394 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Indeed, one very intelligent observer in Southern Illinois, ^vhere this tree is 

 native, asserts that posts seem to last longer in wet places than in dryer soils. 

 The sum of this report is that we have two distinct catalpa trees in tiie 

 United States, one of which, the subject of this article, is of western origin, is 

 a finer tree and more hardy, and, therefore, better adapted to forest planting, 

 and may bo safely planted over a wider range of territory. 



Dr. John A. Warder. 



THE GARDEN. 



HOT BEDS. 



Kufus Mason, in the Cincinnati Grange Bulletin, says: 



Tliree years' experience with muslin sashes where the thermometer ranges 

 from 20° below zero to TO^ above, satisfies me of their superiority. I make a 

 square frame of Ij inch stuff, with a single bar of same size down the middle, 

 cover it with common, heavy, unbleached muslin, paint it over two coats, with 

 boiled linseed oil and find it far better than glass. Have had no freezing or 

 scalding, but better colored plants, more stocky, and better able to withstand 

 early transplanting. After the hot-bed is filled with manure, lay in the soil 

 so as to come within three inches of the muslin, sloping exactly as it does. 

 As the season advances, the bed will settle about as fast as the growth of the 

 plants require it. This plan prevents the plants from becoming long-legged, 

 which is the main cause of the slow after-growth, and in the cabbage family, 

 of so many plants failing to make solid heads. 



STRAW MATTING. 



The warmest and lightest covering for hot-bed sash, as a protection from 

 very severe weather, is straw mats. These mats, says James Vick, are easily 

 made, and one can employ his time upon them in very cold or stormy weather, 

 when nothing can be done to advantage outside. In order to make a good 

 article, and to work to best advantage, it is best to employ a frame, which may 

 be made of two pieces of two-by-four spruce joist for the sides, of the length 

 required for the mat, and of two transverse pieces mortised into them at the 

 ends. Four feet will be found a very convenient width for the frame. This 

 framework may rest upon a pair of wooden horses, about two feet in height, 

 in which position the labor can be most easily performed. 



A mat of four feet wide should have at least four strincrs runninc: across it, 

 which will make the spaces between them about 9.V inches in width; closer 

 tying than this even would be desirable. Screws arc inserted at the proper 

 distances on the cross-pieces, to which the strings are attached while the mat 

 is being formed. The straw is placed on the strings so as to have all the butts 

 or lower ends come against the side of the frame, with the tops meeting in the 



