384 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



loose as last year, I had them shaded with myrtle, 

 petunias, &c. But there they are — the Wistarias — 

 just as much wood as when they were first plant- 

 ' ed and no -more. 



Surely our summers are hot enough, and win- 

 ters not too severe for the plant. In New- York 

 city, in May of this year. I saw one plant that 

 was above the third story windows of a brick 

 house in 13th st., in full bloom; and a charming 

 sight it was. Every day for two weeks (nearly,) 

 I walked past that house to see it, and each time 

 I thought it more beautiful than the last. I wish- 

 ed very much to go in and thank the mistress of 

 the house for the pleasure she had given me. 



I may add that this past summer the Prairie 

 roses planted at the same time with the Wistarias, 

 have mdide fourteen feet of new wood. 



This fall I have had one of the Wistarias taken 

 up, put in a large sized box, and removed to the 

 vinery. M. Oneida county, Nov. 2d, 1850. 



N. B. In the city of Utica, the Wistaria sinen- 

 sis does no better. The vines were laid down and 

 protected. 



P. S. If any of your readers wish to know the 

 cost of erecting a grapery, 40 feet by 20, in the 

 most economical manner, I can inform them. 



Remarks. — The climate should suit the Wista- 

 ria at Utica, and at any rate would not prevent 

 its growing luxuriantly in summer. That the soil 

 was well prepared to promote vigorous growth, 

 the fourteen feet shoots of the Prairie roses abun- 

 dantly prove. 



We have seen precisely such behaviour on the 

 part of young Wistaria plants before, and think 

 we can explain the matter. 



The Wistaria is usually propagated by layers. 

 If a layer is made by bending down the long and 

 healthy shoots of the vine, and causing it to take 

 root, every plant so raised will grow with all its 

 native luxuriance — that is, some 8 or 10, or some- 

 times 15 or 20 feet in a season. 



But if a shoot, which lias been a flowering shoot 

 for some seasons, is laid down and made to be- 

 come a young plant, the plant so raised rarely or 

 never sends out luxuriant shoots. In fact we have 

 seen such plants live year after year, and never 

 rise above a foot or two high — never, in fact, take 

 their natural habit as a vine. Such is, no doubt, 

 the case with the two roots purchased and planted 

 by our despairing correspondent. He had better 

 dig them up and throw them away, as he might 

 as well hope to make a six foot Kentuckian of 

 Tom Thumb, by high feeding, as to get his cedar 

 poles covered by these la^-ers — stunted in their 

 origin, by having been raised from blossom spurs 

 instead of growing buds. 



If any of our nurserymen who propagate this 

 plant are ignorant of this fact, they should quickly 

 learn it, and all buyers of Wistarias should re- 

 member it, and reject plants that look dwarfish and 

 show no disposition to run. Ed. 



Cuttings in Brick Dust. — I have had great 

 success in propagating plants lately — especially 

 the more tender kinds of green-house plants. As 

 I think my good luck depends not so much upon 

 the treatment as the material I use, I beg you 

 to "make a note of it,*' for the benefit of your 

 readers. 



This material is brick dust — the refuse of the 

 kiln afterburning — or what may be made by taking 

 soft bricks and pounding them up. Enough may 

 be had at any brick-yard for a mere trifle, to last 

 a great while — but I think the fresher it is the 

 better. For those plants more difficult to root, 

 such as Daphnes, Heaths, Cape Jasmines, &.C., I 

 fill shallow cutting-pnts entirely with brick dust, 

 (except about an inch at the bottom, which is filled 

 with coarse lumps of brick, to secure a good drain- 

 age.) For plants that root more easily, I use half 

 brick dust and half sandy loam. 



It is quite surprising how much more certainly 

 and quickly cuttings of all sorts root in brick dust 

 than in sand, or in loamy soil, in the common way. 

 " Damping ofl'," which is so fatal to cuttings made 

 in the ordinary way, rarely happens when brick 

 dust is used, and from the mass of fibre quickly 

 thrown out from the bottom of the cuttings, I am 

 convinced that there is something more than the 

 texture of the brick dust which causes the much 

 greater vigor and success of cuttings planted in 

 brick dust, over^those planted in the ordinary way. 

 A Jerseyman. Jersey City, Nov., 1850. 



We have heard of burnt clay having been used 

 for striking cuttings with great success, and the 

 brick dust probably acts in a similar manner, i. e. 

 absorbing a large supply of ammonia from the air, 

 and giving it out as food to the cutting, while its 

 dry and gritty texture facilitates the granulation 

 of organizable matter, and the emission of new 

 roots. ' Ed. 



Transplanti.ng Cedars. — Dear Sir: I offer 

 to make a bargain with you: I have a number of 

 healthv, middle-aged-looking cedar trees, growing 

 about here in places where they are not wan*.ed, 

 which I wish to move to a place where they are 

 wanted — to hide an old building. 



My ofler of a bargain is this: If. you will let 

 me know how to go about moving them, I will let 

 vou know the result of my attempt. J. Bristol 

 Township. Philadelphia co., Nov. 8th, 1850. 



Answer. — The thing has been most successfully 

 done already, in sight of our library window. Our 

 neighbor. Dr. A. G. Hull, transplanted last win- 

 ter, a number of "middle-aged cedars" — trees 

 about twenty years old — which now form a group 

 on a hill side in full view from where we write, 

 with the most perfect success. The trees, (whose 

 trimks will average 25 to 30 inches in circumfer- 

 ence) though moved perhaps a mile or more from 

 the spot where they stood a year ago, now look 

 quite as well as if they had never had a fibre 

 touched. 



