1880. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



47 



lose no time in getting in his potatoes, beets, 

 carrots, parsnips, peas, spinach, radishes, let- 

 tuce, onions, and salisfy. These should be the 

 first crops put in after the season breaks up for 

 good. The earlier they are in the better. As- 

 paragus, rhubarb and hoi"se-radish beds may 

 now be made. Asparagus roots are generally 

 planted too thickly to produce fine shoots, — they 

 starve one another. A bed five feet wide should 

 have three rows, and the plants set about eight 

 inches apart. A deep soil is very impor- 

 tant, as the succulent stems require every chance 

 they can get for obtaining moisture. About four 

 inches beneath the soil is sufficient to plant 

 them. Rhubarb also i-equires a deep, rich and 

 moist soil. Horse-radish beds are best made 

 by taking pieces of strong roots, about one inch 

 long, and making a hole about a foot or fifteen 

 mches deep, with a dibble, and dropping the 

 piece to the bottom of the hole; a clean, straight 

 root will then rise up through the soil. Crowns 

 or eyes are better than pieces of roots, — where 

 they can be had — and a rich clayey soil better 

 than a light, sandy one. 



About the middle or end of the month, or still 

 later in the Korth, — say the middle of March, — 

 celery and late cabbage may be sown. Here, 

 we usually sow the second week in March. 



In the Northern States, broccoli, and cauli- 

 flower when sown in March, as recommended, do 

 not head early enough in Fall. It should be 

 sown about the time of Early York Cabbage, in 

 the hot-bed, during this month. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



JAPAN PERSIMMONS. 



BY H. F. HILLENMBYER, LEXINGTON, KY. 



This new fruit has attracted a great deal of 

 attention lately, but those interested in the sale 

 of the trees, have been rather reticent as to 

 their hardiness. Glowing descriptions by Japan 

 travelers have been freely circulated, but the 

 exact latitude in which this new apple from the 

 garden of Hesperides might be successfully 

 grown, has been largely left to the conjecture 

 of sanguine planters. I confess to a weakness 

 for big persimmons, and fearing that my prec- 

 ious fruit trees " of the Gods " might be nipped 

 by untimely frost, like unto an unfledged Bart- 

 lett, 1 thought it prudent to shelter them in this 

 their tender infancy. Napoleon marched up 

 the Alps, and then down again, as was the fate 



of a load of empty flour barrels, which in kind- 

 ness of heart I trundled to my precious pets, 

 well knowing that in this country the breezes of 

 winter are not especially tempered to the shorn 

 lamb. But, alas, the same frost that had been 

 fatal to my forgotten figs, had likewise frozen 

 to the ground these "God-like" treasures. 

 Slowly and sadly we trundled them home, — 

 the flour barrels, — repeating vanity of vanities, 

 and solemnly reflecting that like unto the 

 bearded grain and tender flower that fall by the 

 reapers blade, so may likewise the Bartlett and 

 Persimmon, — the Persimmon mostly. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Various Gardens.— When people read in 

 these days of the Kinder-Garten, they understand 

 tolerably well what kind of garden it is. But 

 we were not so sure about the " Kitchen Gar- 

 den " which is the momentary craze with the 

 young ladies of nothing-to-do who live about 

 Boston and New York. The old name " Kit- 

 chen Garden" has a very familiar sound, but it 

 proves to be "girls in the kitchen " and nothing 

 more. In the direct English of the olden time, 

 it would be "cooking," or "cookery." 



Scraping the Bark of Trees.— There are 

 still discussions as to the value of scraping ofl" 

 the loose, dead bark of trees. Few of those who 

 speak against it seem to have had practical ex- 

 perience in the case. They argue that it is " na- 

 ture's plan of protecting trees from cold." 

 Those who have tried scraping off" this dead bark, 

 and washing the stems do not talk this way. It 

 is an excellent practice to produce good trees. 



Patent Fruits. — A correspondent of the 

 Prairie Farmer tells that the Editor of the Gar- 

 dener's Monthly declines all discussion on 

 this subject. The exact truth is that we simply 

 declined to insert a letter from that corres- 

 pondent for reasons satisfactory to ourselves. 

 We have no room for three or four pages a 

 month, — and to be continued to all eternity. 



Fruits in Pots.— The pot-culture of fruits is 

 still very popular in England. Peaches, Necta- 

 rines, Apricots, Plums and even Pears are kept in 

 large pots or tubs, and in cheap glass-houses. 

 They can raise many of these in the open air,— 

 but are more certain and have better fruit under 

 glass. 



Root Pruning.— As a general rule fruit 

 trees do not grow more rank than thev ought 



