1878. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



but then electricity is not to be supposed to know 

 much about botany. There are plenty of real 

 Poplars in the vicinity, but this Tulip "Poplar" 

 seems to have been always singled out in pre- 

 ference, till the last strike killed it. 



AsCLEPiAS COKNUTI. — Mrs. M. writes : "Pei-- 

 haps it may be interesting to 3-our readers in 

 connection with the A. cornuti, that the plant 

 Avhich stood about two feet and a half high bore 

 three pods or follicles ; they generally fruit in 

 pairs. The plant had five clusters of flowers, 

 consisting of from thirty to sixty blooms. I 

 gathered one, leaving four to mature. Wood 

 says but few of the flowers prove fertile ; more 

 could not in the space. The pods measure 

 three inches long, one inch in diameter. They 

 average about two hundred and twenty seeds ; 

 the three, as near as I could count, had six hun- 

 <lred and sixty-eight seeds, sufficient for a plant 

 of it size." 



Advantages and Disadvantages of Flo- 

 rida.— C. 0. S., Seguin, Fla., writes : " The 

 greatest trouble I find here is in preventing the 

 numerous insects from destroying the seedlings 

 and plants. The climate is so mild that I find 

 numerous insects ready to devour any green leaf 

 as soon as it makes its appearance, and they are 

 entirely different from any we have in the north. 

 We have here ants which are called cutting ants ; 

 they work only at nights, and it is surprising the 

 amount of damage they do in a single night. 

 The past Spring I lost over 200 hills of Lima 

 Beans tliree inches high in one night, which 

 they not only cut down, but carried away. It is 

 next to impossible to destroy them by any 

 means I am familiar with, or to prevent them 

 from eating plants. They are in hills or mounds, 

 and I have repeatedly tried petroleum, chloride 

 of lime, gas lime and boiling water, but the ants 

 still live. Can you give me a cure for these 

 pests ? I have consulted all the works on gar- 

 dening at my command, and can find but little 

 said of these ants. I notice in the Monthly a 

 communication from a writer in California, who 

 speaks of the devastation they cause, but who 

 gives no cure. Does he know any? If so, I 

 would like to see it in some future number. 



The climate here is simply splendid, nearly 

 always a good breeze off' the (^ulf, warm through 

 the day, cool at nights. There has been no 

 frost here since December 2-ith, 1877, over ten 

 months. We still have a few Peaches, but they 

 are nearly gone ; have had them since May. All 



kinds of vegetables can be raised here to perfec- 

 tion, but there seems to be considerable trouble 

 in keeping them. You will think it strange, 

 probably, when I tell you that White Potatoes 

 are now being brought here from the North. I 

 never saw finer ones than were raised here the 

 past season, but it seems impossible to keep 

 them, they rot soon after being stored away. 

 They sold here in July at 50c. per bushel •, to-day 

 they are worth $2.00. With the Sweet Potato 

 there is no trouble ; it keeps in fine condition by 

 burying in the ground, the same as is done with 

 Turnips in the North. I would be glad at any 

 futm-e time to give you a full description of this 

 part of the country, and its products, if you think 

 it would be of any interest to the readers of the 

 Monthly." 



Hybridizing Wheat. — A correspondent 

 sends the following which he finds in a public 

 document, from the pen of a high official, and 

 asks us to comment on its absm'dity : 



"Another maxim which farmers generally ac- 

 cept as an axiom is, that by sowing Wheats of 

 different qualities together, they will so hy- 

 bridize as to produce a mixed breed ; while even 

 a little observation would teach them the error 

 of this conclusion, and that each grain produces its 

 own like, and that really no hybridization takes 

 place at all, and that the mixture of seed pro- 

 duces the unmitigated evil of mixing Wheats 

 which perhaps ripen at different periods, or per- 

 haps require diff'erent treatment when they come 

 to be reduced to flour. A little study of the na- 

 ture of plants would seem to be necessary to a 

 knowledge of their proper treatment during their 

 growth. Of the flowers of plants some are male 

 and some female. In some the staminate and 

 pistillate flowers occupy diff'erent parts of the 

 same plants, as in Indian corn. In the larger 

 number of plants the male and female organs 

 mature at the same time in the same flower ; and 

 of these some are subject to self-fertilization, and 

 others to cross-fertilization. Such plants as Peas, 

 Beans, Wheat, and Barley have the male and 

 female organs within themselves, and are not 

 subject to cross-fertilization, and therefore it is 

 that Wheats do not mix their qualities at all 

 by being planted together ; and as it is objec- 

 tionable for other reasons, it should never be 

 done. The leaf or flower which protrudes from 

 the glume of Wheat is neither an anther, a pis- 

 til, nor a stamen, and neither emits nor receives 

 the fertilizing pollen." 



