1878.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



ITT 



light, and the wannt-st place at command. I 

 shower mine daily with warm water, and keep 

 them on the highest shelf; and they well repay 

 this slight care with their brilliantly-colored 

 leaves, more ornamental, I think, than flowers. 

 Dracajnas are also both ornamental and easy of 

 culture, and give a nice look to a stand of plants. 

 But for a north window, and a cooler location, 

 I think Aspidistra variegata the finest thing I 

 have ever tried. I have one that has ovei- thirty 

 of its long, broad, glossy leaves, from four to 

 six inches across, each elegantly striped with 

 white, and gracefully recurved. It is never trou- 

 bled with insects of any sort, and ought to be I 

 more often seen than it is. It requires a liberal 

 supply of water, both over the foliage and at i 

 the root. Of rarer plants, I have grown with j 

 good success Palms, Pandanus, Marnntas, ] 

 Tillaudsia and Dieffenbachia maculata, the latter I 

 an especially fine, free-growing plant, with broad 

 green leaves, prettily spotted with white. It is | 

 recommended for wardian cases, but I have had j 

 no trouble with it in my sitting-room. Of course I 

 these more delicate plants require thought and 

 care in their treatment, but they amply repay | 

 the extra troub'e by the elegant effect they give i 

 to a stand of blooming plants. I think we might 

 grow many more of what are classed as " stove" j 

 plants in our rooms, by proper attention to ! 

 cleanliness, and moisture in the air. In addition 

 to water on the stove, I keep large sponges, con- 

 stantly wet, lying among my plants. I have, in 

 this room, a Maiden-hair Fern, which has thrown 

 up between thirty and forty fronds, some of them 

 two feet high, and the mass more than that 

 across. 



I will stop to mention but one blooming plant, 

 as this article is already too long. One year 

 ago last spring, in looking over Mr. Saul's cata- 

 logue for something new for winter blooniing, 

 I came upon the Rogiera. I .sent and got one 

 by way of experiment. And I wish to testify 

 my extreme satisfaction with this pretty, fra- 

 gx-ant plant. The variety I had, bore pinkish- 

 white flowers, in heads like the Bouvardia, only 

 the clustei's were three times as large, and the 

 fragrance is peculiar and exquisite. It needs 

 heat and sunshine, and grows freely without 

 further troul)le. 



THE MENNONITE CRASS BURNER. 



BY PROF. .J. D. BUTLER. 



No house in "Washington is such a .Japanese 

 gem as the home of General Horace Caprnn. 



This gentleman, going to Japan in 1871, took 

 with him his carriage and horses. He was soon 

 requested to lend his turn-out to the emperor, 

 and then invited to the palace, where his- 

 majesty said to him : " Sir ! I have sent for you 

 to thank you personally for introducitig such' 

 animals into my country. 1 never knew before 

 that they existed on the face of the earth.''' The 

 General was then employed to put up a flouring- 

 mill — as bread was no less unknown than horses 

 to the Japanese. Nor were his rolls less wel- 

 come than his road-ters. He also built a saw- 

 mill which cut twelve thousand feet daily — 

 which was all that six hundred sawyers could 

 do. Among other services he showed how to 

 can salmon, and so rendered that fishery ten 

 times more valuable than it had been. 



He had his reward. Everythini; rich and rare 

 that had been garnered up in the imperial, 

 treasure-house was lavished upon him, and he 

 came home laden with the spoils of the farthest 

 East. 



If repul'licans were as rich as the Mikado, the 

 Nebraskans would bestow a similar testimonial 

 on the Mennonites who have settled among 

 them. Those Russian exiles have introduced a 

 variety of fuel which will prove as great a boon 

 to prairie States, as horses or mills- to Japan. 

 They have demonstrated that every farmer 

 may find on his own homestead, if not a coal 

 mine, yet whatever he needs to burn on his 

 hearth. 



Though I was long ago a traveler in Russia,, 

 my attention was never called to the Russian 

 style of heating until 1873. In that year, being 

 on a western tour, I fell in with seven Mennon- 

 ite deputies in quest of a new home for their 

 people, who for conscience sake, were forced tO' 

 leave their old one on the Black Sea. We were- 

 together in various parts of Nebraska.. Along, 

 the Republican and smaller streams, we found a 

 good growth of timber — but every acre it stood, 

 on had been snapped up, either by settlers or 

 speculators. 



Much to my astonishment i discovered that my 

 companions liked the country. In talking with. 

 German squatters whom we had called upon, they 

 had ascertained that the crop was twice as large 

 as that where they came from. When I asked. 

 " what will you do for fuel?" their answer was: 

 " Look around. We see it ready to our hands in 

 every straw stack and on every prairie. Grass and 

 straw are what we, and our fathers before us, 

 have always used." We pas-sed one even- 



