through some mild winters, but dies under
the severer ones. Some grafted on the black
walnut did better, but finally succumbed to the
severe climate. In its own country attention is
being turned to its merits. In the country between
Gait and Sacramento, farmers and others are plant-
ing a great many California walnuts, which make
much the best shade trees. They are a nut-bearing
tree, and the wood is valuable for fuel as well
as for various manufacturing purposes. The wal-
nuts grow finely in this section, and trees bear in
three or four years.

Variations in Pears. — The Mt. Vernon pear
was "brought out" by the Gardeners' Monthly.
There could not possibly be fruit of superior
quality than those submitted to the editor at that
time. Yet there was the same experience as with
the Kieffer, some wondering how the editor should
even have called it a first-class pear. At the recent
meeting of the Western N. Y. Horticultural Society
Mr. W. F. Barry said: "A pleasant surprise was
experienced the past season with Mt. Vernon.
Heretofore the fruit seemed to be only of medium
quality. In November, when the specimens ripened,
they were remarkably fine. The peculiarly spiced,
vinous flavor was particularly agreeable, and
could this pear always be obtained in like perfec-
tion we would rank it among the richest flavored
pears."

Apples as Food. — In a recent lecture, Dr.
Nichols gave some results of analysis of apples,
with a view to ascertain their great value as food,

272

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[September,

from which it appears that in a bushel of ripe
Hubbardston Nonsuch there is about six pounds
of soluble nutritive material; in Tolman's Sweet,
about seven pounds, and in Baldwin about five
pounds, and this material will vary to a consider-
able extent in value. These results agree with
practical experience in feeding apples to animals.
When fed in connection with meal they serve to
give zest to the appetite, and to keep the animals
in health. If cooked their value is much in-
creased.

La Fameuse apples. — Though also with an-
other French name, Pomme de Neige, is an
American seedling. It is becoming as popular in
the north of Europe as of America.

Hardy Apples. — It is not frost merely, but a
combination of peculiar circumstances irrespective
of mere temperature, which constitutes hardiness.
Even in France, apple trees suffer in winter some-
times. They have also to get up their lists of
extra hardy apples. In a list of these, "French
Ironclads," we see the names of our Baldwin and
Roxbury Russet.

Pear Growing in the West. — Those who
have been taught that it is useless to try pears in
the West may take comfort from the following,
which we take from an essay by Mr. B. O. Curtis:
" I have three trees of the Seckel, thirty-one years
old, large, fine trees. One is a dwarf now with
strong pear roots, and is two-thirds as large as the
Standard. These, and a row of young bearing
dwarfs are healthy and sound ; only one of the
standard trees has lost a few branches by blight."

Crossing Pears. — The probable crossing, by
accident, of the common pear with the Chinese
Sand Pear, which has given us the Le Conte and
the Kiefter, only shows what may be done when
we go deliberately to work to improve the pear.
Mr. Barber, in the Lancaster Farmer, recom-
mends that we drop this accidental plan. " It
would be better not to depend on bees to carry
the pollen as they may take pollen from the poor-
est pears, but by opening the flowers on a Chinese,
and carefully removing the pistils before the
pollen is ripe, and then with a camel's hair brush
take the pollen off of a flower of a superior variety,
and apply to the stigma of the one you wish to
impregnate, you can hardly fail of success, and a
new and superior class of pears will be the result."

Red Bietigheimer Apple.— A colored plate
of this German variety is given in the Canadian
Horticulturist ior A'^rW. It is represented as four

and three-quarters inches wide, and three deep,
bright red, striped with crimson. It is said to be the
largest and handsomest apple under culture, and
is in season from October till February.

York Imperial Apple. — When a fruit once
becomes widely scattered, it achieves popular
favor, simply because people know no better. In
the olden time, it was the fashion to take votes at
Pomological meetings as to the best varieties, and
hundreds of people voted on the best they knew.
No new and superior variety could get votes in
this way. To-day there would be many votes on
apples that would not include the " York Imperial,"
but the vote would only prove that it takes time
for superior varieties to become well known.

Ensilage in Mexico The drawing of Mexico

and the United States closer together than ever,
by means of that iron bond of universal friendship,
the railroad, renders everything our neighbors do
of more than old-time interest to us. We note
from their magazines that, notwithstanding their
favorable climate for stock-raising, the question of
ensilage is having a great interest for them. The
Boletin de la Sociedad Agricola Mexicana, gives
minute directions for the culture of our Rhododen-
drons and Azaleas in Mexico.

Fungus on the Fameuse. — The most profit-
able Canadian apple, the Fameuse, is said to
suffer severely in Canada, from a black fungus
spot on the leaves.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Brice's Early Peach. — Chas. Black, Hights-
town, writes : " I send you a box of peaches —
Brice's Early. They were picked from trees set
two years ago the past spring, and had on about
one-half bushel each; although they are of the
same class as Amsden, &c., they are the finest of
any of the early varieties we have fruited, and we
have Amsdens, Alexandre, Downing, Saunders,
Wilder, Waterloo, and Briggs' Red May. You
will observe that they are more oblong than most
of the early peaches. They ripen about the same
time as the above varieties."

[The fruit reached us in good condition, the
flesh quite firm though fully ripe. The specimens
weighed about 2}( ounces each, the best 3 ounces,
and in circumference were 6 inches. On the ex-
posed side the fruit is of a dark brown color, and
nicely mottled on the other. It is a juicy cling-
stone peach and of good quality. — Ed. G. M.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

273

Forestry.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Black Birch. — The Toronto G/ode says :
" Black birch, which is rapidly coming in favor,
is a close-grained and very handsome wood, and
can be easily stained to resemble walnut exactly.
It is just as easy to work, and is suitable for nearly,
if not all, the purposes to which black walnut is
at present applied. Birch is much the same color
as cherry, but the latter wood is now very scarce,
and consequently dear. It is difficult to obtain
cherry at fifty dollars a thousand feet, while birch
wood can be had at any saw-mill at one dollar per
thousand feet. When properly stained, it is al-
most impossible to distinguish the difference be-
tween it and walnut, as it is susceptible of a beauti-
ful polish equal to any wood now used in the
manufacture of furniture. In the forests through-
out Ontario birch grows in abundance, especially
if the land is not too boggy. There is a great
difference in the wood of different sections.
Where the land is high and dry the wood is firm
and clear ; but if the land is low and wet the
wood has a tendency to be soft and of a bluish
color. In all the northern regions it can be found
in great abundance, and. as the tree grows to such
a great size, little trouble is experienced in procu-
ring it in large quantities."

[The Birch referred to is probably the Betula
lenta, which in Pennsylvania is known as the
sweet or cherry birch. The black birch of Penn-
sylvania is Betula nigra, although quite as often
known as red birch. — Ed. G. M.]

Fire Proof Paint. — This is said to be pre-
pared as follows : Twenty parts of finely pulver-
ized glass, twenty parts of finely pulverized porce-
lain, twenty parts of any sort of stone in powder,
ten parts of calcined lime, and thirty parts of
water-glass (silicate of soda), such as usually
found in commerce. The solid elements having
been powdered as finely as possible and sifted, are
moistened, and then intimately mixed with the
water-glass. This yields a mass of syrupy consis-
tence that may be employed for painting, either
alone or mixed with color.

The White Pine. — Respecting the white pine,
Professor Sargent says: " The entire supply grow-

ing in the United States and ready for the axe,
does not to-day greatly, if at all, exceed 80,000,-
000,000 feet, and this estimate includes the small
and inferior trees, which a few years ago would
not have been considered worth counting. The
annual production of this lumber is not far from
10,000,000,000 feet, and the demand is constantly
and rapidly increasing."

As the white pine is one of the most rapid grow-
ing of all the coniferae, it should not be lost sight
of by those who are considering profitable forest
planting.

The Larch in Europe. — The young wood of
the larch is not durable. The wood of the ma-
turer tree is that which gave the larch its good
reputation. It is very subject to a disease which
browns the tips of the leaves while the tree is
growing. When it once gets this disease it seems
to hold on to the tree through life, and the timber
is much affected in durability. There is some
talk in Europe of trying the Japan larch, Larix
leptolepis.

Timber Under British Control. — Britain
is not yet suffering from a dearth of timber. Ac-
cording to recent figures the total extent of the
forests in the British possessions is 340,000,000
acres of timbered land.

Value of the Mesquite The mesquite, so

prevalent in west Texas, a species of locust, fur-
nishes good fuel and contains a larger quantity of
tannin in its wood than oak in its bark. It, how-
ever, is of low stature, hardly reaching more than
twenty feet in height, and ordinarily not more than
one foot in diameter.

The Value of Timber. — The Florida Neit/s
pertinently asks and answers : " What is timber
worth ? Nothing, unless your are near a saw-mill.
The timber here is very fine, but thousands of acres
are being cut down to rot for the want of facilities
to work it up and transport it. A saw-mill is next
to a full bearing orange grove."

Value of Crooked Timber. — When it is con-
venient to convey timber to places where ships
are built, crooked timber is even more valuable
than any other. But there are many uses for
1 " natural crooks " on the farm. A bent timber as

2 74

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[September,

a brace, etc., is often convenient in a barn, or
other out-building. By the use of crooked timber
a frame may be made much lighter and more
durable than where only straight logs are used.
There are many implements in which crooked
timber is best, as the knees of wood sleds, stone
boats, etc. The farmer should study to use a
natural bend in a tree whenever an opportunity
offers. — American Agriculturist.

The American Plane or Sycamore Tree. —
At the Montreal Forestry Congress, Mr. Caldwell,
of Cincinnati, said :

" The monarch of our forests is the sycamore
tree. It is a rapid grower and not destroyed by
insects. I am indebted to ' Zadok Cramer's Navi-
gator,' published in 1808 at Gittsburg, Ga., for
facts which would be incredible if I had not seen
the enormous sycamores, which, however, I did

not measure. I have seen a section of a hollow
sycamore tree used as a smoke house to smoke
meat ; another as a bin to hold grain ; another as
an ash-hopper to catch ashes ; another as a well-
curb. This tree grows near the water courses and
does not thrive so well elsewhere. The ' Navi-
gator ' named above says : ' It is known to have
measured sixteen feet in diameter, four feet from
the ground, and this only a common size. One
has been known to be sixty feet in circumference.
In the hollow of another a man turned himself
around with a ten foot pole, at right angles to his
body, sweeping inside the tree. On the farm of
Mr. Abram Miller, in Scioto county, Ohio, is a
hollow sycamore tree, into which thirteen men
rode on horseback on the 6th of June, 1808 ; there
was room for two more ; the fourteenth was pres-
ent, but his horse would not enter the strange
apartment.' I say, further, this tree is valuable
for housebuilding and for cabinet work, but it is
not the most valuable."

Natural History and Science.

COMMUNICATIONS.

THE MAPLE SUGAR CROP.

BY W. F. BASSETT, HAMMONTON, N. J.

In reply to your correspondent's queries I would
say : Yes, there is always sap in the trees, but certain
conditions are necessary to make it flow. The
principal requisites are freezing and thawing, but
a good " run " of sap must be the result of a com-
bination of favorable circumstances. The best
runs occur when, immediately after a snow storm,
or a rain which is followed by a freeze, we have
warm weather with wind southwest or northeast ;
and it often runs pretty freely with wind northwest
or east, but never with wind south ; and if any
considerable time intervened between the storm
and thawing weather, especially if accompanied
by drying winds, we rarely get much sap — almost
the only exceptions being when very damp south-
west or northeast winds accompany the thawing
out. Now if we have cold dry winds for several
days after each storm, or if nearly all the thawing
is done by south winds, there will be very little
sugar made. It seems to make very little differ-
ence whether winter sets in with the ground frozen

deeply or snow covers it with no trost in. I have
known very good and very poor sugar seasons to
follow either.

EFFECTS OF CROSS-FERTILIZATION
ON FRUIT.

BY B. J. C.

An opinion seems to be gaining converts among
some careful observers of facts, which seems at
first view to have a very narrow basis to rest upon,
and indeed, quite at variance with all of our pre-
conceived notions, in regard to the phenomena of
reproduction in the vegetable kingdom. I allude
to the opinion, which I have lately heard advanced
more as a statement of observed fact than expres-
sion of opinion, that cross-fertilization not only
modifies the characteristics of the progeny result-
ing therefrom, but that the size, appearance and
other qualities of the fruit produced during the
season of impregnation must and will, in a greater
or less degree, exhibit some of the qualities of the
staminate parent, as well as those of the one bear-
ing the fruit. For example, the fruit of a straw-
berry, of a pistillate variety, growing near a given
staminate one — by the aid of which the greater

5-1

AND HORTICULTURIST.

275

portion of the crop is produced and perfected — will |
show a marked difference in size, appearance i
and quality, from that of the same variety of plant
growing near and impregnated by another stami-
nate variety. [

This sort of collateral inheritance of qualities,
has always seemed to some of us wise ones as not
only an impossibility, but the idea so much of an
absurdity, as scarcely to merit denial. But, I :
think a little reflection upon one or two of the
primary and well-known laws governing the
matter of reproduction by seed, will convince any
unprejudiced mind, not only of the possibility of
such collateral effects of impregnation, but of their
extreme probability, not to say certainty.

These laws are, first, that the fertilization of the
seed is a necessary condition to the formation of
the fruit, as when there is no impregnation of the
seed either from the pollen of the fruit-bearing
plant itself, or from a neighboring one, no fruit can
be developed. Secondly, that the seed, after im-
pregnation, excites and stimulates by the power of
the reproductive principle of life imparted to it by
that impregnation, the development and growth of
a matrix of fruit to suit its own requirements; to feed
upon and perfect its own growth and maturity
until it is in condition to return to the soil as the
embryo of a new plant. Now, in view of these in-
disputable facts, is the conclusion not irresisti-
ble that, taking for example a bed of a strongly
pistillate variety of strawberry — that portion of the
bed lying near to and consequently largely in-
fluenced by impregnation from a staminate variety
bearing large, fine, highly colored or high flavored
berries, will bear fruit, partaking to a marked de-
gree more of those qualities than another portion
of the same field, coming under a like influence
from staminate plants bearing a smaller and
meaner class of fruit ? This would seem a matter
of easy determination, and one well worthy of
careful experiment, not only by those engaged in
propagating for new and improved varieties from
seed, but by those as well who grow for market
purposes.

HOW THE YOUNG PLANT STARTS
INTO LIFE.

ABSTRACT OF LECTURE BY PROF. J. T. ROTHROCK,
FAIRMOUNT PARK.

There are two kinds of young plants — those
which are produced from a seed containing an
embryo, and those which come from a spore which
has no embryo. Young plants start in life from
various positions, those on the soil being most

common. Then others utilize living trees as a
starting point, either to lie there as air plants, like
so many of the gorgeous orchids of tropical regions,
or like the parasitic mistletoe of the temperate
region ; the former simply finds a resting place,
the latter sends its roots down into the tissues of
the supporting plant and lives upon the partly-
prepared juices of the host plant.

In California there is a group much like the
Mistletoe: the Phoradendrons, which expel their
glutinous seeds with force enough to lodge them
on the neighboring pine branches, where, held by
their viscidity, they grow and send their sapsuck-
ing roots down through the bark into the cambium
layer of the pine.

Among lower plants, those which come from
spores, were found many fungi which live on de-
caying or on healthy vegetable or animal matter.
Among the rarer of this kind were the Torrubias,
which grow out of and kill living insects or larva.
Some instances of this kind were very striking.
The foot disease of India is now well known to be
due to attacks of a fungus much like our common
bread mould. The spores of this fungus, which is
very common in India, find a resting place on the
skin of the human foot. They there grow deep into
the flesh until this and the bones become a diseased
mass, full of canals and round cavities. Even the
bone is filled with round holes where the fungus
flourishes until nothing but amputation above the
ankle can save the sufferer's life.

Lichens grow on trees, earth and rocks. Some-
times the same species is cosmopolitan, in temper-
ate regions. Thus growing on the trees in West
Chester the lecturer found a little yellow hchen.
He found the same species growing two hundred
feet up in the air on the spire of the Strasburg
Cathedral in Germany ; and later the same species
was sent to him, growing on the bleached lower-
jaw bone of a human being which was found on
the dreary shores of the Arctic Ocean. This the
lecturer exhibited. The manner in which, from a
single spore, many moss plants may be produced
was next explained and illustrated.

How the ferns grew from spores into a prothal-
lus, and from this, by asexual generation, the fern
came, was also illustrated. The fern fed upon the
prothallus out of which it grew, in a manner that
called to mind the pelican, which was said to open
its breast to feed the young on its own blood.
The Lemna or Duckweed, a floating water plant,
hardly more than a quarter of an inch in diameter,
contained within the parent plant, at one time,
three generations of young plants, which, toward

2/6

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY,

[September,

autumn, were liberated, ready for the growth of
the ensuing spring.

The whole process is readily observed by putting
some fine mud in an open fruit jar, fiUing the jar
with water, and placing it in a warm, sunny win-
dow, and then dropping a handful of the lemna in
to grow.

The lecture closed by a statement showing how,
from the embryo, the flowering plant started in its
career of growth.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Possible Impossibilities. — It is interesting to
note how many things once thought by intelligent
people to be impossible, have nevertheless come I
to pass. It was once demonstrated to the entire ]
satisfaction of mechanical engineers, that no steam- !
boat could ever cross the Atlantic, because the
ratio of coal to bulk was thought to be against the
distance. Now we have the impossibility of crys-
talizing sugar from Indian corn and other things,
tolerably well solved. Of this, in a recent address
before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society,
Hon. Marshall P. Wilder spoke of the possibihty
of producing sugar in quantity from sorghum on
our own soil, in which he fully believed. It has
been stated that sorghum sugar cannot be crystal-
lized, but it is now a settled fact that it can.

Practical Diffusion of Agricultural
Science. — An inteUigent correspondent of the St.
Louis Rural World remarks, that "most farmers
know that the persistent defoliation of a weed or a
tree will result in death. Did they not so believe
they would never strike a blow with a hoe, nor
persistently fight the canker worm. The trimming
or pruning of shade trees (and often of orchard
trees also) in public parks or along the highway, is
not done or ordered by experienced gardeners or
horticulturists, but by officials who know no more
about vegetable physiology than they do about
the North Pole. This ought not so to be, but,
unfortunately it is so."

To our mind they hoe, because they want to
destroy the plants "root and branch." If they
know generally that the persistent destruction of
young leaves before they mature will destroy the
most inveterate rooter among weeds, we have been
very unfortunate in not meeting such intelligence.
Not only from among "most farmers" do we find
comes the imploring question, "How to kill Canada
thistle?" and other weeds, but we have heard

it asked in agricultural conventions and Boards of
agriculture, with usually the only answer, "to root
them out by law," — "fining the man who grows
them," and indeed, we have rarely heard taking
the young leaves off suggested — and when we
have, have seen the same "good farmers" come
back and ask the same question of the "conven-
tion" the next year.

Cam ASS I a esculenta var. Leichtlinii. —
Our Western "Ouamash," a pretty prairie bulb,
has presented us with a new variety from the
Pacific coast, of which the Botanical Magazine,
after figuring, says: "It was discovered by Mr.
John Jeffrey in British Columbia in 1853. As a
garden plant my first knowledge of it was derived
from our indefatigable correspondent, Max Leicht-
lin, Esq. The present sketch was taken from a
plant which flowered on the rockery in Kew Gar-
dens in May, 1873. The ordinary color of the
flowers of C. esculenta and of C. Fraseri, its repre-
sentative in the Eastern States, is blue, but in all
the specimens which I have seen of the present
plant the flowers are white."

Bad Setting Grapes.— Self-fertilization is com-
mon, but it is not universal; for any one examin-
ing the flowers of vines will find that when the cap
of petals falls off in the way described in books
I and the pollen is dispersed, that the stigma is not
' receptive, and so any pollen that falls upon it is
powerless. Again, the dispersal of the pollen is as
; hkely to produce cross-fertihzation of adjacent
■ flowers when others are grown in proximity as it is
self-fertilization. The different times at which
pollen and stigma ripen, and the occasional ab-
1 sence or defective condition of the pollen, are
I among the most usual causes of shy setting. This
j deficiency of pollen we have noted in Dutch Ham-
burgh, Black Morocco, Balafault, Muscat Noir du
Jura, Aramon, Morocco Prince, and Chasselas
M usque, but how far this is a common occurrence
we do not know. — Gardener s Chronicle.

Adaptation in Nature. — Of late years it has
been the fashion among a class of ingenious minds,
to see in every variety of form in nature, some

I reason derived from an innate necessity, why the
form should be just so.

It has however seemed to the Editor of this
magazine, and he has presented the point from
time to time, that there can be no more reason

I derived from "advantage to the plant" in one
class of form over others, in innumerable cases.
Take for instance, the various forms of leaves

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

277

among the numerous kinds of ornamental Crotons
under cultivation. They all thrive equally well
under precisely the same conditions. This con-

Cronstadtii, the leaves are narrow and twisted like
screws. Though we cannot fathom the law of its
existence, except that we may say it is necessary

sideration presents itself strongly, when examining to nature's purposes that there should be variety-

this very pretty species, introduced to our green- one might perhaps go further in a plausible guess,
houses by the celebrated firm of James Veitch & and say that nature also loves to make things
Sons, of Chelsea, London. Many of these plants j beautiful, as we believe is the idea of the Duke of
have broad and flat leaves — here in this, Croton Argyle, a gentleman of no mean scientific standing.

278

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[September,

At any rate, this species is one of the most beauti-
ful in this very beautiful family.

Fruiting of the Calycanthus. — In the wild
state some of the plants of the "sweet-scented
shrub," or "Carolina Allspice," of gardens, vary
much in prolificacy. Some are entirely barren,
and others bear fruit profusely. For many years
a barren form was propagated by offsets in nurse-
ries, and this gives rise to the impression that it
rarely seeds.

A Disease from Reeds. — A curious affection
has been occasionally met with in certain parts of!
France, especially in Provence, among reed work- 1
ers, chiefly those who manipulate the stems of
Arundo donax. A case at Frontignan has lately
been very carefully studied by M. Baltus, of Lille.
A man, aged forty-seven, and his son, aged seven-
teen, had been at work for several hours loading a
cart with reeds, which had been cut a year before,
and kept in a damp trench. Both were seized with
a painful irritation of the nose, eyes, and throat,
followed by erythematous swelling in the same
parts, which extended to the hands and trunk. An
examination of the reeds showed that they were
covered with a mould consisting of the spores and
mycelium of a fungus, Sporotrichum dermatodes,
which had developed under the" influence of the
prolonged exposure to moisture. The spores had
been shaken off as dust during the manipulation of
the reeds, and had irritated the exposed parts of
the skin on which they had lodged. Although
usually trifling, the malady may sometimes as-
sume a severe form. It may apparently be pre-
vented by the simple expedient of washing the
reeds before their manipulation. — Popular Science
News.

Crossing Aquilegias. — As Mr. Douglas has
so far been successful in crossing Aquilegias can
he not go a step farther and endeavour to cross

the single white garden variety upon a chrysantha,
in the hope of obtaining eventually a pure white
form of that robust and beautiful species ? The
great chaiTn of chrysantha is that its blooms are so
erect and bold, and hence are so much more
elegant than are the finest flowers to be found on
the garden varieties, as nearly all these are not
only deficient in spur, but are drooping. I have
the white varieties here, both single and double,
but care little for the latter form in any color.
There is also a dark blue kind, that might make a
good pollen parent. Specially, however, I should
like to see the pale straw hue of chrysantha deep-
ened into a rich yellow, as the flowers would then
be far more striking than they now are. I must
say that, having grown chrysantha, Californica,
Mr. Douglas' hybrids, and glandulosa side by side,
I have found not the least variation in the seedl-
ings of the former and the latter, whilst Californica
has given one form that seems to be brighter and
finer than its parent, though the same combination
of color is retained. Hence I infer that natural
hybridisation is not common, and that to secure
crossing artificial fertilisation must be adopted.
Would that glandulosa had the habit of chrysan-
tha, as its flowers are so large and so beautiful.
In making efforts at cross breeding no doubt the
hybridist would be encumbered with a great
quantity of seedlings that would show no improve-
ment, but these should be ruthlessly rejected in
favor of but one or two that seem verging towards
the desired goal. Perhaps also something might
be done to make the flowers more enduring, es-
pecially when cut. Hybridists must not be fright-
ened from effort because some one will complain
that they are only spoiling species. The species,
with all their beauties, will remain, but if really
beautiful new kinds, having clearer or richer
colors and more enduring qualities can be added,
so much the better. — A. D. in Gardeners' Chronicle

Literature, Travels and Personal Notes.

COMMUNICATIONS.

enough — if too much rain does not occur — if our

d tches donot give out — if our wells do not become

EDITORIAL LETTERS. | dry— we shall have good crops. Here, where I

At Ska, P.vciMc OcKAx, July •id, iss;!. am writing these lines, on the Pacific Ocean, 48°

Water is one of the essentials of Horticulture, north latitude, there seems to be too much water.

Wherever I have been in my travels, water has It is water, water everywhere. Once in a while we

been the great question. If we only get rain get a glimpse of a snow-cap, on the far distant

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

279

Olympic Mountains ; otherwise all is water. There
is not a scrap of sea-weed floating on the surface,
not a gull or other bird floating around, not a sight
of a vessel of any kind now these five days since
we have been sailing towards the North Pole, —
even the whales which only two days ago disported
themselves in great numbers, have apparently
gone to rest. It would seem that the only use of
this vast water prairie is to bear our ship along ;
yet to me it has its lessons. Possibly this beauti-
ful world could not do with one ounce of water
less. The green fields, the succulent vegetables,
the luscious fruits of our Continent owe their de-
lightful character to this same Pacific Ocean. The
millions on millions of gallons of water which
every living thing evaporates, each gets from the
clouds. These myriad millions come chiefly from
this ocean. I forget exactly just now, but I think
ten gallons per square foot per hour, rise from
this mighty ocean in order to make horticulture a
certain thing. To say of the ocean that it is a
dreary waste of waters is a libel on creation. And
the Polar ice, are these gelid sheets also a mighty
waste? Just as this mighty ocean is our blessed
handmaiden, so are these solid blocks of ice.
There is no waste in water or ice. Everything
serves us well.

Our Captain Morse said to me to-day, "the
Scripture tells us the 'the wind goeth where 'er it
listeth,' but it doesn't. It is just as much under
despotic law as the motion of the planets. Down
at the equator the sun warms the water and warms
the air, and these are lightened; a heavier body
pushes it out of place, motion begins. The cold
air and cold water are heavier than the warm, and
it comes down from the north to the south, the
warmer going north to get cool and returning
when cooled, so that so long as the sun's rays keep
disturbing the balance by making the air and
water lighter, there will always be a continuous
current of water and air going north in one direc-
tion and returning in another." Here we have the
proof. For five days that we have been on this
ocean, wind and stream have been from the north
southwardly ; on the land the same rule prevails.
High mountains surround valleys and the hot sun
pours down, lightening the air and making a
vacuum and then the heavier cool wind rushes in
from the most convenient spot. Captain Morse
■does not believe in an open Polar Sea. In latitude
80° he has seen the upper strata coming up from
the south, sink there and return cooled, without
getting any further. "What then do you think,"
said I, "of the suggestion that the ice is thickest at

its outer edge and thinnest at the poles? This is
said to be a proof that the air is warmer where
the ice is thinnest." " By no means does it prove
this," was his reply, " if the atmosphere gives
out all its moisture, say at 80° there will be none
left for 85°, and the ice and snow will naturally be
thinnest there." We shall therefore have to leave
the question of the open Polar Sea rest for a
while, — only having full faith that whatever may
be the case, it is just what we need to make our
operations just what they are.

But the water question will still go on. It is the
great question of questions with Californians. On
my arrival in San Francisco, almost everything
was parched and the thermometer 96°, a hot and
burning wind came down from the north. This
means that it came down over plains already
roasted by the sun, instead of being drawn in from
the ocean, as it was wont to do. There has been
a cool spell in the north and the warmer ocean
current had not been drawn in. It was funny to
hear the people talk of the scorching north wind,
the wind which we of the east receive with such
welcome, in our seething days; 96^ here however
means much worse for vegetation than with us.
We have moisture in the air. The air here already
dry, is a complete desiccator at 96°. I saw cur-
rants as completely dried up on the bushes as if
placed under Ryder's fruit dryer ; and the leaves
of the trees in many cases, turned quite brown.
At Hayward's, which is a remarkably extensive
fruit-growing region, I hear the estimated loss by
the northern wind placed at 1500,000. There is
however some compensation in all these cases.
The fruit grower gets a higher price for that which
is left. I was amazed at the health and strength
of the currant at Hayward's. The water here is so
near the surface that the land is always cool and
moist without irrigation. I found here among the
fruit-growers proper, two very successful nursery-
men, O'Neil and Collins. The former has found
by experience that the Myrobalan Plum stock is
one of the best for the peach, apricot and plum
here. The trouble with the ordinary plum stock
is that in this climate, they throw up a forest of
suckers. The cherry plum, which is of the myro-
balan section, does this to some extent, though not
equal to the common plum. The original myro-
balan seems to sucker scarcely at all. The cherry
plum thrives very well in California, and large
quantities are seen in the markets. They are not
as good as the regular plum, but their earliness
gives them a great place in profitable fruit culture.
In the east I have seen the peach do poorly on the

28o

THE GARDENERS* MONTHLY

[September,

myrobalan stock. At O'Neil's nothing could look
healthier, or more promising; apples and pears
also were growing one and two years from the
bud, I think, finer than any I have seen in the east.
At Collins' I think are cherry trees as healthy as I
have ever seen anywhere. Strong shoots, fine
foliage, magnificent growth — and of course as a
result, wonderfully large and luscious fruit. So
far as I have seen, the most popular cherries are
Black Tartarian and Napoleon Biggareau^or,
"Royal Ann," as it is called here. It appears that
one of the early distributors read the illegible label,
"Royalann" instead of Napoleon, — a very shrewd
guess, as any one will see who tries to write the
word out, without being very careful of the letters.

There is not much variety of ornamental trees
under culture in California; but the great number
I saw thriving at Mr. Collins' nursery, shows the
variety is only through not knowing what to plant.
At Mr. Shinn's, at Niles, were growing also a very
great variety of ornamental trees, as well as fruits.
This nursery also is not dependent, to any great
extent, on irrigation, though water is often applied
to advantage. The gopher — as one might say, a
cross between a squirrel and a mole — is the great
agricultural wretch of California. Several acres of
friend Shinn's alfalfa, were well-nigh ruined by the
miserable creatures, which, however, seemed
happy enough in what was clover to them. But
Mr. Shinn was also happy in the thought that he
would let in his irrigating ditch on them in the fall,
when they, at least, would have water enough and
to spare. Mr. Shinn pays particular attention to
peaches and apricots, and it was a rich treat to
wander among his numerous varieties, and listen
to the lessons drawn from his long and intelligent
experience. He believes that there is yet room for
a much better apricot than has yet been seen in
California. The apricot, nectarine and plum are
great successes in California, because the curculio
has not as yet made its appearance. The general
impression seems to be that the climatal conditions
are not favorable to its existence, or it would have
certainly been seen before this. The traffic
between the East and the West has been so enor-
mous that in some form or another it ought to have
got across.

The funniest thing I have heard here is about an
embargo on Eastern plants and fruit trees, for fear
of introducing the curculio— and I believe there is
a commission, appointed by the State, to look after
the introduction of insects. It does not seem to
occur to these worthy gentlemen that the curculio
would be much more likely to come in by the earth

round a pot-flower in a lady's satchel, or in the
cleft of an old log, than by the roots of a fruit
tree, or the moss in which it is packed. Still,
commissions are profitable concerns in some
respects. As Captain Morse says about Arctic ex-
plorations, "it is just as well for people to believe
there may be an open Polar Sea, and to send ex-
peditions in search of it, though I believe there is
no such thing, they find something that pays for
all. De Long's discoveries in ocean currents, will
pay navigators and students of physical science
for all time, though his own hfe terminated in the
search for it, some years sooner than it otherwise
might."

Speaking of insects, the codling moth is begin-
ning to be a terror to California apple-growers, as
it is to us. The scale insect, in various species, is
however the great foe to the fruit-culturist. I have
seen orchards that were merely dry sticks — every
tree dead I Some however are profiting by the
teachings of the Gardener's Monthly, and use
linseed oil. Pure linseed oil painted over the in-
fested trunks and main branches — the smaller ones
when infested being cut away — destroys the scale,
and does not injure the trees. It is to be remem-
bered that in our part of the world, while large
numbers have used oil safely, some have found the
trees die after using it ; why, has never been un-
derstood, except the guess that the oil was not
pure. Any light and cheap vegetable oil, ought
to be quite as good. If, however, trees are cared
for regularly the scale does not seem to get a foot-
hold. On the grounds of the University at Berke-
ley, I saw an orchard of pears in a state of health
and beauty I have rarely seen anywhere. There
is no sign of scale, or of any insect on these trees.
They happen to be under the care of one of the
most inteUigent gardeners in the country, Mr.
Clay. All he does is to have the stems regularly
washed with lye once a year. It was wonderful
to see such pretty trees, on a dry hill, and in such a
dry climate. And yet, dry as it is, it is not unusual
to have orchards pointed out that have suffered
from too much rain — peaches especially. From
October to May. rain is often continuous. If
peaches or other trees commence to grow before
the rainy season is over, they suffer, if " hard-pan "
is beneath them. In well drained ground they get
little hurt.

At San Jose — pronounced here, San O'Say, or
O'Zay — which is the great nursery center of Cali-
fornia, I found the question, which in some form
or another, is the great question of California —
water, still the staple topic. Here Artesian wells

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

281

are relied on chiefly, to bring a flow of water to
the surface. On Mr. Hannay's grounds, water
which could once readily be found at three hun-
dred feet had to be brought up from seven hundred
feet. At Mr. Rock's, I found him busily engaged
erecting flumes, to carry the water across to parts
of the nursery, where old-time plans had failed.
He had however one magnificent well, which was
flowing out on the surface a stream as thick as one's
leg. The great increase in the number of Artesian
wells, and the turning off of mountain streams, to
different directions, by the modern system of hy-
draulic mining, is necessarily shortening the water
supply. The melting snows and rains have to sup-
ply all the water in and upon the earth. That which
soaks into the ground appears again in some dis-
tant place through the rock fissures, in the shape
of springs ; the other comes over the surface as
torrents, or mountain streams. There is reason to
believe that that which soaks in and forms the
under-ground streams, or springs, is far less than
that which flows over the surface as rivers or
streams— that is, in the higher elevations from
which artesian water springs. It is easy therefore
to calculate just how much water there is at the
disposal of this system, and to understand how
limited the supply must be. The San Jose nursery-
men all speak very highly of the business of the
past year or two, and very encouragingly of its
future prospects.

On the grounds of General Naglee, of San Jose,
I saw one of the most beautiful specimens of the
mammoth tree I have ever seen under culture, or
indeed anywhere. They are not pretty in a wild
state, and I have now seen all the groves — Mari-
posa, Calaveras, and all. But I had better stop.
It is not easy to write under the influence of the
pitch and toss of an ocean steamer, and four-fifths
of your fellow passengers begging to be tossed
over-board, as the best remedy for sea-sickness.
I tell them it is all imagination, that if they would
believe as I do, that there really is no such thing>
they would never have it. But the world has
always been punished for unbelief.

As we shall probably touch at Victoria, B. C,
to-morrow morning, I will close this on the chance
of getting to mail it. My next may be from
Georgian Bay.

ver's Island and between latitude 48° and 49° in
the North Pacific Ocean. We had been for some
days sailing on the Pacific and along the Straits
of San Juan de Fuca, the heavily snow-capped
mountains of the Olympic making the air so chilly
that those who kept in the open air at all had to
do so with overcoats, or, if ladies, in warm wraps
or furs. All at once we came to the mouth of
Puget's Sound, opposite to which is Victoria, and
all was at once pleasant. Summer weather, and
everything as lovely and beauiiful as the prettiest
poet might imagine. The harbor of Victoria is,
however, small and shallow, and as a conse-
quence, our heavy vessel had to lie for six or
eight hours a mile and a half waiting for the tide
to rise, and this gave me the opportunity to do
some interesting botanizing among the rocks
along the coast. One of my first surprises was to
find the Siberian crab-apple, Pyrus baccata, in-
digenous here.* Perhaps it is recorded in our
botanical works as indigenous to the North-west
as well as to Russia ; but I do not remember it,
and have no work to refer to in the place where I
am writing this, which is off the mouth of the
Skena River, emptying into Dixon Sound. It
must be the dvvarfest form, possibly the one
known in nurseries as the Paradise stock, for it
trails over the rocks, making in some places a sort
of thick lattice work ten or fifteen feet square.
Some of the plants I saw had stems coming up
from among the crevices of rocks three or four
inches thick, and yet, by their shaggy appearance,
must be very old.

The town of Victoria, which we reached in the
afternoon, is an indescribably pretty place. It is
built on a high rocky bluff, and has a park called
Beacon Hill, from its use in signaling in those
olden times when Indians were troublesome. At
present this hill is simply preserved for public
use — drives only being led around it for carriages
and horses, and "the poor man's cow" having
free privilege to roam wheresoever she wills. The
fern of the Old World, the common Brake of

Chatham Sijund, Pacific Ocean, July.
I do not know when I have been more agree-
ably surprised than by a visit to the town of Vic-
toria, which is on the south-east point of Vancou-

* Since tlie above was written tlie writer lias little doubt
the apple referred to was the Oregon Crab, and not a form
of tlie Siberian. On his return from Alaska, later in the
season, he found the Oregon Crab on the shores of the
Columbia River, with the fruit advaucecl and with the
leaves in the almost Hawthorn-like condition proper to
that species, instead of in the weather-beaten form of the
plant on the shores of Vancouver's Island. Tlie references
to the use of this form as a dwarf stock for the apple will,
however, still apply to the Oregon Crab. It may be inter-
esting to add that the Oregon Crab was found as far north
as Sitka — some trees near there being twenty feet high and
with small trunks two feet round.— Ed. G, M,

282

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[September,

England and Bracken of Scotland, is indigenous
here also, and grows to an enormous height — in
some cases completely hiding the cattle from ob-
servation. Along the Yosemite I saw horses and
cows feeding on this fern apparently with relish,
but here they carefully picked out what they could
get among the fern, and left these untouched. I
made a note of this as another of those curious
cases where two people might take opposite sides
in an argument, and yet both be right. The popu-
lation of the town is said to be eight thousand,
but a large proportion is made up of Chinese and
Indians. Statistics give 30,000 as the number of
all the Indians in British Columbia ; but I fancy
from what I have seen that there must be much
more than this. A Victoria gentleman told me
that he believed there were 20,000 within easy
reach of the settlements. They have in most part
adopted the habits and methods of Europeans,
live together, work together, and to a great extent
intermarry. The better class of Indians are very
neat and tidy in their clothing and habits, and
those who work for hire make excellent laborers.
Chinamen, also, are in good demand. I was sur-
prised to find how high labor was. A nursery-
man, whose grounds I visited, paid $2.50 for day
laborers — $35 and board per month for white
labor, and $30 per month' and board to Chinese.
Everything, however, one buys is proportionably
high. A newspaper for which we should pay two
cents costs ten. Those who want to live as other
people do, get along "about as well as people do
in other parts of the world ; but if a person is de-
termined to save and not to spend, he can very
soon get a small capital to start into some business
enterprise. But I started to speak of the marvel-
ous floral beauties of the spot. Though the moun-
tain tops some fifty miles away are perpetually
white with snow, except when the morning and
evening sun lights them up in purple and gold, the
air in the town is warm, though without sultriness,
owing to the long day's sun (sixteen hours now)
warming the sheltered spots where the high moun-
tain ridges keep off the Arctic winds. The people
are fond of flowers, and almost every cottage was
embowered in vines, and seemed ready to break
down with their load of blossoms. In my early
life in England I have memories of whole build-
ings completely covered from roof to the ground
with sweet roses and gratefully scented honey-
suckles, but I have often found that early memo-
ries become magnified. The distance of time
lends an enchantment to the early view. I had
come to suspect that the roses may not have been

quite so strong, nor the honeysuckles quite so sweet,
as these early memories recorded them. But here
they were even excelling these impressions and
giving a new echo to the voices of youth. The
tale was true. The wild English honeysuckle,
running up by the cottage door, rambling under
the eaves to almost gable end, dropping in fes-
toons between the windows, and only by the aid
of art permitting a glimpse of the within, and
giving out thousands — yes, thousands of bunches
of their deliciously scented purple and white and
yellow flowers. And the roses, and the Pyra-
cantha, and the evergreen ivy, and the scores of
other things which even we in Philadelphia can-
not grow without much trouble — here may they
be seen climbing in wonderful luxuriance, or mak-
ing bushes, in some cases, nearly as large as the
habitations they adorned. Roses, yes ! How they
would have charmed the heart of an EUwanger
or a Parsons! How the enormous "Jacks," by
the thousand, would have made the purses trem-
ble of those florists who with us only get them to
perfection by the lavish expenditure of cash and
by the sweat of their brows ! The roses ! It is
wonderful how they do here. Even the standard
or tree rose is grown to an enormous extent, and
make the same beautiful ornaments in yards that
they make in the Old World. And the indige-
nous rose — Rosa cinnamonea or Cinnamon rose —
grows in a state which I may almost call grandeur.
I have it growing in my Germantown garden, but
about three feet is all the hight it cares to grow
for me. Here you may see bushes — nay, masses
— scores of feet in diameter, ten feet or more high,
and bearing thousands of their remarkably sweet,
rosy flowers, giving a fragrance to the air for long
distances away. In many instances the Sweet
Briar and Eglantine of the Old World had become
naturalized, and had got into the fraternal em-
braces of their native brother ; but these also were
growing with equal luxuriance, showing that it is
the climate which does it all.

When the time shall come that the whole coun-
try shall be brought under improved speed in
travelling connections, and the United States shall
be but a few days' reach from this now distant
land, this ought to be the great rose center of the
American Continent. Not only the rose, but
numberless plants of the Old World have escaped
from cultivation, and are making their way
through the world, on their own account, most
gloriously. The English daisy, the "gowan
fine," which Burns tells us of in "Auld Lang
Syne," is getting out everywhere among the grass.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

283

and the Furze and the Broom and many others
abound in the woods and along the roadsides.
In Mr. Johnston's beautiful nurseries I saw the
Deodar, and many other half-hardy evergreens
with us, growing magnificently, and I have never
in any part of the world — not even in its native
home at Calaveras, Mariposa, and other places —
seen the great mammoth Sequoia so evidently
well satisfied with this world as in Mr. Johnston's
grounds. These nursery grounds are not very
large, but had more variety than 1 have seen in
any nursery since I left home. Apples, pears,
plums, and particularly cherries, make a remark-
ably vigorous and healthy growth, and just now
the cherries are breaking down with their weight
of fruit. But here, as elsewhere, good culture
has to tell its own story. Apple orchards are set
out, and then they are left to struggle for food
with the grass or other vegetation, and soon get
yellow, hide-bound and moss-clotted ; and then
the owners tell me " the apple is one of the fruits
which will not do in Victoria;" but when you
come to places where the apple tree has all the
ground to itself, or, having other things growing
with it, is still manured enough for both, then you
see that the apple will do as well as elsewhere.
And what a country for the cooler-loving fruits
and vegetables ! The common currant grows five
feet high and bears fruit as large as the cherry or
Versailles. And such cabbages, lettuce, peas,
and so forth, few, if any, of our readers ever saw.
I almost felt that I could remain here, but when
I remembered the grapes, and watermelons, and
tomatoes, and scores of other things which we
have and they may envy, I shall feel free to re-
turn as happy as when I left home.

I hurried to finish this, so as to leave it at some
British settlement we might touch at on the road,
but I find that on some Custom House or Interna-
tional law we must not land on British soil, so
I must save it for maihng in some Alaskan port —
probably Sitka or Fort Wrangel. T. M.

UNDER THE SASHES AND UNDER
THE SOD.

BY VfM. T. HARDING, MOUNT HOLLY, N. J.

Those who are supposed to know best about
such matters as the writer frequently discusses in
these pages are apt to dissuade lovers of floricul-
ture, with less zeal than prompts your correspond-
ent, from exploring the e.xotic wonders of plant-hfe,
in their adopted habitats under the sashes, while

the scorching, sultry atmosphere of hot July pre-
vails. And, no doubt, many are deterred from so
doing on that account and consequently miss
many a pleasing scene. But as life is too short,
and at best uncertain, I fully determined without
further procrastination, on the 26th ult., to visit
the well-known nursery and greenhouses of David
Fergusson & Sons, Ridge and Lehigh avenues,
Philadelphia. Alighting from the Ridge avenue
passenger cars, which pass close by the nursery
gate, I was at once among the many glass struc-
tures which have from time to time there risen up
since it was my last privilege, years ago, to view the
establishment. At that time I was accompanied
by my esteemed friend, the late Mr. Fergusson, an
honest man, in whom there was no guile. Happily,
the honored father left the nursery in charge of his
two enterprising sons — who commendably tread in
their sire's footsteps. And the same hospitable
roof under which I was kindly entertained, with
one exception shelters all of the same happy
family.

Although it was what is usually called the dull
part of the season among the followers of floricul-
ture, yet business seemed to be brisk with them.
Several of the active hands were busily engaged
packing up a large order of choice roses, for a
well-known nurseryman in Maryland. And of the
family of Rosa, the queen of flowers, which is both
numerous, healthy and beautiful — there are vast
numbers grown in pots, for convenience of ship-
ing with safety to all parts of the country, at any
time or season. A large square of finely grown
plants of the same kind were flourishing outside,
for potting later on. These were as beautiful as roses
could well be. Adjacent to the rose-house was a
large torcing-house, for the culture of young grape
vines of the Muscat and Black Hamburg type;
and more vigorous, or cleaner grown vines would
be difficult to find. As growers of foreign grape
vines the Fergussons have long been famous ; and
as there seems to be a steady demand for good
thrifty vines, it indicates the increasing favor good,
luscious grapes, when grown under glass, are at
present receiving. And near to the propagating
: house is a fair sized grapery, showing an excellent
crop of fruit, which is kept more for the purpose
of growing wood for propagating the various kinds,
true to name, than for the fruit produced. The
\ native, or hardy grape vines, of which all the
popular varieties are grown, seemed to vie with the
I foreigners for superiority of growth.
1 Leaving Pomona's locale, I turn again into Flora's
domain, where her august presence gently hovers

284

THE GARDENERS" MONTHLY

[September,

around, among gorgeous foliage and beautiful
flowers. It will be futile to attempt to describe
the marvellous effect of such a multiform as-
semblage of choice plants as are here presented in
the many well filled glass-houses. So I will single
out but a few of the most conspicuous. And what
can be more so than the regal Croton Queen Vic-
toria ? Among this superb collection C. Earl of
Derby seems to be the most singular of all ; then
comes a group of Dracenas, with D. Goldieana
and D. Guilfoylei, as principal representatives of
this brilliant tribe of tropical plants. Next to de-
scribe are the peculiar foliaged Caladiums, whose
rich and many colored markings are very attrac-
tve. C. Chantini, with its rose and crimson ban-
ners, though somewhat old, is still as beautiful as
any of its younger compeers.

Among a cabinet of exquisite leafy gems, none
looked more lovely than the little Bertolonia Van
Houttei, so grandly spotted. B. marmorata with
its glittering golden stripes, and Sonerila margari-
tacea, S. argentea, and S. Hendersonii, with its
beautiful maculation and rich variegation were also
good, and altogether defy my powers of delinea-
tion. And the same may be said of Fittonias,
Echiteses, Anthuriums, and such-like pretty things.
And similar remarks apply to the handsome
Marantas, than which there is nothing more effect-
ive among remarkable foliaged plants.

Conspicuous among the many flowering plants
were Gloxinias, Eucharises, Begonias, Gardenias,
Abutilons, Fuchsias, Jasminums, Torenias, Pelar-
goniums, Petunias, double and single, of which a
.set of twelve were remarkably handsome. But
the many interesting flowering plants with which
the houses were made most pleasant to ramble
through, are too numerous for special notice.

Ferns and mosses, always attractive, were as
dehcately beautiful and graceful as they always
are. The collection of Orchids, though not so
numerous, was very good. There were full ranks
of noble Palms, so striking in tropical scenery,
and so necessary in the decoration of the hot-house,
greenhouse or conservatory. The stock (groves I
might say) of thrifty Camellias, was both great and
good; over which some magnificent specimens
reared their shapely forms above the many thous-
ands around. And a mass of Azaleas were equally
good.

The contents of the large rose-house, in which
the roses for winter forcing are planted in well
prepared borders, are as healthy and vigorous as
it is possible for them to be. Immense quantities

of plants for bouquet and decorative purposes are
grown indoors and out.

Tempted as I am to continue, I must neverthe-
less close the pleasing subject, and for a moment
turn to sadder scenes. But a few steps from the
nursery to the cemetery close by, brought me to
where Mr. Robert Buist, my first patron on this
side the sea, calmly rests, " after labor's long tur-
moil," in the narrow house of clay. As I gazed
upon the green sod, where side by side, husband
and wife serenely slumber, I was forcibly re-
minded of the past, with the poet's words:

"Sweet noemoi'y, wafted by the gentle gale,
Oft up the stream of time I turn my sail ;"

and think of what occurred happily, or otherwise,
" In the days Auld Lang Syne."

Passing by poor Fechter's resting place, who
"after securing the world's applause," there " sleeps
the sleep that knows no waking," I was shocked
at the neglected condition of his burial lot. Rank
weeds almost hid the striking bust of the late la-
mented dramatist, who was well favored with ap-
preciative smiles and fragrant flowers when living
and acting his part as a man and a brother.

NEW FACTS "WANTED.

t

BY N. ROBERTSON, SUPT. GOVERNMENT

GROUNDS, OTTAWA, CANADA.

It is often tiresome to wait for the ending of
controversies, in horticultural papers. There is
often so much written that it becomes confusing to
decide which writer's views to take. The
Monthly has the least disposition of any paper,
to allow this sort of thing to go too far. Steam
heating has had the most freedom of its pages of
anything I have ever noticed. No doubt it is a
subject embracing a very wide range of thought,
requiring much explanation. Like all newly intro-
duced things, it has always old practices to con-
tend with, which to many, appear as if they could
never be superseded.

Take the grape-vine as an instance, page after
page will be taken up with the various methods of
pruning it. There is too much writing, and the
ideas expressed are too few to be satisfactory to
the amateur. To practical men the difficulty will
be less, because they get at the practical parts of
the article quickly, and are better able to grasp
them; but to the less experienced in such matters
it is most confusing. I would never think of curb-
ing any reasonable discussion, for this often brings
to the surface many sound, practical points. But

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST,

285

when parties are allowed to spend weekly, one,
two, or three pages for the course of a year over
the name of a -plant and its origin, as has been
■done in England, over the Helleborus niger, it is
neither pleasing nor instructive. Is it worth so
much to find out if it should be called St. Bridget's
Christmas Rose, or any other name, or from whom
it originated ? Take again the rose ; what letters
have been written on it I Yet how rarely are any
new ideas expressed.

What I would urge on writers is to consider
whether there is a newness about what they pro-
pose to write. Fresh facts may often be had by
looking aside from trodden paths, and they will
often find something there to interest many readers.

LANDSCAPE GARDENING APPLIED TO
CEMETERIES.

BY C. M. HOVEY, BOSTON, MASS.

I have read, with deep regret, of the death of
Mr. Adolph Strauch, of Cincinnati Garden, and
Superintendent of the Spring Grove Cemetery
since 1854, and to whose excellent taste and ski 1
its beauty, so generally recognized, is undoubtedly
due. But I was much surprised to read in the re-
port of the cemetery committee, upon his decease,
that " Mr. Strauch originated the landscape lawn
system for cemeteries, gradually developed its im-
portant details, and demonstrated its superiority."
There could not possibly be a greater error, and
no greater injustice done to the memory of one
who was not only the first, but who has done more
for landscape improvement, the advancement of
arboriculture, or the progress of rural adornment
than all others.

I scarcely need refer to the late J. C. Louden,
who died long before the Spring Grove Cemetery
was established, and more than ten years before
Mr. Strauch took charge of the grounds. Two
years before his death, in 1842, he described the
'"Principles of Landscape Gardening and of Land-
scape Architecture, applied to the laying out of
public cemeteries," (Gard. Mag. Vol. 19, p. 93) and
even before that the South Garden Metropolitan
Cemetery had laid out their grounds in landscape
style, a fine representation of which, in a litho-
graphic plate, may be found in the same volume,
p. 402.

Mr. Straach is undoubtedly entitled to all the
praise that the committee (of which our old friend,
Mr. Probasco, is chairman) for what he did to give
Spring Grove Cemetery its charming character.
He was no originator of the system, but had the

good judgment to accept of what had already been
done, and do as much as he could to perfect what
those who did originate it endeavored to accomplish.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

To Intelligent Correspondents. — All com-
munications relating to adz-'ertisetnents, subscrip-
tions, or other business, must be addressed to the
publisher, 814 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

All referring to the reading matter of the maga-
zine must be mailed to the editor, Germantown, Pa.

No express packages for the editor received un-
less prepaid ; and marked " Paid through to Ger-
mantown, Pa."

The Editor's Journey.— The trip of the Editor
to the west and north-west embracing in geographi-
cal lines some 12,000 miles, was a particularly de-
lightful and instructive one, rendered still more
pleasant by the kind attentions of friends. Along
the Pacific coast his journey took in a large num-
ber of points between latitude 36° and 60°, the
mouth of the Chilcat River in Alaska being .the
highest point reached, and where botanical collec-
tions were made at half past ten o'clock at night !
Especial acknowledgements of friendly services
are due to Mr. Henry Shaw, of St. Louis, Mr.
John Reading, of Salt Lake City, Mr. Fox, of
San Jose, Mr. O'Neil, of Hayward's, Mr. Shinn, of
Niles, General Bidwill, of Chico, Mr. Hutchings,
of Yosemite, Dr. C. C. Parry, Dr. Kellogg, and
other members of the California Academy of
Sciences, (who kindly took charge of the plant
collections while the Alaska trip was being taken),
Mr. Thomas Meherin, of San Francisco, Mr.
Philip Ritz, of Walla Walla, Washington Territory,
Mr. Clarke, editor of the Willamette Farmer
Portland, Oregon, and very particularly to Mr.
Ed. Wickson, editor of the Pacific Rural Press,
who amid the very arduous tasks of editing such
a popular weekly paper, found time to do a very
great deal towards making the California part of
the journey instructive and delightful. In striking
contrast with the rude boorishness of the officers
of Oregon Steam Navigation Company in San Fran-
cisco, may be mentioned the gentlemanly courtesy
shown by the company's agents in Portland,
Oregon, who spent nearly a day in successfully
getting justice done through the careless indiifer-
ence of the San Francisco officials; and especially
are thanks due to Captain Carroll, and Purser
Downing of the "Idaho," on which vessel the

286

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[September,

Editor spent four weeks very delightfully. If any
one should be tempted to follow the Editor's
example, and take a trip to this great northern
wonderland of America, he will be particularly
fortunate if he gets on the " Idaho," and into the
hands of these courteous and genial gentlemen.

It may added that though much of the matter
for the Monthly had supervision before the Edi-
tor's departure, credit is due to his brother Joseph,
for the careful superintendence given the three
months numbers which appeared in his absence.

Dr. John A. Warder. — We were pained to
learn on the return of the Editor from the West,
of the death of Dr. John A. Warder, which oc-
curred at his beautiful home at North Bend on the
15th of August. He was in his seventy-second
year ; but so great was his sprightly cheerfulness
on all occasions that few would have taken him
for one of so great an age.

Few men in the East have done more to awaken
an interest in horticulture than Dr. Warder, and in
in the West no one has probably done as much as
he. He was a Pennsylvanian by birth, and con-
nected by marriage with the well known families
of Cope and Haines, which have done so much
for the intellectual reputation of Philadelphia, es-
pecially in connection with the Philadelphia
Academy of Natural Sciences of which Dr. Warder
remained a member to the day of his death. He
went West early after marriage, and practiced med-
icine with great success, abandoning it for rural
hfe at North Bend, above Cincinnati, in 1855. In
a literary way the writer's first acquaintance with
him was when he undertook the editorship of the
Western Horticultural Review, which appeared
about the same time with Downing's Horticulturist.
There seemed no room for another purely horti-
cultural magazine at that time, and Dr. Warder's
venture was comparatively short lived, but it had
a wonderful influence on the horticulture of Cincin-
nati ; and at that time, in connection with the Cin-
cinnati Horticultural Society which Dr. Warder
did so much to sustain, Cincinnati became with the
Boston and Philadelphia Societies among the great
leaders of horticulture in the United States. The
wide spread progress made in strawberry culture
during the past quarter of a century owes much to
Dr. Warder in the Horticultural Review, and the
Cincinnati Horticultural Society. In 1858 his
work on hedges appeared, which is still the chief
reference book on this subject. In 1867 Warder's
Pomology came out covering however apples only.
It is the nearest attempt to place the descriptions

of fruit on a scientific basis that has ever beerv
made. The limit of characters was too narrow.
There was not enough allowance made for possible
variations from climate or soil. In our mind it
always seemed a wonder the Doctor did not go on
and perfect his method. It will always stand as
the best advance ever made by a single author on
scientific pomology. As a botanist as well as an
author he has done valuable service. He was the
first to show that there were really two species of
Catalpa in this country, and to suggest for the
Western form the name of C. speciosa, eventually
adopted by Dr. Engelmann the describer of the
species. Whatever good may come from the re-
cognition of the arboreal merits of the Catalpa,.
will be mainly the work of Dr. Warder.

In brief there is scarcely an agricultural, horti-
cultural, forestry, pomological or scientific society
in the United States which will not directly or in-
directly miss Dr. Warder, and his name will long
stand prominent in the annals of American intel-
lectual progress.

H. B. Ellwangek. — While our readers had be-
fore them Mr. EUwanger's paper on the Manetti
rose, which appeared in our last issue, its talented
young author was then on his death-bed. He had
been down for some weeks with typhoid fever, to
which he succumbed on the 7th of August ; being
then in his thirty-third year. In the nurserv busi-
ness there are so few which take to the pursuits of
their fathers in an intelligent way that the death of
one like this is more than a usual loss to the horti-
cultural comrnunity. Mr. Barry's son William, and
Mr. Geo. EUwanger's son, the subject of the present
note, promised to continue long after their parents*
decease the business names which have made this
firm so honorably known wherever a tree is
bought or sold. Aside from this, rosarians will
miss him more than all. Young as he was, he had
already become a leader and an authority in all
that concerns the rose. We are sure the sympathies
of the whole horticultural body will go out to his
wife and aged parents, especially as their loss is in
this case so very much our own.

Astragalus canariensis, - — Mr. Valentine
Burgevin writes : " It was probably through my
own oversight that you substituted ' Tropaeolum
canariensis' for 'Astragalus canariensis' in my
essay 'Amongst the Flowers' which you were so
kind to make room for in your excellent magazine.
The latter name was given to me by a florist when
I became acquainted with the plant. I bore with
philosophic patience the reflection that the error

1883.

AND HORTICULTURIST.

287

cast upon my intelligence as a florist, until your |
accomplished contributor, Mrs. M. D. Wellcome,
expressed her surprise that the writer of ' Amongst ■
the Flowers ' had not seen a Tropa;olum canaden-
sis for thirty-five years. Now I would like that you
publish this explanation, for 1 beg to assure Mrs.
Wellcome that I have been familiar with the Trc-
paeolum canadensis since my boyhood, and grow it
every year in my garden. The plant which I named [
among the five supposed to be lost plants was the
Astragalus canadensis and I can not imagine how
the mistake should occur in a publication which
shows so much care, ability and knowledge of
scientific floriculture as the Gardener's Monthly.
I thank Mrs. Wellcome heartily for her kind atten-
tion to the matter and assure her that I admire her
taste and love for that beautiful plant, the growing
of which to reach perfection does her great credit.
I can only express my regret that she lives so far
away from Kingston, and promise her that if ever
I come within convenient distance of her home I
shall take pains to call and enjoy an examination
of her beautiful ' Canary Bird Flower,' and con-
vince her of the truth of what I say here."

[The change was made by the editor, in view
of the fact that, so far as he knows, there has
never been any plant called Astragalus canaden-
sis, so named by botanists. Then the description
of this unknown plant seemed to fit the Tropa^olum
so well, that "Astragalus" came to be regarded
as a slip of the pen, on the part of the writer, for
Tropaeolum. As the matter now stands, it is not
clear what this Astragalus can be. — Ed G. M.]

Rewarding Inventors. — It is a great pity that
only those who invent in mechanical affairs, can
profit by a patent right. There are numerous
valuable ideas that the world gets hold of, that are
just as worthy of recognition from society, but
which the world gets and gives nothing for. So
far as new fruits are concerned, for instance, the
matter has often been ventilated in our columns.
No one denies that the discoverer of a good fruit
or flower should be well rewarded. Every one
knows that too often he gets nothing at all. The
difficulty is to find a way by which his right to it
should be effectually secured. It is perhaps this
want of power to reward, which leads to what
often appears to be innocent humbug. A man by
careful expedment finds that a certain species of
grass is the very best for lawns. If he gives the
name of the grass, it is simply worth so much in
market, no more. He can get nothing for the
good application of the grass, which is the chief

value. But why should he not ? So he takes
another harmless grass, and mixes with the good
one, and advertises his " mixture " as the best
lawn grass. For this he can get a double price,
and he is paid for his idea as well as the actual
value of the grass seed. It seems like a fraud,
and even Barnum would call it humbug, but the
man consoles his conscience by the fact that he is
only protecting himself from a public which would
certainly take the result of his brain work for
nothing if it could. We must leave all this to
moralists. The mere reference to it at all comes
from a letter from Mr. T. Bennett, of Trenton
N. J. He states that he has, and from an excellent
paper before us, we believe that he has, made
some very useful discoveries in regard to the de-
struction of insects. He ought certainly to be
very well rewarded for his discoveries, but just
how it should be done is a question. Some one
suggested that he should apply to the Department
of Agriculture, and Dr. Loring replies that there
has been no specific appropriation from congress
for such purposes. It seems a dampening sort of
a reply ; but Dr. L. could say nothing more.

Perhaps the day may come when congress may
establish a fund for rewarding those who make
valuable discoveries which cannot be patented,
but of which the public gets the benefit. This
fund applied under the control of a judicious
board of commissioners, would be a very hand-
some example for America to set.

Select Plants for Industrial Culture. —
By Baron F. Von Mueller. We noted recently,
that this very valuable work had been translated
into German, in the old world. It is a pleasure to
note that our own countrymen are not to be out-
done by the intelligent insight of European coun-
tries, and that the enterprising publisher, Davis, of
Detroit, is about to issue an American edition of
the same work. It must be very gratifying to
Baron Mueller to find his labors receive this world-
wide appreciation, and we have no doubt from the
great value the work must be to the American
people, its sales will be gratifying to the American
publishers.

Credit to the Late J. C. Louden. — Lovers of
justice to the memory of this great friend and
benefactor to intelligent horticulture, will heartily
thank Mr. Hovey for his note in another column.
At the same time it is but fair to presume that our
Cincinnati friends simply omitted to say "in
America," which was no doubt all they intended
to claim in Mr. Mr. Strauch's behalf.

288

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[September,

Horticultural Societies.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Nurserymen's Convention The annual

meeting of the Nurserymen's Convention was held
at St. Louis this year. We were compelled to
forego the pleasure of attending. From reports of
the proceedings published in the papers, we gather
that the meeting was a very interesting and suc-
cessful one. A. M. Hunt, of Chicago, 111., was
elected President; Franklin Davis, Baltimore, Md.,
Vice-President; D. W. Scott, Galena, Ills., Secre-
tary, and A. R. Whitney, Franklin Grove, Ills.,
Treasurer. The next meeting will be held at
Chicago, in June 1884.

American Pomological Society — Nine-
teenth Session. — The Pennsylvania Horticul-
tural Society having invited the American Pomo-
logical Society to hold its next meeting at Phila-
delphia, the undersigned give notice that the
Nineteeenth Session of this National Association
will be held in that city, commencing Wednesday,
September 12th, 1883, at ten o'clock a. m., and
continuing for three days.

This session will take place at the time of the
Fifty-fourth Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania
Horticultural Society, at Horticultural Hall, Broad
near Locust Street.

All Horticultural, Pomological, Agricultural, and
other kindred associations in the United States
and British Provinces are invited to send delega-
tions as large as they may deem expedient, and all
persons interested in the cultivation of fruits are
invited to be present and take seats in the Conven-
tion. It is expected that there will be a full attend-
ance of delegates from all quarters of our country,
and that this will be the largest and most useful
meeting ever held by this Society.

The Catalogue of Fruits published by the Society
includes nearly all the States and Territories, and
is filled with a great amount of information as to
the fruits adapted for culture in the respective
locations. Some of these are yet incomplete, and
it is the object of the Society, from year to year,
to fill the blanks and bring its Catalogue nearer to
perfection. To accomplish this object as fully as
possible, the Chairman of the General Fruit Com-

mittee, P. Barry, Esq., Rochester, N. Y., will send
out the usual circulars of inquiry.

When we consider the great: importance of fruit
culture in North America, its rapid progress during
the last thirty-five years under the beneficent action
of this Society, the great value and rapidly increas-
ing demand for its products at home and abroad,
we feel warranted in urging the attendance of all
who are interested in the welfare of our country
and the development of its wonderful resources in
this branch of agriculture.

Arrangements have been made with hotels and
some of the railroads terminating in Philadelphia
for a reduction of fare. In most cases it will be
best for delegations to arrange for rates with the
roads in their localities.

A local committee of Reception has been ap-
pointed, to whom are confided all matters pertain-
ing to the reception and accommodation of the
members and delegates of the Society. The
Chairman is Hon. J. E. Mitchell, 310 York Avenue,
Philadelphia.

At the last meeting of the Society it was decided
in future to encourage general exhibitions of
fruits, as well as new varieties or novelties. It is
earnestly requested that no duplicates appear in
any collection, and that none but choice specimens
shall be placed on exhibition. Exhibitors should
not fail to give notice as far as possible, at an
early date, what room will be needed for their
fruits. Six specimens of a variety will be sufficient
except in fruits of unusual interest. A limited
number of Wilder Medals will be awarded to
objects of special merit.

Packages of fruit should be addressed to Thomas
A. Andrews, Horticultural Hall, Broad St. Phila-
delphia, for the American Pomological Society.
Freight and express charges should be prepaid.

All persons desirous of becoming members can
remit the fee to Benjamin G. Smith, Treasurer,
Cambridge, Mass. Life membership. Twenty
Dollars ; Biennial, Four Dollars. Life members
will be supplied with back numbers of the pro-
ceedings of the Society as far as possible.

Marshall P. Wilder, President, Boston, Mass.

Prof. W. J. Beal, Secretary, Lansing, Mich.

THE

GARDENERS' MONTHLY

AND

HORTICULTURIST.

DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE, ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS.

Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN.

Volume XXV.

OCTOBER, 1883.

Number 298.

Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground.

COMMUNICATIONS.

JAPAN MAPLES.

BY S. B. PARSONS, FLUSHING, L. I., N. Y.

I notice in your August number that Mr. Strong
reports to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society
that these plants in our nursery do not get from
the frames to the open ground, to any extent, and
that they require such careful nursing as to unfit
them for ordinary cultivation.

If I recollect rightly, Mr. Strong has not visited
our grounds since 1879, and I think that he should
not, without careful inquiry, have made so sweeping
an assertion. The fact is that nearly all our sale-
able stock of Japan Maples is planted in nursery
rows and cultivated with the plough. There are
some twenty-two rows two hundred feet long.
There would be many more, except for the very
active demand.

We have Polymorphum eight feet high, and
Polymorphum sanguineum five feet high, growing
luxuriantly in the open ground and rather too tall
to be kept in frames.

Of valuable plants like hardy Azaleas, Viburnum
plicatum, and many well known hardy species,
we are in the habit of keeping very young plants
in frames without glass, for convenience of culture.
We do the same with Japan Maples until they are
large enough to plant out for plough culture.

So far from being tender here, they are ex-
ceptionally hardy and have not been the least
injured the past winter, in localities where Norway
Spruce and Hemlock have been killed. They are
hardier than Altheas, because, in the twenty years
in which we have cultivated them Altheas have
been winter killed, and these have not.

If any plant can be called hardy, the Japan
Maples can, and they have also a luxuriance of
growth which quite takes them out of the list of
those which require "careful nursing."

A VISIT TO THE NATIONAL SOLDIERS'
HOME, DAYTON, OHIO.

BY H. D. BRAND, DAYTON, OHIO,

In my visits to this most delightful and beautiful
place, I have often wondered if there had been a
description given of it in the Monthly; and have
had it on my mind to write a short sketch for it, and
my last two visits compelled me to do so.

The Home lies three miles from the city of Day-
ton and upon rising ground, much higher than the
city. What Fairmount Park is to Philadelphia,
and Central Park to New York, the Home is to
Ohio and Indiana, for there is not a day passes
without one or more large excursions coming to
view this wonderful place, and all the trains are
run directly into the grounds. The Home stands
upon a square of land, six hundred and fifty acres,

290

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

and one-half is devoted to park, lakes and lawns.
The moment one enters the gate of this splendid
place he is filled with delight ; here we enter a love-
ly carriage drive, beautiful lawns, well mown and
well kept ; also fine groups of firs and pines meet our
eyes as we come along, and in the distance upon
our right the matchless Soldiers' Monument, a shaft
of pure white marble, and on our left, away in the
distance, the gem city of Dayton. We wind
around and at last come to the flower gardens and
lawns, with the splendid sheets of water stretching
away in the distance. There are over twenty-five
acres devoted to flowers and sub-tropical garden-
ing, beautiful in design and execution, only to be
matched but not surpassed by any the writer has
seen in Europe, Philadelphia and New York ; all
under the careful management of Mr. Chas. Beck,
the indefatigable chief Gardener, who has the
satisfaction of bringing it up to its present pinnacle
of fame. At the present time, however, the chief
attraction is a monster Agave Americana (which
weighed over two tons when placed on the lawn)
in full bloom. It was moved out of the greenhouse
early in May and placed in the center of the lawn
facing the lake, where it commenced to throw up
its flower-stalk and at the present time it has grown
to the height of thirty-five feet and measures seven
inches in diameter at the base of stalk; the stalk
runs twenty feet before the flower-stalks branch
out, the whole forming a beautiful tree, the flowers
forming in thick masses at the ends of each branch ;
in color a pale yellow and long narrow trumpet-
shaped flowers, and fragrant. One of the garden-
ers said, " all the bees of creation are there."
I wish the readers of the Monthly could stand as
I do, and feast their eyes upon the sight — without
which they will hardly be able to form an idea of
its majestic splendor.

tribute to make up the loss and enter a protest
against being any longer humbugged by such trash.
Why, it is no comparison to an old Barberry bush,
or even an old-fashioned Snowball; for it will per-
sist in flowering in August, when we don't want it,
having plenty of Altheas.

Well, it is no use quarreling about matters of
taste. If a Virginian don't like the Hydrangea,
somebody else does. If we could be humbugged
every day with a new plant as good as this one, it
would enhance the old saying, that "it is as much
pleasure to be cheated as it is to cheat."

Certainly there are unworthy novelties enough
without classing the grandest of all new shrubs
among them, or showing ones utter ignorance of
what is truly beautiful.

PLANTING IN SUITABLE POSITIONS.

BY WM.

ROBERTSON, SUPT. OF GOVERNMENT
GROUNDS, OTTAWA, CANADA.

UNWORTHY NOVELTIES.

BY C. M. HOVEY.

It is very fortunate that our tastes differ, other-
wise in horticulture our gardens would all be alike.
We should all plant Kieff'er Pears, and not have
such poor sorts as Bartlett occupying valuable
room. So too with shrubs ; we should all plant
— something — well, snowballs, if you please.

Your correspondent, Virginian, seems to have
been a most unfortunate man. He invested half-
a-dollar in that "wonderful Hydrangea paniculata
grandiflora," which he thinks sure is a disgrace to
the lawn. Well, perhaps it is. I guess he is right
and all the readers of the Monthly should con-

The formation of the root determines the nature
of the material in which it will best grow. Nature
has constructed roots in such a variety of ways,
adapting one to firm substances, another to soft,
some to moist and others to dry material. If we
look at our native forests, where nature controls
the whole, we see trees always finding the position
and soil most suitable for them ; so that the nature
of the soil can be known by the variety of tree pro-
duced.

Let us take, for example, the planting of soft
and hard Maples. No one appears to think that
there is any necessity for different positions for
them, although the one is always found on flat
table land, and the other on high dry land; the
one perishes for want of sufficiency of moisture
for the roots, whilst the other cankers and becomes
diseased from an over abundance of it. They
both may live and grow, but, if you notice, you
will see that those in suitable positions will take
the lead. In flat land the soft Maple is far ahead
of any hard that may have been planted, and the
reverse on the high land. The soft Maple will
sometimes struggle along for years on high ground
whilst the hard is growing most luxuriantly in just
the same situation.

I make it a point in tree planting to set each
variety where it will succeed best, and to see that
the roots are plentiful, with a good clean healthy
stem. I care nothing about the top, because, if L
get things as they ought to be, not as a huge cut-
ting, I will soon give you a good top and a finer
tree than is generally had when the top is left on.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

291

The same laws apply to indoor plants as to outside
ones.

Men will inquire sometimes to what country the
plant belongs ; if from a tropical one they apply
strong heat, neglecting moisture in the air, but
never fail to give plenty of water at the root, and then
they wonder why they don't succeed. We should
remember that in tropical countries, mountain and
swamp, high land and flat abound, as in more
temperate countries. But the cause of much un-
successful cultivation of plants, I do not hesitate to
say, is imperfect drainage. A recommendation to
drain well is always affixed to instructions given
about plant culture, and it cannot be too strongly
urged. Men have been found to argue that this
great care about careful drainage is only a second-
ary consideration. Perhaps it may be, in so far as
the cultivation of small plants for market is con-
cerned, when only very small pots are used, with
a clear sky above. But in less favored countries,
such as the British Islands, drainage is a neces-
sity in the earlier stages of growth. Perfect drain-
age hurts nothing, but imperfect does; and with
all the warnings given about this, more attention
is still needed before we see plants in general
health. It would be better if persons handling
plants were more observant of their natural re-
quirements based on the characters of roots.

There is no doubt but that the great element in
the growth of plants is sufficient moisture for their
wants, and no more. Nature either sows or plants
where proper degrees of moisture and heat are
found. What a diversity in this may be noticed
in seeds I One sort requiring months, even years
to germinate, others will do so in a few hours.
The inexperienced often lose many seeds for the
want of knowledge of this. There are roots
that must be continually submerged in water, and
those that must be suspended in the air. A knowl-
edge of the nature of roots will be found of great
benefit to plant cultivators.

THE PEARL TUBEROSE.

BY A. VEITCH, NEW HAVEN, CONN.

Ever since the Pearl Tuberose was introduced it
has been spoken of in catalogues as superior in
every respect to the old variety, and we readily
admit that for flowering under glass, too much has
not been said in its behalf; but it is possible that in
extolling its good qualities many of its admirers
have either overlooked or ignored its bad ones.

The charge we bring against it is that when
planted out of doors it is not to be relied upon.

This has been the case in numberless instances,
ever since its introduction. Sometimes it does
very well, but in most cases the flowers open
badly, and they are so seedy in appearance as to
be unfit for any purpose whatever. So true is this
that many growers have found itto their advantage
to go back to the original, which, but for its oc-
casional reversion to the single state, serves their;
purpose fully as well. The flowers of this sort
may not be quite as large as those of the Pearl,
but this difference is more than made up by their
superior elegance of form and purity of color, ,
under all conditions when growing out of doors.

NOTES ON THE SEPTEMBER NUMBER.

BY W. F. BASSETT, HAMMONTON, N. J.

Is Gynura aurantiaca really a hardy plant ? I
had supposed it to be something like the Coleus,
in this respect. What a wonderful effect these
violet hairs produce. The stem and leaves remind
me strongly of the common Fireweed, Erecthites
hieracifolia, yet these hairs give it a peculiar
changeable color which is very beautiiul. In like
manner, the old Coleus Verschaffeltii always re-
minds me of the common catnip, and its beauty is
due to its colors alone.

In the article on " Yellow Flowers for July,"
should not Rudbeckia trifolia read R. triloba ? In
my collection of native flowers I have several
yellow ones that bloom in August and September,
which are really beautiful.

Helianthus giganteus has a very leafy stem, five
to six feet high branching freely at top, and pro-
duces great numbers of flowers of a delicate light
yellow, with center of yellowish green. Helianthus
angustifolius is not so tall, growing three to four
feet and loosely branched from the ground up.
Its flowers are much deeper yellow with black
centers, and where several plants grow near each
other make a blaze of "sunshine."

Helenium autumnale is quite interesting from its
winged stems, even when not in bloom, and the
notches in its light yellow petals give the flowers a
fringe-like appearance. This grows from two to
three feet.

Among the Solidagos we have some fine yellow
flowers. Solidago virgata growing from two to
four feet with its wand-like stem and brush of
flowers, not unlike some of the herbaceous Spireas
in form, and the individual blooms quite large, is
a very elegant species and quite showy.

There is another very showy late blooming
yellow flower, which I have never tried to trans-

292^

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

plant, and as it is classed as a root-parasite,
perhaps it cannot be done successfully, but prob-
ably it might be grown from seed among trees. I
allude to Gerardia quercifolia. It is a very large
species, growing from four to six feet, and in ad-
dition to its flowers, possesses another element of
beauty, in its stems and foliage, which are finely
shaded with purple.

[Gynura aurantiaca, being native of Java, can-
not, of course, be "hardy," in the sense of endur-
ing frost, but we took Mrs. Wellcome's expression
to mean that it had a free, vigorous growth in the
open air. ^' Hardy" is an elastic phrase in Horti-
culture. Trifolia was an error of our correspon-
dent, and over-looked by the sub-Editor. It is
R. triloba.— Ed. G. M.]

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Prunus triloba. — This pretty double pink
dwarf plum was introduced by Mr. Robert For-
tune from China in 1856, and named by Ur.
Lindley in the Gardeners Chronicle, Prunus
triloba. It is now common in cultivation, but in
Philadelphia suffers much from a species of fungus
attack allied to the fire blight in the pear, and to
which the common dwarf almond is also very
liable. In France last year the double flowers
reverted back to the single state to enable fruit to
perfect. The little plums are about the size of a
Houghton gooseberry. Mr. Andre thinks there
are botanical differences sufficient to warrant a
division from Prunus and he names it Prunopsis
Lindleyi in Reveu Horticole.

Stock for Grafting Roses. — The editor of
Journal des Roses believes that Rosa polyantha
•will prove one of the most acceptable of stocks to
the rose grafter.

The Drop or Bag-worm. — As the seasons roll
around, we have the usual number of unfortunates
who write of some " worm in a bag " which eats
the evergreens and destroys them — the arborvitas
suffering especially. The remedy is very simple.
Look at the trees from week to week, and when
the pests are small pick them off and smash them.
It is but short work, and very effectual.

Double Honeysuckle. — Rev. E. P. Powell
has a double yellow honeysuckle. We do not
know that there is a double honeysuckle in exist-
ence. Do any of our readers ?

A Dwarf Stevia. — Mr. Massey says that a
novelty produced by Mr. Fistler, gardener at the

White House Gardens, Washington, is a dwarf
form of Stevia serrata. He was shown a large
lot of this in 7-inch pots, which stood uniformly
about a foot high and with bushy tops about ten
inches across. This is their natural habit.

A Double Lilium auratum. — Mrs. M. D.
Wellcome, of Yarmouth, Me., has a lily which
has come double two successive seasons, and will
no doubt prove to be a constant variety.

Rosa lucida flore-pleno. — In Mr. Ella-
combe's garden at Bitton this pretty rose grows
and flowers freely. Although much altered by
cultivation from the dwarf wild rose of the United
States, there seems no doubt of the propriety of
referring it as a variety to R. lucida. It seems
identical, too, with the rose figured by Andrews
in his Monograph as R. Pennsylvanica flore-pleno.
The outer petals of this fade into a pale rose,
leaving the center of the flower a deep rich rose
color. — Gardeners Chronicle.

Azalea mollis. — Very fine varieties of this
useful flowering shrub are now in bloom at Gras-
mere, and amongst them I would single out Isa-
belle Van Houtte, the flowers of which are very
large, of a deep cream color, the upper petal being
strongly marked with yellow, or, more properly
speaking, bright maize. It is a singularly attrac-
tive and beautiful kind, and should be in every
collection. Every garden should possess some
plants of Azalea mollis; they are so effective when
in bloom, and not all fastidious as to soil. Loam
or rich peat is often considered indispensable, but
Mr. Stevens grows them in his ordinary garden
soil, which is very light, approaching sand indeed,
and they seem to be doing very well in it. An-
other very fine kind is Beali major, flower salmon-
pink, upper petals strongly marked with bright
orange — a most telling kind. — J. C. B., in the
Garden.

Picea Cephalonica. — This beautiful and com-
paratively hardy silver fir is a native of Cephal-
onia, which is the largest of the Ionian Islands,
some forty miles long by an average of fifteen
wide. It is the most prominent conifer of that
island.

Andromeda japonica — This pretty hardy eri-
caceous plant is growing in favor in England.

Papaver umbrosum. — Of this brilliant annual
Poppy, Mr. Wolley Dod sends some fine blooms
cut from stems two feet high. The flowers are
some three inches across, handsomely cup-shaped

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

293

and of an intensely deep crimson, with large and
conspicuous jet black blotches at the base of each
petal. Those who do not know this showy hardy
flower should make its acquaintance, for it makes
the garden very cheerful just now with its masses
of glowing color. — The Garden.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Large Sunflowers. — '• W. C. B.," West Phil-
adelphia, says : " Enclosed you will find a chpping
from the Examiner of New York, describing a
sunflower, the dimensions of which the paper
seems to doubt. We have three large sunflowers,
the largest of which we carefully measured and
found it to be as follows: Height, 13 ft. 11 in.;
circumference of stalk at base, 12 in. Some of its
leaves are 18 in. across and 21 in. in length ; the
blossoms, large and small, number forty-two, the
largest of which measures 8 in. in diameter— across
brown center, not measuring yellow petals (?) In
general appearance it resembles the one described
in the clipping. I send you this, thinking it may
be of interest to you. The extract is as follows :

"'Either a Hartford (Conn.) paper draws a
pretty long bow, or there is a pretty large speci-
men of a sunflower growing in that city. It grows,
the paper says, straight up, and stands about 12
ft. high, crowned with superb yellow blossoms,
which droop from their own weight. Its sturdy
stalk measures 9 in. in circumference. Some of
its leaves, which hang like elephant's ears, are
18 in. long and 16 in. across. The blossoms, large
and small, number between forty and fifty.' "

Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora. —
"J. M.," Philadelphia, writes: "Besides the ani-
mals at the Philadelphia Zoological Garden the
trees and shrubs are well worthy the attention of
visitors. It has not been the case that common
trees have been planted to 'fill up with,' as is so
often done in planting. Many rare deciduous and
evergreen trees are to be found therein, and all
are well cared for. The most attractive shrubs in
flower in the latter part of August were some
specimens of Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora.
They could not have been less than five feet high
and the same in width, and covered as they were
by their white blossoms, were justly admired by
the hundreds who saw them."

Trees for Pleached Walks. — "S. W. N.,"
Philadelphia, writes : " Please inform me through
your journal what kind of trees are most suitable
in this country for a pleached walk, also any
necessary information concerning the planting of

one, will be acceptable, and if there is a successful
one in the neighborhood of Philadelphia."

[By pleached walks we understand walks that
are bordered by trees which have their branches
plaited together, so as to present a flat green sur-
face. For this purpose the different willows are
often employed in Europe — at least for making
pleached fences — but few kinds under culture are
strong enough for an arbor. The Linden would
be best for this purpose. This is often employed
in Europe, but the Editor has noted but few in-
stances in America — one of these few being in the
grounds of the Soldiers' Home at Dayton, Ohio —
though that tree is trained rather as a screen than
as an arbor. — Ed. G. M.]

AlLANTUS glandulosus. — "J. W.," South
Natick, Mass., writes: "Will you please give me'
the name of this tree ? I send you leaves and
fruit. The general appearance is that of Sumach.
It is a very handsome tree at present."

[This is the female form of the common Ailan-
tus, and, as our correspondent remarks, a particu-
larly handsome tree at this season when covered
with its large bunches of golden brown seeds.
The female form also has an advantage in emitting
no odor as the male does, and which odor is too
strong for some people. The female form can be
readily perpetuated by cuttings of the roots, which
usually grow freely. — Ed. G. M.]

Preserving Roses During Winter. — " H. S.
W.," Cayuga, N. Y., writes : " How can I success-
fully care for a lot of choice tea roses during
winter ? Have no greenhouse to transfer them
to. Have had no success in protection by tying
up. Can I pit them ? If you will be kind enough
to answer through the October number of the
Monthly you will greatly oblige."

[Take them up after the first frost has killed the
leaves, cut out or shorten back immature wood,
select a piece of ground where the water will not
lie, plant the roses thickly, sloping the branches
somewhat, and then scatter earth through the
branches, sloping the mound so that the water
will run off. As soon as danger from severe
frost is over in spring take out and replant. —
Ed. G. M.]

The Elm Beetle. — -A.n Elizabeth, N. J., cor-
respondent says : " I write you in a state of despair
as to what I am to do to save from destruction a
beautiful elm tree which we have in our garden.
Every year regularly it has two crops of leaves
destroyed by villainous. little worms, which com-
mence by being quite minute and grow to be from

394

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

half to three-quarters of an inch long. It is not
an ordinary elm. They are in a bad enough con-
dition, but this one fairly makes me sick. The
tree is about twenty feet high now and has a
smaller leaf and more branches than the other
elms. These worms seem to be leaving the tree
now, and yellow-striped bugs with wings are
making their appearance as usual. They are the |
worms under a different form, I am inclined to
think. At any rate, they have nearly finished the !

first crop of leaves, and I do hope you can tell me
what to do in the matter. I cannot bear to see
the poor tree killed before my eyes."

[A powerful garden engine, throwing water with
Paris green or London purple over the leaves,
ought to destroy the insects. The young caterpil-
lars come down the trunks to undergo transforma-
tion in the ground, and can be trapped and de-
stroyed at that stage. The beetle is a species of
Galeruca.— Ed. G. M.]

Greenhouse and House Gardening.

COMMUNICATIONS.

GARDENING NOTES FROM NEW ORLEANS.
BY M. H. LESTER.

I have taken the liberty of sending you some
Crape Myrtle flowers which I regard as the largest
and best clusters I have ever seen. I regret they
are not in better condition. The plant of the white
variety has some two hundred bunches on, some
near the top, too high to reach, larger than the
samples ; the other is as well flowered for its size,
but is not so large a plant. They are the prettiest
flowers we have on the place at present.

Also, in a small bo.x, I send you three beetles.
They are committing great depredation amongst
palms, at this time of year. The larger specimen
I am informed is the male, the smaller the female.
They have never been seen in this locality until
recently. All palms on this place are protected by
wire-netting, with a mesh too small for them to get
through, but they occasionally effect an entrance
through the ground near the base, as you will see
by the section I send, which will explain their
mode of operation a great deal better than I can.

Will some one tell me what to do with my Eu-
charis ? I have over one hundred of what would
be, in any other place, blooming bulbs of Ama-
zonica and Candida, collectively, and did not have
over two dozen flowers the whole season. I used
to get Eucharis to bloom well, but must have lost
the secret. I have got them in pots and pans,
singly and doubly, and five in a pan, in the best
parts of the houses, without, however, having any
bottom heat. I see that English growers recom-

mend, in order to have them bloom well, to keep
the foliage in good condition. Now, 1 can beat
all England on foliage, mine look more like Stre-
litzias than Eucharises, but leaves are all I get.

[The specimens of crape myrtle were very fine,
the largest panicle being one foot in length and
eight inches across at the base.

The beetles belong to a class of insects known
as tumble-bugs. The palm which our correspond-
ent sends has a hole bored at the base, an inch in
diameter and into the heart of the plant. — Ed.
G. M.]

ALSOPHILA AUSTRALIS.

BY JOHN WOODING, PENCOYD, PA.

This plant, commonly called Australian Tree
Fern, is deserving of special attention and care by
cultivators. Good specimens of these ferns when
well grown have a beautiful appearance. Their
I noble habit of growth makes them fine ornaments
• for the lawn during the summer months. The
I soil best adapted to their growth is good rotten sod
three parts, one of peatmould.and ahttle silver sand.
This should be well mixed together, but not sifted ;
use it as rough as possible. It is necessary that
there should be plenty of drainage at the bottom
of the pot or tub, as there is nothing worse than
stagnant water at the roots. These ferns thrive
very well in a temperature of 55'^ to 60'^ at night
with a rise of 10"^ or more for the day. The
plants should be at all times shaded from the sun.
During their most active season of growth they
will require plentiful watering. Neglect of this
will ruin them for years. The propagation of

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

295

these plants is from seed or spores, of which mil- 1
lions are produced. A portion of the frond can be
pinched off with the seed attached, and laid by to
dry on paper. It will be ready for sowing in a few
days. The soil should be leaf mould and silver
sand, run through a fine sieve, and put into a
regular seed-pan, and then watering with a fine
rose-pot, and the seed sown on the top, without any
covering of soil. A sheet of glass should be
placed over the pan to catch any water that may
fall. To obviate the necessity of watering the
seed overhead the pan can be set into another pan
that will hold water, and be kept supplied as the
process of absorption goes on. It will take from
five to six weeks for the seed to germinate over a
bottom heat of 65° or 70°. When the plants are
large enough they can be pricked off into other
seed pans, each plant about two inches apart,
using the same soil as before advised. As they
advance in growth they can be potted into two-
inch pots.

NOTES BY JAMES LESLIE,

ST. JOHNSBURY, VERMO.NT.

Test of Soimd Cultivation. — Pimelia specta-
bilis is a pretty plant for use in small size. I have
some plants here in four-inch pots which will
average twenty-si.x heads of bloom to the plant.

Cattleya citrina is grown here, (Underclyffe,
residence of Col. F. Fairbanks,) without shade.
Under such treatment the plant flourishes and
blooms well.

STEAM HEATING.

BY \. B. FOWLER, BOSTON, MASS.

As a partial response to Mr. Breitmeyer's article
on Steam Heating, I would submit for your perusal
a few e.xtracts from a letter written by John Tay-
lor, Esq., of Bayside, L. I., whose glass covers an
area of 50,000 square feet, and whose heating
apparatus heats his glass, his large dwelling-house
500 feet from the boilers and also his stable, which
is about 300 feet from the boilers. I thought
the testimony which he presents would be the best
argument that could be offered to capsize the
unfortunate Detroit gentleman. The cases are
nearly parallel and the results rather diverse.

" To Horficultufists or persons using Green-
houses :

"The Exeter Machine works have during the
past summer (1882) put into my greenhouses at
Bayside, L. I., which are very extensive, the heat-
ing apparatus. It works on the low pressure

system, the pressure seldom being above five
pounds and sometimes no perceptible pressure.
This has been working through one season ; was
an experiment so far as steam heating was con-
cerned ; was an experiment as to the economical
and convenient management of the steam, and as
to its working at low pressure ; but in every respect,
so far as I have been able to discover, it is a
success.

" Steam as a means for warming greenhouses I
consider the best known ; it being more completely
under the control of the gardener, and doing
away with the necessity of numerous fires. I have
no hesitation in saying that in all large establish-
ments steam will be a necessity.

John Taylor."

CULTURE OF PERPETUAL CARNATIONS
IN FRANCE.

BY JEAN SISLEY, MONPLAISIR, LYONS, FRANCE.

Their propagation is very easy. Young cuttings
strike rapidly in a hot-house, on bottom heat dur-
ing winter. When rooted and hardened for a short
time in a pit, or a green-house, they can, in April
or May, be planted in the open ground. They
can also at that time stand a long journey ; they
must be packed without earth at the roots, in damp
moss. They require a very airy situation. When
planted out they must be shaded for a few days, if
the sun is hot. They must be kept moist, and
when they are in a growing state, watered from
time to time with liquid manure. When they are
about six inches high they must be pruned to at
least half their size, to obtain side shoots and a
quantity of flower buds.

To obtain them in bloom during the following
winter until April and May, they must be taken up
about the middle of September, potted in six-inch
pots, and put on slight bottom heat in a pit, or a
stove, shut for about a week and then aired gradu-
ally ; if the weather permits, provided there is a
temperature of 50° or 60° centigrade, (about 40°
Fahrenheit), they do not require more heat. Of
course, the plants destined for this purpose must
have, when taken up from the ground a good
quantity of flower buds, and some will have as
many as from sixty to eighty. When the flower
buds begin to expand they can be removed for in-
door decoration. 1 have some in my dining-room,
since more than a month, and they are still in
bloom. They must be placed as near the light as
possible.

The plants which the first year do not bear a
sufficient number of flower buds, must not be
lifted from the open ground, unless the winter ap-
pears to be severe, then they can be taken up with

296

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

a ball of earth adhering to the roots, and put close
to one another in a pit, uncovered as long as
possible, and when frost sets in, covered only to
be protected against it, but aired as much as
possible. These plants will produce flower buds
and may be potted in March or April. If the
plants are potted and put in a stove before they
have a sufficient number of flower buds, they grow
straggling, lose their leaves and will bloom badly.
The largest and best grower of Perpetual Car-
nations is Laurent Carle, at Monplaisir, Lyons.
He is especially addicted to their culture, and has
improved it much, since he succeeded to Algea-
tiere, the creator of this very ornamental plant.
Many people have failed in its culture ; 1 hope
therefore that the preceding instructions will be
welcomed and procure success.

EUCHARIS.

BY J. B., FREDRICKTON, N. B.

Alfred Ray, Esq., of this city, has dozens of large
pots of the above lily in bloom; the most vigor-
ous and healthy I ever saw. His moist heat and
careful cultivation otherwise by Mr. Tait, gardener,
has been abundantly rewarded. One would think
by the quantity sent by Mr. Ray to the Episcopal
church on Christmas morning for decoration, with
other choice flowers and curious forms of tropical
vegetation, that they were as plentiful as the ox-
eye daisies are with some of the poor farmers here
in June and July. It is surprising how easy this
choice flower grows where it gets the right treat-
ment.

yet it would not be prudent to . rule them out
entirely because of their decorative properties.
For hard-wooded plants such as Azaleas and
other slow-growing ones the hmiting of pots is
not so practicable, because of the length of time
it takes to produce them ; but for all soft, rapid
growing plants the limit should be definite, if the
true intention is what it should be in all Horticul-
tural Societies, to develop and bring out the best
cultivation. What does more to add beauty to an
exhibition than nice, healthy young stock, the
product of a short time ?

There is also another good point in this that it
enables the judges to give a much more satisfactory
decision by bringing the plants more into line as it
were. For my own part superior culture should
always have the preference. What is wanted in
all Horticultural Societies is to advance culture,
and everything tending to do so should have a
foremost place in their prize lists. Competent and
reliable judges are very necessary to the prosperity
of such societies.

LIMITING THE SIZES OF FLOWER POTS
AT EXHIBITIONS.

BY N. ROBERTSON, SUPT. GOVERNMENT GROUNDS,
OTTAWA, CANADA.

In your May number some remarks were made
on the above topic. Thirty years ago in Scot-
land, the limiting of the sizes was practised and
considered the best means of bringing out and
testing the ability of the competitor. Much dis-
couragement has been caused by the present pre-
vailing practice of giving all the best prizes to
large plants. It is generally known beforehand
to whom the prizes will go, thus deterring the
exhibiting of smaller specimens by others, although
often of far superior cultivation. In many cases
these large specimens have been handled by
several persons during their growth, so that no
merit is due to the exhibitor for their production ;

STEPHANOTIS FLORIBUNDA.

BY MANSFIELD MILTON.

A well flowered specimen of Stephanotis is a
sight well worth seeing, and still, how seldom do
we see a really good specimen flowered as it should
be ? Its pure white waxy, sweet-scented flowers are
also well suited for florists in bouquet making. A
soil composed of fibrous loam, leaf-mould and well
rotted manure, with sufficient sand to insure the
watering passing off freely. The pots should be
well drained, and a stove temperature given it.
Being of scandent growth, it requires a trellis to
grow on, the balloon-shape being the best for show-
ing off the flowers to best advantage. This is one
of those old inhabitants of our stoves which has
kept its own against most introductions, and to-day
should be more grown than generally seen.

DRACffi^NA GOLDIEANA.

BY JOHN F. CLARK,
FERGUSSON'S GREENHOUSES, PHILA.

This magnificent ornamental foliage plant is one
of the very finest of its genus. It is a native of
western tropical Africa. Figured in the Gar-
dener's Monthly, October, 1881, page 300.
This remarkable Dracaena is one of the most
effective of decorative plants. For the stove and
warm conservatory, or as a plant for contrast it is
unrivaled. The habit of the plant is erect ; the

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

297

stems are closely set with stalked spreading leaves.
The blade of the leaf is cordate-ovate acuminate,
with a yellowish-green costa, banded with a dark
green and silver gray upon a dark green foliage.
The back of the unrolled leaves is a pale reddish
or wine color.

" One of the most distinct and beautiful plants I
have ever handled," once said Robert Buist.

I find it thrives best in two parts of loam to one
of peat and sand, with good drainage. It loves
shade, heat and moisture. It can be propagated
from cuttings under the following treatment : use
single eyes with the full leaf on, which support
with a small stake. They are then inserted in a
propagating bed under double glass, where there
is a temperature of 85 to 90° bottom heat; then
thoroughly watered and sprinkled three or four
times a day. In about four weeks they are ready
to pot off. Top cuttings make the best plants.
Great care should be taken not to allow water to
remain in the center of the cuttings while in this
temperature, as they would be apt to rot out.
When it becomes necessary to water or sprinkle
they should be covered. Small pieces of paper,
conveniently at hand, will answer the purpose. A
batch of these cuttings, put in January 9th, 1883,
and treated as above, were rooted February 9th
and potted by the 20th. On April i6th they were
put into three-inch pots, and by June 2nd were
ready for another shift.

NOTES FROM NEW ORLEANS.

BY VV. H. LESTER,
GARDENER TO PROF. RICHARDSON.

Herewith I send you some flowers of Hydrangea
Otaxa, to see how they compare with those in
Philadelphia ; also two pieces of Bignonia, the
names of which have been lost. The one in bloom
is covered with whorls of bloom at every joint and
is a delightful object.

Have you ever seen a Magnolia grandiflora
thirty to forty feet high, with a bare stem for about
half the distance covered with a Rhyncospermum
jasminoides breaking out through the top, flow-
ered from the ground and hanging in garlands
all over the Magnolia, also in bloom and bud ?
If not, all I can say is, up to the present time
you have missed one of the grandest sights
in nature.

Gardens in this city, that have been taken care
of, have been and are looking very gay. Garden-
ers appear to be all busy, and have got all the
evergreens shaved, etc. The natural soil in this

section is a kind of a cross between brick-clay
and shoemakers' wax, and every pound of potting
soil I use, has to be hauled from New Jersey, ex-
cept some Mississsippi mud, called by courtesy,
sand 1 All the heat-loving Orchids do well here,
Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, Oncidiums, Phalaenopsis,
.-Erides, Angrjecum and several of the Mexican
varieties as L^lia, Chysis and Lycaste. With
Odontoglossums we cannot do much, — cannot get
a place cool enough for them.

The palm-house is occupied by such varieties as
Acanthorhiza Warzcewicsii, Astrocaryums, Atta-
lea, Carludovica palmata, Caryota urens, Areca
Verschaffeltii and lutescens, nearly all the Chamas-
dorea, and Cocos, Kentia, Livistonia, Pritchardia
macrocarpa, Thrynax, Ptychosperma, Calamus,
Oreodoxa regia, Geonoma gracihs, and several
others, too numerous to mention. We have speci-
mens outside to remain, of such " trash" as Phoenix
dactylifera, P. sylvestris, P. tenuis, P. reclinata,
Sabal Blackburniana and palmata, Cocos Australis,
Jubasa spectabilis, Chamserops Fortunii, and
excelsa, Latania Borbonica, Chamaedora scandens
and several others.

In the fern-house — but I will not talk of that at
present, for if I commenced to tell you about my
Alsophila Australis carrying twelve fronds from
12 to 14 feet long, and Cibotium regale worse
still, with Pteris serrulata and Davallia pyxidata,
and all my Adiantums and hundreds of others, I
should never end — and then my C\ anophyllums,
Diffenbachias, Nepenthes, Alocasias, Anthuriums
with Crotons and Drascenas, till I cannot rest day
or night, or "I run so far behind" that I do not
know what to commence first. But I have every
modern facility and convenience for doing the
work, including a small boy to break pots, plants,
and glass, play with the cats, give us an "over
the garden wall " solo, and attend to all such im-
portant matters.

I omitted to say I counted forty-seven flowers on
one side of the Hydrangea, and then I got mixed
up and lost my temper, after counting thus far.
Also, if you recognize the Bignonias would like to
have the name, through the magazine. But you
must not think by this that I have got all the plants
in this neighborhood, although having the largest
and best private collection in this section, to take
care of. I believe some of my neighbors have
better plants than I, of some of the same varieties,
and I am very glad of it, but I can't help it just
at present.

[This pleasant letter was written on the 7th of
June, but laid over till the Editor's personal return.

298

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

on account of the inquiry about the Begonias.
They are now so dry, not having been pressed,
that there is little left of them; but the large one
appears to be B. Chamberlaynei and the small one
B. Chica,— Ed. G. M.]

STREPTOSOLON JAMESONI.

BY JEAN SISLEY, MONPLAISIR, LYONS, FRANCE.

I wrote to you on the 5th and loth of March, and
to-day send you the drawing of a shrub.Streptosolon
Jamesoni, recently introduced by Edward Andre
from South America and propagated by Victor
Lemoine, of Nancy. It grows in its native country
at about 7,000 to 9,000 feet above the level of the
sea. It grows from about four • to six feet high.
The wood is like that of the Lantana or the
Fuchsia. It flowers abundantly from March until
July, and will in our climate make a fine green-
house shrub. It was at first introduced in Europe
about forty years ago by Hartweg and called
Browallia Jamesoni by Bentham and sold to
Veitch, of London, but has since been lost. But
perhaps you know more about it. Nevertheless
you may be pleased to have the drawing to make
your readers acquainted with.

To those of your readers who have no corres-
pondents in Europe, I will with pleasure act as
intermedian, and procure it for them, as well as all
other plants.

[We have already noticed the introduction ol
this beautiful plant into European gardens. —
Ed. G. M.]

— .« ■ »■

EDITORIAL NOTES.

New French Roses. — Twelve new ones are to
be introduced this season by M. Liabaud.

Rose Niphetos. — This is a French variety
raised by Bougere-Breton, and sent out in 1843.
It is getting to be an old Rose now, though its
inerits as a winter forcer for cut flowers, have only
recently been recognized to any great extent. M.
Granger, a French rose grower, revived its popu-
larity, in this respect, about 1875.

Steam Heaters. — These seem to be growing
in popularity. Messrs. Hovey & Co., of Cambridge-
Mass., Lonsdale & Burton, Germantown, and the
Agricultural Department at Washington, have
recently set up steam boilers from the Exeter
Works; and the old and extensive cut-flower es-

tablishment of L. C. Baumann, at Germantown,
will introduce steam heating, employing however a
second-hand locomotive boiler to heat up with.

Cut Flowers in America.— M. Lachaume,
of Havana, is astonishing the French by telling the
Reveu Horticole of the great love of Americans
for cut flowers. He gives the true, but what must
be to them a marvelous story, that one grower
alone, near New York, cut 10,000 buds of General
Jacqueminot Rose last winter.

Rose Cramoisi Superieur. — The Journal des
Roses, figures this beautiful old china rose, which,
if we are not mistaken, is the same as we have
under culture as Agrippina. According to the
magazine cited, it was raised in 1832 by M.
Coquereau, an amateur near Angers. It was sent
out in 1835 by M. Vibert.

SCHiSMATOGLOTTis LoNGiSPATHA (see illustra-
tion).— Leaf plants, continue to enjoy great popu-
larity. The arum family has furnished a goodly
number for the most fashionable lists. Here is
another addition, with a new name for cultivators,
though its relationship to old acquaintances can
be seen in its face. Mr. Bull, its introducer,
gives the following account of it: "A pretty,
dwarf, neat-habited Aroid introduced from Bor-
neo. Its short erect stems grow in tufts, spread-
ing by short rhizomes, and are furnished with
obliquely ovate leaves, some four inches long,
of a lightish green color, marked with a feathered
central band of silvery-gray, through which runs
the distinct green costa ; the slender leaf-stalks
about as long or longer than the leaves, have a
broadish sheathing base. The inflorescence is
curious in structure, the most conspicuous parts
being the small yellowish-green spadices."

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Gynura aurantiaca. — " C. E. P.," Queens,
N. Y., asks : " Will some of the readers of the
Monthly be so good as to tell me of what country
Gynura aurantiaca is a native, and when and by
whom introduced ?"

[Native of Java.— Ed. G. M.]

Trouble with a Tall Palm. — " G. G. A.,"
Geneva, N. Y., writes : " A friend has in his
grounds an elegant palm (Seaforthea elegans) 14 to
16 feet high and thirteen or fourteen years old.
The trunk is about six feet high above the tub
before throwing out the fronds. It is getting

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

299

almost too high to be housed with facility. Will | headed back. In cases where palms, yuccas, and
the palm throw out leaves again if cut off any- the like have become too large for the house, a keg
where below the present top ? Can it be cut back ' of earth or wet moss is kept around the stem at

in any way so as to secure foliage lower down ? It I any selected height, into which the plant will root,
is hard to abandon such a beautiful specimen." 1 when it may be cut off below, and thus we get a
[Palms seldom, if ever, put out leaves when I shorter stem. — Ed. G. M.]

300

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

Fruit and Vegetable Gardening.

COMMUNICATIONS.

APPLES IN MEXICO AND TEXAS.

BY PROF. S. B. BUCKLEY, AUSTIN, TEXAS.

In a recent number of the Gardeners'
Monthly it is stated on the authority of some one
that apples will not grow in Mexico.

I have seen apples, and good apples, growing
at El Paso, in Mexico, and have also seen apples
from the interior of Mexico in the market at
Laredo on the Rio Grande in this State. From
some Austin friends now at Saltillo, south of Mon-
terey, in Mexico, I learn that apples, pears,
peaches and strawberries are there, and that they
have a plentiful supply of them. In April, 1882, I
saw a fine-looking peach orchard at Lampazas,
in Mexico, seventy-five miles southwest of Laredo.
The trees were young and making a fine growth.
Young peaches on the limbs gave promise of good
fruit, which the proprietor assured me he had had
the previous year.

I have seen many statements in print that apples
will not grow in Texas, especially in middle and
southern Texas. Fine apple orchards are in the
northern part of the State. Such statements are
made on the authority of old residents here, some
of whom told me a few years ago that it would be
wasting time and money to plant apple trees.
However I planted a few. They grew well, and
I planted more, and now have an apple orchard
of more than three hundred trees. From
these I have annual crops of fruit, there having
been only one failure since they began bearing,
about eight years ago. We have apples for home
use during nearly the entire year, besides many
bushels for the market. The Red Astrachans
and Early Harvest ripen during the last days of
May, for which there is a ready sale to dealers
at from three to four dollars per bushel. The
summer and fall apples sell at from one to two
dollars per bushel. Hence the planting of apple
trees here was a profitable investment, so profit-
able that others have planted them, from which
Austin will have a plentiful supply of apples
without importation. Our apples are equal in size
and flavor to the best grown at the North. This I

know from large experience in growing apples in
western New York.

Mexico is a large country and Texas is a large
State, and both Mexico and Texas have climates
ranging from the tropical to the temperate. Among
the mountains and table lands of these regions are
places and soils suitable for the fruits and vegeta-
bles of temperate climates. The lowlands of
Mexico and portion of Texas on the Gulf of Mexico
are suitable for and have tropical fruits and veg-
etables.

To succeed with apples here the trees should
branch out near the ground, that the body of the
tree may not be exposed to the sun in summer.
Mulch the trees for the first two or three years,
until the roots be well established. Be careful
not to cultivate so as to disturb the roots of the
trees during the growing season, then with a good
soil apples can be successfully grown in this por-
tion of Texas.

RANDOM NOTES.

BY RUSTICUS, LEXINGTON, KY,

In a former communication to your excellent
magazine I recommended as the proper applica-
tion of manure, surface and plowed under. My
reason for this was that vegetation might feed on
it with the two systems of roots, coronal and ger-
minal, upper and lower. There is another very
great advantage accruing from it, that is, in a dry
time the keeping of the earth loose. 1 treated my
main garden in this way, and throughout the dis-
astrous drouth we have had it has worked like an
ash bank. Gardens about me became so hard
that a spade would not enter them. I kept up the
cultivation of this garden throughout the drouth.
Quick growth is what is required for crisp, tender
vegetables. Well rotted manure promotes it.
Manure plowed under attracts the roots down-
ward. Herein is a very decided advantage. There
is abundant natural fertility deeply incorporated in
the earth. We should aim to reach it. From not
working to that end, and from not plowing deep,
this buried treasure is often lost.

Mr. Henry Stewart informs us that it impossible
to really exhaust the soil. He writes: " The soil

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

301

is inexhaustible. We might as well hope to pump
the ocean dry, or to reduce atmospheric space to a
vacuum, as to wholly exhaust the soil. One acre
of soil eighteen inches deep weighs eight million
pounds. This soil contains, at a moderate estimate,
twelve thousand pounds, or six tons of phosphoric
acid, ten thousand pounds of nitrogen and from
twenty to eighty thousand pounds of potash. If
no organic matter were ever to be added to the
soil in the shape of manure or waste from crops
or weeds, the land might be cultivated for cen-
turies before it would be exhausted eighteen inches
deep. So that 'exhaustion of the soil' is a term
used in a comparative sense wholly, and is not an
absolute or possible conception."

Now, to induce roots to penetrate deeply is to
bring immense stores of valuable nutriment to the
plants. The length to which roots extend is sur-
prising. Povverful manure stimulates them to vastly
augmented penetrative force. The coronal, or sur-
face roots must be provided for. They are greedy
scavengers. Manure spread upon the surface sub-
serves another very valuable purpose. If plenti-
ful it keeps the earth moister by arresting the
ascent of the earth moisture. There is always
capillary attraction at work, that is, the ascension
of moisture from below the surface to the surface.
Now, any obstacle which checks it holds the moist-
ure. This is clearly shown by the damp under
surface of stones lying on top of the ground.
Manure, when abundant, acts in the same way.
Again, the rich elements permeating the soil are
ever escaping into the air. They can be retained,
as we have shown, with earth moisture. This is
important, for their arrested progress is so much
food for vegetation. This principle of arrest is a
leading feature in shading ground. Land left
bare throughout the year is losing much. It is
not the proper kind of fallow. It should be kept
stirred and thoroughly pulverized. Fining soil is
productive of moisture in two ways ; it interrupts
capillary attraction, and also absorbs atmospheric
moisture. This is why cultivation should not be
suspended during a drouth. It interrupts capillary
attraction in this way. When the earth is com-
pact the internal moisture ascends rapidly and
easily, and is dissipated, because there are no open
spaces for it to cross. When the soil is broken into
minute particles the moisture must take longer in
getting from one to the other of these particles.
When the ground is loose and porous it catches
atmospheric moisture much as does a sponge. The
old theory that there must be clods for best results
is untenable. It is unphilosophical. Roots do not

penetrate clods, but simply enfold, embrace them,
and so fail of obtaining the full strength of the
soil. Earth comminuted admits the sun's rays
tetter, which from their actinic power help both
p'.ant and soil.

OUR BEST TOMATOES.

BY MANSFIELD MILTON.

I have for several years been growing the best
and newer varieties of tomatoes. I grow for mar-
ket, and therefore have a good chance of knowing
the most profitable and best selling kinds. The
earliest tomato I have this season, of smooth shape
and suitable for market purposes, is Hathaway's
Excelsior. It is early, productive, smooth, and
bright red in color. Canada Victor is early, but is
too wrinkled for my growing. Acme and Paragon
are the most perfect tomatoes I know of. The
Acme will sometimes rot, but it is very fine in
shape and quality. Some people object to the
color, but this is only with those not used to it.
The Paragon is almost perfect. It is smooth, large,
and good color, but not quite so productive with
me as the Trophy, which is fine when it ripens per-
fectly to the stem, but it will keep green around
the stem when the other part is perfectly ripe.
Some people are under the impression to get early-
tomatoes the ground has to be poor, but I do not
believe it. With me I get the earliest ones on
well-exposed, well-drained, rich soil, having an
eastern or southern exposure.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Covering Strawberries in Winter. — The
strawberry is hardy. The roots will live through
the severest winter, but it is generally believed
that if the leaves are preserved through the season
green until spring it is better for the crop that is to
follow. Hence a light covering of straw is a bene-
fit, where the winter is severe enough to destroy
the fully exposed leaves. It is not the frost, but
the sun which does the injury — hence a little straw
serves the double purpose of shading the leaves
and keeping the roots from being drawn out.

Orange Culture in Florida. — "Budded Or-
ange trees will begin to bear six years from trans-
planting and a Seedling in eight, but the trees do
not arrive at full bearing under twenty years, yet
they are profitable at ten. From fifty to a hundred
trees are raised on an acre ; the value of an aver-
age crop on a tree is from five to ten dollars. They

302

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

are sold to dealers either on the tree or packed in
boxes. They begin to ripen in the fall — in Octo-
ber and November, and can be gathered at any
time from November to March, and many of them
will hang on the trees much later. They do not
fall from the tree when they ripen, but will remain
on the tree until spring. It is best, however, to
gather in the late fall or winter as the trees begin
to bloom again in February." So says Judge
Cheney, of Winchester, Ohio.

Apple Butter. — Mr. Garber says the juice of
the Sand pear, mixed with cider, makes the most
delicious apple butter.

American Blackberries in England. — I see
you say at page 520, last volume, that these do
very well in this country, but I am inclined to
think that the instances of their successful culture
are few and far between. My experience of them
taUies with that of your correspondent "J. E. D.,
Devon," as ours have grown luxuriantly, but the
fruit is miserable compared with the illustration
and our own expectations. When the Kittatinny
variety was brought in it was planted in rich soil
and the best of positions to secure sunshine with
shelter on all sides from destructive winds, and we
expected to see the produce something better than
that commonly seen in the hedgerows, but it has
never been so, and now we only keep them to
point out their deceptive qualities. I should have
thought that they would have done in either De-
von or South Wales, but it appears not, and it
would be interesting to know the position in which
they do succeed. Are the instances of the descrip-
tion so numerous as to warrant any one advising
their general culture? I think not. Probably some
may grow them against the wall, and then I would
say it is good space badly used. Nothing which
can be said or shown in their favor will induce
me to have anything further to do with them. —
y. Muir, in Journal of Horticulture.

Packing Apples for Export. — The London
Garden says: " In speaking to Mr. Walter Draper,
of Covent Garden, the other day of the state of
the packing of the enormous number of apples
coming to us from America during the past season,
he referred to the great loss and disappointment
incurred from bad packing, brands found to be
deficient in that way being evaded by the pur-
chaser. He said there would be no objection
whatever to the apples being classed, and that
sales could be readily found for more than one
class, but the ones, twos and threes should be
rigidly and conscientiously separated, and kept so

in the barrel. The Canadian apples are much
better. As it is to Mr. Draper's firm that most of
the apples coming to the London market are
shipped, his opinion may be worth mentioning to
our American readers."

James Vick Strawberry. — Reports from
Rochester indicate that this variety proved remark-
ably productive this year.

The Marlboro Raspberry. — The American
Garden is favorably impressed by this new red
variety. It is one-fourth larger than the Hudson
River Antwerp, and free from its musky aroma.

Columbia Grape. — This is a white variety,
raised in the vicinity of Washington ; it is said to
have rather oval berries three-quarters of an inch
in diameter, and to ripen in the middle of Septem-
ber in the District of Columbia.

How TO Destroy the Cabbage Worm. — A
correspondent of the Fruit Recorder writing from
Port Huron, Michigan, says that he commenced a
series of experiments for the purpose of discover-
ing something that would kill the worms and yet
not be poisonous to human beings, and finally
found that a solution of common alum, made by
dissolving one pound of alum in three gallons of
rain water, would kill the worms.

His mode of proceeding was to dissolve the alum
in a small quantity of water by heating the water,
and then add sufficient water to make the whole
three gallons. When this was cold he put it into a
common watering-pot having a rose spout, and
sprinkled his cabbage and cauliflower plants,
keeping up this sprinkling as long as any of the
insects were about, from the time that the white
butterfly began to lay her eggs. He says that he
watered them almost every evening, and thus kept
his cabbage and cauliflower perfectly clean.

He also tried the alum solution on his currant
bushes and with equally successful results, and
recommends it for washing the trunks of young
fruit trees, for the reason that it is a cheap, effectual
and non-poisonous insecticide, acting instantane-
ously on the worm or caterpillar by means of its
astringency and so contracting their tissues that
they cannot breathe.

The Vegetable Garden at Frogmore. — We
get very good vegetables and fruits in our markets,
but these seldom compare with those raised by the
deep culture of the spade or digging fork in an
amateur's garden. We have thought it would be
of interest to give a sketch of the vegetable garden
of Queen Victoria, from which the royal table at

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

303

Windsor is supplied. The dotted parallelograms
are fruit tree blocks. The four large squares are
for vegetables, and the numerous small parallelo-
grams on the upper part of the picture are glass
houses for growing such fruits and vegetables
which do better thus than in the open air.

plant in America. It will be seen that even in the
cool and comparatively dark climate of England
it is found desirable to grow it in the cool and in
the shade. In our country, where we have so
much light, the leaves are as hot as pepper, and
hence watercress is only popular in early spring.

We have made this cut from one in a paper on
this garden contributed by Mr. Charles Joly, to
the French Journal de la Socle fc d' Horflculture.

Growing Water-cresses. — Gardening Illus-
trated says : " Watercress is a much valued herb,
and, although it can hardly be said to be improved
by cultivation — for the produce of a clear brook of
spring water can hardly be excelled — yet there are
many places in which these natural conditions are
not at command. In that case it has to be culti-
vated, and very good watercress may be obtained
by sowing the seed in pans or boxes, and when
large enough, planting out in cool shaded positions,
such as the north side of a wall, where if kept
constantly moist by copious watering, very good
cresses are obtainable."

We copy this because it contains a lesson of
great importance to those who would grow the

when most of the growth is wholly under water.
Springs and streams partially shaded should be
chosen to grow this salad.

Red Pepper in Texas. — Texas Siftings says :
" Almost every article of food used by the Mexi-
cans has red pepper in it in some shape; and, not
only Mexicans, but Americans use pepper freely,
either in its ground form, sprinkled over meat and
vegetables, or, in the pod, boiled in soup. The
Mexicans call it chili. The well-known author,
Mr. N. Webster, calls it Capsicum frutescens (Sol-
anacaae). When a stranger, for the first time, tastes
a Mexican dish seasoned with Capsicum frutes-
cens, he wants the fire department called out at
once. These little Mexican peppers are so hot
that you have to put on two pairs of buck-
skin gloves and wait for a frost before you can
pick them."

304

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Amelia Peach. — We learn from Mr. Charles
Black, Hightstown, New Jersey, that this southern
peach has done remarkably well with him this
season. Though not a good year for peaches
generally, this one has had the branches almost
breaking down by the weight of fruit. He also
speaks very highly of the Thurber, another south-
ern variety'. This is a very peculiar kind. It has
a greenish yellow look on the outside, but when
broken open presents the beautiful pink flesh, so
lovely in a ripe watermelon.

Martin's Amber Wheat.— "J. L. D.," Blooms-
buro-, Pa., sends a head of this wheat, which con-
tained fifty-one very full and plump grains.

English Gooseberries from Seed. — A cor-
respondent inquires whether English gooseberries,
anything hke the originals, could be raised from

seed and whether such plants would be likely to

mildew less than plants from cuttings. Very good
kinds could certainly be had in this way — and we
do think that they would be more free from mil-
dew for it has been found with almost every-
thing, that a seedling plant is constitutionally
better able to resist disease than one continually
raised from cuttings or grafts.

Fruits in Kansas. — A correspondent, under
date of August 6th, from Chanute, Kan., writes, "I
have been in Kansas five years, three years where
I now am, and have in that time raised five good
crops of strawberries and got about as much again,
per quart, as I could get in the Ohio valley. I
have on my grounds all of the leading varieties, old
and new, including James Vick's Jersey Queen,
Manchester, etc. Peaches seldom fail here —
Mountain Rose, Troth's and Cole's Early, are now
ripe. Last season they ripened the 29th of July.
I have been keeping a record of their ripening, for
the last two years, and hope at some future time to
give a few hints on Peaches in Kansas. My Lady
Grape is now ripe, as hardy as the Concord, as
productive, and much better."

[Our correspondent is a very enthusiastic culti-
vator of fruits, and has raised a variety of straw-
berry so well adapted to his part of that State,
that we shall not be surprised to hear of its making
a splendid record one of these days. — Ed. G. M.]

A Prolific Grape Vine. — Under date of Aug.
22d, Mr. Lorin Blodget, Philadelphia, writes: "I
have a remarkable grape vine, a Lindley, or
Rogers' Hybrid, No. 9, planted in 1866. Grapes

are now ripening on it a distance of thirty feet east
of the root or stem, and eighty-five feet west sixty-
five feet horizontal, and about thirty feet elevation.
It covers a trelhs thirty feet high on the east end
of the house ; also a slope twenty by fifteen feet on
the eastern roof, then runs fifty-five feet along a
north wall, and rises ten feet to the fourth-story
roof, full of grapes throughout, and especially
loaded on the trellis running thirty-five feet east,
down the garden. I estimate its crop at 400 to
500 pounds, and all are very large and fine, al-
though the Rogers Hybrid bunches are not usually
symmetrical."

[It is a fact, made more apparent as the years
go by, that the shade and shelter of city yards are
more favorable to the grape than open fields or
vineyards. There is a valuable lesson here, from
which extensive grape-growers might profit. Suc-
cessful, however, as city yards are in grape grow-
ing, the case of Mr. Blodgett is one of exceptional
interest— Ed. G. M.]

Cabbage Worm. — "B.," Colora, Md., writes:
" My attention has been called this season to a
grub of very small proportions infesting the young
cabbage plants, or ground where the seed have
been planted, and destroying them when two
inches high, more or less, by eating the roots. The
plants are growing all right until they have devel-
oped four to six leaves, when the mischief begins
and the majority of the plants drop over as when a
plant " damps off ; " but when pulled up the roots
are completely girdled or entirely eaten off, but
the worm that does the mischief is hard to find.
The result here is that late cabbage plants are
scarce. The flea beetle has been charged with
this wholesale destruction but we can get ahead of
it with a little Paris green. It is after the danger
from the black skippers is about over that the
other enemy commences. It did not trouble
early cabbage but has done its work during the
past six weeks. Is there a remedy ? "

[We have no knowledge, from the description, of
what this root insect can be. The matter is
worthy of further investigation. — Ed. G. M.]

Precocity of Peaches. — Mr. Lorin Blodget,
Philadelphia, says: "My peaches are likely to
fail in a year or two. They are ripening in August,
when not due until late in September. The de-
licious ' Miss Percival' is very fine, but ripens too
soon. I fear Mr. Rutter's work is true, and that I
cannot cure the yellows by fertihzation."

[This brief item is an interesting contribution to
an idea fast gaining ground with intelligent peach

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

305

growers, that the many contradictory testimonies
in regard to the earliness of peaches, may be ex-
plained by the condition of the trees. It is beyond
dispute, that when any tree is injured, the fruit
matures earher than it would do otherwise. This
is the foundation for horticultural practice of ring-
ing a branch. Now, anything that impairs the
vital powers of a tree, must have an influence on
the precocity of the fruit. We do not always see
the influence of insidious disease, and a tree ap-
parently healthy may have within the germs of
unhealthfulness sufficient to affect the period of
maturity in the fruit. In the case of the yellows
in the peach, this is certainly true. The disease is
there a year before there is any appearance thereof
to the general observer. Once in awhile we are
made aware of the presence of the disease by an
arrested and frowzy-looking branch, pushing out
late in the growing season from the lower part of
the tree trunk. A tree in this stage, healthy enough
to the eye, would no doubt produce earlier fruit
than heretofore ; and so it would from any other
depressing influence on the growth force.

In short, it is coming to be an accepted doctrine,

that when any unusual earliness is claimed for an
early peach, we must be sure there is no lurking
disease at work, before we are sure that the earli-
ness will be permanent. — Ed. G. M.]

Purple Peach. — " B.," Colora, Md., writes : " I
send you a few lines on two subjects that may be
of interest ; if not, they need not be noticed.
One is a Seedhng Purple Peach— so I take it —
growing by a roadside. The color is as dark as
the one that has been propagated by buds for
several years, and this has the vigor of a seedling
that the old one now has not. Is there any value
in these as ornamental trees that will make them
worth propagating now ? I have not customers
for many but it may be of use to others in the
trade."

[The original purple-leaved peach, which was
found on the battle-field of Fort Donelson, has
the most worthless clingstone fruit a peach could
possibly have. Its sole value lies in its purple leaves.
A variety which would also have good fruit would
possess a double value, and it would be worth
while to see what another purple seedling would do.
—Ed. G. M.]

Forestry.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Forestry in England. — Sir John Lubbuck is
endeavoring to have a School of Forestry estab-
lished in England. He says there are 2,500,000
acres of woodland in England. Mr. Courtney, of
the English Department of Woods and Forests,
thinks there is not a very large opening for a
school of forestry in a small country like England.

Fragrance of Abies Douglasii. — Mr. T. D.
Fish tells Forestry that the grateful odor of the
Douglas spruce should make it class with sanitary
trees.

Inverting Fence Posts. — Professor Beal finds
no difference between posts set the way they grow,
or upside down, in so far as their longevity is con-
cerned.

Red Gum. — Professor L. Johnson, of Holly
Springs, tells the American Journal of Forestry
that the "Red Gum" is simply the timber from old

trees of the Sweet gum, which is red from age ;
though sometimes the timber will remain white
even when the tree is old.

Trees of Texas.— Mr. T. V. Munson con-
tributes to the Journal of Forestry a valuable list,
with observations, of the trees of Texas. There
are one hundred and eighteen species in all no-
ticed. Very good for one State, though perhaps
some of these will be found but mere variations of
other species when more particularly examined.

Forests of Bananas. — Under the heading of
"Arboriculture " in the Boletin de la Sociedad
Agricola Mexicana, published in the city of
Mexico, is a treatise on the culture of Musa ensete.
It refers to the extensive culture of this species of
banana in Abyssinia for the excellent fibre it pro-
duces, and believes forests of it in Mexico could
be planted for the same purpose with great profit.

Mahogany. — The Boletiri de la Sociedad Agri-
cola Mexicana says this is native to the island of

3o6

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY,

[October,'

Cuba, growing about half way up the sides of the
high mountains. Its botanical name is Sweitenia
mahogoni, and its native name Caobo. It is get-
ting scarce in the Antilles, though there are some
a.ttempts at forest planting of them. They are set
from thirty to forty feet apart. It is much used
at home as well as for exportation. Its quaUty
varies greatly with the altitude at which it grows.

A Large Silver Fir. — The following, says Mr.
Robert Coupar in the Journal oj Forestry, are the
dimensions of a gigantic specimen of the Silver
Fir which is growing within four hundred yards of j
Kinnaird Castle, Forfarshire, the seat of the Earl
of Southesk. It is about 80 feet in height, and
measures 22 feet 6 inches in circumference of stem
at one foot from the ground; measuring 14 feet 11
inches in girth at three feet from the ground. At
five feet from the base a large limb springs Irom
the stem, measuring 9 feet 3 inches in girth at a
foot from the point of junction. Excepting this
large limb the tree has a clear stem of about 18
feet in height to where it divides into several limbs,
forming a large branching top. The spread of the
branches averages about 56 feet in diameter, hav-
ing an entire circumference of 176 feet, and form-
ing a fine shapely head.

One in Germantown, Philadelphia, less than
one hundred years old, reached 100 feet high, but
is now rapidly on the decline.

Forestry at St. Paul. — In his address at St.
Paul, Dr. Loring observed that in the East the
natural condition of neglected farm land was to re-
vert to forest growth, and the acreage of woodland
increased under these conditions. He praised
arbor days and legislative fostering, and believed
that under these inducements 38,458 acres had
been planted in 1882. The profit of wood growing
was no longer a question. One-fourth of the whole
area of the United States was yet forest. There
was no immediate fear of a dearth of timber, ex-
cept in the case of the very valuable White Pine.
The points upon which Commissioner Loring en-
larged were the necessity for new legislation for
the protection of forests; the modification or en-
tire repeal of the Timber act; legislation providing
punishment for the destruction of forests; a sale
of public lands to include a valuation. of the tim-
ber growing upon them ; forests and their manage-
ment in other countries ; proper age for cutting
profitably ; and the influence of forests upon rain-
falls.

So far as the editor of this magazine could judge
from a few hours in St. Paul on the day of the

opening, the meeting of the Forestry Association
was not as well attended as the one last year in
Montreal, but accomplished good work ; and it was
a source of much regret that the arrangements of
the editor did not permit him to remain longer.

Among the useful work were the usual number
of impracticable suggestions, of which the follow-
ing is a sample, it being a resolution offered by
Mr. Miner, of Illinois: That this Forestry Con-
gress earnestly urge as soon as practicable the
introduction of both the science and the art of
forestry in the public schools.

In many public schools an average of ten differ-
ent studies a day are taught in the primary depart-
ments, and these are about five too many, without
adding more. Practical educators are endeavor-
ing to cut down instead of adding to public school
studies.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Duration of Railroad Ties. — An esteemed
Western correspondent says: "I picked up an
arrow head in the nursery and that reminded me
that I sent you one from Kansas that did not reach
you, so I send this in place of it. If I recollect
right you like living Indians; I like them dead. I
attended when the remains of Judge McComas
and his wife were brought to Fort Scott a month
ago, murdered by Indians from pure cussedness,
and I have seen so much of this in the past forty
years that I view them much as I do dogs that kill
sheep. Pi'obably I am all wrong, but I can't help
it. Page 147, May number of Monthly, says
when railroad sleepers are properly treated they
last a century. This would be rather hard to
prove ; for I recollect when a small boy going with
my father to see the 'iron horse,' the first one Geo.
Stephenson put on a colliery railroad. My father
was a millwright and worked a number of hands
on the machinery of Lord Ravensworth's collieries
when George Stephenson attended one of the
engines.

" If I recollect right, railroad sleepers were not
used then, and as that was not one hundred years
ago there cannot be any specimens to show that
they will last one hundred years. It would de-
pend in a measure, I should think, on the kind of
timber that is prepared, about the time it would
last. It does not seem to me that any preparation
would give the poplar the strength of the oak. I
had a good laugh with the boys on reading your
comments on Forestry Associations. These con-
vention foresters write us letters telling us how

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

307

much they are doing for us, but we don't see it,
and with the exception of Jos. S. Fay and Dr.
Warder I cannot bring to mind any one of them
that I ever heard of planting a tree."

[The Indians simply have the editor's sympathy'
and they afford excellent material for the study of
the human race. Our troubles with them began
from treating with them on wrong principles. For
the sake of peace, we commenced to buy from
them what they never owned. The only right to
land comes from society, not from nature — and is
based on the owner doing something to it which
shall benefit the community. Running overground,
and hunting over it gives a man no more right to it
than has the buffalo or the rabbit which he hunts.
For peace sake we pretend they own it, give them
a few red rags and a string of beads, — and profit
hugely by their simple ignorance. They find out
as they grow wiser that they have given away em-
pires for a song, and they feel just as other peo-
ple do, who learn that they have been fooled. It
is all very well to point to the treaty and to de-
mand that they stick to it. Tell a drowning man
that he bargained to take the risk, — or preach to a
starving man that he must not steal I The writer
of this has just been among the Flatheads. Here
is the same old story. They have been induced

to sell "their" lands. The price was made to look
very large. They are already beginning to feel
that they cannot possibly live on the price. Their
land is gone, their game is gone, the "agency"
cannot possibly keep them. Is it natural to sup-
pose they will lie down and die? We have not
seen any whisper of it in the papers yet, but as
sure as fate there will be the usual trouble with the
Crows, Flatheads and other "savages" of Dakota
and Montana. Innocent people will suffer, as it
has always been, for the sins of the race. Of
course we must not permit this. Indians must be
shot and killed when they interfere with innocent
individuals. There is no help for it — but for all
there is our sympathy for the poor benighted crea-
tures on whose ignorance our own people have so
richly traded.

Looking at the paragraph on sleepers referred to
we are unable to account for how it got there. We
are usually extremely careful to give credit to every
one, and seldom fail in this, — but that paragraph
is evidently founded on something outside of the
editor's personal knowledge, and should have had
proper credit given to it. It really looks as if it
was a part of some essay before a forestry asso-
ciation. Our correspondent's remarks on it are
just and timely. — Ed. G. M.]

Natural History and Science.

COMMUNICATIONS.

FRESH-WATER SPONGES.

BY EDWARD POTTS, ACADEMY OF NATURAL
SCIENCES, PHILADELPHIA.

One purpose of this chapter is to give to the un-
initiated some idea of the appearance of fresh-
water sponges ; to suggest where they should be
looked for and when it is best to collect them.

It seems to be a fact that very many persons,
not excepting some of scientific tastes, are unaware
of the existence of sponges in our fresh waters.
This may be partially explained by the further fact
that in England, and throughout Continental Eu-
rope, the keen eyes that for years past have been
searching every body of water for its minuter
organisms, have thus far failed to discover and
describe more than two species of sponges. The

zeal, therefore, enlisted in the search for them has
been far less than the puzzling character of their
organization — upon the border land of animal and
vegetable life — and the beauty and quaintness of
form of some of their component parts would seem
naturally to invite. It is to be hoped, however,
that the far richer fauna which has already been
developed in America, with the strong probability
of a considerable increase in genera and species in
the near future, may stimulate observers to aid in
this interesting work.

It is not the present intention of the writer to
give either a scientific or popular description of
these sponges ; but only by a few words to help
those whose interest may be awakened in the
subject, to seek them intelligently and to recognize
them when found.

First, then, all fresh-water sponges which have
been described at the present date are of a sili-

3o8

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

cious character; that is, their skeleton structure or of light received. The slimy growth of Convervae
frame-work does not consist, as in the familiar occasionally seen upon the bottom of pools and

streams, or dense masses of water-moss, may mo-
mentarily mislead the collector; but a pocket lens
will reveal to him at a glance the minute leaves of
the moss, or the delicate green threads of the algfe ;
while in the true sponge he will hardly fail to see

ird.

marine sponges of commerce, of an elastic net-
work of tough fibres — but of lines of fasciculated
flint-needles, about one one-hundreth of an inch in
length, so arranged as to form a loose intertexture,
penetrated by canals, and supporting the sponge-
flesh. When crushed, therefore, this texture is the characteristic pores penetrating its surface and
permanently destroyed and will not resume its to detect the fine points of numerous projecting

spicules.

The particular feature
distinguishing fresh-
water from marine
sponges is the presence
in the former, when ma-
ture, of the reproduc-
tive bodies known as
statoblasts or stato-
spheres. These are
nearly spherical, light
or dark brown, gener-
ally easily visible by
the naked eye, and oc-
cupy positions at the
lower surface or
throughout the mass of
the sponge. They
should be carefully
looked for and gathered
with the speciiTien, as it
is upon the form of the
spicules encrusting their
surface, that the classi-
fication of fresh-water
sponges principally de-
pends. Either very
early or very late in the

Explanation of Cut.

The accompanying figures are drawn fioiii nature toy the aid of the camera hicida and
represent the relative sizes and shapes of like parts of several sponges. 'J'he statosphere
is magnified about o5 times, the spicules of the skeleton, marked a, 150 times, all other
figures 225 times. 1. Carterius tenosperma— Hection of statosphere. (In the other genera
these are without tendrils.) b, dermal or flesh spicule ; (/, birotulate spicule of outer coat
of the statosphere. 2. Farmula Batesii— o, skeleton spicule ; ri, parmulilorm spicule of
statosphero. 3. Spongilla montana— a. skeleton spicule. 4. Meyenia fluviatilis— a, skel.
spicule; d, birotulate stat. spic. and disk of rotule. 5. Tubella Peiinsylvanica— a, skel.
spic. : d, inequibirotulate spic. of statosphere and disk. 6. Meyeaia Leidii— a, skel.
spic. ; rf, birotulate siat. spic. and disk. 7. Uruguaya cora lioides— «, skel. spic.
8. Spongilla lacustroides- 6, dermal spic. ; c. Stat. spic. 9. Spongilla fragilis, var. miniita
c, Stat. spic. 10. Spongilla fragilis, var. caluraeti— c, stat. si)ic. 11. Meyenia crateri-
forma-d. birot. stat. spic. 12, Meyenia Everetti— d, birot. stat. spic. 13. Heteromeyenia
argyrosperma— e, /o«fl', /, shurU blrot. stat. spic. 14. Heteromeyenia Hyderi— e, long ;
/, short ; birot. stat. spic.

season minute groups

original shape. The sponge-flesh, so called, is a of these statospheres may often be found, unac-

thin shme covering the spicules and hning the companied by the skeleton spicules and slime-like

canals of the living organism having a peculiar flesh of the sponge, and it is well worth while to

and not unpleasant odor, when fresh, but betray- gather and preserve them.

ing its animal nature by an extremity of foulness These sponges are found growing upon any sup-
when the dead sponge has been kept a few days in porting substance except mud, and at every depth
water. beneath the surface of the water; but they affect
Many of the species, native in this country, ap- chiefly the under and upper surface of stones and
pear as mere incrustations of varying size and timbers, the sides of piling, and of submerged
shape, and are from less than a line to an inch or stumps and branches. The stems and roots of
more in thickness. Their surface, smooth, or more or water plants are often coated and matted to-
less tuberculated, is, in some species, supplemented gether by them. As the silting of earthy matter
by a higher growth of branches or finger-like pro- into their pores would soon suffocate them, we find
cesses, frequently several inches in length. In in standing pools the most flourishing specimens
color they vary from nearly white to the most attached to the under side of stones or water-
vivid crreen, in an almost exact ratio to the degree logged timbers, which shield them from the intru-

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST,

309

sion of the heavier silicious particles ; whilst in
clear lakes and rapidly flowing streams they plant
themselves boldly upon the upper surface of stones
in the full sunlight.

A further hint as to the bodies of water which
favor their growth may be found in the fact that
three species, one of them the most peculiar of
American forms, were found in a stream a child
could step over; five were gathered at one time in
the submerged cellar of a burnt mill; while the
timber-work of the dams upon some of our largest
rivers has furnished rich collections ; so that there
is scarcely a situation where water stands or runs,
excepting: upon the muddy bottoms of shallow
streams or mill-ponds, where sponges may not be
hopefully sought for and frequently discovered.

The best season for collecting sponges varies
with the different species, but may be generally
stated to be from the last of July to the middle or
latter part of November, when the spicules and
statospheres are likely to be fully matured. They
may be preserved in dilute alcohol or dried by a
few days' exposure to the air; in which condition
(as the personal "application" of the foregoing
sermon) the writer would be very happy to receive
specimens from all parts of this and other coun-
tries. If packed in light boxes, strong enough to
prevent crushing, the postage by mail (4th class)
will be but one cent per ounce, which the writer wil]
gladly repay, with any other reasonable expenses.
He will acknowledge their receipt, giving names of
known species and full credit to the collectors of
all that are novel or interesting. Every gathering
should be marked with its habitat, the date of col-
lection, and the name and address of the sender

A principal motive for the preparation of this at
the present time is found in the desirability of
securing as full a representation as may be, of the
American forms at least, in a monograph now in
course of preparation : — but contributions will
always be very acceptable. Address,

Edward Potts,
228 S. Third St., Philadelphia, Pa.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

The Study of Sponges. ^ — We take pleasure in
reproducing in this number the text and illustra-
tive plate of a circular entitled "Fresh-water
Sponges," recently issued by Mr. Edward Potts,
an active member of the Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia.

To the enthusiastic student there is probably no

field of scientific investigation which offers a
greater prospect of novelty and interest than the
study of the flora and fauna of this country as rep-
resented in the microscopic life of its lakes and
streams. It is a singular fact that while hundreds
of naturalists, amateur and professional, have de-
voted years to the collection and study of diatoms,
the higher algee, the rhizopods and, as we think
them; the far more interesting rotifera, polyzoa, &c.,
hardly any appear to have observed or collected
the class of animals described in this article. And
yet, occupying fixed positions as there described,
and easily recognized by the naked eye, they are
far more readily discovered and collected than
most of the above-mentioned objects. Simply dry-
ing or bottling them in alcohol preserves them for
future study; the process of preparation for micro-
scopic investigation is quickly learned, and the
forms of their resultant elements, as hinted at in
the accompanying plate, are wonderful in their
variety and grotesqueness.

It is greatly to be hoped that many of our young
people whose scientific instincts lead them to the
exploration of the ponds and creeks of their re-
spective neighborhoods, as well as those who
haunt our lakes and rivers through the summer
season, for the enjoyment they find in boating and
bathing, in fishing and shooting along their shores,
may be inspired by this article to assist Mr. Potts
in the preparation of his intended monograph by
forwarding to him specimens of such sponges as
his description may have taught them to recognize
and appreciate. The season for collecting is at its
best; even now (September ist) the slime-like
flesh of some species, already mature, is beginning
to decay ; their spicules will soon be scattered by
the autumn floods, and a few seed-like stato-
blasts, the winter eggs of the sponges, will alone
remain to show where they once had been.

ECHINOCACTUS SiLERi. — Just before leaving
home we had a cactus from A. L. Siler, which
though with long mammas was evidently an Echi-
nocactus, and which we could not identify with
any described species. On our return we find Dr.
Engelmann has named it E. Sileri. As it bloomed
with us the flower was greenish and not very
showy, but the plant is very pretty and will be
very welcome in collections of half-hardy cacti.

The Banded Rush. — Mr. Nicholson finds this
is not a rush ( Juncus) at all, but a member of the
Sedge family, Scirpus Tabernasmontani, the green
form of which is indigenous to Britain as well as to
Japan. The leaves are round and rush-like, and

3IO

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

the mistake a natural one. The plant was intro-
duced to America by Mr. Thomas Hogg in one
case, and also by the Japanese during the
Centennial in Philadelphia.
The writer has a plant left
by the Japanese, and one shoot
is in flower simultaneously with
the reading of this note of Mr.
Nicholson's, and proves that he
is right in the case of this stock,
as well as in that introduced by
Mr. Hogg. It might be called
a banded buUrush.

A Monstrous Lilium aura-
TUM. — Mr. Louis Bohmer sends
us from Japan a singular sport
of Lilium auratum, from which
we have taken a single flower
for illustration. It will very
much interest morphological
botanists, while as a horticul-
tural curiosity it will be gener-
ally admired.

Mysteries of Evolution. —
Principal Dawson, in his Min-
neapohs address, makes a tem-
perate, but powerful protest
against modern views of evolu-
tion. He goes to the beginning
and comes toward us, while
those whom he antagonizes
start from the other end. He
contends that geology shows
in its earliest palaeontological
remains as perfect development
in some of the earliest known
creatures as there is at the
present time, and that so far as
research has yet been success-
ful there are no known forms
from which these beings could
have sprung. In other lectures
Dr. Dawson has shown that the
oldest human crania yet dis-
covered show as great a state
of human development as could
be gathered from a knowledge
of any human skull of to-day;
and again he contends that
some of the earliest fossil plants

very difficult to eject Dr. Dawson from this chosen
field. Philosophy might desire to ask him if he
beheves a pair of each species were created as
adults, and then turned loose to
increase and multiply^ anH^
whether in view of the carnivor-
ous habits of many of them,
numbers would not be obliter-
ated before the species were
barely born ; or, if a number of
individuals of one species were
to come suddenly into existence
as adults, whether geological
science has indicated the prob-
ability of any law existing at
that time by which such an
event might be brought about?
From the mere scientific
standpoint, and aside from reve-
lation. Principal Dawson could
at best but answer, that he did
not know. But the evolutionist
who starts from the modern
end, points to the facts about
him and shows that there is
change now, and that what
would surely be regarded as
species, did we not know their
origin, have been derived from
a common stock, and that these
variations once introduced, have
all the powers of permanent re-
production which the best
recognized species have. In
this column it is the object
merely to indicate the lines of
scientific progress. As it seems
to us, scientists ot the Dawson
school simply say, we cannot
say how, looking at the dawn
of life, species first came to ex-
ist ; while the evolutionist says
that, looking at the present day,
we can. — Independent.

Pulpit Horticulture and
Botany. — Those who take a
deep interest in Horticulture
and the Natural Sciences, must
Lilium auratum. ^ave often smiled at pulpit ef-

forts to illustrate remarks by
have ^almost their exact counterparts in existing ! references to such studies. The whole sermon is
species, and that the supposed law of perpetual rendered ridiculous by the speaker evidently not
change is controverted by these instances. It is knowing what he is talking about. It is rare,

.1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

311

however, that any one ventures to tell the plain
truth to these w^ell-meaning people. But Prof.
Goodale has recently had the courage to do so,
and this is what he says :

"But, as this talk with you embodies merely the
expression of my personal views, for which I
should not wish to hold others responsible, you
must allow me to state very frankly that, while 1
do not see the slightest necessity for your preach-
ing about either the question or the answer, I do
sincerely believe that every preacher in these times
should be conversant with the methods of study
by which this surprising change (evolution) in the
attitude of hearers has come to pass. Instead of
thinking it your duty to study science for the sake
of preaching it, I should advocate your studying
it in order that you may have the wisdom and cour-
age to let it alone. In the half-hours to which you
are now restricted in your sermons you have
barely time to preach the gospel."

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Double Peach Leaf. — "J. W. K.," Denton,
Md., sends a leaf of a peach which is two-leaved
at the apex, and but a single leaf at the base.

The manner in which nature goes about to make
these monstrosities is not very clear; and the
reason still less. All we can say is, that in piaking
things she seems to have no exact mould by which
everything is cast out, but sometimes goes a little
beyond or a little short of what is needful to make
the perfect thing.

Geographical Range of the Bird's-foot
Violet. — Mr. Samuel N. Watson, Red Wing,
Minn., says : "I notice a slight inaccuracy in your
book 'Wayside Flowers,' and as I have so much
enjoyed your delicate thoughts, I venture to ac-
quaint you with a fact which comes within the
range of my observation. In speaking of the
'Viola pedata,' ' Bird's-foot Violet,' you mention as
a limit of its Western range, Wisconsin, and also
that it does not occur in any quantity till you reach
the southern border of the State. I found them in
great profusion still farther west, and much farther
north, in Faribault, Rice county, Minnesota, dur-
ing the past month of May."

Flowers out of Season. — " L. B. C," Rich-
mond, Ind., writes: "In my yard stands an old
dying cherry tree that has produced a few flowers
during the past two weeks. I have often seen
fruit-trees bloom in the fall, but in the middle of
summer, it occured to me, it was an unusual cir-
cumstance ; how is it ? I enclose you a single
flower I just picked for your edification."

[We may get some clue to these curios by

noting other things. For instance, if a large pear
tree lose its leaves early in the autumn, either by
caterpillars, or by leaf blight, it is almost certain to
bloom before winter and not wait till spring as it
should do. Again, if a horse-chestnut loses its
leaves in the same way, it will also bloom in the
autumn, instead of waiting for its regular time.
We see that we are getting near the ability to
generalize, when we consider these things — but yet
we cannot quite reach the disturbing cause. We
can only say, when a flower appears out of season,
that it has been retarded or accelerated, as the
case may be. — Ed. G. M.]

Tubers on Potato Plants. — " P. N. McI.,"
Bookton, Ontario, writes: "I send you, by mail
to-day, the top of a potato plant in which part of
the stem has become tubers or potatoes. As this
is not a usual thing, a notice and description of it
might interest the readers of the Monthly."

[This sometimes occurs, and is taken advantage
of by the teachers of Morphological botany to show
that a potato tuber is in reality only a thickened
branch. At the base of almost all leaves along
a branch there is a bud, known as an "axillary
bud," which, when it grows, becomes a branch
like its parent. In the case before us, the tubers
are in all stages, from a simple bud in the axil, in
some cases, to tubers as large as hazel-nuts in
others, with the axillary buds, and in some cases
leaves on them. The under-ground tuber devel-
opes in the same way from an axillary bud, the
only difference being that it pushes clear out froin
its parent axil, retaining an attachment only by a
thread, or, technically a stolon. — Ed. G. M.]

The Botany of Texas. — "J. W.," Houston,
Texas, says: "Can you recommend any work for
the south-western flora of Texas ? Mrs. Young's so-
called ' Botany of Texas,' is absolutely worthless."

Mrs. Young's book served a good purpose in its
day ; but, like so many similar works, it has been
outgrown by the knowledge of the flora. As Dr.
Asa Gray has in hand a work on the whole flora
of the North American continent, it is not worth
anyone's while to issue a separate flora of Texas,
and so there is nothing to do but wait. Dr. Gray
has, some years now since, issued one part of this
work, and all the plants then known in Texas, re-
ferable to the orders that part treats of, gives, of
course, all the Texan plants. This, with Mr. Wat-
son's Bibliographical Index to tell us in what
scattered papers the descriptions of Texan plants
are found, are about all the guides to the Flora of
Texas which can be had at present.

312

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

Literature, Travels and Personal Notes,

COMMUNICATIONS.

EDITORIAL LETTERS.

ASTOEIA, Obegon, July 31st, 1883.

I was very much surprised at Alaska. In com-
mon with many other people in the East, I had
come to look on the seven millions or so which the
United States paid Russia for Alaska, as so much
money all but thrown away — and even the reports
of government officials as given in public docu-
ments, written even in the interest of the purchase,
give no good sort of an idea of the great value of
this far north-western corner of our dominions.
I am satisfied that the seven millions are not
thrown away — nor would twenty millions have
been — and I feel that our country owes a debt it
can never repay to the sagacity of W. H. Seward
for negotiating this strip of land for us.

I had supposed it was a miserable country, fit
only for fish and seal-skins, and locked up in ice
and snow for the best part of the year. I found a
country far superior, in many respects, to Switzer-
land ; and with a climate and elements of great-
ness, at least equal to those which have given
Great Britain and all her commercial and in-
dustrial prosperity, so great an elevation in the
history of the world. Precisely the same condi-
tions exist here as in England. That part of the
world is in a high latitude, but a warm stream of
water rushes against its shores from the Gulf of
Mexico, and thus gives it a temperature and an
atmospheric moisture so favorable to a good
many products. Alaska has just such a warm sea
poured around its Western face, by the sea of
Japan, and the results are just about the same.
The summer temperature is just about as high, and
the temperature in winter goes no lower than in
England. We are told that it is very wet there,
and that it always rains. Well, we were four
weeks going from place to place through it, and'
we had but two rainy days in all that time!
Writing this as I am in Oregon, I have no exact
data to hand, but I believe our goings to and fro
over it, could not have been short of 2500 or 3000
miles — and we reached a point as high as the
mouth of the Chilcat River, which is little short of
60° — north latitude.

Chiefly because there has been no government

given to the territory by Congress, and there is no
law to sell property or defend life — and no one
knows why, except that it is surmised not to be to
the interest of one or two powerful commercial
companies to permit the government to do it, —
there can be no settlement of white men there;
yet the attractions of the place have drawn about
500 or 600 white men. There are perhaps
40,000 or 50,000 Indians, a large number of whom
have been civilized, and work and cultivate to
some extent as white men do. We occasionally
met with little garden patches, and thus saw, by
actual observation what could be grown there.
There was however one particularly nice garden
at Wrangel, cultivated by Colonel Crittenden,
formerly of the Confederate army, which showed
very well what could be done. There were cab-
bages, turnips, beets, peas, potatoes, and indeed
one might say in a few words, all the vegetables
that would do well in the open air of England.
Col. C." had found onions and spinage not to do
well; but I feel sure this is from some non-adapt-
iveness, on the part of the cultivator, rather than
from any serious objection on the part of soil or
climate. Cauliflowers do enormously well. The
Indians, according to Mr. Crittenden, are very
fond of raising these things. He often makes
them gifts of potatoes, turnips, and flower seeds
for their wives and children, which they take hun-
dreds of miles, sometimes into the country, and re-
turn the next year to him, with some of the products of
the soil to show him that they had appreciated and
profited by his kind thoughtfulness. These Indians
are very grateful for kindnesses. One may travel
through their whole country safely on this plat-
form. It is only when one comes in conflict with
the customs engendered by their theological
notions, or treats them with what they consider in-
justice, that what is called their savage nature
retorts in cruelty on the white man. Of course,
their views of justice are often unjust, but one
should endeavor to put himself in their place
before running a tilt against their desires.

The destruction of one of their villages last
spring, by the United States ship " Adams," has
embittered them somewhat. For instance, the
Indians believe that when anyone is killed inten-
tionally or accidentally, his spirit does not rest in

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

313

peace till the person by whom death was caused,
or his friends, pay over to the relatives of the de-
ceased person 200 blankets — a blanket being the
Indian measure of value, meaning $3. An Indian
was killed by the accidental explosion of a mortar,
and a demand was made on the United States for
200 blankets accordingly. But they were given to
understand that United States laws were different
from the Indian laws, no blankets or $600 could
be given. The Indians then seized two white
men, and held them as hostages till 200 blankets
were paid. The commander of the ship then sent
word that the men must be restored, and 200
blankets besides, within a certain time or he would
blow their village down. It did not come within
a certain time, when the commander sent word
that he would now demand 400 blankets. The
Indians, getting frightened at the big ship, returned
the two men and two hundred blankets — but the
commander sent word that " their great father in
Washington always kept his word, and having
demanded 400 blankets must have them." As
they did not immediately respond, the ship opened
fire on the poor wretches, and the village was
blown to pieces.

I suppose it was right to show these creatures
that their great father is the most honorable of all
beings, in keeping his word — but would it not have
been better to have met their very humanitarian
demand, in the first instance, in a more concilia-
tory spirit ? Better have spent two hundred
blankets, in the shape of $600 worth of seed pota-
toes and turnip seed, than some thousands,
probably, on powder and ball. Some of the
settlers are very fond of flowers and have oc-
casionally nice things in their gardens. One lady,
in Sitka, showed me, with much elation, a nice
growing plant of Hydrangea paniculata, which she
said came by mail from Dingee & Conard nursery —
only think of it, six thousand miles safely by mail !
What will our English friends think who are now
and then discussing in their journals the wonderful
fact related by some correspondent, that plants
have actually come three thousand miles across
the Atlantic in safety.

The wild fruits of Alaska are very varied. I
will not give the botanical names with certainty,
as, at this distance from books of reference, I may
not identify them correctly. The crab-apple has
ovoid fruit, about the size of a medium cherry. I
could not learn that it was used except in the form
of a preserve. I found the alpine strawberry,
Fragaria vesca, just over the boundary, in British
Columbia, and I suppose it is also common in

Alaska. But there is another species I have never
collected before in the United States, with dark
shining upper surface to the leaves, and silvery
white beneath. The stems supporting the cluster
of fruit, are of immense length — eighteen inches in
one instance — and the fruit depressed-globose,
and pale, say greenish-red. I suppose it is the
Chili strawberry. The Indians collect them.
They will sell anything they have. For trial
I asked a young girl to sell me her silver ear-rings,
the silver ring which they wear through their nose,
and the silver pin which, after they become adults,
they wear through their lower lip. To my sur-
prise she sold them to me for "four bits." After
some words in her own tongue with an older
woman she returned with the half dollar, and by
signs demanded them back — but the offer of "two
bits" more secured the jewelry. Wherever I could
I endeavored to get the Indian names of the fruits
and vegetables used. Of an old Indian woman
who was gathering these strawberries I asked the
name, but she would only offer a small shell full
and say "one bit." This was all the English she
knew as a general thing, except "half dollar."
Our people soon learned a little in this line also,
and when an Indian asked a dollar for anything he
or she had to sell, and our party would say "sik-
kum toUa " (half dollar), it was evident by the
contemptuous turning of the Indian on his heel
that so much of the language had been learned
thoroughly and well. The raspberry here most
prevalent is the Salmon berry, but though a
raspberry botanically the flavor is precisely that
of our blackberry, — not as good, however, as a
first-class Lawton. A singular fact is, that while
our raspberries and blackberries are normally
black or red and sometimes change to salmon
(white) — here the normal color is salmon and the
exceptional changes red. In some places the red
departures are not uncommon. There is a species
of Black cap raspberry here which has quinate
leaves, — sometimes the five leaflets arranged in
a pinnate manner. Perhaps it is R. leucodermis.
The fruit is about the size of our best Black caps,
and to my mind the best wild fruit in the terri-
tory. A white flowered species, probably Nut-
kanus, resembles our flowering raspberry (odor-
atus) and fruit is of about the same quality. The
common blackberry has a much smaller fruit
than ours, with the leaves gray like the Black
caps. I suppose it is Rubus ursinus. There are
numbers of species of currants, two of which of the
black currant class are much prized. One of these
is very strong, In Pyramid Harbor, near the

3U

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

mouth of the Chilcat, I came across a plant that
was ten feet high ; the leaves were as large as
luxuriant Concord grapes, and the racemes of fruit
six inches long. The Indians pound the fruit up,
with what I suppose to be grease, and dry it in
cakes. Then they take a piece, put it in water
and whip it up, when it looks like purplish ice
cream. They seem very fond of it. There are
many species of wild gooseberries — one with very
large fruit — fully as large as the best Enghsh
gooseberries, and the surface so clammy that a
large berry will almost stick to the hand without
falling to the ground. They are deep red, and
very tempting. I tried to taste one, when a strong
flavor of formic acid told me I had eaten an ant
with the berry. I found numerous insects all over
the berries afterwards. I can imagine that a leaf
may have these glands for the purpose of catching
insects to use as food — but what a ripening fruit
wants with such a covering is more than I can
tell. It keeps insects from eating them.

Bears abound here, and they are very fond of
gooseberries, as I rnyself can testify to, by seeing
one black fellow daintily pulling the branches
down with his claws, and picking them off with
his mouth — this was a small black gooseberry, as
large as a pea — but these clammy fruited kinds
were loaded where bears abound, so I suppose
they are not touched by them. The flavor is not
much to boast of — something like a cactus fruit.
There are several kinds of huckleberry and a cran-
berry. The huckleberries are fair. One with a bright
coral-red berry, Vaccinium parvifolium perhaps, is
extremely ornamental ; but not as good to eat as the
others. The Salal berry is Gaultheria Shallon— Shal-
lon being the name as originally pronounced, or
supposed to be pronounced by the Indians, among
whom it was first found — though " Salal " is the
name they use now. Our Gaultheria procumbens,
or "Teaberry," has an aromatic taste which this
has not. Indeed, it is slightly acidulous; and
does not seem to be a favorite among the bears.
They like sweet things, and a lump of white sugar
is a capital lure towards the bear-trap. Usually
this Gaultheria grows but about two feet high —
but in some parts of Alaska, I saw them six feet or
more high, and making dense thickets, through
which it was impossible to pass. I found a few
bushes of the Amelanchier — the June Berry or In-
dian cherry, as large as our best huckleberries,
quite as good and just as black — on the borders in
British Columbia, and I suppose it penetrates to
Alaska also. A wild cherry also, is in the Domin-
ion, which may go to Alaska.

This was all the real fruit I saw wild, though
there are numerous berries and fruits eaten by the
Indians. Indeed they eat nearly everything that
grows. I met with an Indian woman gathering
an armful of the young tops of the Salmon berry
canes. I made signs to know what she did with
them; she laughed and put the ends of the shoots
between her teeth, and I suppose they cook and
eat them. They always looked on curiously at
my gathering plants for my herbarium, and anxious
to know what I did with them. It was difficult to
make each other understand, in the absence of all
oral language. Once, in desperation, I "stretched"
the case by pointing to myself and saying, "me
Doc-tin," — I had learned that much Indian, as
their name for medicine man. Like all " stretches,"
this one only got me into further trouble, for they
would pick at my handful of plants, and want to
know what this was good for and what was the
good of that, till I became convinced I had better
be a " Doc-tin" no more, and shook my head there-
after when my botanical pursuits were questioned.

H. B. ELLWANGER.

BY JOHN THORPE, QUEENS, N. Y.

In the death of H. B. Ellwanger, we have sus-
tained a national loss. It was my good fortune to
be intimately acquainted with him and his untiring
eff"orts to produce new varieties of roses. No
student ever worked more conscientiously ; no
raiser of seedlings ever waited more patiently for
results, nor could be more anxious that others
should be benefited by his successes, or prevented
from disappointment in his failures.

A little more than a year since, Mr. Lonsdale
and I spent half a day with him at his home,
where he showed us the different crosses he had
effected on hundreds of flowers ; how modestly
he hoped for results, discussing the probabilities
and possibilities of each. With the same feelings
we viewed and hoped among his seedlings that had
not yet flowered. Again, when we came to others
that had flowered, how faithfully he pointed out
their defects or praised their good features. With
what pleasure and hope he sowed his seed last
winter. The day afterwards I received a long letter
with numbers of seeds and names of each cross
sown ; a little later another letter saying, his ba-
bies had begun to grow nicely; only in June last,
when at New York, how he described the distinc-
tive variations in the foliage of his baby roses;
what we might hope for and what additions would
be valuable. In his Rose Book, how honestly and

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

315

faithfully he depicted every variety ; giving each

and all their true character as seen by him, placing

it in the very highest position amongst American

publications. In his private character there was

nothing but to admire. Let me quote Horace

Smith, who says:

" In the sweet-scented picture, heavenly Artist,

With which thou paintest nature's wide-spread hall.
What a delightful lesson Thou impartest
Of love to all."

Such was our lamented friend.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

To Intelligent Correspondents. — All com-
munications relating to advertisements, subscrip-
tions, or other business, must be addressed to the
publisher, 814 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

All referring to the reading matter of the maga-
zine must be mailed to the editor, Germantown, Pa.

No express packages for the editor received un_
less prepaid ; and marked " Paid through to Ger-
mantown, Pa."

Nomenclature of Botany. — Prof A de Can-
dolle, of Geneva, has published some "new re-
marks on the Nomenclature of Botany." He was
editor of the laws of Botanical Nomenclature
adopted by the botanical Congress, International, of
1867, and what he says has great weight. Among
other things, he points out the growing uselessness
of adding the abbreviated names of authors, after
the scientific names in zoology and botany. In
the past, when authors might be named inside the
hundred, it might be well; but now, when they
may be named by the thousand, few know what
the abbreviations mean ; and the public are driven
from the studies by the miserably long and mean-
ingless names.

University Gardens at Berkeley, Cali-
fornia.— There is much talk of government
experimental grounds — but if our agricultural col-
leges had sufficient encouragement, the State
colleges would answer every purpose desired.
The State University at Berkeley, in California,
has started out in this line, and the visit of the
Editor to these grounds was among the most
profitable of all his Pacific coast excursions.
Everything likely to be of any advantage to Cali-
fornia is obtained, where possible, and thoroughly
tested under the intelligent care of Mr. W. G.
Klee, and his reports are among the most valuable
made to Californians.

Pomological Honors. — Our friend, J. E.
Mitchell, has reason to congratulate himself on

receiving special honors at the late Pomological
Convention in Philadelphia. In a circular issued,
every man on the list is charged with being an
•' Esquire," except "J. E. Mitchell." Out of the
twenty-two names on the circular twenty-one are
taxed with the enormity, Mitchell only having
escaped. It did not suit the malignity of the great
enemy of mankind to merely say the " following
Esquires are on the committee " — but that there
might be no escape, as to the identity of the indi-
viduals, "Esquire" is repeated twenty-one times in
the one paragraph, J. E. Mitchell only, escaping
the implication.

What the gentlemen so involved intend to do in
the matter, we have not heard. Mr. Mitchell
certainly deserves some honor for the good work
he did in preparing for the convention, but is it
fair that he should alone be distinguished in this
handsome manner ? In another circular, however,
he got charged with being an " Honorable," and
perhaps the great enemy of the human race
thought it was but fair to let up on him after that.

H. E. Hooker Co. — A company has been
formed to continue the business of the late Mr.
Hooker of Rochester. M. G. Hooker, E. B. Tay-
lor, and Robert Ades, are the officers.

The Langdon Nurseries of Mobile, Ala-
bama.— These have been purchased by J. M.
Rulifson, who proposes to maintain it as one of the
first-class establishments of the South.

Kinsey's Nurseries, Dayton, Ohio. — These
celebrated nurseries will be continued as hereto-
fore, the widow, representing the interests of her
late husband.

Mr. Chas. B. Ott. — Mr. Chas. B. Ott, a very
successful orchardist, of Bucks County, Pa., is
among the deceased of last month. He was one
of the first to bring into prominent notice the merits
of the Water apple of that section, and his block of
the Red Astrachan apple was quite noted for its
profitable returns.

Report of Fruit-growers Association of
Ontario for 1882. — Printed by order of the
Legislative Assembly. This body has no less than
1,839 members, which shows a wonderful interest
in fruit-growing and the kindred arts and sciences
in the Province of Ontario. They have a winter
meeting and Annual meeting, and this volume is
the immediate result of the labor of the body — the
remote results must be of incalculable benefit.
About one-half the volume is devoted to fruit cul
ture ; forestry receives the best part of the rest o^
the report's attention.

3i6

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

The Naturalist's Field Club Bulletin of
Buffalo. — No. 4 is before us, and seems to
promise for the work a long and useful life. Bot-
any has especial attention. There is an extended
note on Aquilegia chrysantha, the yellow aquile-
gia, showing that Grant Allen's pleasant specula-
tions about colored flowers being evolutions from
a yellow type, are not according to facts in many
Ranunculaceous plants. The other useful notes
are on the flowering of Asarum canadense ; on the
probability of the English Pansy being a true na-
tive of this country — or rather, a form named by
Michaux, Viola tenella ; on a new station for the
rare Clematis verticillaris; on the existence of two
distinct forms of the American crab, Pyrus cor-
onaria, with brief notes on Vitis cordifolia, Poten-
tilla paradoxa, Erythronium Americanum, and
Sisymbrium thalianum.

Botany must be rapidly growing, as a popular
study, when so many periodicals give attention to
botanical notes.

The Hand Book of Tennessee. — By A. W.
Hawkins, Commissioner of Agriculture, published
at Nashville, 1882. Tennessee has a Commis-
sioner of Agriculture, and we suppose this very i
valuable work is issued at the expense of the State, I
though we see nothing between its covers to indi-
cate that it is a State document. It has a colored 1
map of the State, indicating where its leading |
mineral riches lie, tells of its agricultural products, i
its geographical points, and industrial statistics of'
every description. Information of this kind must
be of inestimable value towards the prosperity of
the State.

Barry's Fruit Garden. — By P. Barry. A
new edition, revised and brought down to date, by
the author. New York: Orange Judd Company,
1883. The march of knowledge about fruit, and
especially in fruit culture, has been very great of
late years, and a work which proposes to keep up
with this rapid march, and tell us all that it is im.
portant to know, will be very welcome to orchard-
ists everywhere. No one is better able to tell of
this advance than Mr. Barry — and the great favor
with which the original was received, will make
this new edition welcome everywhere.

A Book About Roses : — By S. Reynolds Hole.
New York: Wm. S. Gottsberger, 1883. An Eng-
lish book which has seen seven editions in its own
country, is surely worth re-printing in America,
where the rose is such an especial favorite. Of
course there are some suggestions, well adapted to
the Old World, which will be of no value in this —

but the book is so pleasantly written, that any one
who loves a rose will be interested in reading it,
though not growing a single plant. It is simply
enjoying a bouquet of "buds" to read it, aside from
its practical value. It comes to us through E.
Claxton & Co., Philadelphia.

Gray's Synoptical Flora of North Am-
erica.— One part of this great work was issued
several years ago. It will delight all interested in
American plants to know that the other part, which
will include the very difficult Compositse, is about
to be put to press.

Sportsman's Gazetteer and General
Guide By Charles Hallock. New York: Or-
ange Judd Co., publishers, 1883. We have re-
ceived a copy of the above from Messrs. J. B.
Lippincott & Co., and find it a handy reference to
all things pertaining to legitimate field sports.
The work first appeared in 1877, and has now been
through six editions. Since then the author has
revised it, and now presents it to the public in its
new form.

It contains 1000 pages, and is profusely illustra-
ted. Gives descriptions of all game animals, birds
and fishes in North America; the best methods of
catching or trapping them ; where they are to be
found, and the easiest and shortest way to the
places inhabited by them. It also tells what game
is to be found in the counties in the States and
Provinces. Maps of the latest editions direct the
hunter, or fisherman, over the principal railroads
crossing the continent. Altogether it is one of the
most complete works of its kind published, and is
a valuable book to every person, whether sports-
man or not.

Dio Lewis's Monthly — New York: Clarke
Brothers, publishers. This made its first appear-
ance in August last, and is a large fat serial of 11 5
pages, yet we find nothing superfluous— except the
double s's in the title — and there is a very great
deal in it which will, doubtless, enlist many horti-
culturists among its readers.

Dr. C. C. Parry. — This well known botanical
traveller, has returned to his home in Davenport,
Iowa.

Dr. Geo. Engelmann. — This famous botanist,
long past three score and ten, left for his native
land in June, and, considering his age, it is feared
he may not return to his adopted country.

The Germantown Telegraph.— On the ist of

: October this well-known Agricultural weekly passes

from the ownership of Major P. R. Freas, to

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

317

Henry W. Raymond, son of H. J. Raymond in
years past editor of the New York Times. The
Telegraph was started in 1829, and during all
these long years, has been under the sole control
of its founder. It has had not only a long career,
but a very honorable and useful one. Since the
birth of the Telegraph, Germantown has been
swallowed up by her younger sister, Philadelphia,
which insists on calling it the Twenty-second ward;

but there is yet a local pride in the old name, and
though we shall miss the good old Major from the
editorial circle, it is a great satisfaction that the
great paper which he founded and which has so
helped to make our local name world renowned,
is still to be continued on, in the good work. The
best wishes we can offer the new owner will be,
that he may continue to have the success which
the former so ably earned.

Horticultural Societies.

COMMUNICATIONS.

PRESIDENT WILDER'S ADDRESS.

Gentlemen and Friends of the American Pomo-
logical Society :

" I still live," but 1 deeply regret a recent disa-
bility from which I may not recover in season to
be present on this occasion. ■ Yet as you have so
often declined to receive my resignation of the
presidency of our association, and have provided a
special officer of great ability to occupy the chair
in case of my absence, I take it for granted that in
this exigency you prefer, in the language of scrip-
ture, " a living dog to a dead lion," and thus to re-
tain me, not so much for what I now can do, as
for what I have done for the objects you seek to
promote.

Our constitution demands of its president an
address, and I, therefore, will speak to you once
more in regard to the interests and objects which
it has to advance, and which I deem worthy of
your attention.

This is the fourth time our Society has assembled
in this goodly city at the invitation of the Pennsyl-
vania Horticultural Society, to whom, in behalf of
our own Association, and in my own behalf I again
present our grateful acknowledgments for its oft
repeated courtesies to us, and especially, for its
constant co-operation and aid during the lifetime
of our Association.

Gladly, most gladly, do we accept of these hospi-
talities so generously tendered to us. Happy,
most happy, are we to be here once more in this
time-honored city, so renowned for its schools of
science, advanced civilization, and benefactions to
mankind; here, at the birthplace of that immortal
declaration of heaven-born principles of human
rights which gave to the world the first great free
republic, the most progressive, prosperous and in-
dependent nation on the globe; here, where the
first society was formed for the promotion of agri-
culture, and the first permanent horticultural so-
ciety on this continent — both of which, we rejoice
to know, are here to-day in a vigorous, green old
age; here, where some of the first general efforts

were made for the promotion of American pomo
logy, — efforts which culminated in the estab
lishment of this Society, and other similar in-
stitutions,— efforts whose merits throughout our
immense domain, excite the wonder and admira-
tion of the world. Here, too, were the homes of
Bartram and Mease, Landreth and Buist, James,
Brinckle, and Houghton, and other pioneers and
cultivators, whose labors contributed very largely
to the advancement of our cause, and whose names,
in connection with those of other benefactors of
our Society, will be held in grateful remembrance
while the blessings of rural art, the charms of na-
ture, and the golden fruits of summer and autumn
shall gladden the sight and minister to the comfort
and happiness of mankind.

These worthy men, like those others who laid the
foundations of our national compact, have finished
their labors and gone to receive their reward. But
we still live to carry out the noble designs which
they originated, and thus to develop the blessings
of human freedom and the wonderful resources of
our land, and make it more and more worthy of the
protection of an independent, enlightened, enter-
prising and prosperous people.

IN MEMORIAM.

We this day enter on the duties of another bi-
ennial term, and while I most heartily congratulate
you upon the growth and prosperity of our Society
in its beneficent influence — on what it has accom-
phshed and is still doing — I most earnestly pray
that our lives may be prolonged, our energies
renewed, and our labors be crowned with con-
tinued success; but we cannot forget that death
has again entered our ranks, and removed from
our circle many old friends and worthy co-laborers
of our cause.

During the interval since our last session, we
have sustained greater losses of official and promi-
nent associates than in any former like period in
the history of our Society. In my former address-
es I have endeavored to place in our records a
reference to those who have been officially or
otherwise actually engaged in promoting the ob-
jects of this Society, and now I have the melancholy
duty of adding to that starred roll of worthy men

3i8

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

the names of James, Vick, Bryant, Schley,
Pearce, Arnold, Johnson, Hooker, Transou,
and Warder. In this hst, we number seven Vice-
Presidents, a Treasurer, Secretary, and a member
of our Fruit Committee.

Thomas Potts James, the first Treasurer of
this Society, who held that office for twenty-seven
years, died at his residence in Cambridge, Mass.,
at the ripe age of 79 years. His presence always
cheered our meetings, and his gratuitous services
and cordial cooperation in the promotion of science
were heartily acknowledged and appreciated. He
was widely known for his study of the vegetable
kingdom, especially the mosses and lichens of our
continent, the results of which he was preparing
for publication at the time of his death. He was
connected with inany societies for the advance-
ment of science in our land; was Professor of
Botany to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society ;
one of the Founders of the American Pomological
Society ; Fellow of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences; Fellow of the American Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science ; Member and
Officer of the American Philosophical Society ;
Member of the Boston Society of Natural History,
and of other kindred associations. In all the rela-
tions of life he was conscientiously devoted to
whatever was committed to his care. In a word,
he was a true friend, an upright man, and a Chris-
tian gentleman.

James Vick, a former Secretary of our Society,
died at his home in Rochester, New York, May 16,
1882, aged 64 years. No one has been' more
familiarly known to American households as a
seedsman, florist, and publisher of a magazine, ^
than Mr. Vick. He was an Englishman by birth, i
but he came in youth to this country. He soon
after entered the printing office of the Genesee
Farmer, published by Luther Tucker, and was as-
sociated for a time as editor and proprietor of this
and the Cultivator, at Albany. On the death of
Andrew Jackson Downing, in 1852, he became the
proprietor of the Horticulturist, and continued its
publication under the able and successful editor-
ship of our good friend, Patrick Barry, at Roches-
ter. Mr. Vick was also at one time associated
with the editorial department of the Rural New
Yorker, but he was most widely known by his ex-
tensive seed trade, and by his Illustrated Monthly,
circulating as it has through our broad land. No
similar publication has become more popular, or has
exerted a more powerful influence in creating and
extending a love of flowers and plants, and no
death in his line of business has been more
generally or deeply deplored.

William Schley, for many years a Vice-Presi-
dent of this Society for the State of Georgia, died
at Saratoga, N. Y., August 14, 1882. He was a
native of Georgia, and adopted the profession of
lawyer, in which he gained an eminence that
gave him a seat on the bench. He always took
a lively interest in fruit culture. He was early
sent as a delegate to the American Pomological
Society, and from that time was generally present
at all of its meetings, except during the war, ever
manifesting a deep interest in its work. He was a
gentleman much beloved by us, and specially

noted and admired for his eminently social quali-
ties, his winning grace of manner, his fine humor,
sprightly, sparkling wit, and ever cheerful de-
meanor. He could have won political honors, and
worn them gracefully and with distinction, had he
desired to do so. He was a man of noble gener-
osity and kind deeds, often cramping himself, by
aiding others, and when a friend alluded to this
trait he replied, " while by helping others I am
made poor in purse, I am rich in happiness."

Arthur Bryant, senior, a Vice-President of
our Society, died at his residence, Princeton, Illi-
nois, last March. Mr. Bryant was an educated
man, in the true sense of that term, trained under
the tutorship of his brother, William Cullen Bry-
ant, with whom for a time he was associated on the
New York Evening Post. He was a thorough
scholar, eminent for his knowledge of the Greek
language and of Botany, and for his love of the
beautiful in nature. He was especially interested
in the conservation of our forests, and in the
planting of new ones, and had for a long course
of years been a leading nurseryman in the West.
He had been President of the Illinois State Horti-
cultural Society, and was the senoir member of our
board of Vice-Presidents. He was also a frequent
contributor to our public journals, and author of a
book on " Forest Trees for Shelter, Adornment
and Profit." His decease is widely deplored, and
has been appropriately noticed by the pubhc
press. In his character we recognize the enterprise
of one of the pioneers of American Horticulture,
and the virtues of an enterprising, upright man.

Edward D. Pearce, Vice-President for the
State of Rhode Island, died at Providence during
the present year. He was a man of clear intellect,
sound practical sense and great force of character.
He was fond of the science of agriculture, and in
some departments of it was prominent, especially in
the importation of blooded cattle. In the cultiva-
tion of both the smaller and larger fruits, he was for
many years without a rival in his State. He
contributed largely by official services and per-
sonal influence to the advancement of terracultu-
ral interests, and was often elected to offices of
honor and trust in his State. Mr. Pearce possessed
a genial nature, and was universally beloved and
respected as a very useful man.

Henry E. Hooker, an old and valuable mem-
ber, and for a time a member of the General Fruit
Committee, died at Rochester, N. Y., April 12th,
1883, fifty-nine years of age. He was prominently
engaged in the nursery business, and by his enter-
prise, sagacity, and integrity, became well and
favorably known throughout our country. He was
always much interested in horticultural pursuits,
and contributed by his labors and his pen largely
to their advancement. He was much interested
in the formation of societies for this purpose, and
was Vice-President of the Western New York
Horticultural Society at the time of his death. He
was the introducer, or disseminator, of several new
and valuable fruits, among which may be named
the Brighton Grape, now so universally appreci-
ated for its excellence. He was everywhere re-
spected for his sincerity, always acting according
to his convictions of the right ; modest and unassu-

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

319

ming in manners and gentle in disposition, he was
beloved by all who knew him.

Charles Arnold died at his residence in Paris,
Ontario, on the 15th day of April last, aged sixty-
four years. Mr. Arnold was for many years a
Vice-President, and Chairman of the Fruit Com-
mittee for Canada West, of our Society. He was
an Englishman, and came to Canada fifty years
ago and here remained until his death. From a
very early period in his life he manifested a great
taste for horticultural pursuits, and for nearly
forty years had been actively engaged in following
his natural tastes.

Although not in early life an educated man, he
found time during his busy life to become familiar-
ly acquainted with many of the best writings of our
time, especially those which in any way related to his
favorite pursuits. He was a careful observer and
eminently a practical man, speaking of what he knew
rather than of what he conjectured. He often
wrote clear and vigorous articles on the subject of
cultivation. He has been for many years con-
stantly engaged in the cross-fertilization of cereals
and vegetables, and other plants and fruits, with
marked success. Of the latter he produced new
varieties of the grape, strawberry and raspberry,
which are now considered very valuable.

In vegetables, his American Wonder Pea is
everywhere highly esteemed, and at the time of his
death he was actively engaged in experiments to
improve the pea, potato and wheat. He was a man
of great enthusiasm, with good judgment, and his
loss is greatly to be deplored by us.

Joseph E. Johnson, our Vice-President and
Chairman of the Fruit Committee for Utah, died
at Tempe, Arizona, December 17, 1882, aged
sixty-two years. Mr. Johnson was a prominent
leader in the Territory of Utah in various settle-
ments, and did much to introduce fruits and
flowers in the districts where he resided. He was
a valuable member of our Society, being ever
ready to advance its interests as far as was in his
power. He originated many seedling fruits, such
as peaches, apricots, grapes, etc., some of them
being of promising local value, as may be seen by
his reports to this Society. Mr. Johnson had
recently removed from St. George, Utah, to Arizo-
na, where he intended again to engage in garden-
ing and the culture of the soil. He was a very
enterprising and progressive man, and occupied
many places of honor and trust among his people.
He was the proprietor and editor of several
newspapers and periodicals in his day, among
which were the Utah Pomologist and Gardener,
and by his botanical researches, discoveries and
importations, he inspired a taste for the beautiful
in nature wherever he went. In a word, he was a
man of unceasing labor, constitutionally a pioneer,
and died working in the pioneer life.

B. F. Transou, for the last ten years a Vice-
President of our Society, and at one time Chairman
of our Fruit Committee for Tennessee, died at his
residence, near Humboldt, May 27, aged sixty-three
years. He was born in North Carohna. In 1861,
he removed to Gibson County, where he made a
home enriched with fruits and beautified with
flowers. He was a pioneer in the nursery busi-

ness. Chairman ot the West Tennessee Fruit
Growers' Association, a member of other associa-
tions, and exerted extended and progressive influ-
ence in pomology and rural adornment. Mr.
Transou was a man universally beloved in church
and society, of winning manners, and faithful in all
the relations of life. On the eventful morning
when he was smitten down, while laboring in his
rosary, God called, and he was removed to that
better land where the leaf shall never wither, the
flower never fade.

And now, while I am thus writing, there comes
the sad intelligence of the decease of our beloved
friend and associate. Dr. John A. Warder, Vice-
President of our Society for the State of Ohio, who
died on the 14th of July, aged seventy-one years.
No death has occurred in this Society since that
of Andrew Jackson Downing, which is more deeply
or widely lamented.

He was born within the limits of Philadelphia,
but had from very early days a love for rural life.
He accordingly moved to Ohio, and about thirty
years ago purchased a farm at North Bend, a part
of which was formerly President Harrison's. He
was a student of nature, and especially devoted to
scientific researches. He was a beloved physician
in Cincinnati until his removal to his farm, but
during this time he was closely interested in the
organization and work of various scientific and
educational associations.

He was a member of the Cincinnati Astronomi-
cal Society ; Western Academy of Natural Science
and Natural History ; Ohio Wine Growers' Associ-
ation ; Ohio Medical College ; many years Presi-
dent of the Ohio Pomological Society, now the
Ohio State Horticultural Society ; President of the
American Forestry Association until its consolida-
tion, last year, with the American Forestry Con-
gress, and member of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science. He was much
interested in landscape gardening and the im-
provement of our cemeteries. He was widely
known as an author, editor and contributor to
various literary and medical publications, among
which we specially remember his works on "Ameri-
can Pomology and American Forestry."

He was remarkably unselfish and generous,
devoting his whole life for the good of others ;
was modest and unassuming, possessing fine social
qualities, and his society was greatly enjoyed by
all who knew him. He had been recently ap-
pointed by the Department of Agriculture as
Forestry Agent, for investigating the forest re-
sources of our country, but was not permitted to
enter on the work, for the Master called him
home.

Would that I could stop here, but while I am
closing this address there comes the sad announce-
ment of the death of our beloved young friend,
Henry B. Ellwanger, son of our old and es-
teemed member, of Rochester, N. Y. He was only
thirty-three years of age, and was a member of the
time honored firm of Ellwanger and Barry, but
was widely known for his popular work on "The
Rose," and for his careful classification of this queen
of flowers, and his enterprising experiments in its
hybridization. In the latter line of his studies he

320

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[October,

had already opened a new era in America, giving
promise of equal or greater success with that
attained by the most experienced masters of the
old world. His book established his reputation
both at home and abroad, and his late article on
"Old and New Roses," in the Century Magazine,
added still further to it.

Mr. EUwangerhad been a constant attendant at
our sessions for many years, and is well remem-
bered as reporting at our last meeting for his
father, then in Europe, on " Foreign Fruits."

How mysterious this Providence ! It is only
six weeks, at this writing, since he was sitting by
my side and expressing the great interest which he
felt in the hybridization of the rose, and his hope
that although we may not be able to paint the
lily, we may yet " add perfume to the rose."

Mr. EUwanger was of most amiable disposition
and courteous manners, and a Christian gentle-
man, having recently been invested with Deacon's
Orders in the Episcopal Church. His death is
universally and deeply deplored.

These and other friends have gone before us to
that better land where we trust they are now
partaking of fruits from the tree of life that perish
not with their use. Thus one after another of our
associates are passing away, and ere long all
the founders of our Society will have joined the
countless millions of the departed ; but others will
rise up and carry forward the designs which have
been formed for the promotion of our cause. But
let us not murmur or repine at the providence of
God. This is the order of nature, — this the lot of
all sublunary life —

Fruits liave their time tn ripen and fall,
Leaves have their time to wither and dry,
Man has his time to flourish and fade,
All must he cut hy Time's ruthless blade.
But though the fruits of earth may all fail
And none be left to tell the sad tale,
Still there's a land of j)roiuise on high
Where fruits never fail, men never die.
(To be concluded.)

EDITORIAL NOTES.

American Pomological Society and the
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. — The
combined meetings in Philadelphia were very suc-
cessful. The absence of Col. Wilder was uni-
versally regretted, as was that of first Vice-President,
Mr. Barry. Mr. Strong, from the list of State
Vice-Presidents, did admirable service as tempor-
ary Chairman. Mr. Berckmans was elected
finally as first Vice-President, much to his surprise,
but to the great satisfaction of the body. It is not
often that two birds are killed by one stone, though
it is often attempted. On this occasion the Horti-
cultural exhibition, and the numerous attractions
of Philadelphia, had some influence.

At the opening of one morning session, though
an hour had been spent over time in waiting for an
audience, only one member was present when the
call to order came. However they soon filled up,
and for an hour or two each day there were more
than a usual average number of members present.
Still Pears, Apples and some other fruits usually
discussed, had to go over, and several essays will

have to remain till the proceedings appear. Pro-
fessor Riley's essay on Insects was read, and
deemed very profitable, by all the listeners. Much
discussion prevailed regarding a check to outrage-
ous names for fruit ; and some new rules were
adopted, in the hope that they might aid in the
suppression of the nuisance. In the discussion of
the fruit lists, varieties which were merely valuable
to amateurs, or which required a little horticultural
skill to bring to perfection, found little favor. The
Catawissa Raspberry was wholly stricken out, and
other Autumn bearers, with English Gooseberries
only kept in by a bare vote, while another variety
of fruit, which one speaker said was "immensely
profitable but unfit to eat," had many supporters.
It may be well for the Society to consider the pro-
priety of getting up a separate amateur from the
regular market list. Col. M. P. Wilder was re-
elected President, W. J. Beal, Secretary; Grand
Rapids the place of next meeting ; and five Wilder
medals distributed. There were other worthy ex-
hibits, but the committee wisely decided that the
greater the distribution, the less the honor.

The Horticultural Society made one of its best
exhibits. There was less to make the lover of
excellence in skilful culture blush than seen for
many years, and many things were really well
grown. The practice of not putting on the growers'
names is still maintained, and we are not converted
from our old-fashioned notions, that it is not a good
thing. After the Judges had been around, many
of the commercial men put their own cards on
them, but we saw no names on any of the ama-
teurs' collections, or those of the trade who were
unable of themselves to be present. A very pleas-
ant change was in the presence of flowering plants,
which had come to be replaced, almost wholly, by
leafy things.

The cut-flower ornaments were far superior to
anything ever seen at an exhibition on this conti-
nent, so far as the neat care and tasteful execution
of the work was concerned. How to ornament
and decorate, was however still subservient to the
old notion that the article itself had to be manu-
factured, as well as decorated. We should like to
see the chair on which our friend used to sit,
appropriately dressed with suggestive flowers — or
even the Bible he read from, have some floral
emblems about them, suggestive of his last pres-
ence. But a "Bible of flowers," or an " Empty
chair," in the way they are given to us, has little
meaning. Still, these things serve to remind us
that there is an art in floral decoration, well worth
encouraging.

Fruits showed great progress. At one time it
was a complaint that there was a deficiency in
white varieties of grapes. Now, if anything, there
is an over abundance, and it becomes an impossi-
bility for a fair minded judge to recommend any
one over another. All we can say is that the
number of good ones is so great, that few will go
wrong in taking any one that has fair recommenda-
tions. It is getting to be so with many other
classes of fruit. The introducer who wishes for
great success, must not only show that his pet is
first rate — he must prove that it is better than the
numerous first rate kinds offered.

THE

Gardeners^ Monthly

HORTICULTURIST.

DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE. ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS.

Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN.

Volume XXV.

NOVEMBER, 1883.

Number 299.

Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground.

SEASONABLE HINTS.

From now until spring, in various parts of the
country, planting will be in order, and the "best
time to plant" will hardly be a question any more
this season. In southern latitudes spring has
nearly come, and in the far norLh the ground is so
frozen, or snow-covered, that planting is out of the
question. But gardening has progressed wonder-
fully since the first number of the Gardener's
Monthly was issued, and the intelligent planter
does not care anything about the season, except
in so far as it may interfere with known laws of
success. In no other respect has the season any-
thing to do with planting. Now, the conditions of
success are these : Firstly, we must remember that,
like all things of life, a sickly tree will not bear the
"battering about" which a healthy one will. The
very same practice which will be enough for a vig-
orous tree, will not save one the vitality of which
is impaired. Therefore, the first condition of suc-
cess is, that the tree be healthy. As a general rule,
a vigorous thrifty growth coincides with health.
But this is not always so. A shoot of asparagus
an inch thick, is certainly no healthier than the
wiry one found growing wild by the sea shore. In
trees, good color is of as much consequence as
good growth, as indicative of health. However,

all we can say here is that good health is important
to the best success.

Ther, in the second place, we have to consider
why healthy trees die. This is wholly a question
of the moisture supply. A tree cannot live with-
out an abundance of moisture continually coursing
through its structure. A tree has moisture escap-
ing through its smooth bark all winter, and
through both bark and leaves all summer; and
the danger from a transplanted tree, is that moist-
ure will dry out faster than the damaged roots can
supply it — in other words, that the tree will dry up.
The younger the twig, the more chance of its dry-
ing ; the smaller the twig, the more chance of its
drying — the less vital power in the twig, the greater
the chance of its drying^ — the less root, in propor-
tion to what there ought to be, the more chance of
any part of the tree crying — the more of the small
roots which in transplanting have the soil not
firmly pressed around them, the more chance
of the top drying — the more cold wind after
autumn planting, or hot dry wind in summer,
the more chance of drying ; so we might go on in-
definitely. It all comes to this, that any one with
experience can look at a tree and, with the chance
of drying before his eyes, tell exactly what to do
to make it grow. To one who does not know this,
the whole thing is and ever will be a mystery. It

322

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[November,

is these who worry over the best season to plant.
Give these a first-rate tree in every respect— good
health, good season, or what not — still the tree
may die ; but you may give the last a tree with all
the roots grubbed off, or all the branches half dry
—a mere cutting in fact — and yet the thing grows
for him. Indeed, many men will do better %vith a
lot of mere unrooted cuttings, than others will with
the best of roots, and all because they have learned
that the art of planting merely consists in the
simple fact that we protect from evaporation till
new roots are formed!

Now we go into details, as most chapters on
"work for the month" do. For instance, we might
say it is now so well understood that we may have
an immense addition to our list of hardy evergreens,
if we will only shelter tliem, that we expect all
those who love these varied winter favorites will
take measures this season to plant shelter belts in
exposed places, or else to set the common hardy
trees like Norway and Hemlock Spruce, and Scotch,
Austrian ^nd White Pines thickly about, so that the
rarer ones can be put between them. Almost all
young trees are tenderer than they are when older.
It is therefore no test of the hardiness of some rare
thing, that a small plant is killed in the winter.
Silver Firs almost always get killed back for a few
years in this section, unless protected, but yet gain
a little in strength. After they are ten years old
they will endure our hardest weather. So Spanish
Chestnuts, English Walnuts, and many others will die
back considerably, until they get strength. There-
fore, protect any valued young plant, if possible,
no matter how hardy its reputation may be. We
have said this before, and yet it is fully covered by
the general practical advice given in the opening
sentences.

Nice smooth lawns are great attractions. If not
level and smooth, earth may be filled in the hollow
places at this season, and i-aked smooth and level.
If not over two or three inches deep, the grass
beneath will come through and make a sod before
next summer; but if deeper, a little grass seed
may be sown.

In treating hedges of Osage, Honey Locust, or
other deciduous plants, we like the plan of letting
them grow as they will for two or three years, and
then, when the stems are a couple of inches thick,
saw to the ground. A mass of strong sprouts then
pushes up, which can be pruned into shape the
next summer. Where hedges are to be thus made,
or older ones have been neglected, they can be
cut down to the ground any time in the fall or
winter season. It seems that in spite of all that

has been said, Osage Orange and Honey Locust
are the best plants for farm fences, or where any
very strong fence is desired. Berberry, Silver
Thorn, and Pyrus japonica are the next best — in-
deed, except that it takes rather longer to make a
good fence, the last named would be as good as
the two first in all except cheapness. An extensive
travel, however, teaches us that even Osage and
Honey Locust are seldom successful as a protect-
ive fence, without great care, knowledge, and con-
siderable expense. But the combination of wire
and Osage, or Honey Locust, is all that can be
desired. It need not be expensive barbed-wire.
Any light posts, with two or three strands of wire —
the posts simply strong enough to hold the wire
two or three years, till the hedge grows up — is all
that is required. When the posts rot away the
growing hedge keeps the wires in place. Any
sort of hacking of the hedge once a year, so as to
keep it in bounds, will then make a thoroughly
hog proof, or thief-proof fence.

COMMUNICATIONS.

TROPiEOLUM CANARIENSIS.

BY CHARLES E. FARNELL.

I see by recent issues of the Monthly that con-
siderable has been said of late relative to the
merits of Tropccolum canariensis as a climbing
plant, and as it is one that has been so often
cultivated, with such varying success, I am in-
duced to offer a few remarks relative to its suc-
cessful cultivation ; and would here say that, so
far as my experience with the plant has extended,
I find that it requires and must have a well en-
riched deep border, and a cool and moist situa-
tion, as well as one that is partially or fully shel-
tered from the mid-day sun. If these essential
requisites are complied with, it is a plant easily
cultivated, and one that will produce very satis-
factory results, if a little care be given as to train-
ing the young shoots, and to give an abundant
supply of water during seasons of drought. I
find that when grown in situations fully exposed
to the sun it does well enough up to July ist, or
until hot, dry weather sets in, and then the leaves
commence to turn yellow and dry up, and the
plant is then anything but attractive. The seed
can be sown in a hot bed about the first of April,
andthe young plants transferred into three-inch pots
and gradually hardened off and planted out when
all danger of frost is over, which in this vicinity is
about the tenth of May. Or the seed can be sown

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

323

in the open air where the plants are to bloom about
the same time, but then the plants will not flower so
early. I have not the least doubt that Mrs. M. D.
W.'s success with this plant is owing to their being
in a partially shaded situation. In England the
climate is much moister, and considerably cooler
than here. •

Tropseolum canariensis, or, as it is popularly
called, Canary Bird Flower, is a half hardy an-
nual with light green peltate five-lobed leaves, and
bright yellow flowers ; attaining a height of from
twelve to twenty feet — according to the soil and its
situation — and is a native of New Grenada and
Peru ; from which latter country it was introduced
in 1775.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

NOTES ON YUCCAS.

BY P. J. BERCKMANS, AUGUSTA, GA.

I enclose a portion of a flowering branch of
Hesperaloe yucca^folia, which I have had to bloom
every year since 1881. You may have seen it; if
so it will not be new to you ; but if you have not
you should know it. The plant resembles the
Yucca filamentosa, but with fewer and narrower
leaves. The flower stalk is from five to six feet
higb, with seldom more than four or five short
branches. It is, however, densely covered with
flower buds. These grow slowly and do not
expand until they are three weeks old, but as
they are all colored alike in every stage of
development, the effect of the plant is very
striking. The plant remains in flower for fully
three months, and this during our dryest weather.
I consider it a valuable addition to our hardy
ornamental plants. It increases slowly, however.

Yucca Treculiana bloomed here for the first
time last March and April. It is the most showy
of all the varieties I have tried, and the earliest to
bloom. The flower stalk was four feet long, regu-
larly branched, each branch bearing from twelve
to eighteen large ivory white flowers ; the latter
numbered upwards of 500 upon one stalk, and
remained in bloom nearly four weeks. Our native
varieties, like Y. aloefolia, Y. gloriosa and Y. pen-
dula, of the tree growing kinds, seldom begin to
bloom before the end of June.

[The Yucca family is so remarkably well adap-
ted to American gardening, and the results of
their employment are so unique, that we are glad
to get every item that will add to the general
knowledge about them. — Ed. G. M.]

Manetti Rose Stocks. — The Journal of
Horticulture says that Manetti Rose stocks,
" rightly prepared," do not produce suckers in
England.

FiiNE Tuberoses. — American grown plants of
Tubei'oses have such large roots that they have
had great popularity in Europe. It is now said
that those of the French growers in Algiers are
superior to the American — about double the size,
some say. The stems grow five to six feet high,
and bear about twenty-five flowers to a spike.

A Japan Quince. — Pyrus Japonica — picked on
the ground of the writer was three inches long,
eight and three-quarter inches in circumference,
and weighed nearly seven ounces. It is not often
that they are found with such dimensions as this.
The fruit has a grateful fragrance, but in view of
the ordinary garden quince, has only an orna-
mental value. The plant makes a good and beau-
tiful live fence.

Clematis Disease. — Clematises often suffer to
such an extent, from granulated roots, that it is
next to impossible to keep them living long. The
appearance is exactly similar to that produced on
the grape by the Phylloxera, but it is the gall of a
differerent insect, though the injurious results are
the same. Besides this a borer attacks some
species, working near the ground, as in the apple
or quince. Then there is a sudden taking off by
a fungus which works near the ground, girdling
the plant, and causing death in a day or two — the
whole plant going off as if struck by lightning.
It is a pity that so many beautiful plants have
such powerful enemies.

Training Geraniums In San Francisco,

where Geraniums live out all winter, they make
beautiful specimens of great size, which surprise
those who have seen only specimens under East-
ern greenhouse culture. In some places they
train them. We know of one which was trained
to a flat trellis about twelve feet long and four feet
high, and was a dense mass of flowers. The ivy
geranium is much used for trellis work in San
Francisco, and is very beautiful indeed.

The Mist Tree. — It is not generally known
that the Mist tree, Rhus Cotinus, is to a great ex-
tent, a dioecious plant, and that it is the female
only which has the beard, for which chiefly the
plant is valued. Of late years it has been custom-

324

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[November,

ary to raise plants from seeds, as they can be pro-
pagated more cheaply than by layers. But many
of such plants are male and have but little or no
beard. This paragraph is suggested by the sight
of a very beautiful specimen near Horticultural
Hall, in Fairmount Park. The vi^hole of the very
large plant was a mass of mist, of a pretty purple
tint. Such plants should be selected for propa-
gation by layers.

Grounds of the Agricultural Depart-
ment AT Washington. — Mr. W. F. Massey
contributes an interesting sketch of these grounds,
under the charge of Mr. Wm. Saunders, to the
American Farmer, from which we learn that the
glass structures were in their usual clean and
thrifty state. He noticed that the floor of the
grapery, now that the grapes are coloring, " is kept
mulched with tobacco stems, as a check to the
thrips, a first rate idea, which I propose to adopt.
In course of construction we noticed an enormous
rose house, the dimensions of which I do not re-
member, but which I suppose is not less than 150
to 200 feet. The roses are to be planted in beds,
with air chambers beneath, heated by steam pipes.
The whole building is to be heated by a steam
boiler, and will be of great interest to horticultur-
ists in deciding the vexed question of the relative
merits of steam and hot water for heating green-
houses. The admirably planted Arboretum at the
Agricultural Department is rapidly becoming an
object of interest as the trees develop."

A Large American Arbor Vit^e.— On the
grounds of Mr. Rex Hinkle, at Mount Airy, Phila-
delphia, is a tree of Arbor Vitae which has a trunk
eight feet in circumference, and which rises nine
feet to the first branch.

NEW OR RARE PLANTS.

Acer Schweidleri — The Broad -leaved
Norway Maple.— Prof. Budd says the original
tree is still growing near Proskau, in Northern
Silesia.

The Creeping Hydrangea. — This proves to
be a very desirable addition of creeping plants —
the number of which that will adhere to walls by
creeping rootlets is not large. We have but the
Eno-lish ivy, Ampelopsis, Trumpet vine, and Creep-
ing Burning Bush for the whole list — unless we may
include the poison vine, which seems harmless to
many persons when growing in the full sun ; and

is particularly beautiful in the fall season of the
year. The writer has the trunks of trees along an
avenue covered by them, and though scores of
people brush by them daily, he has never known
one case of injury in twelve years since they have
been there.

Acer Volxemi. — If thei-e were only enough of
it what a grand tree for avenue planting or for
town streets would be this maple. It is of robust
habit and rapid growth. The foliage is like that
of the Plane, but larger and more umbrageous,
and moreover it is hardier. The leaves are some-
what silvery on the under surface. Our exper-
ience of it is, in truth, very limited ; but its hardi-
hood, rapid growth, and stately appearance in-
duce us very strongly to recommend it for trial in
all cases for which the Plane is now used. The
tree was introduced by M. Van Volxem, and de-
scribed and figured in our columns in 1877, vol.
vii., p. 73, and later on by Mr. Nicholson. — Ga7--
deners" Chrofiicle.

Japanese or Polyantha Roses — deserve spe-
cial notice ; the latter are charming for small
beds or edgings, and may be had in the following
four varieties, of which we prefer the pure white
form, Paquerette, which is almost a continuous
bloomer. The others are Anna Maria de Montra-
vel, white, very fragrant and double, blooming in
miniature clusters ; Mdme. C. Brenner, a blush-
colored form of the above; Mignonette, rosy pink,
one of the finest of these miniature or fairy roses.
— Garden.

Gladiolus, Stuart Wortley. — This was re-
garded as the best gladiolus at the September
meeting of the New York Horticultural Society,
to which the certificate of merit was awarded — a
noble spike of grand, bold flowers, brilliant cherry
with pure white throat and white band in center of
petals. It would seem as if perfection in hybri-
dizing the gladiolus had been reached.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Dahlia Queries. — William F. Bassett, Ham-
monton, N. J., says : " If any of the readers of the
Monthly have Dahlias Little Prince or Frank
Smith, I would like to be informed of it. Little
Prince is described as 'currant red, tipped white,'
and some of the flowers are so, but a large portion
of them are variously spotted, and mixed with a
much darker shade. Frank Smith is a very dark

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

325

maroon, tipped white. I would also like to get hold
of a first-class scarlet Dahlia. Almost every florist
offers scarlets, but some are coarse, some have
open centers, and some are not scarlet."

Queries About Tree Management. — " S. N.,"
New Jersey, wants to know ; " What time is best for
trimming large limbs from white pines and fir
trees to avoid bleeding them and injuring them ?

•' Can pines and first thirty feet high be fore-
shortened without damage, and so be made to
grow thicker, if they have never before been
trimmed ?

" When is the best time to trim deciduous trees
with the least damage ?

" How do you raise from the seed oak and
hickory trees on the spot where they are to
remain ?"

[No serious damage will be received by pines
trimmed at any time, though it may be best to trim
them towards spring. Good tree managers regard
" as soon as cold winds are over " as the best time
for pruning all kinds of evergreens.

Pruning of deciduous trees is usually done be-
tween the fall of the leaves and the pushing of new
growth in spring. Large wounds should be paint-
ed over. Some like to prune large branches towards
midsummer, for the reason that the tree has had
the advantage of the leaves to be cut away, and
has a large amount of growth material stored
away in the branches, and, as a consequence, a
very rapid growth of new wood is made, which
will half cover in a single season, with a layer of
new wood, and make painting unnecessary.

A large pine tree can be headed back as
low as there are any green limbs, and the side
branches may be shortened, making a very beauti-
ful bush; but it would not, probably, make another
leader. In pruning back young white pines in
nurseries, a side branch is tied up, and this be-
comes a leader.

To raise oak and hickories on the spot where
they are to remain, it is best to sow three or more
nuts, two to four inches deep, according to the
nature of the soil — the lighter the soil, the deeper
the seed— and if they all grow, pull out all but
one. The seed may be sown any time after it is
ripe. The spring is as good as any, provided seed
has not been kept too dry. If comparatively dry,
the seeds of many trees lie in the ground a year
before sprouting. — Ed. G. M.]

Daubentonia Tripetiana. — Mr. Berckmans
says: "By this mail I send you a branch and
flowers of Daubentonia Tripetiana, a hardy shrub

which blooms here as early as June, from seed
sown in March ; and continues to give a profu-
sion of flowers until October. It is not new with
me, but might be with you. At all events it is a
valuable shrub for the Cotton States. I also send
twig and flowers of Chilopsis linearis, a hardy
shrub from Southern Te.xas; which is here also a
valuable plant."

[This was a very beautiful flower. The tree
belongs to the Leguminose family, and might be
popularly described as a yellow locust with crim-
son flowers. We suppose the name given is of
nursery origin, for the species appears to be Dau-
bentonia punicea. The chilopsis goes by the
name of flowering willow in Utah, from the wil-
low-like leaves and habit of the plant. Notwith-
standing its very different appearance from the
Catalpa, it is closely related to it. It may be
Called a blue Catalpa. — Ed. G. M.]

Improving the Coleus. — With a box of leaves
of striking and very varied beauty, Mr. Berkmans
writes : " I have within the past three years worked
upon improving a few strains of Coleus, and select
a few leaves from this year's seedlings. I believe
some are quite good ; at any rate, I have nothing
in the new or old kinds that are as desirable for
our hot climate."

Improving Lawns. — "W. H. W.," Maiden,
Mass., writes : " Can you tell me how to eradicate
from my lawn the coarse grasses ? Last spring I had
the lawn dug up, and eighteen inches of good soil
put on it. It was then plentifully sown with choice
lawn grass seed ; but the soil seems to have been
full of coarse grass seed, which has sprung up
most vigorously, and ruined the lawn. How can
I get rid of it, and get a good, velvety lawn ? If
you can tell me I shall be very much obhged."

[Very often much trouble can be avoided by
weeding a newly-sown lawn : taking out all but
that which is desirable before it goes to seed.
After that nothing but the selection of those grasses
which are best suited to the soil will do. These in
time will crowd out all others. In Pennsylvania
very few grasses can hold their own against "blue
grass" — Poa pratensis — in an average soil. If the
soil be damp, however, some of the Bent grasses
— agrostis — are best ; or over dry, the Fesqua
grasses — P'estuca. Crowding out, however, is a
slow process. Those who desire the very best
success with grass lawns, and who have the time
or money to spare to have just what they want,
must depend on hand weeding the first year for the
best success. — Ed. G. M.]

326

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[November,

Greenhouse and House Gardening.

SEASONABLE HINTS.

There has been a great deal said about steam
heating in our columns of late. It might seem, on
the first thought, that this was only of interest to
commercial florists who desire to erect houses on
a large scale. But it was our conviction that in-
directly the matter was of interest to all who loved
winter flowers ; whether in rooms or small green-
houses. Many large dwellings are now heated by
steam, and where this is the case, a branch to the
small conservatory or plant window solves the
whole difficulty about heating these cosy little
places. Besides, many people now prefer to buy
cut flowers rather than grow them themselves, and
hence if the perfection of steam heating will re-
duce the cost of raising flowers it becomes a ques-
tion of interest to everybody.

There will still be many who want windows and
small plant houses heated for plants, who have no
chance to do it by steam. These will yet have to
depend on the ordinary cellar heaters ; or, if these
cannot be had, wood stoves or other contrivances.
As a rule, coal oil stoves are the best. Shutters,
outside or inside, which keep in the heat, are often
as valuable as inside methods of supplying heat
which is lost.

Again, it is wise to attempt to grow in these
places only such plants as require little heat. The
old camellia and azalea are still among the best
for small greenhouses.

Greenhouses attached to dwellings were former-
ly called conservatories. They were used simply
to keep plants in bloom, not to grow them. After
blooming they were sent back to the greenhouse,
or to the florist where they came from. But of
late years small greenhouses attached to dwellings
are called conservatories, whether the plants are
grown as well as flowered or not.

Pot culture, whether in room.s or greenhouses,
depends, in a great measure, for its success, on how
to water properly. Everything is simple after that.
Now, the oftener plants want water, the healthier
they will be ; but to give them water when they
do not need it is " awfully " bad practice. The
" drainage" — that is to say, the material over the
hole at the bottom of the pot — is in order to help

carry water rapidly away. It seldom hurts a plant
to give it a great deal of water, provided it runs
rapidly through the pot, and away through the
hole at the bottom. Therefore if you give a plant
water in some quantity and it does not run through
rapidly, be assured there is something wrong with
the drainage. We must always watch very care-
fully when the plant is dry, before watering it.
But the best plan is to turn the pot up-side-down,
and knock the edge against a post, letting the ball
fall into the left hand, examine the bottom of the
ball and take away whatever may obstruct the
water's passage, and then return to the same pot.
We should like to repeat, so that it may be always
present in the mind of the novice in pot culture,
that it is almost impossible to give a plant too
much water, when the water passes away rapidly
through the soil and through the hole in the bot-
tom of the pot. Of course our philosophical
readers, who have followed the articles in the
Gardeners' Monthly, especially its Natural
History Department, know the reason for this;
but in this column the idea is to give only practi-
cal directions, and to leave reasons alone.

COMMUNICATIONS.

SOME GOOD POT PLANTS.

BY JAMES LESLIE, ST. JOHNSBURY, VT.

Rhododendron Fosterianum is one of the most
magnificent of the genus I have seen. The flower
measures about six inches across, beautiful clear
white, with a dash of yellow on the upper petal,
and very fragrant. There are others of the same
type, very fine ; in fact, all in this section are well
worth cultivating.

Laelia harpophylla is one of the most charming
orchids, on account of its color — described in the
London catalogues as orange scarlet — lasts long
in beauty, and, as far as my experience goes, is
easy to cultivate.

Freesia refracta alba, a bulb lately intro-
duced, is a nice thing ; easy to cultivate, free
flowering, with a delicious odor. This bulb when
it is better known cannot fail to become a great
favorite. It grows nicely in pure, turfy soil, with

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

327

enough sand to make it porous. Cover bulbs
slightly, place on a shelf near the glass, water
sparingly until the plants are some inches high.
With such simple treatment the plants grew well,
and flowered beyond all expectations.

Glonera jasminiflora is a stove plant of remark-
able beauty, forming a neat shrubby bush, covered
with Bouvardia-like flowers of the purest white.
This is a decided acquisition to our stove plants,
and should be in every collection.

right kind of soil or compost a plant thrives best
in. Numbers of stove plants do well in any light,
rich soil. My present subject delights in a mixture
of light, fibrous loam, sandy peat, and a very
small quantity of vegetable mould.

The pots must be well drained to secure success.

PORTLANDIA GRANDIFLORA. I

BY RODERICK CAMPBELL, UTICA, N. Y.

Named in honor of the late Duchess of Port-
land, who was a great patron of gardening.
This is a noble stove plant, with large, deep green
foliage, and fine, pure white flowers, agreeably per-
fumed. They appear in pairs at the end of each
shoot, and measure from four to five inches long,
and from three to four inches across the mouth of
the cup. The leaves are oval shaped, six inches
long when fully grown, and of a most beautiful
light green. With tolerable management the
plant forms a good, handsome bush or plant.
Though introduced as far back as 1795, i^ ^^ Y^^
very rare, especially in this country. This is a
matter of surprise to me, considering that it is so
beautiful, and not difficult to grow or propagate.
I can only account for its comparative rarity by
supposing that most of our gardeners who have
grown stove plants are ignorant almost of its exis-
tence, and quite so of its beauty and easy culture.

It is to make such fine plants as the Portlandia
known that I write. There are many plants occu-
pying spaces in our stoves and greenhouses that
might be filled with better and handsomer varie-
ties.

The best way to increase the Portlandia is by
cuttings of the young shoots. These insert in the
propagating bench, water the bed thoroughly, and
keep close. I have succeeded well by putting
cuttings in a six-inch pot, and placing them in hot
bed, or cucumber frame at most.

Early spring is the best time to root the Port-
landia. As soon as they have made roots they
should be potted in two and one-half inch pots,
and placed under hand glass close for four or five
weeks, till they are fairly established. Shading
must be attended to at all times, for the least sun
will put an end to all your work in a short time.
By this method I have rooted most kinds of
shrubby stove plants with ease.

It is of the greatest importance to know the

HEATING GREENHOUSES.

BY B. O'NEIL,

CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEE ON FLORICULTURE,
ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

This is a subject of considerable interest to flor-
ists and greenhousemen. I have had a life experi-
ence with all kinds of heaters — from a forty-horse
power, high pressure, steam boiler, down to a one
dog power, common greenhouse flue, whose gassy
emanations in cloudy weather would kill a toad-
stool at forty yards. For growing plants and
flowers I would always give the preference to
steam heating ; but the great difficulty with high-
pressure boilers is that they require constant at-
tention, are not economical as to fuel and consume
a great deal of water. This is overcome by the
low pressure, self-regulating steam boilers.

I have an eight-section boiler, which heats about
one thousand four hundred feet of one-and-a-fourth
inch piping, purchased from and put up by, the
Exeter Machine Works, of Exeter, N. H.

The boiler is below all the returns, so that all
the water condensed in the pipes returns again
into the sections. This water is heated when it
comes back into the boiler, so that the process of
steam making is not impeded, but goes steadily
on. Forty-eight gallons of water fill my boiler
and two gallons of water are wasted in a week.
Each section is shaped somewhat like an oyster-
can placed on its side, with holes on each
end for two short pieces of pipe, which connect the
sections with two oblong drums (upper and lower)
outside the brickwork. On these drums are placed
the paraphernalia of all steam boilers, with the
addition of the weights and chains which adjust
the drafts; and when the indicator reaches the
point adjusted by the weights, it closes up all the
drafts. The draft for fire can be adjusted by
lengthening or shortening the chains to suit the
weather. If such a thing as an accident should
occur to any of the sections, it can be taken out
and the drums plugged, and run without it until
another section is procured. Another feature is
that additional sections can be put on, without in-
terfering with the original sections.

My boiler will run six hours without attention.

328

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[Novembe •,

and the amount of hard coal burned (by compu-
tation) is about the same as that burned in com-
mon flues to heat the same amount of surface.
This whole steam arrangement cost me a little over
seven hundred dollars.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Disease in Winter Flowering Carna-
tions.— These are very liable to the attack of a
root fungus. ' The plants show the effects in a
yellowish-green tint to the leaves for some time
before final death. So far as we know, no certain
remedy is known. Some Carnation growers lose
large numbers of plants during the winter.

Good Orchids in September. — At the Sep-
tember meeting of the New York Horticultural
Society the committee reported that the Orchids
were extremly meritorious for the season, especially
the Odontoglossum vexillanum, 2 spikes, 16 flow-
ers; Saccolabium guttatum Holfordi, i spike, and
Lselia Dayanum, 2 flowers, in the ist Prize lot; and
Cypripedium Outramiana, a hybrid, evidently be-
tween Roezlii and Sedeni, 4 spikes, and Zygopeta-
lon Granteri, 2 spikes, in 2d Prize lot. The Pha-
laenopsis violaceum, shown as the new plant, is a
gem of the first water — labellum and center of
flowers richest violet rose, sepals margined white
and tipped green, deliciously scented.

Orchids of Easy Culture. — Many hesitate
to grow the beautiful tropical orchids, under the
belief that they require expensive houses, and
exj>ensive skill to manage. This may be so of
many kinds, but there are numbers which will do
very well under simple treatment. The writer had
a small plant of Catleya Mossa; some six or seven
years ago, growing in moss in a galvanized-wire
basket, which produced one spike of flowers in
March, in a cool greenhouse — say about 55° or
6y^. In May it is suspended in the open-air on a
branch of a tree, and remains till the middle of
September, when it is removed to its old place in
the cool house. In a couple of years of this treat-
ment it bore two flowers yearly, and the next spring
three p^f ido-bulbs will flower.

Panicu.m plic.\tum. — For those who are not
overstocked with small palms, and wish for a plant
with handsome and graceful foliage, I would
recommend Panicum plicatum. It is a grass of
the easiest culture, the usefulness of which for
decorative purposes can scarcely be over-esti-
mated. A pinch of seed sown in August in a

warm house and pricked off, five in a 6-inch pot,
made what looked like single plants, 3 feet high
and as much through, by December, and when
used for decoration in the mansion was very much
admired. Its leaves are about two feet long, and
three inches broad in the widest part, beautifully
plicated, or folded lengthwise, and bent sickle
shape, so as to fall gracefully all around the pot.
The folds in the leaves make it appear to have
several shades, varying from a very light to a dark
green color. It is, I think, best treated as an an-
nual, and sown in successional batches. I intend
growing it by hundreds. It seems to me not very
particular about temperature, but a friend living
in Co. Meath, who recommended it to me, says
he tried it outside there during the last summer,
and it was not satisfactory. It is, however, worth
a trial in sheltered situations in the south of Eng-
land.— IVm. Taylor, in Gardener s Chronicle.

Packing Cut Foavers. — During a year I re-
ceive some hundreds of boxes of flowers from all
parts of Europe, and in seven cases out of ten
these flowers are completely ruined by being
packed in dry cotton wool. Of all packing ma-
terial for delicate blossoms, it is the worst I know.
The best is clean, fresh wood moss (Hypnum),
and a little tissue paper may be wrapped around
each flower, when large, or around the clusters or
bunches when small. If moss be not at hand,
then soft, green leaves are preferable to cotton
wool, or the good flowers may be carefully ar-
arranged among commoner ones without any
other packing except a wet newspaper ; better still,
blotting paper at top and bottom of the box or
basket. Nearly all flowers are better cut in the
bud stage, just before opening. So cut, they pack
more firmly, and travel more securely than when
fully expanded, and thus give far more satisfaction
on their arrival. The buds of daffodils, irises,
water lilies, roses, gladioli, tulips, poppies, etc.,
never carry safely unless packed in some moist
moss or fresh leaves, and in the bud stage. — The
Garden.

Heliotrope Roi des Noirs. — This is, we
think, the deepest colored variety we have yet seen.
Its dense heads of bloom are of an intensely deep
purple, and their perfume also seems to be intensi-
fied compared with that of paler kinds. It is a
most desirable plant to have in the conservatory
at this season if only for its perfume. It is now in
great beauty in the Royal Exotic Nursery, Chelsea,
where we saw it a few days since. — The Garden.

Cattleya Moss.e. — A friend, who has just

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

329

been making a little tour in Ireland, tells me of a
remarkable specimen of this grand old orchid — a
good variety, also, now bearing thirty- nine fuUy-

Disa grandifiora superba and D. Barrelli are
growing like weeds in one corner of a house filled
with herbaceous Calocelarias. The door stands

expanded flowers, in one of the hothouses at open quite near to them night and day, but dry-

Straffan. It is a veritable specimen, well grown, ness is counteracted by copious syringings. In a
perfect in shape, every leaf perfect, and a great a few weeks' time they will be well worth seeing,
contrast to the "made-up " specimens we now and the flower-spikes being both many and vigorous,
then see at exhibitions. In the same collection ' Oncidium macranthum var. hastiferum is also

330

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[November,

blooming in the Straffan collection, its flowers
nearly four inches across. The purple lip in shape
reminds one of a fox's head, and contrasts well
with the broad, golden petals. — The Garden.

Prize Orchids. — The following is a list of the
Orchids in Mr. J. T. Peacock's group at the great
Summer Show, Kensington, recently, for which a
silver-gilt medal was awarded : — Brassia verrucosa,
Burlingtonia venusta, Cattleya citrina, C. Mendelli,
C. Mossise, Cypripedium niveum, C. Isevigatum,
Dendrobium chrysotoxum, D. Pierardii, D. sua-
vissimum, D. tortile roseum, Epidendrum vitel-
linum majus, Laslia majalis purpurata, Lycaste
Skinneri, L. aromatica, Masdcvallia Harryana, M.
Houtteana, Nanodes Medusfe, Odontoglossum
Alexandrae, O. Andersonianum, O. Cervantesii, O.
citrosmum, O. cordatum, O. cordatum superbum,
O. Coradinei, O. gloriosum, O. hebraicum, O. Hal-
lii, O. maculatum, O. nebulosum, O. Pescatofei,
O. Phalaenopsis, O. polyxanthum, O. Roezlii, O.
Rossii, O. triumphans, O. tripudians, O. vexillari-
um ; Oncidium ampliatum, O. Kramerii, O. Mar-
shallianum, O. cucullatum, O. phymatochilum,
and Phajus Wallichii.

We give this list to American readers because
there is a growing feeling that many of these
curious air plants will thrive very well in the open
air of our American summers, and therefore a list
of such as bloom in summer will be of value to
those who may be disposed to experiment with
them. There are no doubt some, perhaps many,
which must be kept under glass all summer, on
account of requiring a very moist atmosphere, but
it is known from actual experience that many will
do admirably hung out under trees.

NEW OR HARE PLANTS.

narrow, and of considerable length. The variega-
tion is of a rich bright goldeci color, frequently oc-
cupying the whole basal half of each leaf, but
sometimes extending along the center, and occur-
ing in distinct blotches. Hence the whole of the
coloration near the growing point is pure chrome
yellow, and this, contrasting strongly as it does
with the bright red tint of the petioles, produces a
very pretty effect. This variety was raised in Mr.
B.'s establishment, and cannot fail to become a
favorite for all decorative purposes. It was one of
the New Plants with which Mr. W. B. gained the
First Prize at the International Horticultural Ex-
hibition, held at Brussels in 1876.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Croton F.LEGANTissiMUS (see illustration on
preceding page). — We had about concluded that
the work of introducing new Crotons would soon
be perfect ; there are already so many good ones.
But the exhibition of the Pennsylvania Hor-
ticultural Society, rel:ently, showed them to so
great an advantage, that it is evident their popu-
larity is a long way from being on the wane. Un-
like many other leaf plants, they are especially
adapted for open-air culture in summer, and thus
afford material for beautiful ornamentation during
all the year.

Here is another very interesting kind, introduced
by Mr. Bull. It is one of the most charming and
elegant varieties yet offered. The leaves are

Names of Plants. — "P\ W. & Co.," New
Albany, Ind., write: "We send by mail to-day a
package, containing sample leaves of the following
plants, of which we should be much pleased to
have your opinion, through the Gardeners'
Monthly :

"First, a sample branch of a plant we ob-
tained from New Mexico two years ago, which has
proven very graceful, handsome and valuable,
as a plant for either basket, vase, or border. It
stands the hottest sun, and is particularly hand-
some, on account of its silvery appearance, which
is not very often found in basket plants. While
the slender stems droop over the sides of the vase,
the crown is covered and hidden by the young
shoots, which are continually springing from the
root. Should be pleased to know its name.

" Second, we also send sample leaves of three
Dwarf Lace Coleus. Do you not think the Dwarf
habit a new and valuable advance in Coleus?
These grow but ten inches high, and flower, while
others in same soil and planted same time, grow
two and two-and-a-half feet.

"Third, we send sample leaves of a variegated
Hydrangea, (Otaksee) which reproduces its varie-
gation in every bud cutting. Is this of any value ?

"Fourth, we send sample leaves of a variegated
Sweet Potato, that makes a very handsome basket
or vase vine, and the variegation does not scorch
in the hottest sun."

[i. This is a form of Artemisia Ludoviciana, one
the wormwoods or "sage brush" of the plains. It
would make a good basket plant. 2, 3, 4, wrapped
in brown paper, were wrinkled and dried to an
extent which precluded any opinion of their value.
—Ed. G. M.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

331

Fruit and Vegetable Gardenia

n

Ur.

SEASONABLE HINTS.

Among the numerous varieties of new fruits
continually coming into market, it must puzzle the
novice which to select. The raiser of novelties —
as in the case of a grape introducer — whose
card is before us, tells us that he had his new
"seedling" alongside of the Concord, Salem,
Hartford, and a dozen others, which all rotted
and blighted, and " fizzled out " generally, while
his glorious " Pride of Grapedom proved all that
could be desirable in a first-class grape." We
have a friend who is fond of growing numerous
grapes. He has thirty kinds in full bearing and
more coming on. His opinion is that " so far as
doing well is concerned, 1 do not find that one
does much better than another, except perhaps the
Delaware and the Catawba. These do not al-
ways ripen very well. That is to say, some green
or immature fruit will always be found among the
mature ones. They all do well. My plan is to
plant in dry ground ; that is, ground in which the
water will surely run away rapidly. I like hard,
solid ground. By digging about the vines some
roots get cut, and these get fungus and molds on
the bruised parts, and this communicates to
the whole mass. And deleterious insects get into
soft ground much easier than when the ground is
solid and firm. I keep weeds and grass from
getting much headway by piling coal ashes
under the plants, and I give the vines as much
rich food as I can spare. They do not care how
much you give them. This is all my secret."
This is the experience of a successful amateur.
He does not grow for market, but for pleasure.
To some extent such a mode of culture could not
be applied on a large scale. But it goes to show
that when " every kind rots," and so forth, it is
to the cultivator and the cultivation, and not the
variety, that we may often place the blame.

There is, however, always pleasure in watching
the progress of some new variety, and in testing
the improvements supposed to be made ; and
while relying mainly on well-known and well-tes-
ted varieties for one's main crop, a judicious ex-
perimenting with new kinds will be found to be a
source of great pleasure.

In looking at what is now considered as sound
practice, and back on the advice we used to give
when such advice was heresy, we often congratu-
late ourselves on the success of our teachings ;
though few seem to remember to whom they are
indebted for what has been taught. Take, for
instance, the shading of fruit in order to get
them to perfection. When the Gardeners'
Monthly was first issued, the general belief was
that it required "sun and air" to ripen fruits well,
and the books teemed with directions to pull oft'
leaves, thin out branches, and tie up shoots, and
expose the fruit if we would have the best success.
We showed that the initial stages of maturity was
a vital, and not a purtly chemical process; and
that this was better secured by shade than by
exposure. It was not good doctrine then, but
now the general practice with those who want
to get the very best bunches of grapes is to put
paper bags on them ; and some say that even
tomatoes are far superior when treated in this way.
But it is necessary that leaves should have the
full light, though the fruit may not ; and a few-
good, large, healthy leaves are preferable to a
good number of small ones. By far too many
branches are left on most trees. When the tree is
in leaf, the one branch smothers out the other, and,
remembering what we have already said about the
value of healthy leaves, few leaves arrive at that
perfection necessary to perfect the best fruit.
Therefore, prune out enough of the weaker
ones to give the rest every chance to develop
their leaves to the fullest extent. Also prune
so as to assist the plant to a conical form, as
this enables the light to act better on all parts
of the tree leaves. If trees have been neglected,
in pruning now severely to get them to this
shape, the result will be to make them throw
out shoots still more vigorously from near the
parts cut away. When these shoots appear in
spring, pull them out while young with the finger
and thumb. The current of sap will then flow
strongly into the shoots left, and the ratio of growth
will, in the end, be nearly equal through all the
branches. The flow of sap through a tree is
nearly like that of w^ater through an uneven
country. A very little obstruction will turn the

332

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[November,

course ; but that, once started, soon becomes as
great a stream in the new as in the old channel.

Apple trees have a habit, when old, of pushing
out sappy shoots along the main branches. These
should be cut away, in addition to a similar thin-
ning, as recommended for the pear.

Dwarf apples and dwarf pears should be ex-
amined now to see what the borer is doing for
them. This is the time when they do the most
destruction, as they are boring down into the stems
for winter protection. A cut with a jack knife up
and down the stems, so as to avoid girdling as
much as possible, is the most certain destruction.
Then, if in spring, before the parent insects begin
to work, oiled paper, or rather tarred paper, be put
about the stem near the ground they can be kept
out. It is strange that with so little time as borer
hunting takes, so many thousand trees should be
allowed to die from their attacks every year.

Above all, for both apple and pear orchards, we
bespeak a liberal dressing — a top dressing of some-
thing or another. If no manure is to be had, even
common road sand will be found to have a bene-
ficial influence.

Poverty of the surface soil is oftener a cause of
fruit failure than "grass," "change of climate," or
many imaginable ills, brought up from some
ghostly cavern of thought, to cover up the poverty
of pocket or of industrial inclinations.

Strawberries are much better when protected
through the winter, no matter how "hardy " they
may be. Very coarse, strawy manure is the best
material, which can be raked off in early spring.
A few inches is sufficient, just enough to keep
the sun off when frozen, which all our readers
know, by this time, is the chief cause of loss by
frost.

I do not think it is generally known that, that
much abused Ailanthus tree, both leaves and bark,
is a very good insecticide, nor that the Thorn
Apple, or Jamestown weed (Datura Stramonium)
is much better. I have found the dust of Stramo-
nium leaves fully equal to, or rather better, than
any of the patent articles sold in the shops — but I
do not apply it to cabbages. Let these leaves be
collected and dried in time, and rubbed or ground
into a powder, and kept dry until spring; and let
every farmer make his own insect powder.

I tried at one time salt vvater, lime water, sala-
ratus water and tobacco water, decoction of Ail-
anthus and ditto of Stramonium. I had my
caterpillars, etc., arranged in groups along a board,
wet them equally all over, and while most of the
other things killed in five . and six minutes, the
Stramonium water killed in four minutes. This
plant is widely diffused, and I believe within the
reach of all. And this is another great advantage
to the farmer, he has not far to go to look for his
remedy — very often has it growing near his place.
This will be found excellent for driving the slug
from cherry and apple trees, but the tree must be
wet and the dust blown on with a good large pair of
bellows.

[Our correspondent has our best thanks for these
very useful hints. — Ed. G. M.]

COMMUNICATIONS.

DEST. AUCTION OF INSECTS.
BY T. B., TRENTON, N. J.

I have noticed of late, in your invaluable jour-
nal, there has been a good deal said about the
destruction of animals and insects most annoying
to the garden and farm, and having been, the
gi'eater part of my life, engaged in battling with
these vermin, I mean from time to time to give
you some account of my experience in these
matters. For, 1 think I kno>v the great value and
importance of the subject to the public generally.
If I have made any discovery or improvement in
these matters, it certainly shall not be hid.

AN INQUIRY CONCERNING PEAR BLIGHT,

BY WM. CREED, ROCHESTER, N. Y.

I recently saw an April number, 1878, of the
Fruit Recorder, in which there is a quotation
from the Gardeners' Monthly concerning the
good as well as the destructive action of linseed
oil upon pear trees, showing the opposite experi-
ence of two separate experimenters ; and to which
a note of the editor is appended stating that the
trees, well spoken of in th? Monthly, were at that
time still models of health after two summers had
elapsed.

From reading the above, at this late date, I am
induced to ask if the said trees still hold out in
health and thriftiness as then represented ? My
object in asking this is that I feel confident that
to stop the ravages of pear blight, it must be by
means of some outward application not yet ma-
tured or discovered, but will come in time, and
counteract its bacterial origin, which is now
generally admitted, and so far, has produced no
champion able to refute this most recent theory of
the disease.

With respect to the use of oil, if one party's ex-

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

333

perience indicates certain death and the other
prospective heahh, by its apphcation, pear growers
are interested to know the why and wherefore of
these diverging lines of experience. There is one |
thing in this oil ciuestion that is not particularly
clear to me and that is, it is matter of guess-work
whether it was boiled or raw linseed oil that was
used in the cases cited. And this query may make
quite a difference as to the intellectual working
out of the success of the one, or the discouragement
of the other. I will state this much however, of
my own experience with a fine thrifty tree detected
quite early in the stages of blight, and to which I
gave an application of linseed oil, that painters
had been using on the premises, but did not pay
any attention whether it was boiled or raw. The
whole tree went to destruction, but could have
been saved by the judicious use of the knife, but I
preferred to let the experiment take its own course.
Since this experience I have applied raw oil to a
few plum and pear trees in healthy condition, and
a year's observation indicates health and encour-
agement, as may be seen by lifting or peeling off
the cellular tissue, the underpart looking green
and healthy, while on the outer part there is no in-
dication of any bad effects. As I understand it,
boiled linseed oil, as distinguished from raw oil. is
by the former containing either litharge or oxide
of manganese as dryers, and, I should judge, two
very doubtful ingredients for the benefit of either
healthy or diseased vegetation.

[The trees referred to were on the grounds of
the Editor of this magazine. They were white
with scale — so white that some appeared white-
washed. The various remedies recommended
were tried and failed. The Editor, traveling in the
South, came across very healthy trees which had
been washed with linseed oil. On his return home
his pear and apple trees were all painted with raw
linseed oil. Every insect was destroyed, and they
have not been a trouble since. The trees to-day,
are models of health. So many people, however,
have killed their trees by using something they
call "linseed oil," that the Editor says no more
about it, than to relate his own experience when it
is asked for. If he had trees suffering from scale
he would not hesitate a moment about using lin-
seed oil ; others must use their own judgment.

Our correspondent is entirely in error in his be-
lief that "no champion has been able to refute the
bacterial origin of pear blight." Prof. Penhallow
has recently given an elaborate scientific paper,
in which he contends that it is the lack of mineral
elements in the soil which causes peach " yellows,"

a disease joined with fire-blight, as referable to
bacteria. This surely is an issue. To our mind,
it is not creditable to what should be called
"science," that two such directly opposite views
are given to the world under its name. — Ed. G. M.]

EDITORIAL NOTES.

The Curculio on the Pacific Coast. — The
Editor looked closely but could see no signs of the
curculio anywhere on the other side of the Rocky
Mountains. They seem to be marching westward,
however. On some wild plum bushes along the
streams near 'Mandan, Dakota, all the fruit had
been attacked by the insect.

A Great Pear Exhibit. — Edwin Satterthwaite,
who always makes a fine exhibit, exceeded him-
self at the last meeting of the American Pomologi-
cal Society. He had 200 varieties, with not one
mean or scurvy dish among the whole. In our
opinion, it was the finest exhibit ever made in this
country, if not in the whole world.

The Best Strawberries. — The Editor of the
Country Gentleman sent to a number of leading
strawberry growers for the names of the three best
strawberries. Not one of them sent the same
three names. Correspondents of the same paper
send poor accounts of many lately-praised new
kinds. The old Charles Downing seems to have
a large number of friends yet ; and the Cumber-
land Triumph holds its own.

Good Strawberries. — The strawberry corres-
pondents of the various agricultural papers are
out in full force with their observations during the
past season. As a general rule, the favorites of
the past two or three seasons have proved good for
nothing; but it is gratifying to know that in al-
' most every case the writer has some new kind
\ in his eye, which will give us all that we lose in
such once-favored berries as Sharpless, Bid well.
Crescent, and so on. Of the new names suggested
we should judge there are about fifty which " are
hkely to prove all that can be desired in a popular
strawberry." >

Cinchona. — We have seen it stated that the
government ought to take it in hand to encourage
the cultivation of cinchona bark for quinine in our
country, "because they have been successfully
grown in California." At the time this statement
was made, the writer of this expressed his doubts
of its accuracy, simply because no other Brazilian

334

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[November,

plant had been found to do well in California. ' left out the house altogether. There was no time
He has since seen the cinchona plants in Berkely to make a new cut. So the reader must derive
County, California, to which allusion was made, his impression from Mr. Blodget's account in Oc-
and can say from actual observation, that they are number, page 304.

not a success by a long way. They were simply ^^^^^^ PEAR.-At the recent exhibit in Phila-
eking out a miserable existence. delphia, two, three and four year old trees were

Grape Vines in City Yards. — We give with exhibited, on which had grown nearly a half
this an illustration of a city yard grape vine, as bushel of fruit. We do not admire such examples
grown by Mr. Lorin Blodget. We append the note of good culture. Nine out of every ten pears should
of a friend who paid a
recent visit to the vine : ^^ ^'

"My visit to Mr. Blod-
get's remarkable grape
vine, in his company, was
a very pleasant one of
some two hours. I per-
formed feats of climbing
from the ground on lad-
ders, dropping from back
windows of fourth story
to back roofs of third
story, thence to lower
depths on other ladders,
holding the while one end
of a I GO- foot tape line ;
Mr. B. holding the other.
We recorded observa-
tions at altitudes and in-
clinations from the center
of gravity that caused
some trepidation to my
unaccustomed head, but
which seemed quite an
every-day affair to Mr. B.
and his little son, who
climb like cat and kitten.
I called out the measure-
ments of the tape, and they are entirely within i have been taken oft" in infancy. Then the fruit
the memoranda Mr. Blodget records of that occa- would have been delicious. These will be no bet-
sion. The vine did not suffer in the least in vigor ter than turnips ; and this is why the Kiefer is

at its extreme ends — from its long journey to all pronounced to be a kind not fit to eat.

points of the compass ; but was strong-growing,

equally matured in every part, and made — almost

to an inch— an equal growth in each direction the j cently-published memoirs of General Dix, is an

same season. The abundant fruit, from whatever , account of his visit- to Dr. Abernethy for advice

part of the vine taken, bore the same testimony of ' on dyspepsia. The queer old doctor said to him :

uniform vigor. Sight, smell and taste— the genii "Sir, you are pretty far gone, and the wonder is

of that occasion— have left with me a picture of you are not gone entirely. If you had consulted

The Best Food for Dyspeptics. — In the re-

strong individuality. The artist had orders to
draw the house and vine in perspective, but he
has only given a flat view of the end of arbor
from the east. He has failed entirely to show the
north view of the vine climbing to the roof, with
an east and west extension of nearly loo feet, and

common sense, instead of the medical faculty,
you could probably have been well years ago. I
can say nothing to you excepting this : You must
take regular exercise, as much as you can bear
without fatigue, as little medicine as possible, of
the simplest kind, and this only when absolutely

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

335

necessary, and a moderate quantity of plain food,
of the quality which you find by experience best
to agree with you. No man, not even a physician,
can prescribe diet for another. A stomach is a
stomach, and it is impossible for any one to reason
with safety from his own to that of any other per-
son. There are a few general rules which any
man of common sense may learn in a week — such
as this : That rich food, high seasoning, etc., are
injurious. I can say no more to you, sir ; you
must go and cure yourself."

Improved Horse-Shoes. — Good hard roads
are desirable to every pedestrian except horses.
The softer it is, the better for the " pedes " of
horses, unless it is too soft to bear the horse's
weight. How to get good, hard roads, and yet
have an elastic shoe, has long been the puzzle.
All improvements so far have been in the direc-
tion of a grooved shoe, with some elastic material
forced into the groove. But in all these cases the
shoe wears out soon, and the owners seem to pre-
fer to risk the wearing out of the horse than the
certain wear of the shoe. Now we are told that
an English mechanic has invented a horse-shoe
composed of three thicknesses of cow-hide, com-
pressed into a steel mould, and subjected to a
chemical preparation. It will last longer than the
common shoe, weighs only one-fourth as much,
does not split the hoofs, requires no calks, and is
very elastic.

Let this English mechanic come to AniLMica
if he wishes to make a fortune for himself instead
of his orrandchildren onlv.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Francis B. Hayes Grape. — We have some
bunches from the originator. It is a medium-
sized, very compact bunch. It would be like the
Telegraph if black. But it is a white grape — or,
rather, an amber color. The flavor is sweet, but,
like the Catawba, it leaves an astringency in the
mouth if its sweetness is "long drawn out." It
strikes us as having a fair field before it for suc-
cessful competition with the numerous white va-
rieties now before the public.

The Best Plums to Plant. — A correspondent
inquires for a list of plums which are found to do
well in the vicinity of Philadelphia. They all do
well. The writer has all the leading kinds, and
no one seems to succeed any better than the other.
For some years he had no fruit, through following

the numerous schemes for saving labor, which
really required more hard work. The last two or
three years he has fallen back on the old method
of shaking the trees, and has all the fruit he de-
sires now.

Root Disease in the Peach in California.
— A California correspondent writes : " Although
a stranger to you, I take the liberty to ask your
assistance to determine the disease or malady af-
fecting the peach roots, samples of which I send
you. The nursery has been affected in a hke
manner for several years past ; but the climax ap-
pears to have been reached with all the peach
stocks gi'own last season, for now over one-half
are either dead or dying. In many instances the
bud refuses to start when the top is removed in
the spring, but the tree soon dies instead. I have
made only one or two observations in regard to it,
and that is, that only peach roots are attacked by
it, and that moisture of soil appears to be favor-
able to it. The smaller sample sent you has al-
ready been killed by it ; the other sample, together
with a section of the top, were taken from a tree
in a fair way to die soon. I notice in the Garden-
ers' Monthly, which I take, there is a consider-
able discussion about the 'yellows.' Has this any
connection with the ' yellows' l' Can you suggest
any remedy for this disease ? If so, please inform
us."

[This disease is produced by one of the small
fungi, known as carbon molds; and is so very
small that even good microscopists have failed to
make out its exact character.

Tlie disease known as the "yellows" is differ-
ent from this ; though that also is brought about
by a parasitic root fungus. There is no cure for
" yellows," because it has done its work before the
grower is conscious of it. The rule is, to get rid
of the trees, and plant others. — Ed. G. M.]

Peach Trees in City Yards. — For small city
yards there are no more satisfactory fruits than
peaches and grapes. We have occasionally noted
the great success of Mr. Blodget, in a city yard in
Philadelphia ; especially in connection with seed-
ling peaches. In a note from Mr. Blodget he
says of these : " I have just picked half-a-bushel,
the last of the matchless Percivals ; and my peo-
ple have put up since Friday last, too quart and
two-quart glass jars of the two Golden Clings.
My crop altogether is larger than last year ; and
while the quality is excellent, the sizes are less
regular. I shall lose several trees — fortunately
not yet the Percivals or Golden Clings, although

336

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[November,

the last have broken very badly with the great
crop."

Vegetables in En(;land and America. —
"B."says: "I notice in Gardeners' Monthly
of August last, a brief review of the history of
market gardening and* seed growing, etc. in Phila-
delphia. I also saw in Gardener's Monthly,
about a year ago, a long article giving details, etc.
of the growing of seeds ; and some, I think, mis-
statements.

I write now for information ; would your con-
tributor kindly tell us the name of the only good
vegetables he calls blanched sprouts of perennial
plants? I am under the impression England has
good lettuce. The late James Vick once asked
the question, after a visit to England, "Why can-
not we have as good lettuce here as there?"
Green peas, I fancy, are superior there; cauliflow-
ers, broccoli, cabbage sprouts, brussels sprouts,
are certainly superior, and are sent to market with-
out being full of slugs. In this connection it might
be well to refer to a letter of the Hon. J. D. Camer-
on, in the New York 7zW(.y,Sep. 5th. After describ-
ing his visit to Hereford on a market-day, he was
surprised to find a well-dressed and intelligent lot
of people. He visits his gardener's mother, who
of course is delighted to see him. All the people
he saw appear to be contented and look as if they
had plenty to eat. 1 am sure they have plenty to
drink. This is the testimony of Mr. Cameron, of
your State — State Senator. Of course Britons do
not profess to grow tomatoes, or melons, as we do
potatoes here, simply because the climate is against
them. String beans and vegetable marrows, to

which your correspondent refers, properly cooked,.
even in England I have found equal to any here.

[There is no need of controversy here, if we
say that both our correspondents are right in some
respects. Our first contributor is correct when he
says that in no part of the world is there so great
a variety of fine vegetp,bles seen as in the markets
of Philadelphia ; but this is owing to its geographi-
cal position. The vegetables best suited to cool
countries are here, with those brought from far
South, and the intermediate location of the city is
favorable to very diversified growths. Blanched
perennials of course means sea kale, cardoons, as-
paragus, etc.

On the other hand, our present correspondent is
correct in his point, that the original contributor
has under-estimated the vegetable productions of
Great Britain. Cool country vegetables do better
in England's cool climate than they do in the
warmer region of Philadelphia. It is only those
vegetables which like a warmer climate, which ex^
eel in this part of the world. — Ed. G. M.]

Seedling from Marie Louise Pear. — Mr. D.
W. Lathrop sends us a pear marked No. i, raised
from Marie Louise, which we cannot compliment
more than by saying it has all the excellence of
that variety when in its best condition. It is
I thicker in proportion to length, and with a richer,
russetty color on one side than we have ever seen
j in its parent. In our climate Marie Louise ripens
! too fast, and a few days after gathering rots at the
I core. If this variety has more conservative quali-
ties in this respect than its parent, we should judge
Mr. Lathrop has a very good thing.

Forestry.

COMMUNICATIONS.

BEECH FORESTS.

BY R. D., WAUKEGAN, ILLS.

I never saw land apparently better adapted to
the growth of beech and chestnut trees than the
bluffs along the western shore of Lake Michigan,
from the Wisconsin line to within ten or fifteen

miles of Chicago. A sandy, gravelly loam for the
most part, intermixed with spots more clayey,
sixty feet above the Lake, thoroughly drained
naturally.

Forty years ago the more sandy knolls were cov-
ered with a growth of red oak, and the more clayey
land with white oak trees. Where I reside, I had
the timber cut off in 1845, built my residence,
1850, and commenced planting in 1851. Every

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

337

kind of tree I can now think of, hardy enough to
endure this chmate, have done well except the
beech and chestnut. When I commenced my
ornamental planting in 1851, 1 had already a num-
ber of trees that I had purchased from Benjamin
Hodge, of Buffalo, and Custead & Elliott, of
Cleveland, in 1848. As far as I recollect, they
all grew very well except the chestnut. They had
no beech trees. Wishing to have a specimen of
every tree that would endure our climate, I sent a
man up to the beech woods in Wisconsin, only
twenty to thirty miles north, and standing on ex-
actly such land, to all appearances, as this ; hun-
dreds of acres of fine beech forests extending from
the edge of the bluffs back a mile or two, and al-
though these woods have long been cut down,
there are still thousands of beech trees in the pas-
tures and on land that has not been cultivated.
The twenty or thirty beech trees brought from
Wisconsin were planted, one here and there,
on my grounds, skirting the lawn, along the edge
of the ravine, etc., and to-day three of them are
standing. The best one, six inches in diameter
and about eighteen feet high ; the next four inches
in diameter, and the next two and three-quarter
inches. On the same soil, with the same care, I
have grown a Norway spruce that measured, when
cut down last year, thirty inches in diameter. It
stood within one hundred feet of the largest beech.
A larch tree standing near this beech, cut down
after standing twenty years, had made an inch in
diameter from the time it was planted. Even a
sugar maple planted several years later now meas-
ures over eighteen inches in diameter. I have
planted purple beeches and weeping beeches over
and over again, but they would all die in two or
three years.

Twenty years or more ago, before the beech
woods were cut down, when the wild or passenger
pigeons were migrating south, they would invari-
ably fly along the edge of the blutt", and nearly
every man who owned a gun would be standing
on the bluff shooting them, just after they had
filled their crops with beech nuts. Hundreds of
them were wounded and left to be eaten by vermin,
and the nuts left in the proper places and condi-
tions to grow. Aside from this, scores of hawks
were preying on the flocks ; and before the white
man came here Indians frequented this place in
great numbers ; yet in all the thousands of beech
nuts that must have been scattered here, there has
never been a beech tree found either on the bluffs
or under the bluffs ; but, what is somewhat re-
markable, in the ravines that have cut their way

through the bluffs, a very few beech trees may be
found, not over twenty trees, in all the ravines be-
tween Chicago and the State line. Land-slides in
these ravines show the different strata, and they
are all very much alike, some of almost clear
gravel, of clay, of sand and gravel mixed, etc. and
as far as I have been able to examine these beech
trees, have found but one strata on which they can
grow — z. e., a strata in which there is little or no
limestone gravel. Now as to the chestnut, hun-
dreds of trees have been planted in and around
our city, mostly twenty to thirty years ago. I do
not know if there is one left, but a few years ago I
knew of two trees ; they had dwindled along for
over twenty years and were two or three inches
through, while on a sandy loam ridge without
gravel, about fifteen miles north and two miles
from the bluff, there stood, a few years ago, a num-
ber of chestnut trees that were then growing very
rapidly, and inay be yet.

Now, as nearly all our gravel is limestone, I
have long been of the opinion that beech and
chestnut trees will not grow in limestone soils. I
have never seen anything on this point in print ;
and although I have inquired of many men living
in beech and chestnut districts, I have never been
able to get any satisfactory information on this
point. My theory got a terrible shaking last
month when on the grounds of Mr. A. R. Whitney,
of Franklin Grove, 111. Mr. Whitney's land is,
in the main, like the ordinary rich prairie lands of
Illinois, strongly impregnated with lime ; and
there I saw a row of chestnut trees and a row of
beech trees, of large' size and thrifty growth. I
remarked to him, that the sight of these trees had
dissolved my twenty years' theory into thin air ; but
when I told him what my theory was, he showed
me that this was not limestone land, but near
where sandstone rock is cropping out, and where
he has quarried out sandstone rock. What is the
reason that the beech will not grow ?

[We should be inclined to the opinion that
the beech will yet grow, and that the fail-
ures arise from soine imperfections in the speci-
mens used. In regard to the indisposition of
many forests to produce young trees, in the cases
which have come under our notice, it has been
from the absence of circumstances favoring the
germination of the seeds. Circumstances favor-
ing germination and circumstances favoring the
growth and vigor of the tree, are often very differ-
ent. In most forests, so far as the observation of
the Editor goes, it is but occasionally that a good
year for seed growth occurs. — Ed. G. M.]

338

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[November,

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Eucalyptus as a Febrifuge. — The ease with
which mere notions come to be regarded as true
scientific deductions is the source of much trouble
to those who desire to advance no further than sohd
facts warrant. The reputation the gum trees of
Australia, species of Eucalyptus, have received as
" Fever trees," is a good illustration of this. It has
been shown in these columns that the immense
growth of these trees necessarily involved a great
draught on the moisture reservoirs of the earth, and
that any rapid-growing tree would dry a swamp as
well as the Eucalyptus. The benefits were as
likely to come from the draining of the soil as from
any peculiar virtue in the resinous exhalations
from the tree. We have now some actual facts,
contributed by J. E. Woods, of Queensland, a bo-
tanical writer of considerable reputation. He says
the "Hodgkins diggings" is a region famous for
fever and ague ; yet species of Eucalyptus are not
only abundant about the tract, but that prevailing
winds blow through hundreds of miles of these
trees before they reach the infected district. — In-
dependent.

Tree Planting in the Isle of Man. — By
direction of Sir Henry Loch, Her Majesty's Com.
missioner of Woods and Forests, a large extent of
Crown lands in the Isle of Man is about to be
planted with forest and ornamental trees. About
five hundred acres are now being so planted on
the mountain called Archallagan, where cabins
have been erected by the contractors for the ac-
commodation of the men.

Yellow Pine. — In this country it has come
about that no one knows what he is reading about
when " yellow pine " is referred to. A number of
very different species are called yellow pine.
White pine has, however, hitherto been spared the
endless confusion which seems inseparable from
the use of common names. White pine has been
Pinus Strobus everywhere, except perhaps some-
times on the Pacific, where Pinus Lambertiana is
known as white pine. Sugar pine is, however, so
general for that species, that white pine will prob-
ably not become general. But now we have
Forestry telling its reader that " yellow pine " is
Pinus Strobus, which is so well known as white
pine.

Willows. — In the discussions on forest culture,
little is said of the willow, which forms a very in-
teresting department. The white willow, Salix

Candida, is often used for coarse work. S. Vinnu-
natis and S. Russelliana, are the most commonly
used in the eastern United States, under the name of
Osier, or basket willow, and S. Forbyana, a variety
of S. rubra, or the red willow is often used for
fine work. In the Editor's recent visit to the

' Northwest a number of fine species were noted
which would evidently be worth introducing for

! basket making purposes.

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Russian Mulberry. — We have inquiries about
this coming in once in a while, though we have
several times told all we know of it. It is a variety
of the morus alba, the common white or silk-worm
Mulberry, and good enough to grow for silk or
timber, but we do not know that it has any special
value over any other variety, which are numer-
ous in this species.

Forestry in California. — We are indebted
to a Santa Cruz correspondent for much valuable
information in regard to forestry in California, of
which we shall make good use as opportunity offers.

The Blue Gum in Florida. — " R. E. P.,"
Jacksonville, Florida, writes: "I notice in the
Monthly for August you say, 'The Blue gum
seems at home in Florida,' and add that one at
Leesburg is ' twenty feet high, with trunks eighteen
inches round, four years from the seed.' That may
be so, but I know that the E. globulus winter-kills
here. It has been tried here by quite a number of
persons, and I do not know of any one living at
present."

[It is just as well that it does not, for from the
Editor's examinations in California it is a timber
tree of very little value after it has grown. It is a
rapid grower — capital where rapid screening is
desired — but there are American trees of rapid
growth, and of more value when grown. — Ed.
G. M.]

Catalpa speciosa in Arkansas. — "L."says:
" I find the Catalpa in this vicinity on Black River,
and I have just procured a three-foot log of it for
the American Museum of Natural History, New
York. There are trees along Black River, in Clay
county, Arkansas, fully four feet in diameter, but
the growth after the first fifteen or twenty years is
very slow. My three-foot specimen—/, e. three
feet in diameter — is about 200 years old, by the
rings. This holds with dozens of logs examined
in the same neighborhood."

1883.1

AND HORTICULTURIST.

339

The White Spruce. — " W. D. K.," Abingdcn.
Va., writes : " I send you by mail tc-day a box
containing cones and branches of an evergreen I
find growing on the top of White Top Mountain,
5700 feet above sea-level; also a balsam-nut,
300 or 400 feet higher. I send it to know what it
is ; it is known here by the name of Lashorn,
rather Lash-horn. The whole southern and south-
western face of the mountain has no timber, except
here and there clumps of dwarfed birch and beech-
grass growing. This evergreen Lash-horn grows
upon the summit — some splendid trees growing

] out where not crowded. I cut the branches I send
! from some seedling I brought out nine to twelve
inches high ; the cones I gathered from an old tree.
I think they are last year cones. I had supposed
heretofore it was the American white spruce, but
do not know."

[Our correspondent's determination is correct.
It is the true white spruce — Abies alba. The
Editor has found it as far south as Roan Mountain,
in North Carolina, where it is in comparative abund-
ance and makes a good timber tree. It does not
do so well at low elevations. — Ed. G. M.l

Natural History and Science,

COMMUNICATIONS.

PIMUS KORAIENSIS Sieb. & Zucc.
BY JOSIAH HOOPES.

Through the kindness of Chief Engineer G. W.
Melville, Li. S. N., I have enjoyed an opportunity
of studying some excellent specimens of this in-
teresting species of pine, collected by him during
the late voyage of the unfortunate " Jeannette " to
the Arctic regions. These specimens consist of a
branch clothed with foliage, two immature cones,
and a few mature seeds, and were collected in the
District of Tuknansk, in Eastern Siberia. It was
seen along the banks of the Lena, Yenisei and
Obi Rivers, forming a tree about thirty feet in
height, with a trunk about ten inches in diameter
at base. The collector further states that it fruits
abundantly, and " the edible seeds are used by
the natives as food, and by travelers as nuts." It
is interesting to note that this heretofore compara-
tively rare species has a wider habitat, and is more
numerous than has generally been supposed, al-
though reported as having been found up to the
Amoor River, which takes its rise in the mountain
range dividing the Lena from the Amoor; hence
it was reasonable to suppose it was more generally
distributed throughout Siberia and adjacent
islands. Siebold found it in Kamtschatka ; and
various authors have described it in the list of
Japanese Coniferse, but only in the latter as an
introduced species, where it is said to be quite rare.

Pinus Koraiensis is placed by Dr. Engelmann.
in his recent revision of the genus Pinus, in the
sub-section Cembrae, of his first section, Strobus.
It is distinguishable from the section Eustrobi by
reason of the parenchymateous ducts, and with
leaves sparingly serrulate, scarcely denticulate at
tip. This nut-bearing pine is well marked
throughout, and especially so in its cones and seeds,
the latter being wingless, subangulate, flatly com.-
pressed, leaving on both sides of the scale when
removed, remarkably deep impressions. The
cones are very distinctive, with long reflexed
scales, terminating in an abrupt mucro-like apex.
The leaf-characters in the specimens before me
coincide with the published description given by
Dr. Engelmann, in relation to the absence (or
nearly so) of hypoderm or strengthening cells, as
well as in other peculiar features of the Cembran
group.

Murray, in his "Pines and Firs of Japan," re-
cords its height from ten to twelve feet, yet Parla-
tore, on the authority of Perfetti, gives it at " some-
times thirty to thirty-three feet." The latter is
corroborated by Chief Engineer Melville, thus
showing conclusively that it is a true northern
species, attaining only its greatest size near the
extreme limits of arboreal vegetation ; and yet,
like all other species of nut-pines, it never forms a
large-sized tree.

This species will no doubt make a valuable
addition to our list of ornamental Conifers, as its
hardiness is unquestioned, and the foliage is as
attractive as any other of the white pine group,

340

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY,

[November,

unless we except the P. excelsa. In England it
has proved reliable, and with us the small plants
show evidences of success.

[This interesting contribution to botanical ge-
ography, was made to the Academy of Natural
Sciences, of Philadelphia, recently. — Ed. G. M.]

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Common Names of Plants.— The English
magazines continue to discuss this subject, evi-
dently misunderstanding the essential point of the
question. For instance, in a recent issue of the
Garden a correspondent triumphantly inquires if
it would not be very absurd to say Pyrus dump-
lings, Vitis pudding, or Cerasus pie, instead of
apple dumpling, plum pudding, or cherry pie?
No one is urging such an absurdity. Everybody
knows what is meant by apple, grape and cherry ;
these names are really common names. It is the
coining of names and pushing them out as com-
mon when they are not common. For instance,
in a recent issue of the proceedings of the London
Biological Society, one M. Delauny communicates
a paper on the instinct of animals in selecting
medical plants, and talks of "the dog-tooth grass"
as being a valuable emetic and purgative. We
will venture a guess that even our good friends of
the Garden do not know what the writer means,
though they are right on the spot. Let us empha-
size the point, that we have no objection to com-
mon names, but with the very uncommon ones.

Hogs and Health. — A curious lawsuit recently
occurred in England. Some one wanted the hog-
pens of the poor removed, and the usual certifi-
cates of the doctors were to hand that hog-pens
were very unhealthy. Legal advice was obtained
for the poor people, and statistics brought out to
show that that particular spot was the healthiest
in the whole place. To clinch the case, a carload
of chubby children was dumped down in the
court room to show that they were the pictures of
health. But the hard-hearted court ordered the
pig-pens abolished.

Ravens in Alaska. — While collecting plants
on Wrangel Island, the Editor was surprised at
the tameness of the shore ravens of that part of
the world. They would sit on stumps and enjoy
their meals of stale fish entirely without concern.
On one occasion, to test their tameness, he walked
quietly towards one, and approached within five
feet before the bird flew away. It was afterwards

found that these birds are held sacred by the
Alaska Indians. The children are taught never
to kill one, and are punished when they do. They
believe in a kind of purgatory, where the souls of
the imperfect suffer the pain of hope deferred, in
their endeavor to reach the nice, warm place
which is the Alaskan Heaven. Many of these
souls are detained in ravens. That is, a raven
may have a detained spirit for its essential being,
and hence, naturally, they receive Indian protec-
tion. Their voice is often marvelously like that of
some scolding human beings; and more than
once the writer has started "as if shot," when in
these wild woods, by supposing some Indian was
yelling at him from behind.

The Linn.ka. — Possibly no plant could more
worthily commemorate the great Botanist than
this modest little flower. L^p to the time of Lin-
naeus it was supposed to be a campanula, but on
his tour through Sweden, when still a young
man, he saw the distinction, and his friend Grono-
vius, the Dutch botanist, named the plant, in his
honor, Linnsea. In the writer's library is a pic-
ture of the young botanist, clothed in his travel-
ing clothes, and with a brancli of the Linnaea
ready to put into his botanical box. As the fame
of Linnaeus is so universal, so seems the growth of
this little plant. It not only is common in North-
ern Europe, but over the northern part of the
American continent. It was among the first to
catch the eye of the writer of this on his first en-
trance, recently, into the Douglas spruce woods of
Washington Territory ; and all through British
Columbia, and high northward in Alaska, it was
rare to make an excursion without walking over
Linnaea borealis. It is not by any means a showy
plant ; but as emblematical of the universality of
the modest genius of Linnaeus, no better could
have been taken.

The Earthworm. — It would be interesting to
know just where everything made its first appear-
ance on the globe. We only know that all things
play the role of travelers. The eaithworm is no
exception. It has not got to Manitoba yet ; but it
soon will be. It is not so many years since they
were not in Minnesota ; but they are very abun-
dant about Minneapolis now, and possibly through
most of that State.

Ferns of the United States. — Mr. Geo. E.
Davenport has recently issued a table showing
the distribution of ferns in the United States.
The number of species so far described is 155.

AND HORTICULTURIST.

341

In distribution New York is the banner State, 52
species being found within its territory ; Pennsyl-
vania has 42; Vermont, 45; Michigan has 47;
and Florida, by the help of tropical forms, 46.
Only 2 species are found in Nevada, and 4 in
Wyoming, 4 in the Indian Territory, 3 in Idaho,
and but 9 in Iowa. Little Rhode Island has 34.
Vermont has the greatest number of species as
compared with territory, and may, on this account,
lay claim to be the great fern State. Asplenium
Trichomanes and Pteris aquilina have the widest
distribution, being found, the former in 35, and the
latter in 39 States, Polypodium vulgare has been
found in 33 Stales. Adiantum pedatum occurs in
35 States. The rarest fern is Schiza?a pusilla, in
New Jersey. — Independent.

The Vanilla Bean in the L'nited States. —
Few things give a better idea of the immense ex-
tent of the United States, than the fact that al-
most any vegetable product of the world will grow
in some part of it. It now appears that we have
the vanilla ; not only growing, but native. Mr.
A. H. Curtiss, the well-known Florida botanist, in
a sketch of an exploration, furnished to the Flori-
da Dispatch, says :

" During another cruise I penetrated the borders
of the Everglades, at a point about thirty miles
east of Cape Sable. The mainland shore was
there skirted with a light forest of mahogany and
other tropical trees. F'ollowing a creek which is-
sued from it, we soon emerged into a round, fresh-
water lagoon, about a mile in diameter, in the
center of which was a beautiful round island. A
creek emptying into it from the north I call Vanilla
Creek, because on its banks grows the only vanilla
ever found in the United States. This species
(Vanilla planifolia) is a thick, fleshy, leafless vine,
which runs rampant among weeds and bushes,
simulating, as it were, a slender, green snake in its
color, form and curves. This little creek is one of
the small outlets of the Everglades ; it has cut a
channel through the underlying coral-rock, and is
bordered with a low growth of saw grass and
mangroves only a few feet in height."

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Wild Tea.^ — To the great number of "substi-
tutes for Chinese tea " already on the lists, a Flori-
da correspondent sends us a common weed of that
section for name, which proves to be one of the
mallows — Sida stipulata.

The Dwarf Almond. — Mr. L. B. Case. Rich-
mond, Ind., writes: " During the past year or two
I have often mused over the too-common (?) forms
of double-flowering dwarf almonds in common

cultivation ; viz., the rose-colored and white varie-
ties. Professor Gray, in his Field Botany, says :
'prunus nana, .^ .^ .^ handsome rose-colored
( or by variation white ), usually full-double
flowers,' etc. — seemingly acknowledging only one
species. Wood says, ' Prunus nana, dwarf single-
flowering almond, and Prunus lanceolata, dwarf
double-flowering almond, both from Russia.' Sir
Joseph Paxton says, 'Amygdalus nana, flowers
red, 2 feet high, from Russia,' and ' Amygdalus Si-
berica, flowers red, 6 feet, from Russia;' also,
'Armeniaca Siberica, flowers pink, 6 feet, from
Siberia.' Again, the Treasury of Botany says,
' Prunus Siberica is like a small apricot, only
smaller, and Prunus sinensis a small greenhouse
shrub, with double white flowers.' Now some of
our best-informed and most experienced nursery-
men offer Prunus Japonica multiplex, a double
dwarf rose almond, and Prunus sinensis, the
double dwarf white almond, and perhaps many
others name other varieties or synonyms. I have
i on my lawn an ordinary double-flowering rose-
colored variety, probably Prunus nana, and also a
form of the white variety, with double white
flowers — a little later to bloom in the spring, and
the flowers set closely together along the branches,
producing at least one-third more bloom than the
old variety. Again, it seems to ripen its foliage
soonest in fall, turning to a dark, bronzy crimson.
I enclose a small branch with this. Do you
think, from this imperfect description, the two
forms are of the same species (P. nana)? Of
course Sir Joseph Paxton's Amygdalus nana and
Siberica should read, according to our nomencla-
ture, Prunus nana and Siberica ; but what is his
Armeniaca Siberica? Is it under cultivation in
America, and where can I get it? I should also
be very glad to get Wood's single-flowering form,
as I have never seen it ; but I do not find it oftered
by any nurseryman. How many of these forms
can be reduced to a few ? I know that many of
the readers of the Monthly would be very much
pleased to know the synonyms, and also 10 know
just what we are growing. For myself, I most
sincerely wish you would do so, and then I hope
that anyone having the scarcer varieties will offer
them in the advertising department of the Month-
ly, so that we all can know where to procure au-
thentic specimens ; for they are certainly a most
welcome and meritorious class of shrubs for a
large lawn, cemetery or park, to mass with other
shrubs. True, the old red variety suckers very
badly (the white one in my yard does not), but no
one can expect anything in the shrub or plant

34^

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[November,

line to flourish and prove fully satisfactory with-
out some attention and labor, and why not devote
the same amount of time in removing suckers
frorti around an almond that would be necessary
tb- cultivate any othef plant or shrub.

"One more question, and I will stop. Does not
the fruit of Prunus fasciculata of Utah belong to
this sectioh of the genus Prunus ? It would prob-
ably not prove hardy this far north, but I have
often wondered if it would not add new hfe and
vigor to the peach — perhaps by hybridizing. Cer-
tainly as a stock to bud upon in our Southern
States, I imagine that many of our short-lived trees
of foreign origin could be materially benefited by
infusing into them some of our native blood, /. e.,
vitality.

"The Gardeners Chronicle for September, ist,
1883, ji St received, on page 266 says, 'Prunus triloba
was first described by Dr. Lindley, in the Garde?i-
ers Chronicle for 1857.' I have no idea where I
could obtain access to it. Is it in any of the pub-
lic libraries of Philadelphia ? "

[A full set of the Gardeners Chronicle is in the
library of the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia — as are almost all works needed for
botanical references.

So far as we can judge by the lea\es of two
double forms, and without any fruit, we should
say the double white and double pink dwarf
almond are both forms of Amygdalus nana. We
have never seen authentic specimens of Amygda-
lus Sibirica of Loddiges. Prunus fasciculata, of
California and Utah, is a dwarfish plant, very
nearly allied to the true almond.

About Philadelphia the dwarf almond is so
much attacked by a disease similar in its sudden
results to the fire blight in the pear, that it is not
as popular as it used to be. — Ed. G. M.]

A Wild Rose. — "N," Louisville, Ky., writes:
"We mailed you, two days ago, sample of a
flower, etc., of a rose we found growing wild here
— that is, one plant. Would like to know name of
same."

[This appears to be the Cherokee rose, which,
after all, is probably but a form of the Macartnev
rose — a native of China; and, though "wikl,"
probably not indigenous to America. — Ed. G. M.]

Twining of Vines. — "Constant Reader,"
Shoemakertown, Pa., asks: "Would you be kind
enough to give the reason why the Lima bean and
the hop vine climb the pole in opposite directions?
No doubt it would be interesting to many readers
of the Monthly. If vou would be kind enough to

answer in the October number, you would great-
oblige."

[Some botanists conceive that the primal form
of plant life is membranous, and that it coils to
make stem. We might then assume a moss to be
formed from some such a plant as a marchantia
or liverwort, and eventually a more woody stem
be developed. This suppositious coiling may be
represented by the funnel-form papers coiled up
by grocers or confectioners. The plant, ot course,
continues through life to take the direction marked
out for it at the first coil, in whichever direction
that may be. It may be supposed that there are
structural peculiarities in the seed which make it
easier for the first coil to go in one direction,
rather than in the other. — Ed. G. M.]

Colors of Flowers. — "The enclosed is clipped
from an English paper, Public Opinion, of June 2,
1883, and " D. W." thinks it may be used in your
Gardeners' Monthly:

'Mr. Grant Allen, in his recently published
work under this title, briefly sums up his views on
the genesis of flower colors as follows : ' Most of
the very simplest flowers are yellow. Many of the
simple flowers in each family (except the highest)
are apt to be yellow. The more advanced mem-
bers of very simple families are usually white or
pink. The simple members of slightly advanced
families are usually white or pink. The most ad-
vanced members of all families are usually red,
purple, or blue. Almost all the members of the
most advanced families are purple or blue. The
more advanced members of the most advanced
families are almost always blue, unless spotted or
variegated.' In opposition to the view first enunci-
ated by Goethe, and that now held by almost all
botanists and vegetable physiologists, Mr. Grant
Allen maintains that the stamens of a flower are
not modified petals, but on the contrary, that these
last are (as a later formation), modified stamens —
a view that will probabl) receive but few adher-
ents.' "

[We are glad to give the above as a piece of in-
formation. It is, however, but right to say that we
have read and followed closely Mr. Allen's papers
in Nature, and do not regard his ideas as having
any fair scientific foundation. We look on them
as nothing more than shrewd guesses. — Ed. G. M.]

Ptekis tremula in Connecticl't. — It may be
remembered that a Cambridge correspondent last
year took exception to the statement of another
that this fern was wild in Connecticut. The latter
has made another examination this year and now
writes from Torrington : "Since I last wrote to you
I have been to see Mr. Slocomb, gardener to C. L.
Mitchell, New Haven, Conn., a man possessing a

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

343

good knowledge of ferns, and he tells me the one on a large bed of rocks near by, and how it came
in question is Pteris arguta, not tremula. I can- 1 here I cannot yet ascertain. But what I am pre-
not say it is really wild here, as I can only find it | pared to say is that it is hardy here."

Literature, Travels and Personal Notes.

COMMUNICATIONS.

PROHIBITION OF AMERICAN TREES IN
EUROPE.

BV EXPORTER, N. Y.

By one of the last foreign mails our German cor-
respondent sends us clippmgs from German papers,
which we forwarded at once to the State Depart-
ment in Washmgton, givmg the " Berne Conven-
tion " (July 4, 1883) Phylloxera law; according to
which England, France, Austria, Hungary, Ger-
many, Belgium and Switzerland, agree not to pass
any plants over their border, but either destroy
them or return them, even if accompanied by a
sw^orn certificate that no vines have been grown
within thirty yards from the shipment ; as long as
such shipment comes from any country outside of
their convention. In other words, they establish
a black list, and the United States, of course, are
at the head of it.

Now this is a crying evil, for the oath of one
man is as good as that of a conventionalist, and
our Government should look after this ostracising
of plants, and influence these silly laws to be ap-
plied in a more moderate form, securing the con-
ventionalists that protection from the plague, they
are looking for. But here we have sold this spring,
goods to the different countries in the plant line,
for fall delivery, and we do not know how to reach
our customers.

To you, as an organ in the trade, we direct these
grievances, trusting that the press may find a way
out of this dilemma and arouse the officials to ac-
tion. Or is this to be a second " pork exclusion?''
Trichinae, phylloxera, what next? A beastly coun-
try ours must be in the eyes of foreigners, if we
stand idle. Join the convention ? We hardly can,
unless we wish to draw a wall around us. But to
insist that the oath of an American before a foreign
Consul is just as valid as that of any German,
Englishman or Frenchman, and claims the same

belief, is in our opinion, the duty of our State De
partment to enforce with those conventionalists.

Since the 12th of July, this law is in force abroad,
and we had the grandest trouble to convince Ger-
man Custom House authorities, that Dutch bulbs
were no plants — but meant to become plants
(when, as a compliment, a few bulbs were sent
from Holland to a friend in Germany). Then we
succeeded in getting them passed, but to-day we
are informed, the law is applied also to bulbs.
Poor tuberose 1

[While we are suffering from cabbage worms,
pea weevils, codling moths and what not, imported
from the old world, it is strange that the old folks
should kick up like this — and so absurdly too.
The phylloxera is already in Europe, in myriad
millions, and far more hkely to spread by inter-
course among each other, than by anything they
may get from us. And England too, a party to
this farce! A country which has phylloxera in
almost every grape border — which raises "hot-
house vines" in almost every nursery — and which
hopes, of course, to do a good deal of " shopping "
with her associates. America could live and pros-
per without any of these countries, and might very
well afford to shut out all importations of every
description from abroad. It could afford to retali-
ate by just such a regulation. But she has the
good sense to know that she cannot get any good
at all without the risk of some attendant evil, and
is perfectly willing to take the evil with the good,
and trust to human knowledge and human pro-
gress to improve the good and conquer the bad.

The following, letter explains itself:

Dep't. of State, Washington,

October 15, 1883.
"Fro/. Tlioiims Meehan, Editor Gardeners' Mon-
thly :
"Sir — Your letter of the 5th inst., relative to the
prohibition of the importation of plants into the
States participant in the Berne Convention of July
4, 1883, has been received. In reply, I have to in-

344

THE GARDENERS" MONTHLY

[November,

form you that this Department has already taken
action in reference to this subject, by instructions
to our Ministers in the principal countries of Eu-
rope, and that every effort will be made to have
the unnecessary restrictions complained of, re-
moved. The result of the correspondence upon
this subject will be promptly made public, for the
benefit of those interested.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

" Frederick T. Frelinghuysen."

It is to be hoped, for the sake of common sense
in human nature chiefly, that the contracting
parties will see soon how silly they have acted.
Common sense, however, does not seem to be a
very common article among the rulers of the old
world. Republics make mistakes sometimes, but
these asinine exhibits of the old-world folks, must
be a source of comfort to those who have faith in
popular self rule. — Ed. G. M.]

QUALIFICATIONS OF GARDENERS.

BY J. B., FREDERICTON, N. B.

I read with much interest and satisfaction, in
the August Monthly, page 232, Mr. H. B. EU-
wanger's remarks on the Manetti Rose. I have
known of considerable use being made of the
Manetti, in London nurseries, and have experi-
mented enough to prove the stock to be of great
advantage in certain cases, explained so well by
the above named gentleman.

I would like to make some remarks on another
matter. Some time ago I read an article headed,
"The Horse Everybody Wants." This, of course,
had reference to breeding and training the right
kind of saleable animals. It suggested to me, "A
Gardener Everybody Wants." The former must be
bred and trained by man, the latter must train
himself to be a practical working gardener. The
qualifications he may soon find out. From my
own experience, few "kid glove" gardeners are
kept in the United States ; the demand being for
working, industrious men.

I think you will find most of the successful
horticulturists in the old and new world have been
great workers. This applies to every other branch
of business. Is not skilful manual labor con-
tinually rising in value? The late President Gar-
field is quoted as saying ; " If industry is not genius
it is the next thing to it." I have thought some-
times that, in this progressive age, manual labor is
much undervalued. Do not the young genera-
tion of gardeners need to learn to wash pots
quickly and well, to manage fires economically
and well, to dig ground well, to whet a scythe, to

grade a piece of ground, to cultivate and crop
garden or field systematically, and in order ?
Begin low down and rise, remembering to do a
full amount of work, as well as to do it in the right
way. Industry is a neccessary quality in all who
work for a living. If we take a full week or
month's pay, for less than that amount of work, it
is not honest. A gardener generally gets, or
should get, wages according to quality and quantity
of his work. A gardener that everybody wants
must be reliable, trust-worthy and having the em-
ployer's confidence.

A VISIT TO THE GROUNDS OF C. L.
ALLEN & CO.

BY C. E. PARNELL.

It was on the afternoon of a bright and pleasant
summer day in the early part of August, that I
found myself in the lovely little park that sur-
rounds the railroad station at Garden City. A few-
days previously a refreshing and invigorating rain
had fallen, which had imparted fresh verdure to all
vegetation, and caused the well mown lawn to as-
sume a garb of living-green, while the spray from
numerous fountains sparkled in the sun. It was
through scenes like this, a pleasant walk of ten or
fifteen minutes duration, which brought me to my
destination— the flower farm of C. L. Allen & Co.,
where 1 was so fortunate as to meet with that well-
known horticultural writer, Mr. C. L. Allen, the
senior member of the firm, who welcomed me in a
most cordial manner and, at my request, kindly
accompanied me around the farm.

Upon entering the grounds, my attention was
first attracted by a fine display of LiHum auratum,
covering some three acres of ground, the plants of
which, for size and vigor, far surpassed anything
of the kind that I had ever seen before — each stalk
having from fifteen to thirty buds and blossoms
upon it. This is a lily that is considered diffi-
cult of cultivation, but Mr. Allen says that if
properly cared for, it is as easily grown as L. Lig-
rinum, and at my request, kindly gave the follow-
ing directions for its treatment; This is a lily that,
like speciosum and some others, forms a new bulb
inside of the other for some two or three years,
after which it begins to form small bulbs at the
base of the stem ; and, in order to keep up a stock,
these small bulbs should be taken off and planted
in a rich, deep soil. It is essential that they be
planted deep, in order that the young bulbs may
form above the old one, which they will not do if
the old one is near the surface ; plant at least ten

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

345

inches deep, and they will continue to increase and
bloom for a long time. If a large bulb be planted
near the surface it will gradually waste away.
Young vigorous bulbs being the best for planting.

L. tigrinum fl. pi. speciosum and its varieties
are also grown in immense quantities, as well as
other varieties of this charming tribe, and all of
them seemed to be in the greatest vigor and health
imaginable. I also saw Hyacinthus candicans for
the first time, and I confess that I was quite dis-
appoinced with it. It bears a striking resemblance
in manner of flowering, but instead of the flowers
being in a cluster, they are scattered along the
flower-stem and its branches. Mr. Allen thought
it would do much better if given a moist and
partially shaded situation.

Eulalia Japonica, variegata and Zebrina are
also grown in immense quantities. Mr. Allen con-
siders the Eulalias the most ornamental of all the
grasses, and considers cut sprays of their foliage
indispensible for summer floral- work. An acre or
so of Petunias was alone well worth coming to see,
on£-half being the new dwarf Inimitable — a variety
of dwarf, compact habit, the plants never attain-
ing a height of more than six inches, and which are
literally covered with regular striped flowers — and
for bedding or massing, one of the best. I also
noticed some fine plants of the Grandiflora section.
I also saw an immense quantity of Gaillardia picta
Lorenziana, and from what I have seen of it as
grown here and elsewhere, consider it well deserv-
ing of a prominent position on the list of unworthy
novelties. Balsams are a leading specialty with
this firm, and a display of several acres was indeed
a surprise to me. I have no recollection of ever
seeing more perfect flowers, and I do not see any
room for improvement in this respect. Mr. Allen
called my attention to the " Perfection," a magnifi-
cently formed flower, almost as large as a camel-
lia, and having a longer and stouter stem than
balsams generally possess, which makes it just the
thing for cut-flower work, the flowers being of a
creamy white color.

I also noticed a magnificient collection of Zin-
nia elegans fl. pi., the flowers of which for size and
shape could not be excelled and, as a further evi-
dence of their superior quality, I may be pennitted
to state that Mr. Allen was awarded the first
premium for his collection at the September, 1882,
exhibition of the New York Horticultural Society.
Here 1 also saw a very superior strain of the beau-
tiful Zinnia Haageana. Cannas, Delphiniums,
Pansies, Celosias are also grown in immense
quantities, and all of the very best quality, showing

skill and care in their selection and cultivation.
Ten acres or more of tuberoses, (pearl and
double) grown for their bulbs, was a leading fea-
ture of this establishment, and so carefully were
they cared for that not a weed was to be seen
amongst them. .\nd last, but not least, were the
Gladiolus and, I admit, I cannot begin to describe
them: there they were in all their beauty before me,
acres being occupied with them, and almost every
shade of color being represented, from the bright
vermilion scarlet of Brenchleyensis, to the almost
pure white of La Candeur.

Space could not be afforded me to mention the
numerous varieties, but a few of the most beauti-
ful were Virgil, Meyerbeer, Aure, Dr. Lindley,
Isaac Buchanan, Pasquin, Flamingo and Gen.
Sheridan, the latter being a superb seedhng, not
yet ready for distribution.

A noticeable feature of this establishment is the
remarkable accuracy in the names of the dift'erent
varieties. Handling as they do such an immense
stock (over a million and a half of Gladiolus
bulbs last season) it would seem a very difficult
affair, but the business is so systematized that mis-
takes are almost impossible. Another striking
feature was the entire absence of weeds. Mr.
Allen says it is a rule with him to cultivate
thoroughly, a cultivator being run through every-
thing at least once a week, and, if at all possible,
after every rain, even if it is twice or three times a
week — this done very little hoeing is required, and
the ground is left in the best possible condition.
Mr. Allen says that, to most persons, weeds are a
blessing in disguise — they cultivate and hoe to de-
stroy the weeds and are rewarded with large crops.

Unfortunately, I was limited as to time, which
prevented my taking more copious notes, but if
this brief description will prove of interest to some
of the readers of the Monthly it will not have
been written in vain.

OUR TRIP EAST.

BY " PILGRIM."

We started from— well, it would not interest the
horticultural world to know where, so we will al-
low that to remain unknown. Our first stop was
at Allegheny City, Pa., where we visited the Alle-
gheny Parks, of which Mr. William Hamilton is
the efficient Superintendent, and who is ably as-
sisted by Mr. John Herron, who has charge of the
Floral department. Making ourselves known, we
received kind and courteous treatment, and were

■346

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[November,

highly pleased with the excellent appearance of
the Parks on the whole, and some of the bedding
in particular. We saw two very fine pieces of car-
pet bedding ; the principal features of each were
medallion portraits, one of Lincoln, the other of
Washington. These were composed of Echeveria,
and the two medallions contain over 5,000 of these
plants. On either side of the head of Washington
were beds of different sorts of alternanthera ; and
here we saw, for the first time, the new yellow al-
ternanthera, Aurea nana, in contrast with such
sorts as Amoena, Spectabilis and Aurea. Messrs.
Hamilton and Herron say they received a few
plants of this new sort from the originators, Messrs.
Woods, Beach & Co., New Brighton, Pa., on trial.
They have it planted in the most conspicuous po-
sition in the Parks. The chief merits of the plant
are its bright, yellow color, and dwarf, compact
habit. Mr. Hamilton says it is all that could be
desired for a yellow-foliaged plant for carpet bed-
ding and borders. Although, on account of the
smoke from bituminous coal, some plants and trees
do not flourish in these grounds, yet the Parks are
the pride of the citizens of Allegheny City, who
are to be congratulated upon their possessions.
We passed hurriedly through the greenhouses,
and saw some fine specimens of rare and beautiful
palms, dracenas, crotons, orchids, etc. We would
have gladly lingered in these grounds and green-
houses, but our time was limited, and we were re-
luctantly compelled to depart.

It was years since we had visited the Allegheny
Cemetery, now located in the Seventeenth Ward,
Pittsburg, so we concluded to go and see what
changes time had wrought. Having reached the
main entrance, on Butler Street, we passed
through the gate and rested for a few moments in
the large reception room. Their large, commo-
dious office building is built of cut stone, and pre-
sents a very imposing appearance. The tower,
containing the large clock, is octagonal in form,
and is nearly 100 feet in height. Upon making
inquiry for our friend John Chislett, Esq., Superin-
tendent, we were pained to learn that "he sleeps
the sleep that knows no waking." Though he has
departed, the improvements made under his care-
ful supervision still remain. Our next inquiry was
for Mr. David Woods, the Superintendent of the
floral and nursery department ; and were informed
that he had resigned to accept the superintendency
of the Homewood Cemetery, in the eastern part
of the city, a comparatively new cemetery, of
some 200 acres in size. We would gladly have
called to see him, but time would not permit.

I We found our old friends gone, with feelings akin

to those of the poet, when he wrote :

[ " Wlien I reiueuiber all

I The friends so linked together

I've seen aiiiund me fall.

Like leaves in wintry weather,
I feel like one who treads alone
Some banquet hall deserted ;
Whose lights are tied, whose garlands dead,
And all but me departed.'"

We wandered through these grounds, our minds
intent upon the past and the prospects of the fu-
ture, and did not care to make notes of the
changes. When we next visit this great city of
the dead, we shall endeavor to picture it for the
readers of the Monthly to a greater extent.

As a change of scene will cause a change of
minds, we then started for the hotel, intending
to have a good night's rest, preparatory to pro-
ceeding further upon our journey. On our travels
through the avenues of the Iron City we saw
many fine residences, whose grounds displayed
taste and a large expenditure of money in the way
of floral ornamentation.

The next morning we proceeded upon our
journey towards the city of Brotherly Love.
After securing quarters and lunch, we wended
, our way to Laurel Hill Cemetery. Arriving at
j the north entrance, we wandered through it,
and thence to the central division, and passing
through this portion, we then emerged into the
Southern portion, and were highly pleased with
the appearance of them, which were in perfect or-
der. The cemeteries of the East are progressing
fast, and fully up to the modern improvements of
the younger cemeteries of the West. We also had
the pleasure of visiting the greenhouses of David
Fergusson & Sons, just opposite the Cemetery,
where we found a very choice selection of plants,
in an "A I " condition. We were accompanied by
i Mr. Fergusson, who pointed out to us all new va-
rieties, etc., which were quite numerous. After
seeing all that could be seen there, we then took a
short ride down the Schuylkill to Fairmount
Park, where we visited Horticultural Hall, and
saw some rare plants, and beautiful bedding
of alternanthera and echeveria, in artistic style,
which amply repaid us for our visit, as it
was grand, and impossible to describe on paper.
On our return to the city we stopped for a few mo-
ments at Girard College ; here we found what
we considered the finest bedding we had seen, ar-
ranged in the grandest possible style and new and
original designs ; two of each kind opposite each
other, on the path leading to the main building.
These were planted with echeveria, alternanthera
of difl'erent varieties ; the different foliaged gera-

AND HORTICULTURIST.

347

niums were also used with good effect, and here
and there a large palm to add beauty to the scene.

We then departed for the metropolis, and arriv-
ing there, we visited Central Park with much
pleasure, as it had been just twelve years since our
last visit. But here we were disappointed ; it be-
ing far behind its record in former years in our
opinion. It seems as though it had been on the
down-grade instead of advancing ; consequently
our stay was short. We then betook ourselves to
Greenwood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, and were
highly elated with this beautiful resting place of
the dead. The roads, walks, and everything in
such good order, that it certainly reflects great
credit upon its management.

We must here bid you farewell, trusting to be
able to continue our journey to the eastward with
you in another issue, with your kind permission.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

To Intelligent Correspondents. — All com-
munications relating to advertisements, subscrip-
tions, or other business, must be addressed to the
publisher, 814 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

All referring to the reading matter of the maga-
zine must be mailed to the editor, Germantown, Pa.

No express packages for the editor received tin-
less prepaid ; and marked '' Paid through to Ger-
mantown, Pa."

A School of Horticulture at the West. —
Concluding his address at the Horticultural ban-
quet in Philadelphia, Mr. Oliver Gibb, Jr., of Min-
nesota, said: "One word more, Mr. President)
and now I want the attention of the millionaires,
as I see several of them present. As we have
looked admiringly and may be with a little envy
to-day upon the smiling face in marble of the sturdy
old merchant, in Girard College, have not some of
you on this occasion, or have you not at some
other time, had the thought come into your mind :
' Oh, what could I do with my wealth to create
such a memorial as this institution ? What would
do so much good, what would make me so hon-
ored and so loved as this ? What other institution
can I endow, that will give me a place among the
few names that are not to fade out of the memory
and records of man, and enable me, if perchance
I shall be permitted, when the great change comes,
whatever it is, to retain an interest in earthly
scenes, to look over my work in this life and watch
and enjoy its beneficent results hereafter?' It
may seem to you that the places of great endow-

ments are all filled, that nothing else can be de-
vised beyond the commonplace; but gentlemen,
the philanthropist who comes forward to found
and endow a school of Horticulture and Forestry
in the Northwest will provide for the greatest need
of the times and for all future time in that golden
empire, and will place his figure in bold relief
against the Western sky, to be gazed upon with
veneration and aftection, and grow brighter and
grander in the view ; and when in the far future
mere military heroes shall be forgotten or looked
upon as curiosities of a barbarous, or semi-barbar-
ous past, every forest in the West, every improved
fruit or flower, every improvement of the face of
nature in city or country, from the advancement
of the culture of plants, every happy home, will be
associated with his name. The whole question,
whether hundreds of square miles of the North-
west shall remain, or relapse into a desert, or be
made to blossom into a land of homes; the question
whether other hundreds of square miles shall wait
for generations to grow comfortable or by the short
cuts of knowledge prove horticulture and forestry
a relief to those who are there now, or are soon to
follow, can be solved by such an institution, liber-
ally endowed, as no other means can do it. And
when horticulture and forestry shall become es-
tablished over the West by such an institution,
nothing else can so train young men and young
women in these learned professions, to continue
the work to the end of time. Our State colleges
of Agriculture are doing all they can for these
sciences, but their means are too limited, and their
liberty is too circumscribed, by lack of patience
and appreciation of the average politician who goes
to the legislature. I am sorry to say they are not
all the pets of the legislature, as it is said is the
one in Michigan. We want a school that can
work with scope and means and freedom on long
headed and level headed plans for the public good
and yet be out of reach of popular clamor. We
want a school established with a central head and
with experimental stations in the several natural
divisions of soil and climate, a school that will
know no State lines, and nothing that is not or not
likely to be practical. Where is the happy miUion-
aire or syndicate of millionaires, who will give it to
us ?"

The Discovery of the Pot.a.to in Arizona.
— This is the title of a very pleasant paper in the
Overland Monthly for May, by Mr. J. G. Lem-
mon. Mr. and Mrs. Lemmon collected a quantity
of the tubers of the native Solanum Fendleri and
Solanum Jamesii ; and these have been widely

348

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[November,

distributed for trial under cultivation. Mr. Lem-
mon gives a histors' of the potato, and of these
Arizonian forms in connection therewith ; endeav-
oring to give all that has been written in regard to
them. He singularly overlooks what is, perhaps,
the fullest account of any trial made with them,
given in the proceedings of the Academy of Na-
tural Sciences of Philadelphia, for October 13th,
1874, and which work must be in the library of
the California Academy of Sciences, and which
paper gives the result of eight years trial with one of
these species. It is there stated that this species
when first planted had tubers about the size of a
bullet, and had the bark or skin roughened by the
free development of tuber cells. At the end of
this period some had developed to tubers nearly
as large as a walnut, oval, flattened, and with the
smooth skin of a modern potato — and this, not by
sowing the seed, but merely by selection from the
tubers raised from the original tubers. It is re-
markable, seeing how much that communication
to the Academy favors Mr. Lemmon's idea of
the probable origin of the potato from the Arizona
forms, that, in a chapter purporting to go over the
whole ground, he should have overlooked this.

The Profits of Misfortune. — A funny paper
gives the following :

"Miss Gushington (to young widow whose hus-
band has left a large fortune) : "That is the four-
teenth mourning costume I have seen you wear in
three days, and each lovelier and more becoming
than the other." Young Widow: "Oh 1 my dear, 1
have forty ; but such a bother as they were to have
made! At one time I almost wished that poor
dear Geoi'ge hadn't died 1 "

This would seem extravagant, did we not find
something in every-day-life to match it. Riding
around through the suburbs of Victoria, admiring
the pretty gardens, and getting information from
the hack-driver, as usual with travellers, he told us
of one nice place, that the owner and her husband
started life as pie-bakers in that town, and wound
up by remarking, " an shure, sha has now the
plashure o' bay in' a rich widdy."

Trees by Mail. — America is not by any means
always in the rear. The English papers are
recording, as a wonderful thing, that Mr. Glad-
stone recently received a tree by mail ! They do
not seem to know that thousands — nay millions,
have gone through the mails in America, for years
past — some even bringing up in their own country
after their postal experience.

Portrait of J. J. Tho.vi vs. — It always seemed
to us scarcely fair that our most useful men should

not know while living how much the rest of the
world felt indebted to them. On this ground, we
decided to give as an annual frontispiece to our
volumes a portrait in first-class style, of some of
our most distinguished authors. Last year we had
a portrait of the author of Barry's Fruit Garden ;
we have selected for our coming illustration the
author of Thomas' .'\merican Fruit Culturist. As
these are given in first-class style, wholly at the
cost of the publisher, it was thought it would be a
pleasant surprise to those whom the magazine de-
lighted to honor, and nothing was said till the
portrait appeared. This was found to have its dis-
advantage. Many wanted extra copies with the por-
trait of their favorites, but the publisher only prints
enough for his December edition (and the usual over
copies), which, however, is always a very large one.
So this announcement is made, that we shall have a
portrait of 1. J. Thomas, in our December number.
Those who desire extras should order them before
Nov. 15th to insure a supply.

Short Postage — A Remarkable Post Of-
fice Law. — Some time ago we received a large
Public Docuinent which, on opening, contained
the stunning^nnouncement that some dunderhead
had sent us a letter without sufficient postage, and
that if we sent the United States the necessary
nickel, we should have the inestimable privilege
of perusing the contents of said document. As
every editor knows, one-half his inail is only ma-
terial for the rubbish-box. However, we wasted a
letter, and the " necessary postage " was sent on.
In due course, the letter came on with the follow-
ing placard pasted all over it :

'•This Letter was held at the Philadelphia Post
Office as 'short paid,' and forwarded afterwards,
upon^receipt from the addressee of stamp to cover
deficiency."

It was not a letter, but a printed circular in-
viting us to walk two miles to see a raspberry.
" Dear Sir," had been written with a pen, and
"27th " in figures. This made it a "letter." By
the time we had finished the negotiations with the
government the date was passed ; and all the time,
expense, and loss of temper went for nothing at all.

Now, why should all this tribulation be put on
the person to whom a letter is addressed ? Who
suggested this miserable piece of tomfoolery ? His
name ought to be attached to a brainless pumpkin
and exhibited at an agricultural fair. If a letter is
' short paid,' why not send it back to the writer,
even if necessary to cut it open to see who wrote
it?

Mean Tricks in Trade. — A ladv receives a

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

349

box of flowers which she ordered from a nursery-
man, and finds therein a card telhng her that
though the flowers are very nice, she would have
done better if she had gone to , for hcv pur-
chases— naming a rival in business, of the other
firm. The lady sends the card back to her florist,
with a kind letter of admonition. All of these
papers have been placed in our hands. The nur-
seryman thinks his rival has hired some express
hand to write these cards and slip them in his
boxes. The card is certainly written on just such
paper as is in use at express offices, and the hand-
writing just such as is familiar to business men.
It does look as if our correspondent's suspicion is
correct. We should fancy, however, that no harm
would result from such meanness. No honorable
lady or gentleman, would take their trade away
from a fair-dealing person, by such a transparent
trick as that.

Scratching for Wor.ais. — A jolly correspond-
ent in the West writes : " I am glad to see that
your magazine, while teaching those who have
made a little money how to get the most enjoy-
ment out of horticulture for their spare cash, does
not forget that there are some readers who have
yet to scratch continuously in the earth for worms
in order to make a living. What we poor
wretches need, is more worms. We like to have
you keep us in mind that there is something better
in store for us some time. Don't let us forget it.
I enjoy very much the prospect — but when you
tell us just where another good fat worm lies hid-
den, you don't know how great is the encourage-
ment to keep on scratching. Therefore, good Mr.
Editor, keep up your good worm-breeding lessons,
at every opportunity. Your many practical hints
have been of great value to me. I have never
sent a hardly-earned $2.00 for a year's subscrip-
tion, but 1 have found I have been able to make
much more than that out of it, through the year.
Your lessons on seed-sowing were of special value
to me. I used to think I was cheated when half
my vegetable seeds rotted in the ground. Since I
sowed them shallow, pressed the earth firmly, and
shaded a little from over-hot sun, we never miss,
and we always have plenty to eat from our little
garden."

Work of Committees. — Very few people
know of the vast amount of work which falls on
the members of local committees, whenever any
one or two bodies meet together. At the recent
meeting of the American Pomological Society, in
Philadelphia, most of this hard work fell to the lot

of Messrs. Mitchell, Harrison and Springs. Con-
sidering how very much they attempted, it is re-
markable that there were so few hitches, and they
well earned the praises we have heard so freely
given to them.

Addressed Envelopes. — It is with the best
intentions that persons send envelopes, stamped
and addressed, when an answer may be expected.
But it is a great bore to a busy man, Vho has
scores of letters with every mail, and cannot an-
swer at once. When ready to reply, the "stamped
and addressed envelopes" are either forgotten or
cannot be found. On our table is a basket full of
these nuisances. A stamp is all very well. They
can be thrown into the stamp-box as received.
This has been noticed before, but some people do
not live and learn as they should do.

Dr. Engelmann.— Our magazine had barely ap-
peared, before a note from Boston came from the
Doctor, protesting against the suggestion that "he*
might never return." It is at any rate a pleasure
to all who know of his many good botanical labors,
to learn that he is again among us, and with the
promise of many more years of usefulness.

Colonel M. P. Wilder. — Through tempor-
ary ailment. Col. Wilder was not able to preside
at the recent meeting of the Pomological Society
in Philadelphia, but his numerous friends will be
glad to learn that he seems as active and full of
life as ever. We note, by the Boston papers, that
on the 25th of Sept., he passed his 85th birthday,
and that the leading representatives of the city and
State, gave a public dinner in honor of the occas-
ion. Among the speeches of the evening Mayor
Palmer said that "the merchants of Boston, with a
unanimity of judgment and affection, regard Col.
Wilder as one of their noblest leaders and princes
of commerce. He felt especially proud of him also
as a son of New Hampshire, and recalled the hio-h
honor and warm regard in which he was held in
that State. And since he came to Boston, even
the history of the splendid achievements of her
merchants, among whom he was eminent, stands
to-day eclipsed by the one product of magnificent
manhood which you honor this evening. His ad-
mirable character, the highest and legitimate con-
clusion of the calling of merchants in Boston is its
fit representative all over this country and all over
the world. Not only would the speaker express
his personal respect and esteem, but also the pride
love and reverence which every man who walks
the streets of this city feels for the distinguished
suest."

350

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[November,

Mr. William Falconer. — Mr. Charles A.
Dana is reported to have secured Mr. Falconer,
as gardener at Glen Cove. We sympathize with
Cambridge Botanic Garden in its loss.

Director of the Garden of Plants at
Paris. — The Directorship, vacant by the death of
Decaisne, has been filled by the appointment of
Dr. Ed. Bureau, Professor of Botany in the
Museum of Natural History.

The Conservatory. — This is a new monthly
magazine, devoted to the interests of the florists of
New York, and elsewhere. There is much in it of
interest to the cultivator of flowers, as well as com-
mercial growers. W. McKlen Petingale, is the
Editor.

Townsend Glover. — This well-known Ento-
mologist, died suddenly, in Washington, D. C, on
the 8th of September, in his 71st year. He was an
Enghshman, but came to this country when a
young man. For many years he contributed
largely to the entomological literature of our coun-
try, and especially to the Patent Office reports on
Agriculture.

Daniel Smith of Newburgh. -Among the losses
to horticulture of the past month, must be recorded
the death of Daniel Smith, of Newburgh, a zealous
amateur, and one of the prominent founders of the
Newburgh Bay Horticultural Society, of which he
continued its Treasurer from its first organization.
His death occurred on the 26th of September. He
was in his 73d year.

Herman Muller. — This distinguished l^otanist
died on the 25th of August, at Prad, in Switzer-

lanc^, of pneumonia. Although but in middle age,
he did much to render botany popular, by his nu-
merous curious observations on the relation of
insects to flowers.

The American Journal of Forestry. — The
work is to be discontinued henceforth, through
want of patronage, the publisher says. Its hasty
discontinuance is to be regretted, as there is surely
interest enough in the subject to support a special
magazine.

James Little of Montreal. — On the 2d of
October, American Forestry lost an able friend, in
James Little, who died at his residence near Mon-
treal, in his 80th year. Mr. L. was born at London-
derry, in Ireland, but came to Canada in his 19th
year, and by indomitable perseverance, intelli-
gence and industry, became one of the wealthy
and one of the most influential men in the Do-
minion. The protective policy, which has given
such an impetus to Canadian home industry — rail-
ways, lumbering, cloth mills, flouring mills, public
school education, banking, and numberless works,
which are now making Canada prosperous — owes,
much to his advocacy, personal services, and cash
capital. Always at work, never at rest when a
good object was before him, he continued to labor
for the public good, almost to the day of his death.
Such men as he build countries. Few who reap
know who sowed ; but his chief pleasure was in
feeling that he was helping to make the world
move, and this was all the reward he hoped for, or
cared to receive, in this world or the next. A
more unselfish man, perhaps, never lived.

Horticultural Societies.

COMMUNICATIONS.

PRESIDENT WILDER'S ADDRESS.

(Concluded from page 320.)

RULES OF pomology.

I have the pleasure to announce that during the
present session the committee appointed at our last
meeting to prepare a Code of Rules in regard to
the Nomenclature of Fruits, will present their re-

port. This I have examined carefully, and de-
sire to say that it meets my entire approval, and I
tender my sincere thanks to the Hon. Mr. Lyon,
its chairman, and his associates, for the able and
judicious manner in which they have discharged
their duty.

i In former addresses I have spoken to you of the
' importance of the establishment of short, plain
and proper rules, to govern the nomenclature and
description of our fruits, and of our duty in regard
to it ; and I desire once more to enforce these
opinions on a subject which I deem of imperative

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

351

importance. Our Society has been foremost in the
field of reform in this work, but there is much yet
to be done. We should have a system of rules
consistent with our science, regulated by common
sense, and which shall avoid ostentatious, indeco-
rous, inappropriate and superfluous names. Such
a code your committee have in hand, and I com-
mend its adoption. Let us have no more Gener-
als, Colonels or Captains attached to the names of
our fruits ; no more Presidents, Governors or titled
dignitaries; no more Monarchs, Kings or Princes;
no more Mammoths, Giants or Tom Thumbs; no
more Nonsuches, Seek-no-furthers, Ne plus ultras.
Hog-pens, Sheep-noses, Big Bobs, Iron Clads,
Legal Tenders, Sucker States or Stump-the-Worlds.
Let us have no more long, unpronounceable, ir- ]
relevant, high-flown, bombastic names to t)ur |
fruits ; and, if possible, let us dispense with the 1
now confused terms of Belle Beurre, Calebasse,
Doyenne, Pearmain, Pippin, Seedling, Beauty,
Favorite, and other like useless and improper titles
to our fruits. The cases are very few where a
single word will not form a better name for a fruit
than two or more. Thus shall we establish a ,
standard worthy of imitation by other nations;
and I suggest that we ask the co("iperation of all
pomological and horticultural societies, in this and
foreign countries, in carrying out this important
reform.

As the first great national Pomological Society
in origin, the representative of the most extensive
and promising territory for fruit culture of which
we have any knowledge, it became our duty to
lead in this good work. Let us continue it, and
give to the world a system of nomenclature for our
fruits which shall be worthy of the Society and
the country — a system pure and plain in its diction,
pertinent and proper in its application, and which
shall be an example, not only for fruits, but for
other products of the earth, and save our Society
and the nation from the disgrace of unmeaning,
pretentious and nonsensical names, to the most
perfect, useful and beautiful productions of the
soil the world has ever known.

Every year brings additional prjof and confir-
mation of our predictions in regard to the wonder-
ful progress and facilities for fruit culture in this
western hemisphere. This impresses me more
and more strongly with the duty of giving a right
direction to one of the most important sanitary
and benevolent industries of our land, and as far
as possible, controlling the recommendation of the
host of new fruits of little merit, which are being
constantly brought to notice ; and while com-
mending and disseminating all good vai^eties, let
us, if possible, restrain the flooding of our country
with those of inferior quality and little value. Let
us use our utmost exertions to discourage and re-
strain the outrageous deceptions, which every re-
turning season brings, by new fruits sent forth with
the highest praises, as if superior to anything be-
fore known, but which in a few seasons are found
no better than many old kinds, if as good. The
plea of ignorance cannot be urged in extenuation
of such practices, while the means of information
are as accessible as they are now. Such decep-

tions no honest or honorable man would practice.

PRODUCTION OF NEW FRUITS.
It is now more than thirty years since I first
called the attention of this Society to the great
impo tance of producing fruit from seed, in order
to originate and obtain such varieties as might be
adapted to the varied climate and sections of our
ever-increasing and immense territory. And now,
again, in fulfillment of my promise never to cease
doing so, I beg to ratify and enforce what I have
said in my former addresses.

It has long been known that varieties raised on
our own soils, and in our own localities, are gener-
ally better suited to our various regions than those
from ioreign lands ; and although we have some
varieties from abroad of great excellence and wide
adaptation, there are, comparatively, onlv a few
out of the tliousands of foreign kinds which we
have proved in the last fifty years, that now re-
main in general cultivation. This fact is now gen-
erally acknowledged, and hence thousands of our
pomologists are engaged in this most interesting,
beautiful and praiseworthy employment of raising
American kinds. Formerly the accessions to our
catalogue were from the Old World ; now they are
mostly of American origin, and so it will continue
to be in future time. These are benefactions not
only to our country, but the world. He that origi-
; nates a new and valuable fruit, suited to general
cultivation, is as much a benefactor of mankind
as he who discovers a new principle in science
which increases the comfort and happiness of our
' race.

j Natural fertilization, as I have told you before,
unaided by the hand of man, is as old as creation,
I but the knowledge of manual fertilization, the
; ability of man to assist nature in the process of
improvement, seems to have been mostly with-
held from us until the present age. Wonderful is
j this fact, but it is not more so than the unlimited
: extent to which it may be carried by the genius
and sagacity of him who would cooperate with
nature in this enchanting labor.

Strange, indeed, that this art should have been
held in suspense for so many ages, not until our
own time to be brought into practical use. But,
thanks to the Disposer of all temporal concerns,
it has now come as the harbinger of a progress
which is to revolutionize and improve the fruits of
the earth while time shall last. Thanks, too, to
Knight, Herbert, Lindley, Darwin, Gray, and
other teachers of later times, for the lessons of
wisdom, which have encouraged us to prosecute
this most noble work.

The process of fecundation was known far back
in the centuries of the past, but not for the pro-
duction of new and improved varieties of plants.
From the days of Pliny to the present time, the
custom of suspending the blossoms of the date
palm over the trusses of the fruit-bearing trees,
was known to be necessary for the production of
fruit. So Tournefort and Linnseus understood the
sexual order of plants ; but we have no facts to
show, so far as I know, that either of these writers
had a knowledge that the crossing of different
species and varieties would produce from the seed

352

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[November,

a new variety, which would possess in a greater
or less degree the characteristics of the parent
plants, and it is doubtful whether Duhamel, Van
Mons, or Noisette were acquainted with this won-
derful art for the indefinite improvement of our
fruits.

This is the art that doth help nature, and great
as has been the progress in our time, it is but as
the dawn of thst day when every section of our
varied climes shall be furnished with products of
the earth as well adapted to each as the people
who inhabit them. How grand the acquisitions
of this art in our day ! It is only about fifty years
since Mr. Hovey, myself, or other cultivators of
our country,' attempted the hybridization of fruits
or flowers. Now the knowledge of this art is as
well understood as the cultivation of the soil.
These are the means provided by an all-wise
Providence for the improvement of our fruits.
Would that Prince, Downing, BrinckU"', and those
other pioneers who have gone before us, could
now witness the amazing advances which have
resulted from their labors in this cause. O that I
could live to participate a little longer in the
glorious harvest which is to be gathered from the
influence of this art in improving the fruits of our
land. These are benefactions which you will
leave for the generations that are to follow you —
memorials of your love of nature, of home and
kindred, which shall live in the hearts of grateful
millions, long after you shall have been sleeping
in the dust.

Thus have I spoken for a long course of years
of the importance of this branch of our duty.
Thus would I preach while life shall last. "Plant
the most mature and perfect seeds of the most
hardy, vigorous and valuable varieties, and as a
shorter process, insuring more certain and happy
results, cross and hybridize our finest kinds for still
greater excellence." And should my muse te able
to reach you from the spirit land, she would, as
with telephonic voice, still chant in your ears the
same old song, —

, Plant the best seeds of every good fiiiit,
(Jood fruits to raise, some lands to suit ;
Fruits wliich shall live, their bounties to shed,
On uiillions of souls, wiieii you shall be dead.
These are ereations that do the world u;"*'d.
Treasiucs and pleasures, with health in your food :
Pleasures which leave in the niem'ry no sting,
No grief on the soul, no stain on Time's wing.

IMPORTANCE OF THE SOCIETY.

With the establishment of the American Pomo-
logical Society, a new era dawned on the science
of fruit culture on this continent. The spirit that
animated Van Mons, Knight, Noisette, Esperen,
Bivort, and ether savants of Europe, reached our
shore and spread its benign influence across our
continent; and wherever the school, the church,
or the foot of American civilization has found a
home, there our fruit-culture has been seen to fol-
low as the handmaid of refinement, health and
domestic comfort. This enterprise has now awak-
ened a zeal through our borders which was never
before known in the annals of pomologieal science.
Strange, indeed, that it should be left for us of this
new world to establish the first great National

Society for its promotion— a society which em-
braces in its organization the'largest area and the
most varied climate and soil of the globe, where
almost all fruits may be grown with success.

The progress of fruit culture in our land is in-
deed wonderful. To encourage this by a cordial
spirit of intercourse, to elicit and disseminate cor-
rect information in regard to the fruits of our vast
territory, and to direct, control and advance this
most important branch of terraculture, were the
objects in view ; and thus to establish a pomology
for America which shall endure long after its
founders shall have passed from the earth.

Few are aware of the powerful influences which
this association has exerted and is exercising on
the pomology of our country. Its organization
covers our entire continent, and its importance and
usefulness is everywhere, both at home and abroad,
highly appreciated and acknowledged. No event
in the history of pomologieal science during the
present century has been fraught with such bene-
ficent results as those which have transpired since
the founding of our association. This institution,
now in the thirty-fifth year of its existence, embrac-
ing as it does official representatives of the best
experience from every section of our immense
domain, all working in harmony to carry out our
work to higher and higher degrees of improve-
ment, has assumed proportions which are not only
national but continental, and einbraces in its or-
ganization the largest territory and the most
wonderful facilities for fruit culture on the globe.

Other societies for the promotion of pomology
have been formed and are powerful adjuncts —
other societies will rise up to aid us in the future,
but the American Pomologieal Society will con-
tinue to be, as it has been in the past, the acknowl-
edged authority of pomology for this western
hemisphere.

So may it be, so may it spread its benign in-
fluences over our whole continent, until every man,
woman and child shall participate in its enjoyments,
and all realize the' blessings of paradise regained
on earth.

With a territory unequalled in extent and in
variety of soil and climate for the growth of fruits,
our Society naturally became the leader and con-
servator of this great interest on this continent.
And thus, in the order of Providence, it has been
the herald, the protector and almoner of one of
the most important departments of our industries.
Nor is this all. Its example and its formula of
business proceedings and catalogue of fruits, have
been adopted not only by our American societies
but by the nations of the old world. Well and
worthily has it fulfilled the design of its founders.
Long may it live to carry on and perfect its glori-
ous mission.

Such, gentlemen, is the magnitude of our associ-
ation, and on you and those who are to succeed
you, depends the great duty of fostering and per-
petuating it through the generations of all coming
time.

Protect, preserve and perpetuate it, and
yonr names shall be enrolled as benefactors of our
land and of mankind!

^-■^

^jl(/^^-c/yu.

'^

THE

Gardeners^ Monthly

HORTICULTURIST.

DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE. ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS.

Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN.

Volume XXV.

DECEMBER, 1883.

Number 300,

Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground.

SEASONABLE HINTS.

It is now twenty-six years ago since the Editor
took pen in hand to prepare the first number of the
Gardeners' Monthly. It has been a long term
of very hard but very pleasant work. Large
numbers of those who subscribed and read what
he then wrote have since gone to their long homes,
but the homes of those who have taken their places
are still to be made beautiful. The elements with
which we make beauty are ever new, so that we
not only have new readers, but have constantly
new things to say to them. But sometimes the old
will bear repetition. An old sermon is often as
profitable as a new one, and from what we see
around us it is worth repeating that thinning out at
this season should be the rule in every well-
ordered place. Trees and shrubs must be planted
thickly at first, or we have to wait half a life-time
for shelter or fine effect. A few should be taken
out every year. Sidewalk trees especially are
almost always too thick after some years. Where-
the trees are not entirely taken away, judicious
pruning is an advantage. Branches should be cut
close to their source, so that the wound may heal
over. If the scar is large, paint it. The rotting
of wood after a branch is cut off often starts decay
in the whole tree. Weakly and weatherbeaten

evergreens are improved by pruning. But in their
case the leader must be cut at the same time, even
though we have to train up a side branch to make
another leader. Sometimes rare evergreens raised
from grafts or cuttings, show little disposition to
make leaders, but they will do it if severely
pruned. Poor evergreens are improved also by a
top dressing of very rich manure. The spruce
family are great lovers of shelter. Where winds
are keen and cutting, pines should be employed.
The White Austrian and Scotch are still the most
approved. For dwarf evergreen to stand wind,
nothing equals the dwarf mountain pine. What is
known in nurseries as Mugho pine. Mountain, and
Dwarf pine, are all forms of one thing. Pinus
Cembra is a beautiful plant for cutting by windy
situations, and intermediate in growth between the
dwarf and the larger pines.

Manure is good for lawns and flowers in beds
for the summer, and this should be remembered at
this season.

If not yet done, gather in the "bag-worms,"
especially from evergreen trees ; and where the
soft cottony cocoons of the Orgyia or " cotton cat-
erpillar " are sheltering on the rough bark of tree?,
destroy the eggs with a hard brush. Birds are all
right to help keep down insects, but a little hard
labor is also excellent.

354

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

Variety is always pleasing, and at this season
study a little how to have differences from last
year at little cost. It is often as easy to have
change at a small expense, and as pleasing, as
when a large sum is involved.

It is a pleasure to note the progress of taste in
ornamental gardening. Railroads and public es-
tablishments were at one time the leading exem-
plifications of beastliness in their horticultural
surroundings, now they often lead off in garden
beauty. Summer boarding-houses for fashionable
people were also until recently far back among
barbarians, but many of these now have beautiful
gardens and grounds. Altogether we feel proud
of our twenty-six years of labor ; for surely we
must have had a hand in this progress.

COMMUNICATIONS.

CARPET-BEDDING AT W. J. GORDON'S,
GLENVILLE PARK, CLEVELAND, O.

BY EDWARD ROBERTS, CLEVELAND, O.

There has appeared from time to time in the
various horticultural journals a considerable share
of adverse criticism with regard to the good taste
of what is known as "carpet" or "patchwork"
bedding. Numerous attacks have also been made
upon it by would-be smart writers in the daily press,
whose knowledge of the subject about which they
wrote was, to say the least, extremely limited.
Yet notwithstanding all the abuse which has been
heaped upon it, the fashion has more than
held its own, as is evidenced by its increasing
popularity year after year. I have no intention
however to enter into a defence of the merits of
the "patchwork-quilt" system, within the limits of
the present article. Doubtless like most other
things on this mundane sphere too much of it
would be likely to create nausea. My intention
just now is to merely place before your readers a
brief, unvarnished description of some of the
more striking combinations which I saw in the
gardens at Mr. Gordon's charming residence at
Glenville.

Before entering into details a few prefatory re--
marks descriptive of, or at least giving some idea
of the general appearance of Glenville Park, may
be more or less to the purpose. In the first place
then, I may state it is of considerable extent, con-
taining nearly two hundred acres. As regards
situation, nothing could possibly be more delight-

I ful, commanding as it does some of the most beau-
tiful views to be found on Lake Erie. The surface
is of an undulating character, and hill and dale,
wood and water, all combine to make up a series
of landscapes of rare beauty. Nor has art been
altogether overlooked by Mr. Gordon in laying out
his lovely demesnes. But then it has been intro-
duced with such good taste, and in such excellent
keeping with the surroundings, that we ai'e per-
fectly justified in saying that

■' this is ail art
Which does mend nature, — change it rather : but
The art itself is nature."

I here have special reference to the rockwork
and grotto that overlook the lake, and which have
been put together in such a natural way as would
be almost certain to deceive any but those who
have had considerable experience in such work.
Were it not for fear of trespassing too far on the
editor's kindness, I should like to enter into some
particulars with regard to the formation of this
rockwork. I should also like to speak of the
crystal spring which flows within its subterranean
chamber, and from which chamber a secret stair
leads to the summit of the pile, after reaching
which it would be necessary to call to mind all the
superlatives with which we are acquainted to do
anything like justice to the glorious view which
bursts upon our sight. All this, however, must be
left to the imagination of your readers — possibly
the wisest course to adopt under the circumstances
— as well as the many other points of interest to
be met with by the visitor, and return to the special
subject I intended in commencing this article.

Entering by the eastern gate (which is contiguous
to the dwelling-house), we at once find ourselves in
the flower-garden and attention is immediately
arrested by a large oval bed of Dracaena termin-
alis, surrounded by a band of Funkia variegata,
and having an edge of Echeveria secunda glauca.
The color of the Dracaena was wonderfully rich,
very " much more so " than when under glass, and
the contrast between it and the Funkia and Echev-
eria made up a picture of rare beauty. Close by,
under the shade of some noble old forest trees,
is a large tent elegantly fitted up and offering
a inost welcome retreat from the heat and glare of
the mid-day sun, its attractions being greatly
enhanced by having some noble specimens of
palms and cycads planted around and partly
enclosing it. Amongst others are noticed the
following as being exceptionally fine, viz. : Cycas
revoluta, Cibotium Scheidii, Dicksonia antarctica,
Cyathea medularis, Caryota urens, Seaforthia ele-

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

gans, Latania borbonica and Phoenix Australis.
We next come to what I consider one of the
most striking and pleasing beds I have ever seen.
The bed is circular in shape and about four-
teen feet in diameter. The center was filled with
variegated Stevia, surrounded by Achyranthus
Gibsonii, planted in the form of a star, the points
ef which reached the edge of the bed ; the spaces
between the points being filled with Pyrethrum
Golden Feather, in which circular panels of Agera-
tum John Douglas were inserted. The colors in
this bed were as clearly defined as if they had been
laid on with a painter's brush ; not a leaf or spray
appeared out of place, and the plants were so close
and even as to forcibly remind us of a design
worked out in Brussels carpet. Of course this very
fact will cause the critics to exclaim " Why not
have the beds covered with boards and set a
painter to work on them ?" Such arguments as
this however will have no effect we fancy in stop-
ping the carpet-bedding boom.

My attention was next called to what Mr. Good-
ing correctly designated, the " hearth-rug " beds.
One of these was planted as follows : Center
diamond of Kleinia repens, surrounded by Alter-
nanthera paronychoides major, forming a square ;
outside of this came a band of Pyrethrum Gol-
den Feather, the whole being edged with Echeveria
secunda glauca, planted in a horizontal position so
as to raise the bed some four or five inches from
the grass. Another of those " hearth-rugs " had a
ground work of the Alternanthera just named, with
panels of Ageratum John Douglas, and Pyrethrum
Golden Feather, the edge consisting of Echeveria
secunda glauca, planted in a similar way to the
previous bed. Another of these beds had the center
filled with two small ovals of Kleinia repens sur-
rounded with Coleus aurea, the remaining portion
of the bed being filled in with Alternanthera par-
onychoides major and Echeveria secunda glauca.
At a point of the grounds where two drives meet a
triangular shaped bed planted as follows was very
effective : Center Coleus aurea, next Achyranthus
Herbstii, then band of Coleus Starlight, sur-
rounded by Lobelia speciosa (var.) the whole
edged with Sedum glaucum. Several beds were
filled carpet fashion with different varieties of
Coleus, the majority of which were very telling';
but in my opinion the varieties which appeared
to withstand the vicissitudes of the weather best
were Starlight, Spotted Gem, and the old Verschaf-
feltii. There were a large number of other
carpet-beds, but I fear it would prove a weariness
to your readers to wade through a description of

them, as it would merely be giving a list of the
plants already named, planted in different patterns.
Your readers must not imagine from what I have
stated that flower-gardening at Glenville Park is
altogether confined to carpet-bedding. By no
means. I noticed some exceedingly fine masses
of sub-tropical plants placed in suitable positions.
A large circle filled with Castor-oil plants, yellow-
flowered Canna, Arundo donax variegata, the
curiously-marked Eulalia, and the whole edged
with Anthericum repens vittatum variegatum was
exceedingly effective. Large masses of the double
and semi-double flowered geraniums lit up the
scene with their bright glowing colors, one of the
best being Dr. Kirkland (a purplish scarlet), and
running along one side of the grounds was a broad
and very brilliant ribbon-border, having a back-
ground of choice flowering shrubs and trees.

I feel how far short is this description towards
doing anything like justice to the beauties of the
flower-garden at Glenville Park, and would strongly
advise all lovers of horticulture having an oppor-
tunity during the summer, or fall months, to
pay a visit there and judge for themselves. I
can guarantee them each and alia hearty welcome
from Mr. Gooding, the presiding genius, whose
enthusiasm is only equalled by his practical knowl-
edge in all that pertains to the gardener's art.

THE DUTHIE PARK, ABERDEEN, SCOT-
LAND.

BV N. ROBERTSON, SUPT. GOVERNMENT GROUNDS,
OTTAWA.

I send you an extract from the Evening Gazette,
Aberdeen, Scotland, my native city, about the
opening of a public park presented to that city
by Miss Duthie, which it would be needless to say
anything more in conveying some idea of so
grand a gift for the benefit of that city, than to
state it cost fifty thousand pounds sterling. Never
could any people have shown more gratitude
to her than on the day the key was handed
to them of a place of amusement and recreation
complete with its lawns, walks, trees, shrubs and
flowers. Well might she think it was happier to
give than to receive, as cheer after cheer went up
from that immense throng as she presented her-
self in the park to deliver the key to them. There
was a cessation from all labor. The rich and
the poor mingled in praise of so noble a lady.
The streets seemed to excel each other with the
grandeur of their decorations.

The opening ceremony was performed by the
Princess Beatrice with the following words :

356

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY,

[December,

"It is with great pleasure I come here in the practical gardeners who gathered to the number
name of the Queen, my Mother, to declare this , of two hundred and fifty. Their part will be
beautiful park open, the key of which I now hand j more interesting to readers of your Monthly, and
to the Lord Provost. I am convinced that Miss ! is worthy of detail.

Duthie's very generous gift will greatly conduce The procession to the opening of the park was
to the health of her fellow citizens." I headed by a magnificent floral design made and

To detail the park would no doubt be very in- fitted on to a lorry (low wagon) drawn by six

teresting, but I send a plan which has been kindly powerful horses. The frame was twelve feet high,

sent me. The cost of the gift will give some When the decorations were complete it stood

idea of its grandeur. What I want more especially fifteen. The frame was designed with arches and

to show is the part which was taken in it by the festoons ending at the apex in a coronet.

On each

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

357

side of the frame at the base was the word "wel-
come," worked in floral letters. The arches of
the frame were of iron rods which at each end
form two diamonds. The whole of the arch was of
flowers composed of Dahlias, Calceolarias, Holly-
hocks, and other hardy flowers, many thousands
in number, and weighing many hundredweights,
filled in with evergreens. Round the bottom of
the frame were placed a number of decorative
plants in pots. The coronet was formed of Dahlias
and bright colored flowers. Within the frame
work was a miniature tree, covered with rosy
cheeked apples, representing Adam and Eve in
their primitive dress of leaves in the act of
pulling the forbidden fruit. There were two
serpents entwined around the stem of the tree,
which gave it a very realistic appearance. The
whole formed an ideal "grotto" alike perfect in
its execution and design.

It was gotten up under the auspicies of the gar-
deners of the city, the work being superintended
by a committee chosen from their numbers. The
work was much forwarded by the assistance of
the nobles and gentlemen of the county who, in
addition to sending quantities of flowers, also sent
them their gardeners and assistants to help with
their construction. Numerous emblems of the
craft were also carried in the procession.

Miss Duthie, not satisfied that she had done
enough, made a further offer of certain lands in
the vicinity of the park, from which rents were
derived by her. These rents to be appropriated for
the maintenance of the park and that only. But
the council of the city seemed to think that after
such a munificent donation it would be wrong to
entertain such an offer, as the citizens would be
dissatisfied with any further encroachment on her
generosity, and they insisted on maintaining it
themselves.

On the 19th September the town council unani-
mously placed on record in their minutes an expres-
sion of their thanks to Miss Duthie, and of the
feelings of the general community in this respect.
An excerpt of this minute, written in a mag-
nificently illuminated album, enclosed in a splen-
didly carved casket, was presented to her at her
residence by a deputation of the council headed
by the Lord Provost. The citizens may well say
with a motto carried in the procession : " As long
as the water runs in the Dee, Miss Duthie will be
remembered." (Dee, a river passing in front of
the park.)

[The formation of public gardens and parks
near the large cities of the L^nited States, is just

now attracting considerable attention, and it
seemed to us it might serve an useful purpose in
this connection to give with this a sketch of the
beautiful park Mr. Robertson refers to. — Ed.G. M.]

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Hardy Aquatics. — The grand show made at
Fairmount Park and particularly the exquisite
display made by E. D. Sturtevant at Horticultural
Hall at the meeting in September, have shown
people how much pleasure these beautiful plants
can give. Mr. Sturtevant had the famous Victoria
regia both in leaf and flower, giving pleasure by
the sight of its huge and wonderfully constructed
leaves, and by the delicious fragrance the flower
cast around. Then there was the pink Lotus of
the Egyptians, with its parasol-like leaves pushing
up above the water, as if in rivalry of the hand-
some flowers. Pond lilies or Nymphteas, scar-
let, red, white and blue from different sections of
the world were blooming together, and the Water
Soldier, a sort of marine in the grand army of
flora, contributed its share of interest to hundreds
of observers. Many of these plants are tropical,
and could not be raised wholly in the open air, but
those who have greenhouses can advance them a
little in tubs of water, and in this way have them
forward enough to set out in May and get the
bloom during the end of summer.

City Forester in Boston. — We do not know
why Boston should be ashamed of the term gar-
dener, but then even in ancient Athens, the people
delighted to run after some new thing. However,
in modern Athens the city gardener is called the
" City Forester," a position filled very acceptably
by Mr. Wm. Doogue during the past six years.
The flower gardening is described by a Boston pa-
per before us as absolutely superb. For the care of
the city gardens and parks, Boston appropriated
last year $60,000. Only first-class laborers are
employed, the poor tools being cast aside after a
short trial, and the best get $2 per day. The
abilities of Mr. Doogue are highly spoken of by
the Boston paper.

NEW OR RARE PLANTS.

^SCULUS SINENSIS, BuNGE. — M. Lavallee re-
cently showed specimens of this tree before the
Central Horticultural Society of France, from
China and from Japan. The tree is hardier than
the common Horse Chestnut, and begins to unfold

358

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

its buds about a month later. The young leaves
have a rusty-brown color. — Gardeners' Chronicle.

Alternanthera aurea nana. — The golden
alternanthera is an indispensable plant in modern
carpet-bedding. Messrs. Wood, Beach & Co., of
New Brighton, Pa. send us specimens of one they
claim to be dwarfer than the common kind, and
in this event would be very much more desirable.

A Variegated Austrian Pixe. — M. Carriere
notes the appearance in French nurseries of an
Austrian Pine with ivory white, and green leaves,
and thinks it will be an indispensable ornament in
every large garden.

Hovema dulcis. — Though with a Linden-like
leaf, and vigorous habit of growth, this is of the
Buckthorn or Rhamnaceous family. It comes
from Japan, and proves perfectly hardy. Mr.
Brackenridge says of it :

" Rare, beautiful, hardy, useful and ornamental
tree, which is about as hardy as the European
Linden, and has a habit very much resembling it.
Some of our trees are 30 feet high, and have a
spread of about 20 feet. These have bloomed
and borne fruit with us for several years : the
peduncles of the fruit are edible, and of a pleasant
taste, resembling that of a ripe pear. The flowers
are borne on branching panicles, and make their
appearance about the first of June, and afford a
supply of honey for swarms of bees for a period
of two to three weeks. Our original plant was
brought from Japan by Thomas tlogg, Esq., of
New York, to whom the country owes a debt of
gratitude for this and many other fine plants and
trees he has been the means of introducing."

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Propagation of Clematis. — " M. S. B.," Port-
land, Oregon. A great many clematises seed very
freely, and are then easily propagated. The seeds
■are sown as soon as ripe, if one has a greenhouse or
cool pit, using a shallow box or pan for sowing the
seed. The young plants come up before spring,
and may be put into small pots, and in May planted
in the open ground, placing leaves, corn-stalks or
some litter over them in fall to keep them from
being drawn out by frost. Sometimes the seeds
are saved in paper bags till spring and then sown
in the open ground, but in such cases some, and
sometimes all, the seeds will remain in the ground
*a year before they grow.

Some kinds do not produce seeds freely. These

have to be raised by layers or by grafting. Lay-
ering is a certain and sure way of raising the
plants where no great numbers are desired. About
mid-summer, when the branch is half mature, a
slit half through the stem is made with a pen-knife,
and this slit portion bent down into very rich soil.
Roots will come out from the slit part, and the
branch will generally be well enough I'ooted to
make a good new plant by autumn. To increase
in large numbers every joint can be used as a
graft if desired. These sections are best taken
when half ripe, and spliced by whip, cleft, or any
form of grafting on to a piece of root of any kind
that can be easily obtained, and the grafted root
then kept in a frame or under a glass for a week or
two to check evaporation till the union has been
accomplished. By one or another of these three
modes all clematises are raised. — Ed. G. M.

Hollies and their Berries. — "S. AL C,"
Olney, 111., writes: "Growing on my lawn are
three American Hollies, one of which is fifteen
feet high, also half a dozen Ilex verticillata ; all
of which bloom annually, the blossoms drop, and
no berries are produced. I have also a large bush
of Rosa rugosa that blooms well, followed by green
tips, which soon drop, not one of which has ever
come to maturity. Can you suggest the cause ? I am
much pleased with the " Hibiscus coccineus,"
which I got some years ago of Woolson & Co.
It is hardy here, the thermometer last winter
falling to 1 5- below- zero. It begins to bloom
the first of A-ugust and continues until frost."

[The American Holly varies very much in its
sexual characteristics. Some are wholly male,
and others wholly female. Isolated plants of these
bear no berries. There are others which have
hermaphrodite flowers, but even these seem to
have the anthers more highly developed in some
flowers, and the pistil more highly developed in
othei-s ; the flowers can therefore be scarcely
regarded as truly hermaphrodite. The perfection
of these flowers varies in different plants, and
hence there are some plants which never have
more than a few berries scattered over them,
while others are always profusely adorned with
berries. Most purchasers take plants young, and
hence it is chance whether they get a prolific
plant or not.

The deciduous Holly, Ilex or Prinos verticillatus,
so far as our observation goes, is always dioecious,
and those who desire to have the benefit of its
lovely berries should take care to get a staminate
plant with the pistillate ones. — Ed. G. M.]

1883.] AND HORTICULTURIST. 359

Greenhouse and House Gardening.

SEASONABLE HINTS.

COMMUNICATIONS.

WINDOW GARDENING.

BY JOHN THORPE.

Some time since a good lady, fond of plants,
and a good gardener besides, called the writer in-
to her very successful little greenhouse, and some-
what in this wise did she lecture him : " I don't The requirements for the successful manage-
know that you have so written it, but all the books i ment of window plants are neither numerous nor
I get hold of tell me never to keep saucers of difficult; yet, as a rule, more disappointments and
water standing under the pots— now what do you failures result than in any other branch of ama-
think of these plants?" They certainly were teur gardening. One of the first requirements is
charming specimens of robust health, rivaling the a genuine love for plants, without which the many-
lady herself in this respect— and the writer re- necessary little attentions are sure to be omitted,
ceived a smiling acknowledgment of the compW and the plants will suffer accordingly. It may be
ment offered. " Now, you see, I keep a saucer ' stated as a guiding rule that the greater the care,
under each pot, and I always have water in the the greater the success and satisfaction,
saucer. In the winter when I want the plants to The majority of plants require all the light it is
look fresh and green, I put a little guano, or some possible to give them, with as much sunshine as
other rich food in the saucers, and sometimes I the position and structure of the window will ad-
put water quite hot. And yet you — pardon me — mit. As a rule those plants exposed to the morn-
your writing class positively condemn the prac- ing sunshine thrive better than those having ex-
tice." And when we come to think of it, why posure to the afternoon beams only — this applies
should we condemn saucers under pot plants, and particularly to flowering plants,
water in the saucers? As the lady says, authors Those plants grown for the beauty of their
do condemn the practice, but, after all, why ? A leaves and elegance of foliage, as, for example,
plant with all its roots-in water will not thrive un- palms, ferns and begonias, will thrive in windows
less it is an aquatic plant. Hence water must run which either are not exposed at all to direct sun-
rapidly away from the upper portion of the roots, shine, or for only a short time each day. But the
What is called the drainage is to accomplish this, light should be admitted directly to the windows,
and so long as the water runs rapidly through the . and not shaded by overhanging roofs,
earth into the saucer, it is all good culture re- Plants require nutritious soil. The best general
quires. soil is turf from a rich pasture, cut about two and

Plant growers have much trouble from insects, a half inches thick, laid closely together until it,
the little diminutive red spider especially, the work has somewhat decayed, then broken up and mixed
of which is often not known until the injury is ' with about one-third very rotten manure or leaf
done. It can readily be detected by a small soil. The leaf soil can generally be found in
pocket lens, which every plant grower ought to flaky-like forms beneath oak, chestnut, or other
have. For a few plants in a window an occasion- large trees, where standing thickly together,
al sponging of the leaves with water in which a Where such soil cannot be obtained, a good sub-
little tobacco has been decocted is about the best stitute is easily found in the rich soil easily ob-
thing. In a plant cabinet, tobacco diist — snuff — tained from hedge banks, and in corners of most
scattered over damp leaves is very good, but it fields by the sides of the fence. Those living in
does not reach the under surface of leaves, cities can always obtain suitable soil from the lo-
Water heated to 130° is very effectual, and an oc- cal florist.

casional syringing at this temperature will keep The watering of plants is of the greatest impor-
down all insects, and is much preferable to the tance, and this must be done rightly. Nine-tenths
filthy smoke and horrible compounds so often of the failures in window gardening can be at-
recommended. tributed to improper watering, either too much or

360

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

December,

too little — in many cases too much. You cannot
water any plant by rule of thumb. We frequently
hear, " I cannot think how it is my window plants
do not do well, for I water them every day." This
is likely to be the cause of their not doing well.
Whenever you water a plant, always give suffi-
cient to soak the whole mass of soil thoroughly ;
then do not water it again until it shows signs of
dryness on the surface. It may not be for two or
three days, or even longer, but no matter, do not
water it until you are sure of its being in a slightly
dry condition. On the other hand, some plants
require water twice a day, especially when the
pots are full of roots, and the plant is growing
vigorously and flowering profusely. The leaves
of plants must be kept clean and free from dust ;
those with bright, shining leaves and of good size
can be wiped clean with a sponge or other soft
article. Others with smaller leaves can only be
cleaned by being showered overhead either with a
sprinkler or syringe, and it should be done once
or twice a week. Do not allow plants to stand in
water except such as are aquatic. If the water
touches the bottom of the pots, a good plan is to
have a smaller saucer turned upside down for the
plant to stand upon within the other saucer, or
even small blocks of hard wood or any other ma-
terial that will hold the bottom of the pot above
the water-line, otherwise remember to empty out
the water that drains into the saucers. Plants de-
light in good living, and when the pots become
crowded with roots they should be stimulated, but
not until then, unless the plant has been a long
time in the same pot, and it is impossible to renew
the soil or give a larger pot. I am particular in
calling attention to this matter of stimulating
window plants, from the fact that a theory is now
being extensively circulated, to the effect that
plants grown m pots do not require any stimu-
lants, or at the most very few. My experience is
that you can no more grow a plant successfully in
a pot, in poor or worn-out soil, than you can take
a crop of corn or any other crop from the same
soil ten years in succession without enriching.

For stimulants, one ounce of Peruvian guano in
proportion to three gallons of water. Soapsuds,
as used on wash-days, or water with ammonia
in that has been used for washing hands, are all
good ; or the top of the soil in each pot can be re-
moved to the depth of from one-half to one inch,
a sprinkling of fine bone meal (which can be had
at all florists' supply stores) applied, and then
covered up with fresh soil. Besides there are a
good many preparations of concentrated manures

that are good and easily applied. Plants in warm
rooms should be watered with water as warm as
the temperature of the room, or a little warmer.

Insect pests are a great annoyance, and often
cause considerable trouble from the fact that they
do harm before being discovered. It is quite safe
to subject all plants to an occasional bath of to-
bacco water, in strength about the color of strong
tea or weak coffee, which can be easily made from
the refuse stems from cigar makers or a small
package of the common smoking tobacco, by
placing in a pail and pouring over it boiling water,
allowing it to stand all night, and then immersing
the head of the plant entirely, and holding it so
for a few seconds. This will destroy the green
fly or aphis, and the minute red spider ; other in-
sects, such as the white, cotton-like mealy bug,
must be picked off with a sharp-pointed stick, and
the very tight-sticking scale-like insects will have
to be removed in the same way. In immersing
plants, with one hand press tightly on the top of
the pot and turn it upside down before holding it
over the vessel ; this will allow all loose soil to es-
cape and thus keep the liquid clean.

All plants should have either new pots or old
pots washed perfectly clean inside and out. Brok-
en pieces of pots must be used for drainage by
first placing one of good size, with the hollow side
downward, over the hole, then filling in with other
pieces to about one-third of the depth ; over this
place a little rough soil, then place in the plant,
fill in compactly all around, press tightly so as to
have the soil within half an inch of the top in pots
of small size, and in larger pots allow an inch be-
low for water room, and all plants newly potted
should be well soaked so as to be sure the whole
is saturated.

I have not named any particular time to pot
or re-pot plants, but it is desirable to change the
soil at least once a year, and in cases where the
pots are already large enough, there is no difficul-
ty in washing away the old soil so as to use the
same sized pots again ; where plants are potted
but once a year, the end of February or begin-
ning of March is the best time ; but as plants fill
the pots with roots they can be moved into pots a
size or two larger at any time.

To obtain the best results we inust divide our
collection into two sections — the first section to
embrace such as will do well in rooms where the
temperature exceeds 65° Fahrenheit, and the sec-
ond section where the temperature does not exceed
65° nor fall lower than 40°. This must be under-
stood to mean where the heat is artificial, and not

AND HORTICULTURIST.

361

sun heat ; and we may say a slight variation for a
few hours at a time will not be injurious, should
the temperature rise or fall.

First on our list are begonias. These embrace
several distinct characteristics. The shrubby
flowering species, generally with bright, clean
leaves, give general satisfaction, and if properly
watered and placed where they can have a little
sun, flower persistently the whole of the winter ;
such as Saundersoni, Hybrida multiflora, Wel-
toniensis, Semperflorens, the brilliant Rubra and
Insignis should be included in a limited collection.
These do not include nearly all of this section,
but are easily managed. Another class of be-
gonias are the Rex type, with beautiful marked
leaves of all shades of green and silvery-white.
These require a rather shady position and a moist
atmosphere ; in fact, they must have a good de-
gree of moisture atmospherically or they are un-
satisfactory. They are impatient if subjected to
too much water at the roots, or too much dust.

Caladiums, with many-colored, spotted, striped
and mottled leaves, are very handsome plants for
summer, and can be started in small pots in March
in the warmest corner, re-potted as they grow into
pots of four or five inches in diameter, and by the
time other plants have to be removed out of doors
these will be fine objects all summer.

Coleus and Achyranthus are splendid plants for
very warm rooms. Strong tops can be easily
rooted from plants growing outside, by the mid-
dle of August, taken inside before any chilly
nights come, re-potted into necessary sized pots,
and kept well supplied with water. They are
among the best plants for winter, and are not at
all costly.

Crotons have not as yet been employed for win-
dow plants to the extent they deserve. Their
richly-marked leaves, elegant forms and variable
shapes are always attractive. They delight in rich
soil, a high temperature and moderate light ;
should be frequently cleansed, either by sprink-
ling, bathing or sponging ; they may either be kept
inside all summer, or after the ist of June they
may be plunged in some shady, warm corner out-
side, until September. Any straggling shoots
should be pinched or cut off from time to time,
thus producing a bushy growth. The varieties
Interruptum, Irregulare, Variegatum and Pictum
are among the cheapest and best.

Dracaenas are well-known elegant plants, easily
managed. The varieties Terminalis, Guilfoylei,
Cooperi and Amabilis are grown in great numbers
for window plants, and if they are treated as ad-

vised for crotons they will give the same satisfac-
tory results.

Ferns are numerous, succeeding in the shadiest
windows, requiring but little attention, and al-
ways graceful and cheering. They must be kept
well supplied with water, occasionally bathed or
syringed ; in the summer time plunged out of
doors in some shady, damp spot, and in Septem-
ber, before bringing in again, should be re-potted ;
this is about all the cultivation required. A few
beautiful varieties are Adiantums cuneatum, Far-
leyense, gracillimum and trapeziforme, Davallia
tenuifolia, Lomaria gibba, Microlepia hirta cris-
tata, Nephrolepsis davallioides furcans and Pteris
Cretica albo Uneata, not forgetting a few varieties
of Selaginellas or Lycopodiums.

The Ficus elastica or India-rubber tree is well
known, and might almost be called the indestruc-
tible plant. With its bold and leathery leaves, its
free and noble carriage, it bids defiance to dust
and smoke alike, providing always it has plenty to
drink, with occasional stimulants added.

Palms are the aristocracy among foliage plants,
mostly very easy to manage, requiring a good
deal of water and not necessarily very large pots ;
thriving well in a partially shaded window, to be
frequently washed overhead, and can always be
placed outside under partial shade in summer
time. A few fine kinds are Arecalutescens, Cary-
ota urens, Cocos Weddelliana, Latania borbonica,
and Oreodoxa regia. They can be used for va-
rious purposes of table decoration, and not neces-
sarily taken out of doors if desirable for windows
in the summer.

In our second section we have a more extended
Ust of flowering plants, and not so large a list of
fine foliage plants. Beginning with abutilons
(often called flowering maples), we have a class of
elegant free-flowering winter-blooming plants, em-
bracing pure white, yellow, orange and deep red
flowers ; thriving in a partially shaded window,
adapting themselves to any mode of training,
plunged out of doors in the summer time, re-potted
in August. They can be trimmed into either
standard or any other form, and will flower con-
tinuously.

Azaleas are very beautiful, easily managed, but
rather impatient if subjected to a dry atmosphere
or allowed to get dry ; in fact, they should never
be allowed to get dry at the roots, either winter or
summer. A frequent bath, immersing plant and
pot, is a safeguard against drought and otherwise
beneficial. A partially shaded window and a
shady spot in the summer will give them about

362

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

all they require. As to varieties, there are no poor
ones, and most florists have a good selection. This
brings us to another very popular flower, the ca-
mellia ; one of the very easiest plants to manage,
but unfortunately it is generally a rather unsatis-
factory window-plant, from the fact of its being so
very conservative. It does not show any abuse at
the moment of affliction, and not even for months,
but tries to forget and start afresh, with better
hopes ; but alas ! it breaks down, and its appar-
ent fine, large buds drop off", one by one, until
none are left. This, in nine cases out of ten, is
from the plant being allowed to suffer for want of
water in the summer time. Those curious enough
to open one of the fallen buds will find generally
the outside of the flower quite fresh, but the center
is always discolored and dead, and has been for
months. With well-drained pots it is almost im-
possible to give camellias too much water in the
summer time ; and the same treatment and po-
sition as advised for azaleas will exactly suit ca-
mellias. As to the beauty of the camellia, every
lover of flowers is aware of it. They are rapidly
gaining favor again, and will shortly recover their
once great popularity ; and as there are no poor
varieties, it is quite easy to malie a selection.

Calla lily (Richardia Ethiopica) is another very
popular window-plant, and yet not very generally
successfully managed. Those having plants at
this moment will do well to keep them growing in
a light, sunny window ; if they have not flowered,
do not lose patience and set them in the back-
ground; bear with them until the first of May ;
then find some shaded, damp corner in the gar-
den : in this plunge your plant over the rim of the
pot ; about twice a week during the summer carry
along with you a basin or watering-can of soapy
water, and give your calla. Toward the middle
of September dig it up, and if the pot appears too
small for the plant, get a pot one or two sizes
larger ; turn it out, and place in the larger pot
without breaking the roots ; then stand it in the
lightest sunny window. As it begins to grow,
give plenty of water, and often some stimulants,
and by Christmas, if these directions are followed,
you are sure to have flowers. After the flower-
buds are in sight, you can place the plant in a
very warm position without injury.

Carnations are always favorites, and should be
very satisfactory plants ; they can always be had
established in pots in the fall. They delight in a
rich soil, a rather low temperature, and plenty of
sun. Those desiring to grow their own plants
should plant small ones in the open ground in

May, in a sunny position, occasionally cutting oft"
the tops of the plants, to make them bushy, until
the end of July, after which they should be al-
lowed to grow. At the beginning of September
dig up carefully with ball of earth, and place in
pots well drained ; put in shady place, and after
beginning to grow, and before frost, remove into
the house. A few of the beautiful chrysanthe-
mums should be planted at the same time as the
carnations, and subjected to precisely the same
treatment, or a few can be plunged in pots and
watered as often as required. Those who have
a window should have some of this the most beau-
tiful of autumn flowers.

Daphne Indica, two varieties, are most easily
managed, and perhaps are the most deliciously
perfumed winter-flowering plant we have, requir-
ing about the same treatment as azaleas.

Fuchsias can be made to flower quite early in
the spring, and the speciosa and one or two other
kinds are good winter-flowering varieties. Fuch-
sias require good drainage, a light, porous soil, a
somewhat sunny position in winter, slight shade
in summer, and a rather moist atmosphere. Gera-
niums (these are really pelargoniums, but we seem
to have got so used to the name geranium it is a
hard matter to believe any other) are for a hght,
sunny window, where the temperature can be kept
about 55° to SoP : the best of all -winter-flowering
plants, and all growers should have among their
collection both double and single varieties, espe-
cially some of the finer forms of the single kinds.
They are so easily managed and so continuously
in flower, it would seem there ought to be no
dearth of flowers where there are half a dozen
kinds of geraniums. There is often a great mis-
take among window gardeners, expecting to have
their windows gay all winter and their flower-
gardens gay all summer with the same plants, and
repeat. This cannot be done ; those plants inten-
ded for winter-flowering should be nicely rooted
plants in May, then potted into small pots and
plunged in the open ground, the flowers to be
kept picked off all summer. About the middle
of August they must be potted into good soil in
well-drained pots of four or five inches in diame-
ter, placed in some spot where they will have a
little sun morning or evening, but not plunged
as before. After the middle of September take
them inside, in the sunniest window you have,
water well, and carefully turn the plants around
from time to time, to keep them in good shape,
and as the pots get full of roots, give a little
stimulants at least once a week, and there will be

•1

AND HORTICULTURIST.

363

no dearth of geranium flowers. If old plants are
kept over, they should not be allowed to flower
during the summer, but treated as advised for
young plants. Those desirous of a few more ferns
for a cool room should add to the list given (on
page 361, this article,) Cyrtomium Fortunei.Lastrasa
aristata variegata, Nephrolepistuberosa, Pteris argy-
riea and tremula. Other palms could be added also
for growing in a cold window, as Areca rubra, the
three Chamsrops, excelsa, Fortunei and humilis ;
Corypha australis and Seaforthia elegans. Of
miscellaneous window-plants are Chinese primu-
las, cyclamens and cinerarias, easily obtained from
florists in the fall, and requiring about the same
treatment as advised for the management of the
geraniums after being brought into the house. In
this article I have not exhausted half the window
plants available.

There are a few other plants which should be
included in our list, such as climbers. The Euro-
pean ivy, the German ivy, the Senecio macroglos-
sus, Lygodium scandens and Smilax. And for
basket and bracket plants the Kenilworth ivy,
Othonna crassifolia, the different Tradescantias,
and several other kinds that will present them-
selves to the enthusiastic window gardener.

The disposition and training of the various
plants can be left to the cultivator, but it is best
to bear in mind always to consult the general
habit of the plant, and not to force it into shape
and position that prevents healthy growth and de-
velopment.

As with the training so with the grouping or ar-
rangement of plants in baskets, stands or jardin-
ieres, it can be left to individual taste. Where it is
not desirable to distui'b plants by re-potting, they
can be placed inside larger pots and the interstices
filled up with either moss or fine soil. On all fa-
vorable opportunities air should be admitted for a
few minutes or longer each day ; but as window-
plants are not expected to have* all their require-
ments as if grown in a structure expressly for that
purpose, we must do the best we can under the
circumstances.

In this essay, which has spread over consider-
able space, there is no mention of bulbous
plants, as a paper recently read before your So-
ciety gave instructions for their management in
the house.

[This excellent essay was read before the New
York Horticultural Society, at one of its spring
meetings. It is one of those admirable productions,
which, though long,- could not be condensed with-
out losing something. — Ed. G. M.]

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Parlor Ivv. — Few plants have proved more
universall> popular than the parlor ivy, Senecio
scandens. Its name, by priority, is, however,
Senecio deltoides, and under this name it is being
introduced in Europe. We mention it that those
who import " new " plants may know what they
are buying.

Bridal Apple Blossoms. — The Public Ledger,
of Philadelphia, says : " Brides are not restricted to
orange blossoms ; they may carry any sort of
sweet-scented white blossoms. Presently we shall
have some florists forcing the fruit boughs to
furnish bridal bouquets. Apples and pears, plums
and peaches make the most exquisite decorations
for the wedding day."

Dyeing Fresh Flowers. — A London paper
tells us that a bouquet recently carried by the Prin-
cess of Wales was remarkable. It was composed
entirely of large lilies, tinted with the most dehcate
blue and pink hues by the absorption of dyes
through the stems. By this process, which was
discovered by Mr. Nesbit, the well-known analyst,
while experimenting on the anatomy of flowers,
very beautiful results can be obtained without in
any way affecting the perfume or freshness. Singu-
lar to say, flowers refuse to absorb certain colors,
while they dispose of others in difterent manners.
If placed in a mixed solution they make a com-
plete analysis, and some of the lilies which had
been treated with purple showed distinet red
veins and blue veins, the colors having been di-
vided in the process of absorption.

NEW OR RARE PLANTS.

White Bon Silene Rose. — This is a sport
from the old Bon Silene, possessing the same vig-
orous growth, the same free-flowering qualities,
and as hardy in constitution as the parent. It
originated with Mr. F. Morat, of Louisville, four
years since, and has been grown by him since
that time. The flowers are of pearly whiteness,
and are a counterpart of the red Bon Silene.

SwANLEY White Violet. — This is a sport, hav-
ing originated in Italy from the very popular and
well-known Marie Louise. Hallock, Son & Thorpe
have grown this for nearly two years, and say
that it is in every way equal to its parent, having
the same growth, the same freedom of flowering,
the same perfume, and the individual flowers are
equally as large and of the purest white. This

364

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

will offer quite a new feature in the use of this very
popular flower, as it can be used in all designs and
decorations where the purple violet is objectiona-
ble, especially for use in wedding bouquets, for
the hand, corsage or personal decoration. This
must not be confounded with any white violet pre-
viously offered, as it is truly perpetual, whereas
other kinds flower for a period of a few weeks

only.

••-»-»-

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Yellow Winter Carnation. — "H. S." says:
" I have sent to florists who offer yellow carna-
nations several times, but get only dirty creamy
colors. What is a good yellow ?

[Of what is properly yellow, we know of none.
Brimstone has scarcely been reached, much less
pure yellow. — Ed. G. M.]

ZoNALE Geranium — Little Gem.— This is a
seedling of Mr. W. A. Bock, and proves to be a
remarkably free-blooming variety when in the
open ground during summer time.

A Destructive Grub.— E. Walker, New Al-
bany, Ind., contributes the following interesting
note : " The past season I have noticed thrifty
plants among our stock geraniums and verbenas
in the open ground suddenly appear to become
diseased, and quite a number wither and die with-
out any visible cause. But this fall, on digging
up some of the geraniums I found a white grub at
the root of every sickly plant, and the stem of
some almost, and of others completely cut in two
about an inch and a half below the surface of the
soil. I have since been informed by a former
head-gardener of Floral Park, of Louisville, that
geraniums never did well on those grounds, on
account of this grub."

Fruit and Vegetable Gardening.

SEASONABLE HINTS.

For those who have time to do it, nothing pays
better than an annual washing of the stems of fruit
trees. It helps to keep the tree clear of dead
bark, and that is an advantage in itself, and then
it keeps away the shelter for insect eggs, and the
spores of injurious funguses. The old-fashioned
lime-wash with sulphur, and some soot or clay to
keep down the glare of the lime, is very good, but
if even this covering be objected to, there is soft
soap, potash, or any of the numerous articles
which have been found to be not injurious to the
tree itself. The mere wash is a benefit. Surface
manuring is also a benefit, and even here the ex-
act material is not such a very momentous ques-
tion. The leafy vegetable matter, with the sand of
roadside clearings, has been found to be very ben-
eficial. We have rarely seen a tree suffer from
too rich feeding when that food was applied to the
surface.

The pruning of fruit trees should have prompt
attention. Apple or pear seldom need more than
a thinning out of the weaker branches, except
when the growth is weak from insect attacks,

over-bearing, or poverty, or bad management'
Shortening in, so as to get a new, vigorous growth,
will then be a benefit. Just how much pruning
should be done, cannot be told outside of the or-
chard to be pruned. In the old times, we had
pictures and written sketches of just how to prune
a tree, which no one could follow, because no two
orchards will bear just the same treatment. The
grape can be brought nearer a general rule — but,
even here, little more can be said than that we do
not want to retain weak shoots, and we do want
the strong ones — we do not want the whole length
of the cane which we preserve, but we shorten in
proportion to its strength; we want always to keep
our annual shoot as near the ground, or as near
the main stem, as possible, and, therefore, in prun-
ing, we study to so cut as to give the lowest ones
all the encouragement we consistently can, keeping
in view our desire to get a full crop of fruit the
coming season.

Very httle can be done now in the vegetable depart-
ment.except by way of preparation for another year.

Manure can be placed on the ground whenever
required, and asparagus beds, if not already done,
should have a slight covering of it. Bean poles,

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

365

pea-brush, and stakes of all kinds should be got
now, the tool-house gone over and put in order,
and everything kept in good order and studiously
in its place. When the season of operations com-
mences, there will then be nothing to hold back
the attention.

If there is abundance of leaves or manure at
command, and small frames, beds may be put up
for early spring salads, at the end of the month.
Radishes and lettuces are, however, very impa-
tient of too much heal: ; they will come on well if
the temperature be kept at 45°. When it goes
above that, the sashes should be lifted entirely off.
The same remarks apply to the potato and the
early horn carrot.

Cauliflowers in frames require all the air possi-
ble. Never allow them to become dry ; this is
the cause of many failures by way of " buttoning
off."

A GOOD SUMMER PEAR.

COMMUNICATIONS.

CATERPILLARS ON GRAPE VINES.

BY T. BENNETT,
CHAMBERSBURG, NEAR TRENTON, N. J.

The article in the November number of your
excellent monthly, headed "Grape Vines in City
Yards," reminded me of something that maybe of
interest to many of your readers, namely. How to
get rid of the grape vine caterpillar. This pest is
very annoying, as it cuts whole bunches and parts
of bunches, and lets them drop on the ground,
without any apparent reason, for I never could see
that it ate them. It is large and brown, and simi-
lar to the large green caterpillar that is sometimes
found on the tomato vine. It does all the mischief,
I believe, at night, and is seldom seen. Grape
arbors are sometimes very high, and, therefore, it
seems hard to come at it. The scientific name, I
believe, is sphinx, which some great man gave him
from a fancied resemblance to an old Egyptian
monument of antiquity. But any name will do, so
as it is generally understood. Let a person tie an
old paint-brush on a long pole, long enough to
reach about one foot above the arbor. Dip in
coal tar, and go on painting the underside of the
woodwork overhead. The smell starts the cater-
pillar immediately from its hiding place under the
leaves. When the operator has advanced about
three feet, let him jar the vine quickly (that is, its
branches overhead) and the caterpillar immedi-
ately falls to the ground. The vine and leaves
are to be touched as little as possible with the tar.

BY CHAS. E. PARNELL, QUEENS, L. I., N. Y.

I am often asked, which is the best early pear
for amateur cultivation. I think the Doyenne d'
Ete is. For a variety to succeed this, I would
name Manning's Elizabeth, a variety which, in
this vicinity, ripens about the middle of August,
and which is one of the most beautiful of dessert
pears. The tree is of stout, yet moderate, growth,
and is remarkably productive, so much so that, in
order to insure fine specimens, the fruit should be
judiciously thinned when about half grown. In
most cases it is advisable to remove at least one-
half. The fruit is small, and of an obovate shape,,
with a smooth, yellowish skin, tinged on the sunny
side with red, and a slight trace of russet. The
flesh is white, very juicy, and has a sprightly
sugary flavor. In order to have the fruit in its
perfection, it should be gathered, and ripened in
the house. It is of foreign origin, and was re-
ceived by the late Robert Manning from Dr. Van
Mons as No. 154. I am aware that all of our
pomologists and fruit growers are well acquainted
with this excellent pear, but I do not think that all
of our amateur cultivators are, and it is for their
benefit that I have called attention to it. I should
have stated that it retains its glossy green foliage
until late in the season, and, in pruning, it is best
to permit the tree to retain its own habit of growth,
merely removing all weak and superfluous wood.
As this is a favorite pear of mine, I should like to
hear how others have succeeded with it.

GRUBS IN CAULIFLOWER ROOTS.

BY W. D. STEWART, OSWEGO, N. Y.

1, perhaps, can throw a little light on the subject
that " B.," of Colora, Md., writes about, and of
which you say it is worthy of further investigation.

Last summer I was losing some fine cauHflower
plants, that had been pricked out in the very same
manner that " B., " of Colora, complains of. My
vexation led me to take a few of the grubs that ap-
peared to be mature (for I found them in all stages
of growth, from very minute ones, that were white,
soft, and wriggly, to those that had assumed a
chrysalis form, and dark yellow in color) and
imprisoned them under a glass inverted upon a
clean white saucer ; in about three days I had a
common house-fly for every grub that I had con-
fined under the glass. I have read repeatedly the
theory of this insect being the larvae of the flea
beetle, also other theories. Through my investi-

366

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

gation, I hold the idea that the common house-fly
is the source of trouble, and in the same manner
that meat gets fly-blown. I could write more re-
garding this, but it would be theories of my own,
while the above are facts.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

A Profitable Peach in New York. — A
correspondent of Am. Rural Home says that the
early Crawford has been found the most profitable
peach at Ridgway, in that State.

Kieffer Pears. — We found what some Boston
friends are calling " a miserable, worthless, old
variety, under the new name of Kieffer, " selling
readily in the Philadelphia markets, recently, at
%\ per basket. If the variety should even be
found " old, " surely the prices are new, and our
simple-minded forefathers must have been very
slow to lose so good a chance of giving the
market-goers something which they seem to want,
at very profitable prices.

SouHEGAN Raspberry. — This is earlier than
the Doolittle, and is a very good Black Cap. It
has no gray bloom, as some have, and looks well
to the eye.

Salads. — It has been suggested that early let-
tuce should be very carefully washed before eat-
ing. It is often forced in frames and watered with
liquid manure, which is liable to get in among the
leaves and remain there, unless carefully looked
after. Some curious physicians pretend that some
cases of typhoid fever have been traced to this
cause ; but just how it was traced it would be well
to know. By what we read of the opinions of
physicians, it is a mystery that any member of the
human race Uves over a single day.

The Currant Borer. — This pest of the culti-
vator of the Atlantic slope, the ^geria tipuli-
formis, we iound, on our recent trip to the Pacific,
to be worrying the growers in that district also.

Hale's Early Peach.— This is regarded as the
best of all the well-known early kinds for peach
house culture in England. Besides its extra earli-
ness, it is pronounced delicious.

Best Apples in Eastern Penna. — No experi-
ence from any one cultivator will tell the best ap-
ples for any one locality. Each one tells only of
that which he knows. Others may know more.
Still, these individual opinions are often a fair
o-uide. At a recent meeting of fruit growers, at

Reading, the proceedings of which we have been
favored with by Mr. Cyrus D. Fox, the following
were named as their choice by different cultiva-
tors : Baldwin, York Imperial, Ben Davis, Wag-
ner, Smith's Cider, Krauser, Fallawater, Rhode
Island Greening, Keim, Smokehouse. Early Har-
vest and Red Astrachan were named as the best
early sorts.

Carolina Raspberry. — This is the only white
raspberry, of the American race, that seems worthy
of culture. It is, of course, not so good as Brin-
kle's Orange, or other light-colored kinds, of the
foreign breed; but it is a very good, hardy kind
for an amateur's garden.

Value of Fruit Farms in Western N. Y. —
According to a correspondent of American Rural
Home, a farm of loo acres, in Orleans County, New
York, was bought, by Mr. Packard, for $20,000.
It had 50 acres of apple, 8 of peaches, 5 of quinces,
and about 200 standard Bartlett pears.

The New Tuberous-Rooted Grape. — This
singular species has fruited in Italy, and the Bul-
letmo dello, R. S. Di Orticultura, gives a wood cut
of the bunch and berry. The berries are nearly
as large as the Clinton, and the bunch is formed
as if made up of a large number of small clusters
on shoulders. This is a native of Central Africa,
and, therefore, we may expect it to thrive only in
those parts of our country free from severe frosts.
It was brought from New Caledonia to France by
M. Lecard in 1881. The production is described
as abundant, and the fruit as of good quality. It
is herbaceous, that is, dies down to the ground an-
nually, and has tubers like potatoes. In this case
the roots ought to be preserved like potatoes, and
its culture may be a success as far North as a
sweet potato would grow. It is said to be similar
to, but not quite like the Cochin China grape.
Great hopes are entertained that in this grape the
Europeans will find a way out of their fright under
the visitation of phylloxera.

It may be well to remark that such a grape as is
described here is not unknown in the United
States, as there is a tuberous, herbaceous species,
native to Texas and the Indian Territory, intro-
duced into the Northern gardens by the writer of
this in 1873. This is the Vitis incisa of botanists.
The fruit is, however, small, and not even as large
and grape-like as the common Ampelopsis, or Vir-
ginia creeper, which is closely allied to the true
grape.

Alexander Peach. — We notice that this Amer-
ican variety is attracting attention in Italy.

AND HORTICULTURIST,

NEW OR RARE FRUITS.

Early Cluster Blackberry — Is one of the
new introductions, which seems to have more than
the usual number of intelligent endorsements.

Wonderful Fruits. — We have before us a
circular describing Fay's Prolific currant, and giv-
ing a drawing thereof. The bunch is given as six
inches long, the berries which show on one side of
the bunch are 23, and, to be merciful, we will sup-
pose there are only four not visible on the back of
the bunch— 27 berries. Not one of these berries
js less than an inch and a half in circumference.
Most of them are two inches. To say the least,
it is wonderful, and there are not many who ought
to expect to see such a wonder.

A Good Californian Pear. — A Chico cor-
respondent says : " I send specimens of a promis-
ing seedling pear I discovered growing upon
Rancho Chico this summer. It is evidently a
seedling from Winter Nelis. The tree having the
same irregular growth, though in a less degree.
Although growing at a disadvantage by the road-
side, some of the fruit is larger than any Winter
Nelis on the ranch. It is also a little earlier in
ripening. When fully ripe, I think it superior to
Winter Nelis."

[This is more conical, or, rather, more tapering
towards the stem than in the Eastern grown
Winter Nelis; and the lower portion of the stem
itself is of a thick, fleshy character, and tapers
gradually, being almost fleshy to the apex. The
skin is much more russety than Winter Nelis as
we grow them ; but we believe it is character-
istic of the California-grown pears to be more
russety than even the same variety is in the East.
The quality is superior to the best Winter Nelis we
have ever eaten from Eastern trees. Its exact
value will, of course, depend on a comparison with
Winter Nelis as grown in the same locality. All
we can say is, that the flavor and general quali-
ties give it, as eaten here, a very delicious charac-
ter seldom experienced in even our very best
varieties. — Ed. G. M.]

A New Plum.— The Gardeiiers Chronicle says :
" Prunus Pissardi is certainly one of the most re-
markably hardy shrubs in cultivation. We know
of none which can in any way vie with it in the
splendor of its intense red foliage. The fruits, too,
even in a young state, are also a deep red color —
a character which perhaps does not obtain in any
other plum. The species is still rare in gardens —

indeed, the only locality where we have seen it in
this country is the Waltham Cross nurseries of
Messrs. W. Paul & Son — but its rare ornamental
character is sure to make it a general favorite be-
fore long. A colored plate of the foliage and a
full description of the plant, together with the his-
tory of its introduction, is given in the Revue
Horticole for 1881. The specific name was given
by M. Carriere, in honor of M. Pissard (head gar-
dener to the Shah of Persia), who sent the plant to
France. It is found about Tauris, an important
Persian town about 450 kilometres from Teheran,
where it is still rare and much sought after on ac-
count of the bright coloring of the leaves, and par-
ticularly of the fruits, which are deep red even as
soon as formed. Before being ripe these are used
for the decoration of desserts, and are also eaten
with salt ; when quite ripe they are of fairly good
quality. M. Carriere recommends that the plant
should be used for enlivening beds or borders near
dwellings, as its leaves, flowers, fruit, as well as the
deep blackish-red shining bark, constitute a per-
petual ornament. Its dwarf branching habit ren-
ders it a fit subject to be grown in pots, like spiraeas
and other similar shrubs."

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Over-bearing Kieffer Pears. — Mr. Wil-
liam Parry writes : " I saw in the Gardeners'
Monthly a notice that, -At the recent exhibition
in Philadelphia, two, three and four year old trees
were exhibited, on which had grown nearly a half
bushel of fruit. Nine out of every ten pears should
have been taken off in infanc/. Then the fruit
would have been delicious.' As the trees referred
to were dug from nursery rows and exhibited by
me, I take this occasion to state that there were
others in the same rows which matured as many
as seventy-five large, handsome pears, a few
specimens of which I submit for testing, judg-
ment and report. I think the Kiefter is proving
to be a great success — fully sustaining all that has
been said in its favor and disproving what has been
said against it. Hundreds of bushels are being
sent to market this fall, and sell readily at 50 to 75
cents per half peck, and as high as ^5.00 per
bushel in larger quantities."

[These specimens tully confirm the remark we
made. They were very good, jucy, wholesome-
eating pears, fully as good as the great majority of
kinds which have first-class certificates, and we
will repeat, that if these trees had their over-plus

368

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

thinned in infancy, as all good cultivators do who
desire fruit of extra quality, there is every reason
to believe that they would have been excellent.
That trees over-loaded as these were should pro-
duce such large, showy and very good fruit as
these are, is quite sufficient to stamp the variety as
one of the very best. — Ed. G. M.]

The Best Pear and Apple. — " F.," Washing-
ton, Pa., writes : " I am an amateur with a small
garden, and want a few fruit trees to plant to get
fruit to eat and not to sell. I don't care for enor-
mous bearers, merely. I want, say, half a dozen
apples and half a dozen pears, and I only care for
one kind each. What would you recommend a
new subscriber to plant ? "

[The Seckel pear and the Smokehouse apple. —
Ed. G. M.]

Forcing Tomatoes. — "J. S. F.," Wilmington,
Delaware, writes : " Would you please write an
article in your Gardeners' Monthly on the cul-
ture of tomatoes in this latitude, under glass in
winter season. There does not seem to be any
treatise on that subject."

[Tomatoes are not forced to any great extent in
this part of the world. So far as we know, Mr.
John Paget, gardener to Senator Cameron, is the
only one who makes a point to do so. Yet it is
remarkable that more do not enjoy this luxury ;
for those raised by Mr. Paget, and which come in
soon after Christmas, are, to our mind, desirable,
not only for the season when they mature, but for
their dehcious flavor, which is superior to those
raised in their natural season in the open air.

As a matter of profit, it is not clear that it would

be a success, with the experience of other forced
fruits and vegetables before us. Hot-house grapes»
j for instance, in late winter and early spring,
I brought a dollar and a half a pound. Calcula-
tions based on these figures, made the business
1 profitable, but when large houses and immense
: quantities were raised, it was found that nothing
\ hke these figures could be had. With half a dozen
: vines, one could take his crop in a hand basket,
and get his dollar and a half, but when he had
, thousands of pounds, the services of others to sell
had to be called in. Transportation charges, agen-
cies, advertisements, commissions, middle men,
and hosts of other expenses, bring the final
dollar and a half down to seventy-five cents, at
which it will not pay. Cucumber growing and
similar other subjects of winter forcing have been
tried — all profitable enough when one has but a
few hundred dollars' worth to handle — but are
losses when grown on a large scale.

If, however, one is disposed to try tomatoes, the
great requisites are great heat and plenty of light.
Without the latter the plants will not set their fruit
well. We should imagine that a steep-angled
double-pitch roof would be best for the purpose.
The plants should be started towards the end of
summer, so as to be pretty well advanced before
being placed in the rich beds of soil under glass
in September. A temperature of not less than 65°
would be desirable.

If Mr. Paget could find time to give a few notes
from his wonderfully successful experience, they
would be read with great interest by numbers of
our readers. — Ed. G. M.l

Forestry.

COMMUNICATIONS.

AMERICAN FORESTRY.

BY PROFESSOR J. T. ROTHROCK.
Abstract of Lecture at Fairmount Park, Philade1phi;i.
All things considered, the best timber the Eng-
lish Kingdom furnished was from the English oak.
Its strength and durability had passed into pro-
verb, and it had come to be regarded as synony-
mous with Enghsh naval dominion the world over,

because from this oak were built the long-hved
ships that upheld England's honor in all seas and
in the face of all foes. Yet, as a matter of fact,
fair, impartial trial had shown that the American
white oak was equal in nearly all respects to the
British, and in some quahties was better. Thus
what very Httle strength it lacked in comparison
with the Enghsh was more than compensated for
by increased length of straight pieces.

Our timber has a special value, because there

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

369

are so many kinds which grow here and nowhere
else. Our white pine and redwood, our hickories
and black walnut, our enduring locust of the East
and matchless sugar pine of the West were our
own exclusive property, the special gift of our
own goodly heritage. The same might be said of
the tulip tree and the Osage orange. Beside the
mere fact that we do possess such treasures, there
should also rise the question: What use shall we
make of them? Shall we recklessly exhaust or
shall we husband such resources and make them
the permanent handmaids to our civiUzation that
less valuable kinds have been to that of Europe ?

We have but little idea what quantities of lum-
ber are used by comparatively small industries.
Thus a recent report informs us that yearly we
consume 100,000 cords of soft maple for shoe
pegs; for lucifer matches, 390,000 cubic feet of
pine go; while lasts, boot-trees and tool handles
call for 1,000,000 cords of birch; making our
bricks burns up 3,000,000 cords more. To string
the telegraph wires of the country upon, three hun-
dred thousand new poles are required annually.

Under the general designation of naval stores
we have tar, turpentine, pitch and resin. These
are powers in the land whose value was recog-
nized along the Hudson as early as the first of the
last century by the British naval officers stationed
there. The value of these exports from our coun-
try in 1802-3 was ^460,000. During the war of
1 812 this sank as low as $31,000. Before our re-
cent war the value of this class of exports was
$1,203,537. During the war of 1864-5 '^ fell to
$126,333. Immediately on the return of peace in
1865-66 it rose with a bound to $1,651,586. Of
course most of these exports -were from the South-
ern States. Such statistics show many things,
and among their lessons is the one teaching us the
terrible prostration of national energy which fol-
lows in the wake of a war. In 1878-9 the value
of these naval stores exported was $2,260,586.
From 1802 up to 1852 th'e average value of forest
exports from this country has been about twice as
great as that from the ocean.

To-day the hides from the pampas of South
America and the prairies of Texas are made into
leather by hemlock bark from the hillsides of
Pennsylvania. We can hardly dignify collection
of sumac leaves with the name of a forest indus-
try, yet if we compare our own (home) collected
leaves with the Sicilian, though the latter do con-
tain more tannic acid, the comparison is very
largely in our favor, because of the cheapness of
preparing our own leaves.

In the United States we have about forty species
of oak. If we were to draw a line of distinction
between those of the Eastern slope and those of
the Western slope, we might say the former were
taller and straighter than those of the West.

Taking the whole group of oaks, we might re-
gard them as nearly evenly divided into white and
black oak species. General characteristics of
these groups would be that the former (white)
matured their acorns in one year, and produced
good, compact wood ; while the latter (black)
usually required two years to mature their fruit,
and had wood which was darker colored and
much more porous. The chestnut tree is one
which has many claims upon us — its value as a
timber, its rapidity of growth, its tendency to
sprout when once cut down, the uses to which the
young sprouts can be put — all combine to mark
this as one of our most valuable trees.

It may seem incredible, but Italy uses as food
6.400 tons of chestnuts a year. There almost as
much attention is paid to the production of choice
varieties of chestnuts as we pay here to the pro-
duction of improved peaches and pears.

Among the trees introduced here is the so-called
English walnut. This tree is now largely culti-
vated in California for its fruit, but it should be
remembered that it has, in an exceptionably favor-
able location within what is now the city limits,
produced fruit for many years. Of course it could
not be counted upon here, but on the " Eastern
Shore" of Maryland it might be regarded as a cer-
tain crop.

Passing by a great mass of important facts as this
abstract must, the lecturer stated that the follow-
ing States, so far as their lumbering product were
concerned ranked, as among all those of the Union
thus :

Total value ot loiest |)roilucts in 1880.

Michigan. 1 «52.449,f)28

Pennsylvania. 2 22,457,359

Wisconsin. 3 17,952,347

New York. 4 14,.3.56.910

Oregon. 26 2.030,46g

Washington. 31 1,734,742

Supposing this were put in another way, and
Oregon and Washington together as representing
that northwest whose forests are said to be inex-
haustible, and we will have as the value of the two
for 1880, $3,765,205, as against $22,457,359 for our
own State alone. In other words, we were de-
stroying our forests almost six times as fast as Ore-
gon and Washington combined. Judging the fu-
ture by the past, in much less than half a century,
under present processes, our State will be stripped
of her forest growth, and estimating the demand

370

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

upon the (Pacific) Northwest as five times as great
as that now upon this State, we should have thirty
times the demand made upon Oregon and Wash-
ington that is made now. And this starts the
question, how long would these forests be a hope
to the nation because they were "inexhausti-
ble?" There is no flattering unction to be laid to
our souls unless we begin to plant forests, at least
as fast as we cut them down. If we do not, the
want of timber will lead to business stagnation,
and to shame, that we could have been so short-
sighted.

«-•-»

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Legislative Forestry. — It is said that so far
as can be learned, no one has availed himself of
the extraordinary hberality of the Legislature of
Pennsylvania, which permitted a man to neglect
the public roads, provided he planted trees along
their sides. The Pennsylvania farmer has no idea
of sticking in the mud with his team, in order that
the few score trees he may plant shall keep pos-
terity from living in "an arid, treeless waste."

Perhaps he has studied road making as well as
forestry, and has learned that roadside trees add 25
per cent, to the annual expense of road maintenance
— a practical thought which probably did not oc-
cur to the excellent people who have urged Legis-
latures on to these trifling enactments.

An American Forester Abroad. — It is rela-
ted in English journals that during his recent visit
to Europe, Mr. Wm. Little, of Montreal, found
himself on an excursion with the Scottish Arbori-
cultural Society. It was desirable to climb a tall
tree of Picea nobilis to get a cone. No one would
venture up for it. Seeing the hesitation of the
" sturdy band of stalwart Scotch and English
foresters," Mr. Little "flung off his hat and coat,
and with the nimbleness of a squirrel in a few
minutes brought down some cones."

The Silk Mulberry; — Mr. Felix Gillett, of
Nevada, Cahfornia, thinks there is no profit in the
small leaved forms of the white mulberry. The
large leaved varieties should be preferred where
practicable. The trees should be kept as bushes,
for convenience in the daily gathering of the
leaves.

Beauty of Yellow Pine. — The Northwest
Lumberman says: "Yellow pine, hard finished
in oil, is the rival in beauty of any wood that
grows, not excepting the costliest hardwoods. It
is susceptible of receiving and maintaining as high

a degree of polish as any wood with which we are
I familiar, and as to durability, when thoroughly
impregnated with oil, it may be said to be almost
everlasting. In such a condition it is impervious
j to even hot grease and other substances that
I leave an ineffaceable stain upon white pine, ma-
ple, and various other woods. Flooring for use
under carpets should be largely sap, and when
exposed either for inside or outside use, should be
as near all heart as possible. For inside trim-
ming, wainscoting or panel work, the curly varie-
ty, which, by the way, can only be obtained in
limited quantities, and ought to bring from |6o to
$%o per thousand in any market, instead of only
half that sum — is, in the writer's estimation at
least, superior to either cherry or bird's eye ma-
ple."

Unfortunately " yellow pine" is given to so many
kinds of pine, we should be glad to know what
species receives this name in the Northwest.

The Latest from Timber-land. — The period
now fixed by a prominent forestry essayist for the
" utter disappearance of every stick of American
timber," is now placed at seven years. He is not
so liberal as old Ben Franklin. If we remember
correctly he put the period at twenty years.

The Pepper Tree — The Schinus Molle, a Peru-
vian tree, thrives admirably in California. The
editor saw trees as large as an average oak would
grow in many parts of California. A very fine
line of them along the public road is seen near
Mr. Shinn's home, at Niles. As to the relative
value of this and Eucalyptus, we find the follow-
ing in a California paper, which seems to us as a
good estimate :

" I also know that it is worth one-half of the
stovewood they make, to cut up and split it and it
must be done soon after it is cut down or it is im-
possible to split it. The wood don't compare in
quality with oak but is better than willow ; about
like sycamore. For timber it is entirely useless
and for posts and stakes it rots in one or two
years. I planted the next spring, after the gums,
six pepper trees and they average larger than the
gums in diameter and would make more wood
per tree, easy to chop and split and fully equal in
quality. If my grove was pepper, I would now
cut the limbs off and make twenty cords of wood
and in three years they would have grown out
again larger than they are now."

A Large Tulip Tree. — A specimen cut down
in Cayuga county, near Cayuga Lake, according
to a correspondent of the Country Gentleman,
measured 6 feet across and was 124 feet high.
Another was 6 feet 4 inches, cut some time since.

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

371 ,

Natural History and Science.

COMMUNICATIONS.

LONGEVITY OF TREES.

BY THOMAS MEEHAN.

At the meeting of the Botanical Section of the
Academy of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia,
Mr. Thomas Meehan remarked that there was
nothing phenomenal in the great age of the mam-
moth Sequoias, as other trees on the Pacific Coast
exhibited great age. In order to ascertain wheth-
er more than one annual circle of wood is formed
in each year, he tested the matter in various ways.
For instance, a pine or spruce would be found
to make an average growth of a foot a year up to
fifteen years old ; from that to about thirty years,
nine inches ; from that on, six inches ; after that a
stage was reached where the erect growth ceased
to any considerable extent, and the growth force
seemed turned towards the lateral branches. In
the pine forests of the Pacific Coast there was no
danger of error in fixing the age of the average
tree of sixty feet high at about fifty years. When-
ever such a tree was cut down, and an opportunity
afforded to count the circles, they would be found
to correspond so nearly with the calculated age,
as to prove that it was quite safe to assume a
single circle for a single year. Then there was a
remarkable degree of uniformity in the diameter
of these annual growths in most trees, so that
when once we had the number of circular lines
to an inch, and the diameter of the tree, we could
tell its age near enough for general purposes. In
some pine trees growing on very rich soil, he had
found as few as about four circles to an inch.
For instance, a section of a Pinus Lambertiana in
Mariposa, four feet across, had but 189 circles ;
but here the increased size of the trees corresponds
with the larger annual circles. Trees of this
species of pine here measuring thirty, and a few
thirty-three feet round were not uncommon. No
matter, however, how vigorous may be the growth
of trees under fifty or over one hundred years,
they decrease with age, and we may safely allow
six rings to an inch in these older sugar pines,
which would make the thirty-three feet tree 396

years old. The outer growths of sequoia were
very narrow. He counted as many as eighteen
to the inch, while the rings in the interior of cross-
sections would show about six to the inch. Allow-
ing twelve as the average per annum, a tree of
thirty-three fe^t diameter would give 2,376 years
old, which is about the same as given by an actual
count of the rings.

At Harrisburg, or Juneau, in latitude 58°, a
Sitka spruce (Abies Sitkensis) cut down gave 149
rings from center to circumference— 298 lines in
a trunk three feet across. This gave an average
of about eight to an inch in this 149-year-old,
three-foot tree. At Wrangel, latitude 56° 30', a
tree of the Western Hemlock (Abies Mertensiana)
which had been blown down and afterwards divi-
ded by a cross-cut saw at four feet from its base,
gave eighteen lines to an inch, and the annual
growths seemed very regular almost to the centre
of the tree. It was six feet in diameter, and must
have been a grand old tree in its day. It had evi-
dently been broken off years before it was blown
down, but the length of the trunk up to where it
had been broken was 132 feet, and four feet in
diameter at that height. But allowing as much as
twelve to an inch, it would give for the point cut
across, six feet, an age of 432 years. At Kaigan
Harbor, latitude 55°, the Sitka spruces were very
large, and of great height. He measured two of the
largest, which were twenty-one feet in circum-
ference each. Allowing eight to the inch, as in the
tree of the same species at Harrisburg, it gives 336
years as the age of the tree. So far as appearances
went, these trees were in the height of vigor, and
there seemed no reason", judging from experience
in other cases, why these trees might not flourish
for a hundred years yet. Mr. Meehan had no
doubt that these trees in these latitudes in Alaska
would easily have a life of 500 years.

Turning now to the Atlantic States, we find 200
years as the full average term of life for its forest
trees, with the exception, perhaps, of the plane
(Platanus occidentalis), which is the longest lived
of all. Trees famous for longevity in Europe are
comparatively short lived here. In the old Bar-
tram Garden near Philadelphia, and where the

. 372

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

December,

trees can be little more than 150 years old, nearly
all are past their best. The English oak (Ouercus
Robur), which in England is said to live for a
thousand years, has grown to full size and wholly
died away in this garden, and the foreign spruces
are on the down grade. The great cypress (Taxo-
dium distichum), and which must have made an
average growth of four lines a year, has also be-
gun to show signs of deterioration. Silver firs
(Abies pectinata) in the vicinity of Philadelphia
known to be planted in 1800 are decaying. This
is the general experience.

In seeking for the cause of this difference we
are accustomed to look at the relative humidity of
the atmospheres of Great Britain and the Atlantic
United States. Evergreens like Cerasus Lauro-
Cerasus, Laurus nobilis and Viburnum tinus,
which will endure a temperature of 25^ below
freezing pomt in Great Britain, are killed by 10°
in Philadelphia; and, it is believed, by the dryer
atmosphere causing a heavier drain for moisture
on the vital powers of the plant to supply. A
strain which will wholly destroy plants in some
instances, must have an enervating influence
where it does not wholly destroy, and this would
naturally be exhibited in shortening the life of the
tree.

The climate of Alaska had the same favoring
influences we found in Great Britain. The warm
Sea of Japan flowed against its south-eastern face,
along which the trees referred to were found.
The atmosphere was always moist, and severe
weather almost unknown. At Sitka, in latitude
57C', as much as 100 inches of rain had fallen in a
single year. The harbor was rarely frozen — boats
came in and went out at all times of the year.
There were some winters when no ice of any con-
sequence was seen. These were circumstances
favorable to longevity in trees.

Mr. Meehan concluded by remarking that Dr.
Lindley had said somewhere that his researches
had failed to show that there was any period of
duration of life set for any tree, and that if cir-
cumstances favored there seemed no reason why
trees might not live for an indefinite period, and
therefore arguments offered in connection with
the " wearing out of varieties " based on what is
called the " natural life of a tree " had Httle force.
Mr. Meehan believed his observations on the lon-
gevity of trees on the Pacific Coast confirmed Dr.
Lindley's views. At any rate, there seemed noth-
ing phenomenal in the age of the Sequoia gigan-
tea, as other species partook of similar longevity
to a great extent.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Podophyllum in Formosa. — Dr. Hance re-
cords in the Journal of Botany the existence of a
species of this genus in the island of Formosa.
Previously botanists knew only of the common
North American species and of the Himalayan
one, P. Emodi (see Gardeners' Chronicle, p. 241,
vol. xviii.), which has also lately been discovered
in the province of Kansu. The discovery of a
new species in Formosa (P. pleianthum) might
have been anticipated. — Gardeners" Chronicle.

SuBER-CELL. — This is a technical term indicat-
ing the origin of the corky growths of vegeta-
tion. In the paper on Arizona potatoes, in the
November number the compositor made it read
"tuber-cell," and though corrected in the proof,
persisted in retaining it. As tubers were referred
to properly in other parts of the paragraph, he
concluded the editor must have written "suber"
by mistake, in spite of the editor's own correction !
No wonder even the virtuous Greeley would some-
times get provoked at proof-readers and com-
positors. Certainly there ought to be some special
place of torment provided for them, as some of
our correspondents occasionally suggest.

Is Kalmia Poisonous 'i^Revue Horticole of
August 16 gives a case where a mass of grass was
mown and thrown out for goats, which ate thereof.
Soon after the animals were taken by violent con-
tractions of the stomach and vomiting, and one
died next day. The writer says the dry seed ves-
sels from a cultivated mass of Kalma latifolia had
been cut oft" and thrown on these lawn mowings,
and the sickness of the goats is attributed to the
Kalmia seeds. The editor thinks the experiment
ought to be repeated, so as to give more certainty
to the impression that Kalmia did the evil, and
that other ericaceous plants should be tested. He
believes Rhododendron ponticum is poisonous.

Drink from the Eucalyptus. — From the
spri,ng sap of one of the celebrated gum trees of
Australia, Eucalyptus Gunnii, a very pleasant
drink is prepared, which, in that part of the world,
is known as "gum cider." Besides this, pure
water is said to be obtained by the thirsty trav-
eler from the roots. After being dug they are cut
into short lengths, and stood upright in vessels,
when the water drains out and is then drunk.

The Leaves of Marantas. — On the upper
part of the leaf-stalk of Maranta there is an
articulation, and at this point the leaves rise and
fall at stated periods in its daily life. This gives

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

373

the genus a particular interest to the student of
natural history, in addition to the singular beauty

London, who says it is an elegant and small-grow-
ing plant, imported from Brazil. The leaves are

of the leaf blades themselves. At the grand ex- green with a bright glossy surface, marked on

Maranta nitens.

hibition of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society i each side of the midrib with a series of oblong
in September, the Marantas were the most ad- j acute bars, alternating with numerous lines of a
mired of all the new plants. The illustration is of j dark green on the palish bright green ground. The
M. nitens, a new one introduced by Mr. Bull, of plant is distinct and of a pleasing character.

374

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

Sugar from Sorghum. — There seems no doubt
now of the success of this industry. In Cape
May county, New Jersey, the enterprise is now in
its third year, and from all accounts it is quite
profitable.

The Lattice-Leaf Plant. — This wonderfully
interesting water plant, which seems to have leaves
made up only of veins, without any green con-
necting tissue, is among the latest additions to the
excellent collection of Mr. Sturtevant, of Borden-
town, N. J.

Dead Wood on Trees. — The editor of this
magazine, stated in these columns some years
ago that a dead branch on a tree makes almost as
great a strain on the main plant for moisture as
does a living one, and many of the practical di-
rections in this magazine have been based on this
fact. Some good people, not satisfied with the
authority, called Prof. Bessey's attention to the
statement, who thus replies in the New York
Tribune :

" I have been asked whether the statement
lately going the rounds of the American papers
that 'a dead branch on a tree makes almost as
great a strain on the main plant for moisture as
does a living one ' is accurate or not The state-
ment is coupled with another referring to its prac-
tical application in tree culture, the conclusion
being that every dead branch ' should be at once
cut away.' Briefly it might be answered that the
first statement is true in the main, and that, with-
out any doubt at all, the conclusion is a wise one,
and ought to be followed in practice. To explain
this matter will take considerably more space, and
in order to understand it we must go to vegetable
physiology and inquire into the nature of the
evaporation of water froin plants. It was long
supposed to be a physiological process, and was
considered to be entirely different from ordinary
physical evaporation. As long as this view was
held the process was called transpiration, to dis-
tinguish it from the physical process. The breath-
ing pores, the stomata, which occur in the epider-
mis of all leaves in great numbers, were supposed
to be organs of transpiration, which was consid-
ered to be one of the most important functions of
the leaf."

Epicures Among Birds. — Birds and beasts
have their epicurean tastes and will go through a
good deal of labor for the sake of a very little tit-
bit. In Australia there is a species of pigeon
(Carpophaga spilorhoa) which feeds, or rather
takes a sort of appetizer, on the fruit of a combre-
taceous plant, named Terminalia melanocarpa.
This fruit is little more than a hard stone, an inch
. long, with the thinnest kind of a sarcocarp. It
certainly can atTord no nourishment to its greedy
devourers, but must be enjoyed solely for the ex-

tremely bitter and to human beings very unpleas-
ant taste. — Independent.

Sheep-Killing Kalmia. — It now having been
clearly demonstrated by chemical analysis, as pub-
lished in the Gardeners' Monthly, that there is
no poison in the leaves of Kalmia, some other
theory has to be guessed at, and a correspondent
of a foreign horticultural journal states, as a result
of observation and experiment on his part, that
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel) kills sheep that
eat its leaves, not because of any poisonous prop-
erties in the leaf, but because of injuries caused in
the animal's stomach by the sharp edges of the
leaves.

Variety in Nature — Some attention is just
now being paid in Europe to tlie singular circum-
cumstance of almost identical variations from nor-
mal specific forms appearing simultaneously in
widely separated localities. This has long been
noted in this country and the facts placed on
record. The form of the bird's-foot violet, Viola
pedata, which has the two upper petals purple or
crimson, as in the pansy, is often found in various
parts of our country. It has also been recorded
that the form of blackberry with very large
heart-shaped leaves is very local yet widely scat-
tered. A curious variety of raspberry — once raised
to the dignity of a species by Prof. Peck as Rubus
neglectus — occasionally appears as isolated plants
in localities a long distance apart. The facts are
of great importance to the evolutionist. If species
are only varieties more advanced, and if identical
varieties will appear from different individuals a
long way separated, there is no necessity for the
belief that all species sprung from a sohtary indi-
vidual in the usual sense of the word, and then
spread from one common center. Identical species
may have had several home centers. — Inde-
pendent.

Battles Between Ants. — Horticulturists
have excellent opportunities to observe natural
phenomena, denied to many others. Studies in
ants are especially interesting. They fight like
human beings, seeming to have their generals,
captains and privates, with regular mihtary ma-
ncEuvres as human beings have. Dr. Henry Mc-
Cook, of Philadelphia, has given histories of these
creatures, which, only for general observation
confirming what he says, might be almost regarded
as fictitious. They are following after our investi-
gation in the old world. A recent number of Le
Temps records a battle lasting seven days, and
reporting that the armies started every day at

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

375

"exactly four o'clock." We rather doubt whether
the ant has progressed further in civilization than
to know how to murder and enslave each other,
and believe they have not yet invented time-pieces,
so as to get exactly the hour, and, on the whole,
the French account reads very much as if it were
in the main made up from one of Dr. McCook's
papers, and in the other part from the imagination.
An opera glass is needed to see an ant battle to
the best advantage.

Progress of Plant Knowledge. — How the
knowledge of plants has progressed of late years
may be illustrated by that curious family Orchideae.
Linnaeus could count all his genera on his fingers ;
now Bentham and Hooker in their recent work
describe 334. — Independent.

Poisonous Kalmia. — Now it is Dr. Zabriskie
mentions to the editor of the Rural New Yorker a
case in which a young lady ate a few leaves of the
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel or calico bush) as
she was passing through the woods. She died
that night. It has already been stated in our
magazine that a chemical examination of the leaves
has been made without a trace of poison being
found in them. What the young lady wanted to
eat "a few leaves" for is not apparent. And if
she did, there are plenty of people who "died in
the night" who never saw a kalmia leaf.

The Holy Grass. — Amongst the curiosities in
Mr. Barlow's garden at Stakehill are some tufts of
the rare holy grass (Hierochloe borealis), which
may be considered a native of Britain, though
only met with in a few stations in Scotland ; but is
common in North Germany, Norway, Sweden,
Lapland and Russian-America. It is of short-
tufted and somewhat untidy growth, the leaves
rather broad, but short and springing from stout
stems, the panicle few-flowered and remotely hol-
cus-like, the glumes yellowish. It is the Holcus
odoratus of Linnaeus, Smith and Sinclair ; Hiero-
chloe borealis of Hooker and Greville. It obtains
its name of "holy grass" because of its dedica-
tion to the Virgin Mary by the Christians of the
East, being in certain places scattered at the doors
of churches in the same manner that Acorus cala-
mus is at the present day scattered at Norwich..
In Prussia it has some celebrity in this way, and
in Sweden it is hung over the beds of the wakeful
in the belief that it induces sleep. That it has a prop-
erty to justify the belief is likely, for it is powerfully
and delightfully aromatic, probably more so than the
well-known and agreeably fragrant Anthoxanthum
odoratum. A tiny sprig that, by Mr. Barlow's per-

suasion, I placed in my pocket-book three weeks
ago is now more fragrant than when first gathered,
and the odor of the dry specimen resembles that
of woodruff, which, it may be remarked, is now at
its best for perfuming books and linen. It is fig-
ured in Lowe's "British Grasses," from a specimen
gathered at Thurso by the late Mr. Robert Dick,
and it is there recorded that Mr. G. Don met with
it in a mountain valley called Kella, near Glen
Shee, Forfarshire. — Gardeners Magazine.

The Curl in the Peach Leaf. — Most of the
readers of the Gardeners' Monthly know that
the curl in the peach leaf is caused by a fungus,
what that fungus is, how it operates and how very
injurious to the peach tree is its operation. But
it does good to repeat lessons which have been
taught, and especially when the lessons come from
varied teaching ; so we give here the latest lesson
given by Professor Penhallow through the columns
of the Country Gentleman :

"The curl in the peach leaf is caused by the
growth of a fungus known as Exoascus defor-
mans, Freckel (Ascomyces deformans, Berk,
Taphrina deformans, TuL). During its growth it
not only causes the leaves to curl, but to lose their
green color and become more or less red and yel-
low, and we see from this, therefore, that such
leaves are incapable of performing their normal
functions in the assimilative processes of the plant.
The necessary result of this is, that there is a very
limited formation of wood while such leaves re-
main on the tree. For this period, therefore, it
must be admitted that the curl does exert a posi-
tively injurious influence. It is found, however,
that these leaves fall off'during the month of June,
and a new set of leaves free from curl appears.
Upon these, then, the entire growth of the season
depends, and because, unless otherwise diseased,
the tree then very frequently makes a fine growth,
fruit-growers generally believe that the curl is of
no importance, and that it does not injure the tree
at all."

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

Notes on the Nove.mber Number. — "A. G.,"
Cambridge, Massachusetts, says: "Gardeners'
Monthly, page 322. There is no Tropteolum
Canariensis, and the contradiction of terms be-
tween ' Canariensis,' which in English is ' of the
Canaries,' and the statement that it is 'a native of
New Grenada and Peru ' is direct. I wonder you
did not see it.

"I can venture to say with confidence that
the Spruce on White-Top and on Roan is not
' Abies alba," as you say, on page 339, but is A.
nigra.

" I hope your readers will be edified by the lucid

376

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

answer given on page 342, near top of second
column.

"Line 9 from bottom — 'A 'shrewd guess' is
thought to be a good or happy guess. Is that
what you mean ? I don't think they are shrewd."

[Corrections and suggestions are always wel-
come. It may be well to say that a very large
number of our correspondents forget that the
magazine has to go to press nearly a month before
the date of issue, and that an immense amount of
correspondence comes in a few days before the
month, and great efforts have to be made to attend
to the wants of all, rather than have them lie over
another month. Considering the immense field
covered by the Gardeners' Monthly, and the
rapid and brief manner in which much of this
correspondence must be treated, the editor is proud
that so few errors occur.

In regard to the Tropaeolum, though a native of
the American continent, it was first received into
English gardens from the Canary Islands, where
it was grown under the name of Canary-bird
flower. Among horticulturists it received on this
account the name of T. Canariensis, under which
it is still so well known to this day, that if its
proper botanical name had been employed, few of
our readers would have known what we were
speaking of. However, if we are to speak botani-
cally, we might tell our readers that some botanists
do not regard it as Tropceolum at all, but would
have us call it " Chymocarpus," and there is a dif-
ference of opinion as to its specific name, some call-
ing it T. aduncum, T. Smithii, or T. peregrinum.

Those who were not "edified" by the very
brief way in which we felt compelled to treat a
very abstruse subject, may consult at greater
length Herbert Spencer's Biology. Spencer is one
of " some botanists " to whom we referred.

We were certainly wrong in using the word
" shrewd " in connection with Grant Allen's specu-

lations ; "plausible guesses" would have been
better.— Ed. G. M.]

DoG-TooTH Grass. — Dr. Gerard writes: "On
page 340 of Gardeners' Monthly you remark
that you would venture a guess that even our good
friends of the Garden do not know what M. De-
launay means by ' dog-tooth grass.' " This is an
old English name for Triticum caninum, Huds.,
the Gramen caninum of the older botanists, and
the Chien dent of the French. It, as well as Cy-
nodon dactylon, is so called, says Prior, because
of ' the sharp-pointed shoots of its underground
stems.' Some grasses are said to be emetic and
purgative, as, for example, Bromus purgans and
B. catharticus. The long roots of Cynodon dac-
tylon have been held in some repute as a substi-
tute for sarsaparilla."

DlSTRIBl'TION OF THE WhITE SpRUCE. — " A.

M.," Pittsburg, Pa., says : "Referring to the letter
of 'W. D. K.,' in your November number, permit
me to add that I found magnificent specimens of
the White (sometimes called Blue) Spruce on the
slopes of Long's Peak, Col., at an elevation of
eight thousand feet, and smaller trees of the same
variety, to the exclusion of all other evergreens, all
the way from there up to the ' timber line,' say ten
thousand to eleven thousand feet elevations above
the sea level. Lower down there was a fair mix-
ture of Balsam Fir."

[This note is an illustration of the confusion aris-
ing from the indiscriminate use of common names.
The "white" or " blue" spruce of Long's Peak at
the lower elevations is Abies pungens — the higher
ones chiefly A. Englemanni — the " Balsam " Fir,
Abies concolor. The one referred to in the No-
vember number is, we took to be, the original
white spruce, Abies alba, but which, as Dr. Gray
corrects in the present number, should have prop-
erly been credited to the black spruce. — Ed. G. M.]

liTMATURE, Travels and Personal Notes.

COMMUNICATIONS.

THE $3750 ROSE : WM. FRANCIS BENNETT.

BY PETER HENDERSON.

I suppose that most of the readers of The
Monthly have heard the storv of Mr. Evans, of

Philadelphia, having paid this large amount to
Mr. Henry Bennett, of London, probably the lar-
gest amount that was ever paid for the stock of
any rose in this country. Cheap enough it would
have been in all probability had it not been tram-
melled with the extraordinary condition that no

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

377

cuttings or plants should be sold for four years,
Mr. Evans having to look for his profits from the
cut flowers — but here is where the snag comes.
It is well known that rosebuds can not now be
sold unless cut with long stems, and the question
arises, how is Mr. Evans going to prevent the cut-
tings attached to the buds from being used by
others for the purpose of propagation ?

In a visit by some half a dozen of us, all veterans
in the trade, at Mr. Evans' place last March, the
question was raised for Mr. E's benefit of what was
the best means of killing the leaf bud, or to pre-
vent its growth. Various remedies were suggested,
such as touching the leaf bud with acid, cutting
it out, and squeezing the bud and stems. The two
latter methods we have experimented with and
find that neither of them is safe. Cuttings of sev-
eral varieties of roses put in a month ago, that
were squeezed both in the stem and bud, granula-
ted throughout and rooted quite as quickly as
others put in at the same time without mutilation,
and seemingly will make quite as good plants.
Others from which the buds were cut — leaving the
leaf on of course — in two out of three developed
latent side buds, so that it seems neither of these
methods is safe. If the suggestion of destroying
the bud with acid were practicable it certainly
would be objectionable from the danger to the
hands when handling the roses. The subject be-
comes one of very general interest, for although
it is rare that such an extraordinary compact as
that between Mr. Bennett and Mr. Evans occurs,
yet cases must constantly be coming up where
the buds of new roses that may sell only at ten
cents each must have cuttings attached to them
where the plants sell at one dollar or more each.
So that the owner of new varieties must either sac-
rifice his flowers or give for ten cents what is worth
to him a dollar.

THE LONDON FLOWER SELLER.
BY F.

If the editor of the Gardeners' Monthly
deems the enclosed — cut from an English news-
paper— worthy a corner in his work, it may
be to some reader a pleasing retrospect. Al-
though it is over fifty years since he bought his
"Last Moss Rose," for a penny, in the streets of
London, he is vividly reminded of the sellers and
their offerings. The beaifties of floral existence
are often associated with poverty, sin, and homely
human features ; yet some are of the sort which
old Bill Cobbett saw in Wiltshire, planting cab-

bages, when he says he was half tempted to take
a " kiss," which he would rather do from such an
one, than lick the paint from the cheeks of a
Duchess.

THE LONDON FLOWER SELLER.

A rose — & rose for a penny !

And pansies twopence a bunch !
There's the baker with loaves baked freshly,

And O for a crust to munch !

All day I've sat by the station,

But nobody wants my flowers ;
The wet streets steam and the sun bursts

Between tlie thvmder-showers.

Carnations, pink and crimson.
Fresh gathered, sweet and strong I

But over the shining pavement
The passengers hurry along.

Sweet-peas! By some cottage window
They grew ; for I've seen such grow.

Rosy-white, like the face of the darling
I lost in tile time of snow.

My child, my sinless blossom,
My pride, "though the mark of scorn !

O. God ! I was such a baby
Myself when the babe was born !

The mignonette's drooping sadly ;

Will it sell ? it is fragrant still ;
Lame Milly once had some blowing

Upon her window-sill.

White jessamine ! -like that lady.

So dainty, and clean, and sweet,
From the curl on heivtranquil forehead

To the tips of her delicate feet.

O. to be once as she is.

With never a soil or stain :
Men bowing or speaking her gently

As she passes on to her train.

Not half so pretty as I am,

Not rich, for she walks to-day ;
But out of the filth and riot,

And pure as the jasmine spray.

Did her father drink, I wonder ".'
Was she nursed in sins and shames ■.'

Did they beat her, starve her, kick her.
And call her filthy names ?

Sweet-williams 1 Tossed me for nothing

By a lad at a fruiterer's stall :
Brown-bearded, fresh and wholesome

They are, and strong and tall.

Like fresh-faced Will from the country,

Who spoke of field and plough.
And promised me marriage and left me—

Who loves him, 1 wonder, now ?

The sky is all black ; in the distance

The angry thunder rolls ;
There's a blinding flash, with a deluge

The rain sweeps the hurrying shoals.

It sweeps up under my shelter,

I'm wet again to the skin,
And just two bunches of pansies

Would buy me a drop of gin.

A rose— a rose for a penny I

White lilies a penny apiece !
The clouds from the sun are breaking,

The showers soon will cease.

A pigeon, with wings all shining,

Flits by in the sudden gold.
As if in a molten rainbow

His beautiful plumes were rolled.

Ah ! my dream of the angel singing.
His eyes one flame of love,
" Though thou liesc among the potsherds.
Thou Shalt be as the wings of a dove."

Roses, sweet-williams, pansies.

Jasmine and lilies fair.
Mignonette, sweet-peas, carnations.

Drooping in sultry air.

Maxwell Gray.

378

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

THE EUROPEAN EMBARGO ON AMERICAN
PLANTS AND ROOTS.

BY PETER HENDERSON.

In your remarks on this subject in the November
Monthly you seem to deprecate the idea of retali-
ation. That seems to me to be the only way to bring
the idiots who swayed the Berne Convention of
July 4th, 1883, to their senses. Let us make use
of the same weapons, suicidal though they be, and
we may rest assured that less than twelve months
will suffice to bring these wiseacres to their sober
second thoughts. About the only horticultural
commodities that America exports to Europe in
quantity are tuberoses and potatoes, probably not
exceeding in amount $100,000 per year, while the
United States undoubtedly imports fifty times, and
perhaps one hundred times, that amount in bulbs
and plants. True, it would be a deprivation and
loss to resort to such an expedient as to have our '
government retaliate, but Europe has everything
to lose in such a fight. We are every year be-
coming better able to grow the bulbs and plants
that we are importing, and were we forced upon
our own resources it might be the best thing that
could happen to us, as in our great variety of soil
and climate we would probably find that even
Holland bulbs and other similar roots could be as
well grown here as there. It is not more than
twenty years ago that we thought it necessary to
import all our gladiolus, and some of our tuberose
bulbs. Now we can give them odds on both.
Twelve months loss to Europe of America as a
customer for her bulbs and plants would cause her
to run up the white flag and ask for a cessation of
hostilities, but that she will meanly keep up this
one-sided fight unless we strike back, and strike
back promptly, I can see no reason to doubt.
Had there been a shadow .of reason for the sweep-
ing restriction against American plants and bulbs
being landed in Europe it would have been easier
to bear, but to give the trivial pretext that it is to
prevent the introduction of phylloxera into lands
already swarming with it shows that the members
of the Berne Convention were either a lot of sense-
less old grannies, or else they were influenced by
parties whose interest it was to prevent the few
American exports of bulbs, etc., reaching Europe,
and made use of this absurd and miserable excuse
for that purpose. It is unpleasant to think that
human nature is so depraved that men will stoop
to such means for the attainment of ends. But
who can tell ? Even Bismarck was disturbed
by the ghost of trichina in American pork, al-

though he could swallow the infinitely more nu-
merous worms in his own native article without

seeing them.

•-»-» •

EDITORIAL NOTES.

John J. Thomas. — (See frontispiece to the an-
nual volume). In our botanical works we read of
the corky white elm, Ulmus suberosa of Thomas,
who first discovered, described and named it.
This botanist was David Thomas, chief engineer
of the Western portion of the Erie Canal, and
father to the subject of this sketch, who thus in-
herited a taste for his father's scientific and me-
chanical pursuits. John J. was born near Cayuga
Lake, in Cayuga county. New York, in the year
1 8 10. The father being absent on his professional
pursuits from 1820 to 1828, the son had, in a meas-
ure, to superintend his own education. With a
natural fondness for intellectual studies, he soon
acquired a considerable knowledge of the natural
and physical sciences, which he applied to the
advancement of his horticultural and agricultural
pursuits. In his twenty-first year he became asso-
ciate editor of the old, and, in its day, very success-
ful Genesee Farmer, first published at that time by
Luther Tucker & Son, with which he remained in
connection many years. In 1840 the Albany
Cultivator, a monthly magazine, was consolidated
with the Genesee Farmer, and J.J. Thomas con-
tinued as horticultural editor. This again became
a weekly — the Country Gentleman, in 1853, with
Mr. Thomas as horticultural editor — so that we
may say he has been continuously in the editorial
chair of what is actually a continuous serial for
over fifty years. Few of us can boast of so many
years of persevering usefulness. During a great
part of this time he was engaged in business as a
nurseryman, wherein he had an excellent oppor-
tunity to put into practice his horticultural learn-
ing, and was thus enabled to speak from actual
experience, as well as from thoughtful study. His
business career extended over thirty years.

His pen and pencil have not been confined to
editorial pursuits alone. In 1846 he issued the
Fruit Culturist, which has been so popular that
no less than nineteen successive editions have been
called for, a career of usefulness allotted to but
very few horticultural works. It started as a small
i8mo, and has grown to a handsome octavo work.
As the inventor of Thohias' smoothing harrow and
other implements, he is as well known to the agri-
cultural as to the horticultural community, and the
drawingsin his widely read work on farmimplements

1883.]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

379

are all the work of his hands. The remarkably suc-
cessful illustrated Register of Rural Affairs, pub-
hshed by Luther Tucker & Son each year since
1855, contain altogether nearly 2,000 engravings, all
from the drawings that his busy pencil furnished.
He was one of the founders of the Western New
York Horticultural Society, and its first President,
holding the honor by election through several
subsequent years, and for many years past has
been chairman of one of the standing committees
oftht American Pomological Society.

Like so many of our leading horticulturists, he
has not confined his labors to the advancement
solely of his own class, but has labored to advance
the interests of the whole community. His ser-
vices in the cause of public education have been
of a high order. The famous Oakwood Seminary
was founded through his labors, and as managing
trustee or president he conducted its business for
sixteen years, carrying it through several critical
periods to ultimate safety and success. His family
consists of a wife and daughters, and all mem.
bers of the Society of Friends. Among living
horticultural authors, J.J. Thomas occupies a very
distinguished rank, and we are happy to have the
opportunity of placing his portrait among our an-
nual illustrations.

Government Officials. — It seems very un-
fortunate that our government employs no one but
ignoramuses or inefficients — at least in the opinion
of those who succeed in following those gone be-
fore. For instance, in a government document on
" Contagious diseases of domesticated animals,"
Dr. H. J. Detmars "lets off" on Professor J.
Gamgee. It is stated that "every one with an un-
biased mind and a fair knowledge of general
pathology," ought to know better. Professor Gam-
gee's biased mind and ignorance of general patho-
logy is certainly a misfortune, but then Gamgee
may have satisfaction in reflecting that whoever
precedes another in office is generally found to be
a perfect ignoramus by his successor.

Progress of the Nursery Business. — In
spite of the serious depression in the nursery busi-
ness a few years ago, caused by an immense over-
production and sales at low figures, which pro-
duced wide-spread bankruptcy, there has been a
gradual revival, and numbers of new firms are
starting everywhere. Mr. Albaugh says of the
Ohio valley that the exact extent of the nursery
interest of this valley at the present time may not
be known to all. There are now within a circle
having a radius of about twenty miles, with its

center, say at or near Tadmor or Tippecanoe, not
less than sixty separate and distinct nurseries.

History of the Camellia in America. —
With a colored plate of the beautiful crimson-
scarlet variety, C. M. Hovey, the London Garden
gives from the pen of Mr. Hovey the following
reminiscences of the improvement of the cameUia
in America. There are evidently some printer's
mistakes in deciphering Mr. Hovey's manuscript,
of which we may perhaps suggest that Samuel
Fend is intended for Samuel Feast ;

" But it was in 1830 that 1 for the first time vis-
ited New York and the garden of the late Michael
Floy, of that city, to see his great collection of
seedlings, and this gave me camellias on the brain.
I thought of nothing but camellias, dreamt of them,
read about them, purchased them ; yes, one hun-
dred and fifty, and about as worthless a number
to-day as one could get together, though some of
them cost 20 fr. and 30 fr. each. And, as to add
fuel to flame, I also visited Philadelphia for the
first time, and there found the florists all growing
camellias and raising seedlings. I found my good
old friend, Robert Buist, with a houseful of fine
young camellias and lots of seedhngs, and Mr.
Landreth, who had only a year or two before pro-
duced the very fine Landrethi, still a good sort,
only a poor grower. Mr. Smith had also a house
of rare palms and cacti, and some fine seedling
cameUias, Smith's amabilis being still a beautiful
one ; and a young man, gardener to Mr. Geo.
Pepper, in Chestnut street, named Chalmers, had
produced some superior seedlings, Chalmers' per-
fection being one of them. Then there was Mr.
P. Mackenzie, who raised subsequently Jenny
Lind, which Henderson purchased for 200 guineas.
Proceeding to Baltimore, I found Mr. Samuel
Fend had anticipated me, and also produced one
or two very beautiful sorts, and so had Mr. Kurtz
and Dr. Edmondson. At Washington I found
quantities of seedlings, all pretty good, but none
extra fine. Returning home, on my way I acci-

1 dentally became acquainted with the late Mr. P.

' Dunlap, then gardener close to New York. He,
too, had some fine seedlings, and he introduced
me to an old sailor and neighbor, Capt. Harrison,
who had a most beautiful double white, more ex-
quisite than abla plena, a perfect gem to-day.
This same Capt. Harrison also raised the yellow
Harrison's rose, which I believe some Enghsh

I rosarians consider to be about the most beautiful
and valuable hardy or yellow rose extant. So you
see we do raise some good things in America, or,
perhaps 1 should say, did so fifty years ago. All,
or about all, of Mr. Floy's camellias were seed-
lings, a house, 40 feet long, being full in the cen-
ter with the grand Floyi ; the various kinds num-
bered nearly fifty, the names and descriptions of
which were published in Hovey's Magazine of
Horticulture in 1838 (vol. iv., p. 155). JV^fr. Floy
was an English gardener, who came to America in
the year 1800, bringing with him plants of the old
douhle white, believed to be the first ever im-

38o

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

ported into America. He was an intelligent and en-
thusiastic cultivator, and a corresponding member
of the London Horticultural Society, to whose
valuable transactions he communicated some very
interesting information about American fruits and
forwarded a collection of our finest peach trees
for trial."

Apple Butter. — In almost every part of the
world " Schimmel" is known in connection with
apple butter and fruit preserving generally. This
enormous business, like so many of great magni-
tude, began in a small way ; a five-dollar kettle
and twenty dollars in cash began the concern.
Wife and sister boiled during the day, while the
husband went round selling the product to the
neighboring stores. Only think of fifty thousand
pounds a day, as turned out now, of this tooth-
some product of the apple orchard. Like so many
extremely busy men in Philadelphia Jose O. Schim-
mel believes in continual self-improvement, and
gives a good portion of his time when not en-
gaged in active business to scientific studies. He
is an active botanist, and one of the leading
microscopists in the Academy of Natural Sciences,
which has done so much in the cause of self-edu-
cation.

Rose William Francis Bennett. — An Italian
exchange on our table tells its readers : " II Sig-
ner Bennett che 1' ottenne ne ha ceduta 1' edizione
ad un Orticulture di Filadelfia per la somma di
20,000 franchi." We thought it well to let friend
Evans see his purchase as it is rendered in Italian.

Discussions on Steam Heating. — We have
given more than usual space to the steam heating
question. There are some discussions we are
glad of some excuse to cut short — this is not one
of them. The subject has an immense interest.
Just how far steam can be used profitably, and
just what are its strong points and its weak points,
have not yet been made as plain as they will yet
be, and we fancy there will be room for good pa-
pers drawn from intelligent experience for some
time to come. We shall, however, for want of
space in justice to other topics, hold back those
essays which merely offer the writer's opinions.

Vegetables at Wholesale and Retail. —
A correspondent sends us the following with the
remark that it was sent to a Philadelphia paper,
but no response came to his inquiry :

"I live in the country, over in New Jersey. I
moved there to secure low rent, pure air and wa-
ter, healthy surroundings, fresh and cheap vege-
tables. You know the dream of the average city
man. Well, I think I've got left on the cheap

vegetables. Although surrounded with truck
farms, we buy our vegetables in the city, carrying
them down home ourselves, the reason being that
the farmers ask two prices for anything they have
to sell. They haul their produce five miles and
sell in the city at one-third less than they are con-
tent to sell to neighbors in their own village.
They seem to prefer to lose the time, labor, fer-
riage and expense of the long haul rather than
sell in a home market, and we are compelled to
go five miles to purchase a home product. How
do you account for this ?"

[It is remarkable that in a city where they have
a "chair of political economy," attached to the
University, no answer should be given. The ex-
planation is that " Time is money," and that a
man can make more money in taking one hour to
go five miles and sell a thousand cabbages for
$400, than he could by selling ten cabbages in the
same time at home for even fifty cents apiece. —
Ed. G. M.]

William Lobb. — It is stated in horticultural
biography that after collecting seeds in California
he disappeared and no one knew what became of
him. Dr. C. C. Parry has contributed a very in-
teresting paper to the Overland Monthly, on the
early botanical explorers of the Pacific coast, and
there states that he met Lobb at Monterey, in 1850,
and that Lobb was then collecting seeds for
Veitch, and that he went about with him on his
excursions. He was then planning a trip to the
Big trees, having seen the cones in possession of
Dr. Kellogg, who had named the tree Washing-
tonia gigantea. He afterwards went, probably to
Calaveras, and got seeds, sending a description
under the name of Wellingtonia gigantea — a name
evidently suggested by Kellogg's proposition to
name it after a great military man. General Bid-
well saw the tree in 1843, and communicated the
fact to Fremont, who seems to have regarded it
merely as a big tree yarn. A'Ir. Lobb died some
years subsequently, after becoming reduced in
circumstances, and his remains are interred in
Lone Mountain Cemetery.

Gidding's Greenhouses at Danville, Illi-
nois.— These are represented by Western papers
as among the most interesting in the State. All
the popular winter-cut flowers are grown to a large
extent. The houses are heated by steam. Mr. A.
C. Wasson is the. Superintendent, and the business
is regarded as a great success.

Charles F. Parker. — The advantages which
America offers over the old world, in the way of
education, is in no way better shown than by the
great interest manifested in the old world, when

•]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

381

some poor man succeeds in doing some good sci-
entific work. Recently a book has been issued
about a poor Scotchman who managed to get
together a very fair herbarium of Scotch plants,
and all accurately named. The book is very pleas-
ant reading, and it is also pleasant to know that
in the old world such merit is so well recognized.
Our point is, that such merit is not rare in this
country, and the name which heads this is an illus-
trious example. He had nothing whatever, in
early hfe, to attract him to botany. He simply
loved his native wild flowers, got books and
studied them, and was indeed a first-class botanist
before those who were known as such, knew he
was among them. No better testimonial to the
success of his early endeavors could be offered,
than the fact that he became one of the most
valuable Curators which such a world-renowned
institution as the Academy of Natural Sciences, of
Philadelphia, ever had. We give place to the fol-
lowing paragraph, from the Philadelphia Public
Ledger and the North American, in relation to his
death, at 62 years: "Vice President Thomas
Meehan, having taken the chair, at the last meet-
ing of the Academy of Natural- Sciences, an-
nounced the death on the 7th instant of the
Curator-in-charge, Charles F. Parker. He alluded
in feeling terms to the worth of the deceased as a
man and his efficiency as an officer. Mr. Parker
was elected a member of the Academy in 1865.
Although during the greater part of his life he had
been compelled to devote himself to mechanical
employment, he had acquired a taste for natural
history, which he lost no opportunity of satisfying
by much more than a superficial study of plants
and shells. As a botanist, especially, even before
his connection with the Academy, he was well-
known to Gray, Torrey, Bebb, and other dis-
tinguished authorities, and but few specialists
considered it advisable to conclude their investiga-
tions of particular groups of plants without applying
to Mr. Parker for the use of his illustrative ma-
terial. The study ot the plants of New Jersey
always remained his own special province, and
both in the completeness of his herbarium and the
accuracy of his knowledge of its contents he had
few if any equals. His active sympathy with the
objects of the Academy caused him, even before
his election to membership, to be an energetic
worker in several of the departments of the muse-
um, and, when formally associated with the society,
devoted all the time he could spare from his work
as proprietor and superintendent of the bindery
department of "Godey's Lady's Book" to the ar-

rangement of the herbarium, in co-operation with
Messrs. Durand, Meehan, Burk and Redfield.
His connection with the estabhshment alluded to
had secured for him in the business world an envi-
able reputation for accuracy, reliability and un-
swerving integrity, and when, in 1873, he was
elected one of the four curators of the Academy, it
was evident that the Society would consult its best
interests by making him responsible custodian of
the collections. As it was becoming every day
more evident that dependence could no longer be
placed solely upon volunteer labor for the care and
increase of the museum, Mr. Parker was appointed
Curator-in-charge by the Council, and was shortly
afterwards able, by an arrangement of his business
affairs, to give his whole time to the Academy.
How thoroughly and with what singleness of pur-
pose he devoted himself to his official duties will
not soon be forgotten by his associates. He was
almost morbidly anxious to perform his work in
such manner as to render faultfinding or adverse
criticism impossible. The means at the disposal
of the Academy were not sufficient to enable him.
to employ an assistant, and the actual manual
work of the arrangement, as well as the general
scientific determination of much of- the material
added to the museum during his administration
was performed by himself. Those only who are
acquainted with museum management are aware
of the vast amount of labor involved in the orderly
arrangement ot natural objects. His associates
had become so well aware of his neatness and dex-
terity of manipulation, and his systematic appor-
tionment of time, combined with a certain instinct
of orderly arrangement, that they had ceased to
wonder at the results attained, but visitors from
establishments of a like kind frequently expressed
their amazement that so much could be accom-
plished by one individual. To workers in science,
whether the members and students of the Academ>
or visitors desirous of consulting special collections,
he always gave active sympathy and assistance.
Although he may be succeeded by one having a
more general knowledge of natural history in its
several departments, or a more profound knowl-
edge of a specialty, the Academy will probably
not be able to secure the services of any one
person able to perform the same work as economi-
cally and efficiently."

Frederick Vervaene. — The name of Ver-
vaene is connected with so many well-known flow-
ers under cultivation that the following note, which
we find in a New York paper, will be interesting
to many readers :

382

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

"One of the most interesting visitors to Hoosick
Falls this summer was Fred. Vervaene, superin-
tendent of the greenhouses and grounds of the
Messrs. Burden, of Troy. Mr. Vervaene was pro-
pagator in the exotic department of the govern-
ment gardens at Van Houte, Belgium, thirty-five
years ago, and shortly afterwards came to this
country on a botanical expedition, exploring Mex-
ico and Central America. Like many other emi-
nent Europeans, he found a more extensive and
congenial field for his talents here, and never re-
turned to his native country. Selecting New
England to commence operations, he found in Na-
thaniel Wheeler, of sewing-machine note, a faith-
ful friend and employer, whose elegant grounds at
Bridgeport, directed by Mr. Vervaene, soon be-
came the envy of gardeners and many distin-
guished visitors — among the latter the late Horace
Greeley and President Grant. As the pioneer of
rose growing, he attracted universal attention, and
the method of his early success is still practiced by
many of our rose-growing establishments. He
was subsequently engaged in the commercial
florists' business at Bridgeport, where for twelve
years he carried on one of the largest establish-
ments in the country. In his present situation he
directs all departments of his profession, plain and
scientific, and flowers annually upwards of five
thousand roses, and produces fruits and flowers at
all seasons."

Montreal Horticultural Society — Eighth
Annual Report. — It is interesting to note by hor-
ticultural reports from different points of our great
cosmopolitan parish, how different is the idea of
horticulture in different parts thereof. In some
parts the number of barrels of cranberries to an
acre is horticulture pure and simple, while the true
unadulterated article of horticulture in some other
parts would be the number of pennies which could
be squeezed out of the consumer on a quart of
blackberries or a bushel of peaches, and where
if any one suggested that some attention should be
given to the improvement of a public road, or the
ornamentation of a window sill by a few geraniums
in a tin can, he would be looked down on as a trifler
of the meanest possible description. But horticul-
ture to an editor means gardening all over the
world — gardening by the fruit-grower, whether of
oranges in Florida or cranberries in Cape Cod ;
by the vineyardist of California or the cocoanut
planter of the West Indies ; the flower-lover, the
tree-planter, the grower and the admirer ; the
amateur and the professional cultivator ; garden-
ing for pleasure and gardening for profit ; garden-
ing in short, whatever and wherever found. So
there are some localities which send us horticul-
tural reports which treat of things wholly from the
open air, and there are reports from countries
where the best gardening is that which records a

triumph over hard-hearted stony nature, which
demands that everything you do shall be in spite
of her continual efforts to destroy what you under-
take.

Of this latter class is the report before us. Que-
bec is a province of great cold in winter, and of
great heat in summer, and walled gardens, conser-
vatories and greenhouses are in order. Protection
is the one word which' makes a successful gar-
dener.

So we have here papers on those fruits which
require the least protection, and Russian fruits
come in for a goodly notice. Many of the best are
sketched and described. Trees which may do
without much protection, as, for instance, a list
prepared for Iowa, gives much valuable informa-
tion, though not free from some minor errors and
oversights. The best kinds of fruits for profitable
orcharding are treated of; greenhouses and win-
dow gardens get the attention one might expect in
a region where the best half of the year we must
garden under glass, if at all. It is very interest-
ing reading, on the whole, and aside from this, in-
dicates a prosperous and useful society.

An Italian Exchange. — Every country is hav-
ing its especial Horticultural Magazine, either as
an individual enterprise, or as the emanation of
some public body. Before us we have the Bulle-
tino della R. Societa Toscana di Orticultura. The
number before us gives an account of a great Na-
tional Exposition in May last. Orchids, palms,
yuccas, ferns and leaf plants generally seem to be
the most popular plants exhibited, though pelar-
goniums in their various sections, rhododendrons
and azaleas, roses, 150 varieties by one exhibitor,
and some other things, received attention. There
are descriptions of fine gardens, and among other
items of interest an account of the doings of a
society established to prevent tourists from utterly
rooting out rare botanical specimens.

Agricultural, Botanical and Chemical
Results of Experiments on the Mixed and
Permanent Meadow. By Drs. Lawes, Gilbert,
and M. T. Masters. Published by the Royal So-
ciety of London.

This is the botanical portion of this wonderful
work, undertaken by these painstaking experimen-
ters. The grass land was left twenty years in sod,
and the changes which occurred by the use of pe-
culiar manures, peculiar seasons, peculiar soils, or
peculiar circumstances of any kind, were carefully
noted. The different species of grass in the mea-
dow at the commencement, perhaps the same at

5-]

AND HORTICULTURIST.

383

the commencement of the experiments, varied re-
markably at the end of the term, according to the
circumstances surrounding it. In damp soil, for
instance, one kind would have crowded out the
other at the end of the term ; in dry soil, the case
would be reversed; the damp-soil lover would be
crowded out, and the one which dryness suited
would prevail.

As a work of scientific interest, which may be
made one of vast practical value by reference to
it from time to time, no more valuable paper to
the cultivators of the soil has perhaps appeared
within the century.

The Goldfish and its Culture with a View
TO Profit. By Hugo Mulertt, Cincinnati. Pub-
lished by the author.

Some years ago, when in connection with a daily
paper, the writer was called on by a gentleman
desiring employment, who gave as one of his
merits that he could write able articles on any
subject, and the less he knew about the subject the
better would be the articles that he could write.
This may be all right, but we prefer writings by
those who are familiar with their subjects ; and
therefore at the outset we are prepared to welcome
a book on this subject by Mr. Mulertt, because the
writer has pleasant recollections of a visit to Mr.
Mulertt's establishment some years ago, and how
well he succeeded in making everything do
well.

There are few more interesting occupations than
the care of pets in the shape of living creatures
about the house, and of all these pets the goldfish
is one of the most interesting. But those who do
not know how to manage them soon find the fish
diseased, or in some other way fish-caring becomes
annoying. This work is intended to look into the
subject of "profit;" but it is just the little things
desirable for profit that make the successful ama-
teur, and we can cordially recommend this work
to all goldfish lovers.

Nuts of Pinus edulis. — In Nevada these are
a very desirable article of Indian food. Once in
two years the nut crop is abundant, and in early
days was the main reliance of the Indians for
winter supplies. The work of gathering them is
quite tedious ; but the patient squaws put in full
time during the harvest, and accumulate many
sacks full. The cone or bur which contains the
nut is pulled from the tree and roasted, the oil or
turpentine in the cone being sufficient to partially
burn them. This opens the layers underneath
which the nuts lie concealed, and from which they

are shaken when the roasting process is com-
pleted. '

SCRAPS AND QUERIES.

To Intelligent Correspondents. — All com-
munications relating to advertisements, subscrip-
tions, or other business, must be addressed to the
publisher, 814 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

All referring to the reading matter of the maga-
zine must be mailed to the editor, Germantown, Pa.

No express packages for the editor received un-
less prepaid ; and tnarked "Paid through to Ger-
mantown, Pa."

An Index versus a Table of Contents. —
Last year our publisher gave the Index free to the
subscriber, instead of infringing on the usual
thirty-two pages of reading matter. We have be-
fore us a letter from " An Old Compiler," in praise
of that Index, and showing the difference between
a mere "contents " and our very full index. We
should be glad to insert the whole compliment, if
we had room, but must be satisfied with the follow-
ing extract :

"My purpose, partly, in this writing was to ac-
knowledge the service the Gardeners' Monthly
does its readers— and writers, too — by furnishing
an annual index that makes the work completely,
exhaustively, immediately accessible through its
whole series. I am afraid it does not get all the
credit it deserves from the majority of its readers
for this supplementary labor. I have all the vol-
umes from the first, and bound up to the twenty-
fourth, inclusive. I ask my fellow subscribers to
exainine and test these indices, if they have here-
tofore accepted them indifferently, confident their
verdict will be that they vastly enhance the value
of the subscription. I do not find the Monthly
making any flourish of trumpets— blow — over this
accommodation. From its rarity it must be con-
sidered gratuitous, and I am therefore moved to
acknowledge my own indebtedness. From expe-
rience with the Monthly up to the last volume I
confidently look for another complete index in the
approaching December number, unless you have
gone and done the unlikely thing this year, of
hiring my special aversion, Mr. Contents, in a sud-
den access of economy."

Addressed Envelopes. — We have two cards
from correspondents, one of whom advocates ad-
dressed and stamped envelopes, on the ground
that if the party addressed deigns no reply, he
shall not at any rate use their stamp for any other
business. To our mind it is worth a three-cent
stamp to read some of their letters. There is no
accounting for tastes. Those who care for these
things can have them.

384

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

Horticultural Societies.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Exhibitors. — It is remarkable that the best ex-
hibitors at the New York Horticultural Society are
professional men. Though there are numerous
amateur growers, they seldom exhibit, the reason
given being that wealthy employers there some-
times collected and retained the premiums, and
gardeners could not be expected to take on them-
selves the great extra work preparing for ex-
hibition entailed. They are generally over-bur-
dened with routine work.

Entrance Fees.^ — The committee of the New
York Horticultural Society report their surprise
that Philadelphia should have asked but twenty-
five cents admission fee from non-members, for
such a magnificent display.

Chrysanthemum Shows. — These are becom-
ing popular autumn attractions. There was a fine
one in Philadelphia during the first week in No-
vember. Those which obtained the premiums
were sold to a leading clothing house, the price
paid being the premium money. The same week
there was one in New York, the plants afterwards
being sold for the benefit of the Horticultural So-
ciety. At Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, thou-
sands thronged to see the collection, and people
had to stand in long hnes in order to get their turn
to enter the large building wherein the flowers
were.

The Chrysanthemum Show in Philadelphia.
— The flower-lovers of Philadelphia have reason
to be proud of their first attempt to organize an
exhibition wholly of chrysanthemums. The huge
hall of the Horticultural Society was completely
filled with collections, and the mere variety would
fill a large catalogue. It was feared that the ex-
hibits would be confined to commercial men, but
two of the largest and best exhibits came from
private gardeners, Mr. Stewart, gardener to Wistar
Morris, Esq., and Mr. Vallandigham, gardener to
G. Bullock, Esq. Their plants were near three

feet in height, and nearly as much wide, with
healthy leaves from the pot upwards, and crowned
by hundreds of perfect flowers. Among the com-
mercial growers Mr. W. K. Harris had the most
numerous awards.

The exhibition was particularly interesting as
showing that skill was being employed to grow
these plants. Of late good plant-growing was fast
becoming one of the lost arts. Plants are watered
and cared for, doing the best they can of their
own accord, and if it ever should enter the grow-
er's mind to exhibit, he looks around a few hours
in advance to see if he has anything "worth tak-
ing." These plants showed deUberate intent to
try and see how well a chrysanthemum could be
grown. There is yet room for improvement.
Some of the exhibits had more stakes than stems.
The effort should be to make good plants by
pinching and training, with the smallest possible
employment of stakes. Some growers had the
plants trained to single stems, and in all cases
these had much the finest flowers. If close atten-
tion be paid to the skillful management of the
plant, we fancy the best specimens of growth
could be had from this method. It would be well
to offer separate premiums for these different
methods of growth. One exhibitor had trained
some plants to single stems, and then pinched
them to form heads like Kilmarnock willows, fans
and other fanciful objects. The flowers were not
very good, nor the growth very luxuriant, but the
exhibit was very useful and praiseworthy, as show-
ing that much might be done in the way of train-
ing when the proper skill shall be brought to play
to get the best effects.

A vase of Mr. Evans' " $5,000 " rose was exhibi-
ted, and proved the rose to be a very meritorious
one. It is a tea rose, with all the peculiar merits
of General Jacqueminot.

A very fine lot of seedling chrysanthemums
from Julius Wolff showed that our own growers
are alive to the improvement of the chrysanthe-
mum.

i2^3DE:K.-*voiii. 2§:x:v.

Aberdeen Park. 0.55, 3o6
Abies Douglasii, 305
Abo and Tanyah, 28
Abutilon, Double, 204
Absence of Trees from

Prairies, 150
Absorption by Roots, ol
Acacia Farnesiana, 215

" filir^ina, 1 IS
Acer Scliweidleri, 324

'• volxenii, 324
Aerocliniiini, Improv't, 7, 8
Ail:ipt:itiiiii in Nature, 2'7I>
Addrcssi'il Envelopes 349,383
Address, Wilder's, 317, 850
Adiantum te t r a p h y 1 1 u m

gracile, 265
Advautagce of Peaclics e.arly

to Market. 82
Advertisements, 31
^TCsculus parviflora, 148

■• sineusi-i. I'uuge. 357
Esthetics, Practical, 04
Agents, Swindling, 2(i
Agr.. Wash'n, Grounds. 324
" Science, Diffusion, 276
Agrippina Rose, Striped, 139
Aiding Draft of Flues, 43, 74
Ailantus glandulosus, 20.3
Alaska, Ravens in, .340 ,
Albani Carnation, 172
Alexander Peacb, 366
Allan, Sir Hugh, Death, 62
Allen, C. L., Grounds, 344
Almond. Dwarf, 341
Alsophila Australis, 294
Alternanthera aurea uaiia.
Amaryllis, History, 220 [3.58
Amateurs and Florists, ()4
Amelia Peach, 304 [bles, .336
America & England, Vegeta-
•• Camellia History. 370
" Cut-flowers, 298
" Forestry in, 17
" Sugar in, 82 [47

American Ai)ples, England.
■' Arbor VitiT^. Large, 324
" Banner Rose, 36 [302
" Blackberries, England,
•' Crab Apple, 89
■• Forester Abroad, .370
•• Forestry, 368
" Earth Worms, 53
" Journal Forestry, 350
" Nursery Ass'n, 1.59. 288
'• Peaches, Europe, 15
" Plane Tree, 274
" Plants, Geography, 153
■' •' Euro. Embargo. 378
" Pomol.Soc.,64.128,160,
191,224,256,288,320, .352
" Trees iu Europe, 343
" " Largest, 147
'• Violets, Improved, 260
Among Flowers, 161, 166, 193
Ampelopsis, 163
Andromeda japonica, 197,292
Annual Growth, Wood. 20
" Insect Crop, 214
" Layer, Wood. Pores, 63
Anthuriuni insigne, 249
Antignon Icptopus, 68
-Vnts, Battles Between, .374
Aphelandra punctata, 202,
Apple & Pear. Best, 367 1 203
•■ Blossoms. Bridal. 363
•• Butter, 302, 380
■' Crab, .-Vmerican, 80
" Fungus, 272
" La Fameuse, 272
" Lord Nelson, 45
" on Pear, Grafting, 115
" Pyle s Red Winter, 114
■' Schoolmaster. 113
•■ Stocks, Budded, 81
•• York, Imperial, 272
Auplcs, American, Eng"d,47
'• as Food, 271
•• Eastern Pa.. Best, 366
" for Export, Packing,302
•' Hardy, 272
" " Ohio, 15
" Mexico and Texas, .300
■' Two Good, 267
Apricots, So. CaL, 238 [134
April, Rooting Carnations,
Aquilegias, Crossing, 278

Araceous Plants, Hybrid, 182
Arad, Interesting, 248
Arboretuui, Derby, 70
Ar))orvit;p, Am"n, Large, 324

" Na)Tie, 152

Arctic Region, Pine from,54
Arizona, Potato in, 347
Arkansas, C^atalpa speciosa

in, 338
Arnold Arboretum, Rep' t, 95
Arrestors, Spark, 51
Art in Cabbages, 217
Arums, Creeping, 214
Ash as Street Tree, 101
Asparagus, Crossed. •55

" Plants, Strong, 114
Aspen, Habits of, 51
Asphalt Walks, 198
Astragalus Canariensis, 286
Athol, Duke of & Trees, 179
Auilil)ertia polystacliia for

Bees. 242 [222

Australian Plants, Census,
Austrian Pine. Varieg'd, 358
Autumn Bearing Raspber-

" Roses, 133 [ries, 47
Azalea, Miss Buist, 13

" Mollis. 164, 292
Azaleas. Early Blooming, 137

Bacteria, 112, 188
" Remedies, 11-3
Bad Seeds, 46
Bad Setting Grapes, 27(i
Bag or Sac Worm, 37. 292
Bananas, Forests of. 305
Banded Rush, 309
Barbell Wire Fences, 177
Bark, Tannin, Trees U. S., 85
Barry, P., Portrait, 26
Barry's Fruit Garden, 316
Jiattles Between .\nts, 374
Bearing Pear Tr's, Early, 178
Beauty in Birds' Nests, 25

•' of Yellow Pine. 370
Bedding Clematis, 101, 230
" Pansies, 229
" Plants, Two new, 69
Beds, Flower, 99
Beech Forests, 3.36
Bee-Keeper's Manual, 222
" Keeping Perils, 226
" Plant, Good, 242
Bees and Honey, 216
Beetle, Elm, 293
Beet Sugar Discoverer, 216

" Wine, 14
Begonia Davisi, 138, 234
'^ Double, 120
'^ Hofgartncr Vetter, 120
" Socratina, 22
" Weltoniaensis, 2-36
Begonias,Wiuterfl.,Cult. 138
Berkelev.Cal. , U. G ardens,315
Berries," Hollies & their, 358
Best Apples, Easfn Pa.. 366
" Food, Dyspeptics, .334
" Plums to Plant, 3.3.5
" Portion, So. Calif., 208
" Strawberries, .333
" Time, Planting, 260
" Tomatoes, ,301
Biennial fl. Orchids, 2.50
Bill)ergia thrysoidea, 261
Birch, Black, 273

" Purple, Origin 187
Birds, Epicures among. .374
Bird's-foot Violet,Range, 311
" Nests, Beauty in, 25
" " Defence in, .53
'• " Handsome, 54
Blackberries, American in
England, 802
" Improved. 176
Blackberry, EarlyCluster,367
Black Birch, 278

" .Tack Oak Wood, 147
Blight, Pear, 111

•' '• Inquiry, 332

Blistered Leaves, Green-
house Plants, 106
Blooming, Rhododendrons
not; 198 [ly, 1-37

'• Seedling Azaleas, Ear-
Bloomsdale Pearl Onion, 242
Blossoms. Apple. Bridal. 363
Blue Gum in Florida, 338
Boardman's Tree Paint. 49

Bones, Waste in Cities, 47
Bon Silene Rose, White, 368
Borer, Currant, 366

■• Locust, Ohio, 14(i
Boston City Forester, 357
Botanic Apartm'ts, Cornell
University, 150 [pit, 310
Botany & Horticulture, Pul-

" Lower California, 214

" Nomenclature. 315

" Texas, 311
Bottling Fruit, 120
Boundaries, So. Calif., 207
Bouvardia, A. Neuner, 18

■' D'bl White in Europe,
Bouvardias, 7 [108

" New, 76
Bowiea, volubilis, 89
Boxes, Layering, 145
Box Forests, 179 [to, 143

Break liand in Spring, When
Brice's Early Peach, 272
Bridal Apjilc lilossoms. 363
British Control. Timber, 273
Brown, Wm., Death of, 255
Budded Apple Stocks, 84
Budding Peach Trees, 116
Buffalo Nat. Field Club, 1-58
Bureau. Prof. Ed., Paris. 8.50
Burk, Wm. G., Death of. 222
Burning Coke, Rules, 139

" Forests, Railroad, 179
Business, Gardening, .59

" Success in, 271
Butter. Apple, 302. 380
Butterfly, Cabbage, 48

Cabbage & other worms,De-
stroying, 110, 209, 242,302
" Art Produce, 217
•• Butterfly, 48
" Profit on, 115
" Worm, 304
Cabbages, Poison on, 1.53
Cactuses, Hardy, 121
Cactus Hedges, 70
Caladium esculentum, 14.120
California, Date in, 241
" Fig Culture, 241
" Forestry, 888
" Grape Convention, 224
" Lower, Botany, 214
" Need of, 141
" Peaches, 271
" Peach Root Disease, 335
" " Trees, Disease, 240
" Pear, Good, 367
" Walnut, 271
' ' Seedling Pears, 49
" So. Fruit Cult., 206, 2.36
" Viticult. Rep.. 158
Calopogou pulchellus, Fer-
tilization, 19
Calycanthus, Fruiting, 278
Camassa esculenta, 276
Camellia C. M. Hovey, 202

'■ in .Vmerica, Hist'y, 879
Camellias and Roses, 43
Campbell Plum, 83
Camp Life Pleasures, 125
Camptosorus rhyzophyllus,

149
Canada Gov't. Grounds, 34

" Tithes in, 28
Canadian Lumber, 146
Canals & Railroads, Free, 30
Canker Worms, Inquiry, 116
Canna Ebmanni,87, 38, 98
Canning Tomatoes, 210
Can Wheat be Cross-ferti-
lized, 19 [chonas, 221
Cape de Verd Island, Cin-
" Horn Expedition, 214
Caragana, 157
Carnation Albani, 172

" from Po'keepsie, 108
" Garfield, 39
'• Yel. Winter. 201, .364
Carnations, Growing, 76
" Frame Culture, 295
" in April, Rooting. 134
'• Seedling, 43 [328

" Winter Fl., Disease,
Carolina Raspberry, 366
Caroline Goodrich Rose, 108
Carpet Bedd'g. Glenville. 354
Carrot, Col'd Flowers in, 21
Castillija coccinea, 149

Catalogues, Trees in, l.iO
Catalpa, Hardy, 85
" speciosa, Growth, 180
" '• in Ark., 338

Caterpillar, Cabbage, 209
Caterpillars. GrapeVine, 365
Catherine INlermet Rose, 171
Cats in Bombarded Cities, 187
Catskill Mountain Plant8,120
Cattleya Mossa\ .328
Caiilitiow crRoots,Grubs.865
Celeriac, Tricolored, 48
Celery and Onions, 83
•' Culture, 13, 79
" Large, 47
Cemeteries and Landscape

Gardening, 285
Cemeteries, Chinese, 260
Census Forestry Rep., Va. 18
" Australian Plants, 222
Centaurea Americana, 149
Centenaris d e s C a m o e n s

Rose, 5
Cercis Canadensis, 230

" Japonica, 164
Champagne, 254

" Grapes, 2.54 [219

Character of Nurserymen,
Charleston Fruits, &c., 177
Cherry Currant, 175

" Trees in Japan, 114
Chestnuts, French, 172
Chicago Florists' Houseg,30

" Flowers in, 107
China, Forest Destruction,
" Fuel in, 245 [213

" Roads and Travel, 5
■' Trees, Timber, 147
" Tulip Tree in, 218
Chinese Cemeteries, 260
" National Flower, 93
" Peaches, Flat, 115
" Primula, New, 4;'.
Chrysanthemum, May w'd, 43
" at Fairmount Paik, 10
" Mrs. Dr Vertres, 1-33
'• Shows. 384
Chrysanthemums. 71
Cinchona, 333 [Islands. 221
Cinchonas, Cape de Verd
Circulation, Hot Water, Old

Time, 220
Cities, Waste Bones in, 47
City Forester. Boston. .■i57
" Smoke. 54
" Squares, Phila.. 36, 164
•' Trees, Hope for, 100
" Yards, Grape Vines, 334
" " Peach Trees, 33.5
Clapp's Favorite Pear, 241
Clearing Gr'ds, Stumps, 246
" Weeds from Walks, 70
Clematis, Bedding, 101, 230
" Coccinea, 2.59
" Disease, 328
'• Propagation, .3.58
" Seedling, 230
Clematises as Isolated Spe-
cimens, 131 [354
Cleveland. O.. Carpet Beds.
Clim))ing Plants, 163
Climates, Favored, 250
Climate, So. Cal., 207
Clitora coerulea, 68 [75
Coal Oil Lamps, Heating by.
Codling Moth, 80

" " Larvae, 152

Coffee, New Kentucky, 216
Coke, Rules for Burning, 139
Coleus, Improving, 325
" Mealy Bug on, 39
" Seedling, 266 [of 125
Collectors, Plant, Dangers
Colorado as an Ag. State, §5
Colored Flowers in Carrot, 24
Colors of Flowers, 342
Columbia Grape, 302
Commencement of Cultiva-
tion, 221
Commerce, Currant of, 240
Committees, Work of, 349
Common Names, Plants, ,340
Competing for Prizes, Pres-
ent System, 32 [Size, 160
Competition Pots, Limiting
Concerning Figs. 21 <
Conger Danl., Tallest, 187

386

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

Coniferse Hedges, 70 [37
Coniferous Trees in Sprinjr,
Conn., Pteris tremulain, 'iil
Conservatory, The, 350
Contents versus Index, 383
Convention, Cal. Grape, 224
•' Nurserymen's, 159,288
Cornell Univ., Bot. Dep"t,150
" " Greenhouses, 138

Corn, Indian, Travels of, 30
" Green, 83
" Sugar in, 210
Comus alternifolia, 258
Correspondents' Inquiries 96
Cost, Steam Heating, 9
Cotton Plant, Hybrid, 23
" Plants, Variation, 54
" Substitute for, 47
Covering Strawberries, Win-
Coxcomb, Large, 39 [ter,301
Crab Apple, American, 89
Cracking of Pears, 241 [298
Cramoisi Superieur, Rose,
Cratajgus brachycantha, 37,

148
Credit to J. C. Louden, 287
Creeping Arums, 211
" Hydrangea, 324
Cresses, Water, Grow'g, 303
Crested Ferns, New. 197
Crinodendron Hookerian-

um, 108, 109
Crooked Timber, Value, 273
Cross Breeding Wheat, 52
" Fertilization, Fruit, 274
" Fertilize, CanWheat,19
Crossed Asparagus, 55
Crossing Aquileglas, 278

" Pears, 272
Croton Cronstadtii, 277
" elegantissimus, .329. 330
" Leaves inFlowerGlass-
Crucknell, Chas.,94 [es, 108
Cucumbers, Improved, 48

" Old World, 241
Cultivated Plants,Origin,188
Cultivating Japan Lily, 229
Cultivation. Beginning, 221
Cultivator,Feast"s Scuffle, 17
Culture, Celery, 13. 79
" English Ivy, 259
" Fiuit Trees, 82
" Hardy Grape. 81
" Orange, Florida, 301
" Carnations. France, 295
" Rose, Summer, 66 [145
■' Strawberry, Garden,
" Strelitzia regina, 74
" Winter Besronias, 138
Cumorah Hill, The, 94
Curculio, Pacific Coast, 333
Curcuma Roscoe.ana, 108
Curl, Peach Leaf, 375
Currant, La Versaillaise and
Cherry, 47, 175
" Borer, 366
" of Commerce, 240
Currants, Russian, 175
Cut Flowers, America, 298
" France, 108
" " Packing, 328

Cyclamens Under Trees.
Hardy, 101 [reum, 184
Cypripedium Albo-purpu-
Cypripediums, 167

D' affodils, Failure in, 100
Dahlias, Queries, 324
Dahlias, Single, 5, 68
Daisies, Warfare on, 125
Dandelion, Rum, 47

Salad, 210 [125
Dangers, Plant Collectors',
Danville, 111. Greenhouses.380
Daphne Gwenka, White, 229
Darley Dale, 27
Date in California, 241
Datura arborea. 6
Daubertonia Tripetiana, 325
Dayton Soldiers' Home, 289
Dead Branch Evaporation, 52
" Wood on Trees, 374
■ Death, Allen, Sir Hugh, 62
" Brown. Wm, 255
" Burk, W. G., 222
" Elder, Walter, 158
" Ellis, John, 94

Death. EUwanger, H. B.,286
" Glover, Townsend, 350
" Johnson, Jos. E., 62
" Kinsey, Saml, 255
" Little, J as, 350
" MuUer, Herm'n, 350
" Ott, Chas. B.,315
" Parker, Chas. P., 380
" Peters' Geo., 189
' Sherwood, Jno., 189
" Slater, Jno. W., 94
" Smith, Dan'l, 350
" " Dan'l B., 158

" Strauch, Adolph, 190
" Warder, John A., 286
Decorated Napkin Rings, 169
Decorations, Floral, Origin,
" Greenhouse, 200 [243
Defence in Birds' Nests, 63
Degeneracy of Strawberries,

145, 175
De Niedman, V., 125
Denison,Tex.,Hort.Soc.,256
Derbv, Arboretum, 70
Destroying Cabbage & other
Worms, 110. 209, 242, 302
" Insects, Hellebore, 2:59
Destruction, Tree,China, 213
" Forest, Mississippi, 178
" Insects, 332
" Native Plants, 214
" Rare " 214

Destructive Grub, 364

" Insects. 81 [121

Desultory Notes, Dog Rose,
Deutzia gracilis, for Pot

Culture, 135
Dew, Honey, 56
Diamond Tuberose, 10, 41
Dieffenbachia amcena, 76, 77
" Carderi, 11
" Leopoldii, 12
Diffusion Agri. Science, 276
Diplandia carissima, 234, 235
Director, Plants Garden,

Paris. 350
Discoverer, Beet Sugar, 216
Discovery Textile Fibres, 89
" of Potato, Arizona, 347
Discriminative Premiums,32
Disease, Clematis, 323
" from Reeds, 278
" Peach, New, 15
■' " 'Jrees, Cal., 335
" " Root, Cal., 3.3.5
" Winter fl. Cavnations.328
Distribution. Wh. Spruce,376
Dog Rose, Grafting Grape
'' " Notes, 121 [on, 181
" Tooth Grass, 376
Double Abutilon, 204
" Begonia, 120 [13

" Bouvardia, A. Neuner,
" " New, 76
" " white, Europe, 108
Double Escholotzia, 38
" Flowers, 120,266
" Gloxinias, 13
" Heliotrope, 214
" Honeysucle, 292
" Liliuinauratum, 292
" New Life Geranium.
Peach Leaf, 311 [172
" Tropaeolum, 53
" Tuberoses, 164
Dracaena Goldieana, 296
Draft Flues, Aid, 43, 74, 263
Drink from Eucalyptus, 372
Dropmore Flower Garden, 34
Drop Worm, 292
Drying Fruits, 241
Dry Season, So. Cal. 208
Durand's Oak. 89
Duration, Railroad Ties, 306
" Timber, Variabilitv, 147
Duthie Park, a55, 356
Duties, Mahogany and Rose-
Dwarf Almond,341 [wood,51
'• Pears, Planting below
" Stevia,292 [Graft, 113
Dyeing Fresh Flowers, 363
Dyspeptics' Best Food, 334

Earliest of All Pea, 17
" Peaches. Texas, 15. 211
Early Bearing Pears, 178
" Blooming Azaleas, 137

Early Cluster Blackberry ,367
" Fruiting Walnut, 16
" History, Garden Flow-
ers, 61
" Peaches, New, 267
" •' Unsatisfactory, 239
" to Market, Peaches,

Advantage, 82
" Peach, Hale's, 366
Earthworm, The, 340
Earthwomis, American. 53
East, Our Trip, 345
Easy Culture, Orchids. 328
Echinocactus Sileri, 309
Economical Insecticide, 239
Eddoes, alias C. Esculentum,
Editor's Journey, 285 [120
" Letters, 251, 278, 281, 312
Eglantine Rose, 29, 226
Egyptian Lotus, Hardy, 130
Elder, Walter, Death, 158
Electric Light Growing, 115
Elevations, Peach, 115
Ellis John, Death, 94
EUwanger, H. B., Death, 286

" H. B., Tribute to, 314
Elm Beetle, 293
Embargo, Amer. Plants, 378
Endive, Red-leaved, 82
Engleman, Dr. Geo., 316, 349
England, Am. Apples in, 47
" Am. Blackberries in 302
" and Amer. Vegetables,
" Forestry in, 305 [336
" Strawberries in, 144
" Timber Trees in, 245
English Gooseberries from
Seed, 304
" Ivy Culture, 259
" Sparrow, 223
Enormous Fruit, 219
Ensilage, Mexic o, 272
Entrance Fees, 384 [383

Envelopes, Addressed, 349,
Epicures among Birds. .374
Erica Cavendishii, 202 [61
Errors, Typographic & Mss.,
Eryginuni Leavenworthii,148
Escholotzia, Double, 38
Etoile de Lyon Rose, 108, 171
Eucalvptus as Febrifuge,338
" Drink from, 372
" in Florida, 245
" of Future, 156
Eucharis, 296
Euonymus japonicus, 204

" radicans, 6, 71

Euphorbia marginata, 149

Europe. Amer. Peaches in, 15

" Dbl. White Bouvardia

" Larch, in, 273 [in, 108

" Prohibition American

Trees, 343
" Strawberries in, 144
Evaporation from Dead

Branches, 52
Evergreens and Lawns, 133
" Hardiness of 186
" in Shade. 101
Evolution, Mysteries of, 310
Exaggerated Introductions,

New Fruits, 141, 1.56
Exhaustive Melons Not, 176
Exhibitions, Prem's at,64
" Size of Flower Pots, 296
Exhibitors. 484
Experience, Phylloxera, 79
Experiments. Meadow, 382
Export Apples, Packing, 302

Facts, Steam Heating. 200
" New Wanted, 284
Failure, Maple Sugar, 216,274
" Narcissus* Daffodils, 1(10
Fairmount, C h r y s a n t h e-
" Park, 5 [mums at. 10
" Park Lectures, 248
Falconer, Wm, .350
Farming, New England, 82
Fashion in Decorations, 2;^4
Favored ("limates, 2.50
Favorite Tomato, 48
Feast's Scuffie Cultivator, 17
Febrifuce, Eucalyptus as, 338
Fees, Entrance, .384
Female and Male Flowers, 21
Fence Posts, Inverting, 305

Fences, Barbed Wire, 177
Ferns, Forking of, 87

New Crested, 197
of U. S., .340
Fern, Walking, 149
Fertilization by Insects, .5.5
" Calopogonpulchellus,19
" of Wheat, 86
" of Yucca, 118
Fertilizing Moss, 31, 128
Few Rare Plants,2.57 [ing,13<
" Remarks, Steam Heat-
Fibres, Textile, Discovery
Ficus sycamorus, 29 [in, 89
tig Culture, Cal., 241
Figs. Concerning, 217

'^ in Old World, 209
Figures, Forest Planting, 246
Fine Old Judas Tree, 100
Pansies, 132
" Seeds, Raising, 43
" Tuberoses, :^23
Fire Proof Paint, 273
Fires, Forest, 211, 213, 213

" Forests Succeeding, 117
Fir, Silver, Large, 306

" Tree Oil, 43
Flat Chinese Peaches, 115
Flax in Mexico, 17
Floods and Forests, 178
Floral Cabinet. 30

" Decorations, Origin, 234
Florida, Blue Gum in, 338
" Eucalviitus in, 245
" Orange Culture, 301
•' Oranges & Weather, 25
Florists and Amateurs, 64
" Houses, Chicago, 30
Flower Beds, 99
" Chinese National, 93
" Garden and Pleasure
Ground, 1, 33, 65, 97,129, 161,
193. 225, 257, 289, 321, 353
Flower Gard'n, Dropmore, 34
" Gardening Notes, 68
" Glasses, Croton

Leaves in, 108
" Pots. Exhibitions,

Size of, 296
" Seller, London, .377
Flowering Victoria Lily, 261

" Vines, Summer, 67
Flowers, Among. 161, lo6, 193
" Colors of, 342
" Cut, Packing, 328
" Double, 120, 266
" Dveing Fresh, .363 [55
" Fertilization by Insects,
" Garden, Early History,
" in Chicago, 107 [61

" in North Windows, 71
" Insects on, 107
" Male and Female, 21
" Out of Season, 311
" Popular Love, 234
" Sexes and Heat, Re-
lation, 24, 248
" Specimen, 219
Flue, How to Clean, 264
Flues,Draft, Aiding, 43, 74.
Food, Apples as. 271 [263
" Best for Dyspeptics, 334
" of the Indians, 151
" Varied Tastes in, 60
Force of Habit, 187
Forcing Tomatoes, 368 [213
Forest Destruction in Chma,
" Destruction, Jliss., 178
" Fires, 211, 213, 243
" Public, in N. Y. State, 85
Forester, Amer., Abroad, 370
Forestry, 17, 50 84. 117, 146,
178, 211. 223, 243, 273, 305.
" Bulletin, 95 [336,368
" California, .338
" England, 305
" in America, 17
•' Laws, 50
" Legislative, 370
•' Planting, Figures, 246
" Practical, 84
" Rep't, Va.. Census, 18
" St. Paul, 306
Forests, Banana, 305
'• Beech, a36
" Box, 179

AND HORTICULTURIST.

387

Forests, Floods and 178
" Kansas, 180 [roads, 17!)
" Responsibility of Rail-
" Seeds and Plants for, 50
■' Siiare the, 178
" So. Australia, 50
" Succeeding Fires, 117
" Sunken, 217

Forking of Ferns, 87

Formic Acid and Honey, o4

Forsytliea suspensa, 165

Foretelling Weather bv
White Pine, 24

Fragrance of Abies Doug-
lassii, 305
■' of Gardenia, 40

Frame, an In-door, 4U

France, (Jut Flowers in, 108
•' Perpet. Carnations, 2it5
" Phylloxera in, 46

Francis B. Hayes Grape, 335

Frauds, 223

Free Lumber, 146
" Railroads and Canals,30

French Chestnuts, 172
" Roses, New, 298 [309

F^resh Water Sponges, 307,

Frogniore Vege. Garden, 302

Fruit and Veg. Gardening,
13,44,78, 110.141, 172,205,
236, 267, 300. 331, 364
" Bottling, 120
" Cross- fertilization. 274
" Culture, S.Cal., 206, 236
" Enormous. 219
" F.irms, N.Y.,Value, 366
" Garden, Barry's, .316
" Gardens, Odorous

Hedges for, 205
*' Growers' Ass'n, Onta-
" in Mexico, 210 [rio,315
" Notes in 1882, 46
'• Thinning, 176
" Trees, Culture of, 82

Fruiting a Lemon Tree, 139
" Kiefeer Pear, 114, 334
" of Calvcanthus, 278
•' Walnut. Early, 16

Fruits and Trees, iSTotes, 142
" and 'Vegetables,

Charleston, 177
" for So. Cal., 20t). 238
" Insect Iniurv, 222
'• Kansas, 304 ' [156

'• New, Introducing. 141,
" Objected Nainc», 157
" Preserving, Drying. 241
•' Seedling Kaising, 116
" Wonderful, 367

Fuchsias, Soil for, 40

Fuel in China, 245 [272

Fungus on Fanieuse Apple,
" on Pea, New, 185

Future Wood Supply, 117

Garden Culture of Straw-
berry, 145 [302

" 'Vegetable, Frogmore,

" What is a. 93
Gardener's Note, AYoung,03
Gardeners' Monthly 1883. 96

" " Influence, 156

" Qualifications, 344

" Young, Improvement
in, 96, 155
Gardening antl Business, 59

" for Young and Old, 94

" Kansas, 218

" New Orleans. 177

" Notes. 4, 294. 297

•• Window. 359
Gardens, Berkeley, Cal. , 315

" Fruit, Odorous Hedges
for, 205

" Ridding ot Moles, 211
Gardenia. Fragrance of, 40
Garfield (^arnation. 39
Garrya Elliprica, 261
Geographical Range, Bird's-

foot Violet, 311
Geography, Amer. Plants, l.'i3
Geologist, N. J.. Report, 188
Georgia Hort. Soc, 64, 256
Geranium, New Life. 172

" Zonale, Little Gem, 364
Geraniums, Seedling, 204

'■ Training, 823

Germantown Telegraph, 316

Giant Horse Tails, 60

Gidding's Greenhouses, 380

Gilia cornopifolia, 148

Gingko, 101
" Tree, Long Island, 101

Gladioli from Seed, 197

Glasnevin, Todeas at 26-5

Glasses, Croton in, 108

Glass, M. Niel under, 70

Glenville Carpet Beds, 354

Gloxinias, Double, 13

Gloxinia Seed, 202

Glover, T., Death of, 350

Glucose, 185

Goldfish and Culture, 383

(rood Apples, Two, 267
" Bee Plant, 242
" California Pear, 367
" Keeping Plums, 49
" Greenhouse Plants, 41
" Orchids, Sept., 328
" Peas, 48
" Potatoes, 83
•' Pot Plants, 3-26
" Rose, 41
'' Strawberries, 333
" Summer Pear, .365
" Vegetables, 114

Gov't Grounds, Canada, 3i
•' Officials, 379

Graft, Dwf. Pears, Planting
below, 113
" Influence of Stock and
Reverse, 173

Grafted Rose, 164
" Roses on Manetti, 164
" Tomatoes, Tubers, 23

Grafting Apple on Pear, 115
•' Grape on Dog Rose, 181
" Pears on Hawthorn, 116
" Roses, 132
•' " Stock for, 292,

Grammatical (iuery, 127

Grape, Black Eagle, 46
" Brighton, 46
•' Columbia, 302
" Duchess, 46
" Francis B. Hayes, 335
" Growers, Cal., 224
" Hardv, Culture, 81
" History of, 221
" Jefferson, 46
" Lady Washington, 46
'' Moore's Early, 46
" New Tuberous Root, .366
" Pocklington, 46
" Prentiss, 46, 176
" Tendrils, Removing, 248
" Vine on Dog Rose,
Graft, 181
" Prolific, 304 [365
•• Vines, Cateipillars on,
" '• City Yards. 3.34

Grapes, Bad Setting, 276
'• Champagne,Gathering,
" So. California, 237 [252
" White, '29

Grass, Dog-tooth, 376
'• TheMolv, 375
" Zebra, 229

Gray, Dr. Asa, 27

(Jrav's Synoptical Flora, 316

Great Pear Exhibit. 333
" Planter of Trees, 179

Green Corn, 83

(Jreenhouseand House Gar-
dening, 6, 38. 71, 102, 134,
166, 199, 231 , 261, 294,.326,359
" Decorations, 2U0
" Plants, Blistered. 106
" " Gnnd List, 41
" Small Heating, 204

Greenhouses, Cornell, 138
" Giddings",.380
•' Heating, 107, 232, 327
" Large, 40

" Steam Heating, .39, 102
" Grounds, Wash'n, .324
" C. L. Allen* Co., 344

Growing Carnations, 76
" Hedges, 194
" Peach Pllevations, 115
" Water Cresses, .303

Growth & Wet Weather, 54
" Annual Wood, 20

Growth by Electric Light, 40

'' Catalpa speciosa, I80

" Spiral, 52

" Trees in Catalogues, 139
Grub, Destructive, 364

'" Cauliflower Roots, 365
Gum, Red, .305
Gwenka, 'VV^hite Daphne, 229
Gynura, auriantiaca, 298

Habitats of Plants, 87
Habit, Force of, 187
Habits, Am. Earthworms, 53

" Aspen, 51
Hackberry as Street Tree,260
Haggerty, Jas.. Notice, 57
Hale's Early Peach, 366 [192
Hall ofN.Y.Hort. Soc, 32,64,
Handsome Bird's Nests, 54
Hardiness & Temperature, 24
" of Evergreens, 186
Hardy Apples, 1.5. 272
" Aquatics, 357
" Cactuses, 121
" Caialpa, 85 [101

'• (Cyclamens underTrees,
■' Egyptian Lotus, 130
" Grape Culture, 81
'• Raspberries, 141
Hawthorn, Graft Pears on,
Hawthorns, 37, 57, 96 [116
Heat and Sexes, 24, 248
Heaters, Steam, 298 [75

Heating by Coal Oil Lamps,
" by Hot Water, 75, 262
" by Lime Water. 71
" Facts, Steam, 200
" Greenhouses, 107. 232,237
" " Small, 204
" " Steam, 32, 102
" Plant Houses, 73, 168,204
" " Rooms, Small, 204
" Steam, 76, 102, 107, 1-37,
138,166,168,199,231,295
" Steam & Hot Water, 72
'• " Discussions, 380
Hedges, Cactus, 70
" Coniferse, 70
" Fruit Gardens, 205
" Growing, 194
" Steel wire, 177
Heliotrope, Double, 204
" Roi des Noirs, 328
Heliotropism in Sun Flow-
ers, 54
Hellebore for Insects, 239
Henry Bennett Rose, .376
Hepaticas, Improved, 229
Herbaceous Plants, Raising

Seeds, 101
Herminie (^roshott', Dbl.Tro-

pseolum, 53
High Priced Rose. 266,.376,380
Hill, Ciimorah,The, 91
Hints, New, Rare Plants, 263
" Seasonable, 1, 6, .33, 38,
44, 65, 78, 321 , 326, 331,359,364
History, Amaryllis, 220
" Camellia, America, 379
" Grape, 221

" Potato. 122 [120

Hofgartner Vetter Begonia,
Hollies and Berries, 358
Holy Grass, .375
Honev and Formic Acid, 54
" Bees and, 216
" Dew, .56
Honeysuckle, Double, 292
Honors, Pomological, 315
Hooker, H. E. & Co., 315
Hooker. H. E.. :Memorial,186
Hope for City Trees, 100
Horn, Cape, Expedition, 214
Horse Tails, Giant, 60
Horticultural Acrostic, 26
" Directory, London, 63
•' Exhibitions, Prem's, 64
" School, Western, 347
' ' Societies, 32, 64, 128, 159,
160, 191, 224, 256, 288
317, 3.50, 384
" Soc , Reports of, 14
" Soc'y, Denison,Tex..256
•' " Ga. State, 64, 2.56
" " Mass., .31
" Mich., 256
" Miss. Val„ 160, 192

Hort. Soc'y, Montreal. .382
" " N.Y.,32, 64, 128,162
" " Pa.. 128, 192, 224,320
" " State, 30, 32

" Texas, 160
" " Worcester county,
Mass., 188
Horticulture in Spain, 219

" Pulpit, 310
Hot Water and Steam, 72
" " Better than " 2G2
•' '• Circulation, Old

Time, 220
" " for Insects, 169, 202
" " Heating Notes, 75
" " Sickly Plants. 171
Hour atLorillard's, 252
Hovenia dulcis, 358
Hovey, C. M., Camellia, 202
How to Clean a Flue, 264
Hvbrid Cotton Plant, 23
'■' Pear. Kieffer's, 4(i, 84, 209
" Silk Moth, New, 152
Hybridizing A r a c e o u s
Hybrids. 184 [Plants, 182
Hydrangea, Crceiiing, 324
" paniculatagrandifl.,293

Illinois, Peaches in, 176
Importance of Am. Pom.
Socy, 351
Improved Acroclinium, 7, 8
" Blackberries, 176

■' Cucumbers, 48

" Hepaticas, 229

Improving Coleus, 325
" Lawns, 3'25

Improvement, American
Violets, 230
" Persimmon, 45, 84
" Young Gardeners, 96,155
Impossibilities Possible, 276
Index versus Contents, 383
Indians, Food of, 151
Indoor Frame, An, 40 [242
Industrial Plant, Sunflower,

Schools, 30
Influence, Gardener's
Monthly, 156
" Stock oh Graft and
Reverse, 173
In Memoriam, 317

" " Hooker, H.E., 186

Inquiries, Correspondents, 96

" Various, 90

Inquiry, Canker Worms, 116

'■ Pear Blight, 332
Insect Crop, Annual, 214
" Oscillation, Birds on, 62
" Poisons, Vegetables, 206
Insecticide, Economical, 239
Insects, 266
" Destruction of, .332
" Destructive, 81
" Fertilization bv. 55
■' Hellebore for,2.39
" Hot Water for, 169, 202
" Injurious to Fruits. 222
" Lime Water to, 132
" on Flowers, 107
" Orange and Cotton
Plant,Expeiiments,lS9
" Tobacco, Water for, 171
•' Trapping, 197
Introducing Fruits, 141, 1.56
Interesting Arad, 248
Inventions, New, I1.7
Inventors, Rewarding, 287
Inverting Fence Posts, 305
lj)omEea, grandiflora, (i8
" Horsfallia. 67
" Insignis, 67
" Michauxii, 68
Irrigation, 113

Is Kalinia Poisonous, 372. 375
Isle of Man, Tree Plant" g, 338
Isolated Specimens, Cle-
matises, 131
Italian Exchange. An. .382
Italy. Letter from, 90

" Seasons in, 89
Ivv, English Culture, 259
'■' Parlor, .363

James Vick Strawberry, 302
Japan Cherry Trees, 114
" Lilv, Cultivating, 229
" Maples, 228, 230, 289

388

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

[December,

Japan Persimmon. 88, 210
" ill South, 15

" Snowball, 166

" Quince, 823
Japanese Roses, 824
Jean Libaud Hose, 70
Johnson, Jos. E., Death, 62
Jottings, Random, 129
Journey of Editor, 28.j
Judas Tree, Fine Old, 100
Juglans Privparturiens, 16
.July Bloom's Perennials.2o>!

Kalmia & Sheep. SO. 872, 874.
Kansas Forests, 180 [875
'• Fruits in, aOl
•• Gardening-, 218
" Plants, 148
" Tree Planting. 17»
Kentucky Coffee, New, 2i(i
Kiett'er Hybrid Pear, 16,
84, 209

•• Pear Fruiting, 114, 884

" " Quality, 177. 366
•■ Overbearing, 867
Kill Insects, Hot Water, 169.
King. .Mayor, Phila., 1.57 [202
Kinsey, Sanil., Death, 255

Nursery, Dayton, 315
Kitchen Garden Plants, 95
la Fameuse Apple, 272
*■ Land in Spring, When

Break, 148
Landscape Gardening, Cem-
eteries and, 285
Laugdon Nurseries, 315
Larch in Europe, 273
Large Am. Arbor Vit;e, 324

" Celery, 47

•• Coxcomb, 39

'■ Greenhouses, 40

'^ Silver Fir, 30(i

" Sunflowers, 293 [165

'■ Trees, Paris Green on,

■• Tulip Tree. .370

•' Water Pitch Tree, 245
Largest American Trees, 147
LarviE of Codling Moth, 152
Lastrea Richardii niultitida.

88
Latest from Timber-land. .870

•• New Strawberries, 16
Laurel Oak, 165, 261
La Vcrsaillaise Currant, 175
Lawns, 194

•• and Evergieens, 133

" Improving, 325
Law of N'ariability, 149 [348

" Postage, Remarkable,
Laws. Forestry, .50
Lawsonia inermis, 25 [63

Layer, Annual, Wood Pores.
Layering Boxes, 145
Leaf Curl, Peach. 875
Leaves, Blistered, 102

■■ of Marantas. ".72
Lectures, Michaux,248
Leea amabilis, 169, 170
Legal Notes, 155
Legend of the Rose, 29
Legislative Forestry. ,870
Lemmon, Mr. and Mrs., 27
Lemon Tree. Fruiting, 139
Leslie, Jas.. Notes by, 295
Les Plantes Potageres, 95
Letter from Italy, 90

" M. Vilmoriiis, 25
Lewis", Dio,iM(,i]thlv, 316
Lilium auratum. Double,292

" •■ MonstrousjSlO

" Hanisi, 40, 16.5
Lily, Japan, Cultivating, 229

'• Victoria, Flowering,261

•' Water. New, 48
Lima Bean Roots, Poison, 186
Lime Kiln System, Heat, 71

" Water for Insects, 132
Limiting Size, Competition

Pots, 160, 296
Linnsea, The, 340
Liquid Manure, Make, 241
• Literature,Travels. Personal

Notes, 25, 57, 90, 121, 153, 186,

218, 251, 278, 812, 34,3, 376
Little Gem Zonale Ger., .364
Little, Jas., Death, 8.50
Lobb, Wm.. .380

I Location »feQual.,Timber,245
I Locations, Timber Plant, 215
I Locust Borer, Ohio, 140
I Lombardiau MulbeiTy, US
Lombardy Fciplar. Ilist'y, 29
Loiuliiii Flower Seller. 377
Journal Botany, 60
! Longevity of Trees, 371
Long Island Gingko Tree, 101
Lord Nelson Apple, 45
Lorillard's Retreat, 252
Lotus, l-lgvptian. Hardy, 130
Louden, J'. C, Credit to, 287
Love of Flowers. Popular,234
Lower California Botany, 214
Lumber, Canadian, 146
•' Free, 146

Madame Boll Rose. 101
" Gabriel Lnizet Rose,
Magnolia stellata, 198 [171
Mahogany, 305

" & Rosewood Duties, 51

" San Domingo, 18
Mail, Trees by, .848
Maize, Travels of, 80
Male and Female Flowers, 21
Management, Tree, 325
Manettia cordifolia, e8
Manetti Rose, 282, .823

" " Origin, 187

" Stock, Roses on, 164
Manure, Liquid, Make, 241
Manures, 173

Maples, .Japan, 228, 2.80, 289
Maple, Silver, Raid on, 219

" Sugar Crop, Fallure,216.
Maranta nitens, 373 [274

Marantas, Leaves of, 372
Marechal Niel underGlass,73

" " Production, 75

Marggraph, A. S.,216
Marie Louise Pear, 336
Market Gardening. N.O.. 177
•' Philada., 268

" Peaches Early to, 82
Marlboro Raspberry, 302
Martin's Amber Wheat, 304
Mass. Hort. Society, 31
Mayor King, Phila', 157 [43
May wood Chrysanthemums,
Meadows. 882
Mealy Bug on Coleus, .39
Mean Tricks in Trade, 348
Median, Edw., 26, 61, 96
Melons not Exhaustive, 176
Meiiuirials, 2.59
Merv. de Iaoii Rose, 171, 264
MesquiCe, Value of, 273
Mexico, Apples in, 300

" Ensilage in, 272

" Flax in, 17

•' Fruit in, 210
Michaux Lectures, 248
Michigan Hort. Society, 2.56

■' Peach Yellows Law. 15

" State Pom. Soc, 1.58
Miller and Hunt, 30
Misfortune, Profits of, 348
Miss Buist Azalea, 13
Miss. Forest Destruction, 17.S

" Val. Hort. Soc, 160, 192
Mistakes, 12S

Mist Tree, 70, 3'2.8 [234

Modern Floral Decorations,
Moles, Ridding Garden, 211
Monstrous L. auratum, 310
Montg. Co.,Kan.. Plants,148
Montreal Hort. Soc'y. 382
More about Steam Heat, 102
Morus multicaulis, 85
Mosses, N. America, 222
Moss, Fertilizing, 31, 128
Moth, Codluig, 80

" " Larvaj, 152

" New Hybrid Silk, 1.52
Motion of Roots, 188
Mount Desert Pines, 85
Mouse Traps, 113
Moving Moimtain, 185
Mrs. Dr. \'ertres Chrysan-
themum, 133
Mulberry, Loinbardian, 118

" Russian, 180, 338

'• Silk. .'{70
Muller, lierm.. Death, 850
Mnsbrooms, Poison in, 49

Mushrooms, Poisonous, 147
My(i<irocus amylovorus. 112
MyrsiphvUum asparagoides.
-Mysteries of Science,371 [108

Name, Arborvita', 1.52
Names, Fruits, Objec-
tionalile, 157
Names, Plants, < "ommon. 310

" for, 230, .330
Napkin Rings, Decorated, 109
Napoleon Weep'g Willow, 29
Narcissus, Failure in, 100
National Prosperity, Plants
an(i, '247
" Home, Dayton. 289
Native Plants,Destruct'n,214
Natural Historv & Science,
19. .52. 86. lis. 147. 181. 214.
247. 2/4. 307. 339. 371
Naturalists' Field Club. Buf-
falo, 1.58, 316
Nature, Adaptation in, 276

'• A'ariety in, 374
Need of California, 141
New Bedding Plants, Tvvo,69
" Chica'go Florists'

Houses, 80
" Chinese Primula, 4.3
" Crested Ferns, 197
" Disease, Peach, 15
" Double Bouvardias, 76
" Early Peaches. 267
" Eiiglanil Fariiung, 82
" Facts Wanted. 2S4
'■ Fi-cnch Uoscs, 29S
'• Fruits, Introduciiig,141,
" •• Production 851 [1.56
" Fungus on Pea, 185
" Hawthorn, 37
" Hybrid Silk Moth, 152
I " Inventi(ms. 107

" Kentucky Coffee. 216
" Life Geranium, 172
" Orleans Gardening, 177
'■ Notes, 4, 294, 297
" or Rare Fruits. ■'.67
■' •■ " Plants, 37, 41, 76,
108. 140.197. '202. 268.324, 3.57
•• Plum. 867
" Strawberries, 145
" Latest, 16
" Raising, 145
" Tuberous Grape, 366
" Water Lilv, 48
N.Y. Hort. Soc.', 32, 64.128,192
•• Profitable Peach in,'866
" Public Forest in, 85
" Fruit Farms, Value, 366
Niphetos Rose, 100, 298
Nomenclature, Botany, 315
Nf>rth American Mosses, 222
" Carolina Pine Lauds,179
Northern Sugar Mak-
ing, Progress, 141
North VVindow Flowers, 71
Notes, 131
'■ byJas.Le.slie.295
" by the Way, 71
" F'lower Gartlening, 68
'■ from Young Gardener,
" Fruits 1882, 46 [62

" and Trees, 142
'• Gardening, 4, 294, 297
" Hot Water Heating, 75
" Legal, 1.55
" Randinn, 300
" Sept. & No v., 291.. 'TO
" Staunton, Xa., 86
" ToiTington, 2
" Virginia, 163
" Yuccas, :i'2S
Notice of Jas. Haggertv, 57
Novelties, Unworthy. 226,290
Nursery Business. The, 379
Nurserymen, Character, 219
Nurserymen's Assn., Amer-
ican, 159, 288
Nymphiea flava, 121
" Stiirtevantii, 121

Oak, Dnrand's, ,S9
" Laurel. 165, '261
•' Wood, Black .lack, 117
( )bituarv, (i2. 94, 158. 189. 190,
222, 255, 28(>, 315, 317, 318,
319, 350, .880
Observations on Yucca, 118

(Jdontoglossumvexillarium,
41, 42 [Gardens, 205

Odorous Hedges for Fruit
Ohio Hardy Apples, 15
" Locust Borer, 146
Oil, Fir Tree, 48
Oil from Pine, .55 [220

(Jlden Time, Hot Water in,
Old Fashioned Roses, 157
•• Judas Tree, Fine, 100
" World, Cucumbers, 241
'•' Figs in, '209
Oleander, 29

Olives, So. California, 2!8
Onion, Bloomsdale Pearl, 242
Onions and Celery, 83
Ontario Fruit As's'n , 315
Open Air, V. Regia in, (iO
Orange Culture, Fla.. 801
Oranges * Weather, Fla , 25

•' 'Tangerine, 49
Orchard, Peach, N. Y., 189
" Pear. Yeomans", 209
" Product So. Cal., 2:59
" Site ■• " '208

Orchids, Eas.\- Culture, 328
" Good September. 328
" Native Biennial, 2-50
" Prize, 41,330 [188

Origin, Cultivated Plants,
•' Floral Decorations, '234
" INIanetti Rose. Ib7
" Purple Birch, 1,S7
" Safrano Rose, 1-39 [119
" Treeless Prairies, 23,
Osage Orange lor Silk

Worms, .52
Ott, Chas. B., Death, 315
Our Best Tomatoes, 301

•' Trip East, 345
Overbeaiing Pears, 113, 17C
Oyster Bay Peach Trees, 110

Pacific Cbasi, Curculio, 333
" Timber, '246

Pai'king Apples Exjiort, 302
" Cut Flowers, .3'28

Paint, Fire-proof, 273
" Tree, Boardman's, 49

Palin, Date, California, 241
" Tall, Trouble with, '298

Panax plumatum, 140

Panicum plicatuni, 328

Pausies for Bedding, 229
" Fine, 132

Papaver umbrosum, 202

Paris Green on Large Trees.

I'ark. Duthie, .3.55. .806 [165
•■ Fairmount, 5

Parry, Dr. C. C..94, 816

Pea, Earliest of All, 17
" New Fungus on, 185

Parker, ('has. F.. Death. 380

Parlor Ivy. 363

Peas, Good, 48

Peach. Alexander. 366
•' Amelia, 304
" Brice's Early, 272
" Disease, California, 210
" " New, 15

" Growing Elevations,115
•• Hale's Early. 866
•■ Leaf Curl. 875

•• Double, 811
" Orchard, Oyster Bav,
" Peen-to, 115 |liu

•■ Profitable in N. Y., 366
" Pui-|)le, .805
" Root Disease, Cal., 885
" Schumaker. HI
" Trees, Buddnig. 116
" " City 'i'ards, 385
" Yellows Law. .Mich., 15

Peaches, .\m. in Europe, 15
'■ ('alifornia, 271
" Earliest Texas, 15,211
" Earlv to Market, Ad-
vantage, 82
" ■' Unsatisfactory. 289
" Flat Chinese, 115
" in Illinois, 176
" New Early, 267
" Precocity of, 804

Pear and .\pi")ie. Be;,t. .367
•• Blight Inquiry, ;J.'>2
" Clapp's Favorite, 241
" Exhibit, Great, 33;{

AND HORTICULTURIST.

389

Pear. Good Calitoniia, 867
" Grafting Apple on, 115
" Growing, West, 272
" Kieffer, 114. 834. 307

" Hybnd, 46, 84. 209
" " Quality, 177
" Orchard, VeoHiuns',20!i
" .S:\n(lfor Stocks, 114
•' Seeilliiig.M. Louise, 336

■• Sunimer. 305
" Tree niiglit, 111 [178
" Tiees, Early Befiring,
Pears, Cracking. 211
" Crisdng, 272
" Dwarf, Planting below

Graft, 113
•■ Kieffer. 366
' • on Hawthorn, Graft. 1 16
" Over-bearing, 113, 176
" Quality of, 242
'■ iSeedliiig, California, 4SI
" Variations, 271
Pearl Tuberose, 2(11
Pedigree Roses, 171
Peen-to Peach, 11-')
Pa.. Easfn. Best Aiiplcs. 36li
■■ Hort.Soc. 128,192,224,320
" (State Hort. Woc'y, 30, 31
Pepper Tree, 370
Perennials, .Tuly Bloom'c:, 258
" Htrong-rooted, 100
Perfect Strawberry, 145
Perfume from Acacia, 245
Perils. Bee-kcepiug, 2:^6
Perpet. Carnation,? ranoe. 295
Persimmon Impr" vem't, 45,84
" Japan, 82, 210
" " in the South, 15
'• Seedless, 49
Peters, Geo., Death, 189
Petunia nana comjiacta, 2
Pharbitis Learii, 9, 71
Philad'a Chrysanthemum
Show. 384
•• Fairmount Park, .j
" High Priced Rose for, 266
" Market Gardening and

Seed Growing, 268
*' Mayor King of, 157
" Public Squares, .36, l(i4
•■ Truffles in, 210
Phylloxera E.xperience, 79

" in France, 46

Physical Features, So. Cal.,
Pic'ea Cephalonica, 292 [2U6
Pine, Austrian, Variega'd.358
" \Veather by the, 24
" from Arctic Region, 54
•' Lands, N. Carolina, 179
•' Oil from, 55
•' "White, 273
" Yellow, 338,370
" of Mount Desert. 85
Plnus Korisensis, 339
Pistillate Strawberries, 144
Plane Tree, American, 274
Plant Collectors' Dangers, 125
■• Growinj^, Elec. Light, 40
" House, HeatingSiuall, 73
'■ Houses, Heating, 168
" Knowle<lgc, Progress. 24,
•' Lattice-leaf, 374 [375

" Lite. How Starrs, 275
'• Uii()ui,ll<-ating Small, 204
'■ Suuriower,lniiusti-ial,242
Planting, Best Time, 260
'• Dwf Pearbel.Grart.113
" Forestry, Figures, 246
" »Seasou,'So. Cal., 208
" Suitable Positions, 290
" Timber, Locations, 245
'• Tree, Isle of Man, 338
Phuits. Am. Geography, 153
" and Shrubs, Rare, 257
" .\raeeous. Hybridiz-
ing, 182
" Asparagus, Strong, 114
" Bedding, Two New, 69
'• ("atskill Mountains, 120
" (nimbing, 163
'• Common Names, 340
" Cultivated, Origin, 188
" for Names, 230, 330
" •' Starting Forests, 50
" ( ireenhouse. Good List,
" Habitats of, 87 [41

Plants. Herbaceous, Raising-
Seeds, 101

'■ Montg. Co., Kan., 148

" Pot, Some Good, 32(i

■' Potting, 10

" Rare or Native Destruc-
tion, 214

'' Relation to National
Prosperity, 247

" Sickly, Hot Water, 171

•' Specimen, 219

" Sub-Tropical, 60

" Variation in, 2.5U

" Window, 78
Pleached Walks, Trees. 29.3
I'leasant Note. Gardener' .-,62
Pleasures of Camp Life, 125
Plum. Campbell, S3

'■ New. 31)7
Plums. Best to Plant, .335

'• (iood Keeping, 49

" in Russia, 176
Podophyllon in Formosa. .372
Poison by Ijima Bean Roots,
186

•• Vegetalilc Insect, 206

'■ in .Vfushrooms, 49

" on Cabbages; 153
Poisonous, Is Kalmia, 372,375

Mushrooms, 147
Polyantha Roses, ;'.24

'• •' Improved, 162

Polyanthus narcissus. 93
Poiiiological Honors, 315
Pom. Soo., Am., 64, 128, 160.
191,224. 256, 288,320, 352
Pom. Soc, Mich., State, 158
Pomology, Rules of, 350
Poplar, Lombardy, His., 29

" Trees, 133 [France, 108
Popular Cut Flowers,

" Love Flowers, 234

'• Strawberries, 240
Portlandia grandiflora. 327
Portrait. .1. J. Thomas, 318

" P. Barry, 26
Positions, Planting. 290
Possible Impossibdities, 276
Postage, Short, 348
Potato, History of, 122

" in Arizona. 347

" Plants, Tubers, 311

" White Elephant, 17,
Potatoes, Good, 83
Pot Culture. D. gracilis, 1:!5
Pothos aurea, 215
Pot Plants, Some Good, 326
Potting Plants, 10
Po'keepsie, Carnation. 108
Practical .Esthetics, 94

" Diffusion, Ag, Sci., 276

" Forestry, 84

" Absence of Trees, 150

" Timber on, ISO

" Treeless, Origin, 23, 119
Precocity of Peaches, 304
Piemiuins, Discnm've, 32

" Hort. Exhibitions, (if
Prentiss Grape, 46, 176
Preserving Fruits, 241

" Roses, Winter, 293.
I'rimula, New Chinese, 43
Primo Strawberry, 47, 211
Prize Orchids, 41, 330
I'rizes, Competition, 32
Production, New Fruits, 3^51
Pi-oductive M. Niel Rose, 74
Profitable Peach in N. Y.. .366
Proflt in Cabbage, 115
Profits of Misfortune, 348

" Vegetable Cul.,Te.x., 145
Progress, North'n Sugar, 141

■' Nurserv Business. 379

" Plant Ivnowledge, 24..375
Prohibition, Am. Trees, Eu-

r.)pc, 343
Prcjliflc Giape Vine, 304
Pronuba and Prodoxus, 118
Propagation of Clematis. 358
Prosperity, Tex.. 46
Prunus triloba, 292
Pteris tremida, 71, 152

" "■ in Conn., 342

Publi<- Forest, N. Y., 85

" Squares, Phikida.. 36
Pulpit Hort. & Botany, 310

Purple Birch. Origin, 187

" Peaeh, 305
Pyle's Red Win\ Apple, 114
Pyrus .laponica. White, 166

Qualifications, Gardeners,
.344
Quality it Loca., Timber, 245

" & .Soil, Strawbeiry, 175

■' KietterPear, 177

'■ of Pears, 242
Queries, Dahlia, 324

" Tree Management. 325
Query, Granmiatical, 127
Quince, .Japan, ;s23

Raid on Silver Maple, 219 [30
Railrds & Canals, Free,
Railroad Ties, Duration, 306
Raising Fine Seeds, 43
" Gladiolus fr. Seed, 197
'■ New Strawberries. 145
" Seedling Fruits. 116
" Seeds, Herbaceous
Plants. Kil
Raisins in So. Cal., 237
Rambling Notes, Fruits and

Tiees, 142
Random .Jottings. 129

" Notes, 300 [36

Rapid Growth, Street Tiees,
Rare Pl.ants ct Sh'bs. 257. 263

•■ Destruction. 214
Raspberry. Autumn-bear-
•• Carolina. 366 [ing. 47
■• Hardy. 241
• Stewed. 175
'■ M.ulboro. 302
•' Souhegaii. 3()6
Rats. To Banish. 210
Ravens in Alaska. 340
Red Rietiglieimer Apple. 272
•• Gum; ,305
•' Leaved Endive. X2
•■ Pepper. Texas. .303
•' Win. Apple. Pyles. 114
Reeds. Disease from. 278
Relations, Heat to Sexes, 248
■■ Plants to National
Prosperity. 247
Remarkable Discovery, Tex-
tile Fibres. 89
•• Post Office Law. :!48
Remarks, Steam Heat., 231
Remedies, Insect J^oison as,
20;!
•■ Pear Tree Blight, 113
Renuniscences.Caladiura es-
culentuiii, 14 [248

Removing Tendrils, Grape,
Rewarding Inventors. 287
Report, Arnold Arbor'm, 95
Rei)orts. Hort. Societies, 61
Retrospect of Sumuicr, 97
Rhododendron not Bloom-
ing. 198
Rhus toxicodendron. 156
Richardia hastata. 1.39
Rid (iavdens ol .Vloles. 211
Rifie Practice. Hints. 189
Roads and Travel. China, 5
Roi dcs Noirs Heliotroi)e, 3l8
Root Disease. Peach, 335
Rooting Carnations, Ap'l. 131
Roots. Motion of. 183

■■ M'ater Absorption, 54
Rosa Canina. 29
•• lucida Horaplenf), 292
■' nuuutilolia. 152
•• polyantha. 70
•■ rugosa. 22ii
Rose. Am. Banner. 36
■■ Caroline Goodrich, 108
" « 'atherine Meriuet. 171
•• CcQtenario des Cam-

oens. 5
•• Cramoisi superieur. 298
•■ Culture. Summer. 67
•• I )og. Grape Vine on. 181

■■ Notes on. 121
'■ Eglantine. 29. 21:6
•• Etoile de Lvon. 108. 171
'• Henry Bennett. .!76, .380
'• Phila.. High Pi iced. 2(i6.
" Good. 41 |376,;M

•• Grafted. 164
■■ .lean Libaud, 70
'• Legend of, 29

139

Rose, Madame Boll. lOI

•■ Gabriel Luizet. 171
" Manetti. 232, 323

•' Origin. 187 [264
'• Mereville de Lyon. 171.
" Niphetos, 100. 298
•• Productive, M. Niel, 75
•• Safrano. Origin, 139
•• Striped Aggrippina. 139
■• Trioiuphe d' Angers.
•• Wild. 342 [234

•• W. A. Richardson, 204
•• Wood&Mahoganytax.

Roses and Camellias. 43 [51
•• by Seed. 132
■■ Grafting. 1-32
•■ Holes book About. 316
•' in Autumn, 133
■• in Winter. 136
■• .lap. or Polyantha, 324
■• M. Niel under (tUiss. 7.3
■• New French. 2i:8
•• Old-fashioned. 1.57
•• on Manetti Stock, 164
•• Pedigree of. 171
•■ I'olyantha. Inipr'd, 162
'• Preserving. Winter. 293
•• Stock for. 292
•■ White Bon Silene. .363
•■ Winter Treatment, 260

Rothrock's Lectures, 248

Rules for Burning Coke, 139
•■ of Pomology. .3.50

Rum, Dandelion. 47

Runner. Strawberries. 110

I'lush. Banded. 309

Rushy. H.. H.. 221

Russian i'urrants. 175
•• -Mulberry. IhO. 3 i8

Rnssia. Plums in. 176

Sac or Bag Worm, 37
Safrano Rose. Orij;
Salails. 210, 366
Salvia tarinacea, 198
San Domingo Mahogany. 18
Sand Pear for Stocks, 114
.Santa Fe Tertio-raillenn.. 221
Sashes and Sod, 283
Scale. Spruce Oil for. 13
Schizmatoglottis longia-

patha. 298. 299
Schoolmaster Apple. 113
School of Hort. West, .!J7
Schools. Industiial. -30
Schumaker Peach, 111
Science. Ag.. Diffusion. 276
Scientific Angler. The. 188
Scratching for Worms. 349
Season. Flowers out of. 311
Seasons in Italy. 89

•■ Transplanting, 6
Seed. Eng. (.ioosel)erry. 301

•' Gladioli from. 197

•• (ilo.xinia. 202

•■ Growing. Phila.. 268

■• Roses by. 132
Seedless Persimmon. 49
Seedling Azalea. Early
Bloom. 137

■• (tarnations. 43

■■ ( 'hrvsaiitheiMUiiis. 71

'• < 'Icmatis. 2-30

'• Coleus. 266

" -Marie Louise Pear. .1.36

•• l'"ruits. Raising. 116

•• (ieraniums, 20l
Seeds. Bad. 46

•■ for Starting F'orests. .50

•■ Herbaceous. Plants.
Raising. 101

'• Raising Fine. J'!

'• Valuable. 118 (ture.2.s7
Select Plants. Industrial Ciil-
Sept.. Good Orchids in. .328

'■ Number Notes. 291
Sex A Heat. Relation. 24. 248
Shade. Evergreens in. 101

•■ Trees. 131
Sheep. Kalmia and. !S9. .371
Short Postage. 348
.Shows. » 'hrysauthemum, .384
Shrubs & Plants. 2.57, 263
Sidonie Rose. 228
Sicldv Plants. Hot Water

■ for, 171
Silk Moth, New Hybriil, 1.32

390

THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY

Silk Mulberry, 370

•' Worms, Osage for, 52
Silver Fir, Large. 306

•■ Maple, Raid on, 219
Single Dahlias. 5, 68
Sketch. Dr. Asa Gray, 27
Slater. Juo. W.. Death. 94
Small Houses, Heating. 78
Smilax, 108

Smith. Danl.. Death. .1.50
•• B.. Death, 1.58
Sinoke. City. 54
Snowball. Japan. 166
Soil and quality. Strawber-
ries. 175

•• for Fuchsias, 40

•• So. Cal., Fruit. 206. 280
Some Kansas Plants. 148

'• July Bloomers. 25.S
Sorghum, Sugar from. 374
Souheaau Itasiilierry. 366
Sound Mind, Sound Body. 94
South Australia. Woods and
Forests. 50

" Earliest Peaches, 1-5, 211

•• Japan Persimmon in. 15

•• Vegetable Growing, l77
Southern Cal,. Fruit Cul-
ture, 206. 236
Spain. Horticulture in. 21'J
Spare the Forests. 178
Spark Arrestors. 51
Sparrow. English. 223
Specimens. Isolated Clema-
tises as 131 [219

■• Plants. Fruits. Flowers,
Spira-a venusta. 198
Spiral Cirowth. 52 [303

Sponges. Fresh Water. 307,
Si>ortsmen's Gazetteer. 316
SI ring beautv ( "one Trees. 37

•• To Break Laud in. 143
Spruce Oil Liquid. 13

•• White. 339. 376
Squashes. 83
Staphylea bumalda. 130
Starting Forests. Seeds and

Plants. 50
Staunton. Va., Notes. 3'i
Steam Heaters. 298

■• Heating. 76. 102.107. 137.
138. 166. 168. 199. 231]

•' " Cost, 9 [295. .380

•• " England. 71

•• " Facts about. 200

•• •' Greenhouses. .39. 1(12

•■ " HotWaterBetter.262
Stephanotis Horabunda. 296
Stevia, Dwarf, 292
Stewed Rasjiberries, 175
Stigmaphyllon ciliatum. 68,
266 [at 153

St. Helena. Under Willows

'• Paul. F'orestry at. 306
Stock for Grafting Roses.292

" Manetti. Roses on. 164

'• on <4raft & Reverse. 173
Stocks. Budded. Apple. 84

•• iManetti Rose. 323

•' Sand Pear for. 114
Strauch. Adolph. Death. 190
Strawberiies. Best. XJS

■• Degeneracv. 145. 175

•• Good. .333 "

'■ ill England. 144

•■ ill Euroiie. 144

'■ liatest New. 16

" New. 1-4.5

" •• Raising, 145

•• Pistillate. 144

'• Popular. 240

'■ Soil and (lualitv in. 175

'• Winter. Covering. 301
Strawberry. Garden Culture
of. 145

" James Vick. 302

'• Perfect. 145

'■ Primo, ^-. 211

" Runners. 110
Street Tree. .'\sh a^. 101

" " Hackberrv as. 260

•• Trees, Rapid Gr()wth..36
Strelirzia regina. Culture. 74
Streptosolon Jamesoni. 148.

298
Striped Agrippina Rose, 139

Strong Asparagus Plants,! 14

'• Rooted Perennials, 100
Structures, Uses of. 218
Study of Sponges. 307. 309
Stumps. Clear Ground of. 246
Suber-cell, 372
Substitute for Cotton. 47
Sub-Troi)ical Plants. 60
Success in Business. 270
Sugar Beet Discoverer. 21(1

" Crop. Maple. Failure.
216. 274

■■ from Sorghum, .374

•■ in America. 82

'• in Corn. 210

'• Making. Northern. 141
Suitable Position. Plant. 2ii0
Summer Flowering Vines. 67

'■ Retrospect. 97

'• Rose Culture. 67
Sun-Dried Wood. 147
Sunflower in Industry, 242
Sunflowers. Heliotropism. 54

'• Large, 293
Sunken Forests. 217
Supply. Wood. Future. 117
Swanley White Molet, 3ti3
Swindling Agents. 26
Sycamore Tree, Ainer. 274

Tallest Nurservnian in U.
S.. 187
Tall Palm. 298
Tangerine Oranges. 49
Tannin in Bark of some U.

S. Trees. Amount. 85
Tanyah alias C. Esculeutum.
•■ and Abo. 28 [120

Tea. Wild. 341
Temperature & Hardiness, 24
Tendrils.Grape. Reniov'g,248
Tennessee Hand Book, ol6
Tertio-Millennial. Santa Fe,
Texan Prosperity. 4(i [221
Texas. Apples in. .300
•■ Botany of. 311
" Hort. Society. 160
" Peaches, Earliest, 15
" Red Pepper in. 303
" Trees of 305
" Vegetable Culture,
Proflts, 145
Textile Fibres. Remarkable

Discovery, 89
Thinning Fruit, 176
Thomas Jno. J., 348. 378
Ties, R. R., Duration of, 306
Tigridia, White, 5
Timber, Crooked. Value. 27-3
" Duration. Vaviabil., 147
•• GoodiV Had, Microscope

Distinctions. ISO
•' Land. Latest from. 370
" Location & Quality. 245
" Locations, Valuable. 245
Timber on Prairies, ISO
•■ Pacirtc Coast. 216
" Tree. (!hina. 147
•• Trees. England, 245
" British Control, 273
•• Value of, 273
" White Pine. 273
Tithes in Canada. 28
Tobacco Water. Insect
Todeas at (ilasnevin. 265
Tomatoes. 205. 368
•' Best. ,301
•■ Canning. 210
'• Grafted. Tubers, 23
Tomato. The Favorite. 48
Torringtoii. Notes from. 2
Training (icraiiiums. 323
Tran>iilanling .Seasons. 6
Trapi)ing Insects. 197
Traps. Mouse. 113
Travels of Indian Corn. .'10
Treatment Rosens. Wintcr.2ti0
Tree. China. Timber of. 147
" Lemon. Fruiting. 139
" ^Maiiaireiiient. Queries.
•■ Mist. 70. .',23 [325

" Paint. Boardman"s. 49
■' Pepper. 370
" Planting. Isle Man. ,338

'• Kansas, 179
•• Street. Ash as, 101

'• Hackberry as, 260

171

Tree, Tulip, Large, .370
■• Virgin Mary'Sj 39
" Water Pitch, Large, 245
Treeless Prairies, Origin, 23
Trees. Dearth, Prairies, 150
" Anier. in Europe, 343
'■ and Fruits, Notes. 142
•' bv Mail, 348
•• C'ity, Hope for. 100
■■ Coniferous in Spring,37
" Dead Wood on, 374
•• for Pleached Walks,293
•• Great Planter of, 179
•' Growth of, and Wet

Weather, .34
■• in Catalogues, Growth

of, 139
'• Large, Paris Green, 165
•■ Largest American, 147
•• Lombardian Mulberry,
'■ Longevity of, 371 [118
" of Texas. 305
•• Poplar, 133
'• Shade. 1.31
■• Street. Rapid Growth,.36
•• Timber. England, 245
Tricks in Trade. Mean, 348
Tricoloi-ed Celeriac, 48 [234
Triomphe^ d" Angers Rose,
Tropaolum Canarieusis, 225,
•• Double, 53 [322

Trouble with Tall Palm, 298
Truck Farmina; in South, 189
True Egvp. Lotus. Hardv,130
Trufties "in Philada., 210"
Tulierose Diamond. 10, 41
•■ Reply. 127
" Pearl, 291
Tuberoses, Double, 164

" Fine, 323
Tuberous-rooted Grape, 366
Tubers, Graft. Tomatoes, 23

'• Potato Plants. 311
Tulip Tree in China. 218

•' Large, 370
Twe dan Fa, 93
Twining of Vines, 342
Two Good Apjjles, 267

Under the Hawthonies, .57
Sashes and Sod. 283
Under the Willows, St. Hel-
ena, 1.53
U. States Ferns, 340

■• Vanilla Bean in, 341
Universitv Gardens, Cal. .315
Unworthy Novelties. 226.290
Uses of Structures. 218

Valuable Seeds. 118
Value of Fruit Farms, 366
Value of Mesquite, 273
•' Timber. 273

Crooked, 273

•• Timber Locations. 245
Vanilla Bean in U. S., .341
Variability, Law of, 149

'■ Timber Duration, 147
Variation, Cotton Plants, 54

•■ in Pears, 271

•• in IMants, 2.50
Varied Tastes in Food, 60
Variegate<l Austrian Pine.
Variety in Nature, 374 [3.58
Various Inquiries, 90
VegetaV)le Culture, Texas,
Profits, 145

•• Garden, Frogmore, 302

'■ Growing, South, 177

" Insects, Poisons, 206
Vegetables, 82

•■ Charleston. S. C, 177

'■ Eug. and Amer.. 336

•• Good. 114

•• Ornamental. 48

" Wholesale A Retail, 3S0
Veisaillaise Currant. White-
fruited. 47
Vervaene, Fred'k, .381
N'ictoriaLily, Flowering, 261

" Regia in Open Air. 66
Vilmorin. M., Letter from, 25
Vines. Summer Flower., 67

■• Twining of, 342
Violet, Bird toot, Range,.311
Violets, Am,, Improved, 260
Virginia, Forest Report, 18

" Notes from, 36, 163

[December,

Virginias, The, 96
Virgin Mary's Tree, 29
Visit, Peacii Orchard, 110
" Soldiers' Home, 289
Vitieultural Rept., Cal.. 158

Walking Fern, 149
Walks, Asphalt. 198
Walks. Clearing, Weeds. 70

•' Pleached. Trees for, 293
Walnut. Californian, 271

■• Early Fruiting, 16
Warder, Jno. A., Death, 286
Warfare on Daisies, 125
Warning to Florists, 135
Wash'n, Agr. Grounds. 324
Waste Bones in Cities, 47
Water Absor. by Roots. .54

'■ Cresses, Growing. 303

" Lily, New. 43

" Pitch Tree. Large, 245
Way, Notes by the. 71
Weather & Oranges. Fla., 25
Weeds from Walks, 76
West. Pear Growing in, 272

" School Horticult.. 347
Wet Season, So. Cal.. 207

•' Weather & Growth. 54
What is a Garden. 93
.Wheat, Cross-Breeding, 52

•■ Cross-fertilize, Can, 19

" Fertilization, 86

" Martin's Amber, 304
When to Break Land, 143
W^hite Bon Silene Rose, 363

" Bouvardia, Dbl., in Eu-
rope, 108

" Daphne Gwenka, 229

" Elephant Potato, 17

'• Versaillaise Currant. 47

•• Grapes, 29

" Pine, 273 [by. 24

" '• Foretelling Weather

" Pyrus Japonica. 165

" Sage as Bee Plant. 242

'■ Spruce, 339, 376

" Tigridia, 5

'• Violet, Swanley, 363
Wiegela Candida, .38*
Wilder, Col. M. P., 349

" Address of, 317, 350
Wild Rose, 342

" Tea. 341
Willow, Nap. Weeping, 29
WIUowSlSSs

" St. Helena, Under, 1.53
Window Gardening, 78. 359

■■ North. Flowers, 71
Wine, Beet, 14 [364

Winter Carnation, Yel., 204,

" Covering Strawb"s, 201

" fl. Begonias, Culture, 138

" Carnations, Disease. 328

" Preserving Roses, 293

" Roses in, 136

'■ Treatment, Roses, 260
Wm. .\. Richardson Rose.204
Wonderful Fruits, 367
Wood. Annual Growth. 20

" Black Jack Oak, 147

'• Pores. Annual Laver,

" Sun-dried, 147 " [63

" Supply, Future, 117
Woods of So. Australia, .50
Worcester Co.. Mass.. Hort.

Society, 188
Work of Committees. 349
Worm. Bag or Sac. 37

•• Cabbage. ,304

" Drop or Bag, 292
Worms, Scratching for. 349

" To Destroy. 110. 209, 242.
302
Veranthemum annuuin su

Y.
•■ Winter Carnation,20l.
Yellows Law, Michigan, 15

" Peach, New, 15
Yeiimairs Pear Orchard, 209
York Imperial Apple. 272
Youne: Gardeners, 96. 1.55

'■ Plant. How Starts, 275
Yucca, Notes on, 323

" Observations on, 118

Zebra Grass, 229
Zonale, Little Gem, 364

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