1880.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



Blue Grass in Arkansas. — J. M. B., Fayette- 

 ville, Ark., writes: "I noticed in the Tribune of 

 some weeks ago a statement by the Agricul- 

 tural!?) editor, that l)lue grass would not do 

 well if sown in September. On the 20th of last 

 September I put in three acres of ground that 

 had been well prepared, about ten bushels of 

 Kentucky blue grass seed, raked it in lightly and 

 rolled. It is now a solid mass of green. Do 

 you think I will have all this work to do over 

 again !" 



[Indeed we do not think you will have it to do 

 all over again. It is strange how the idea ever 

 prevailed that grass will not grow in the South. 

 The writer of this has seen in Mississippi and 

 Louisiana as good clover and grass as he ever saw 

 in the Xorth. In Arkansas he has seen grass 

 growing, — ^though not as farm crops or as lawns, 

 — but could see no more reason why it should not 

 do in masses like these referred to, than as indi- 

 vidual scattered plants. In the old times when 

 little attention was given to anything but cotton, 

 it was assumed that nothing but cotton and corn 

 would grow in the South, but we feel sure that 

 under intelligent guidance, suiting species as to 

 locations and other circumstances the old time 

 assumptions are groundless. — Ed. G. M.] 



Raising Seedling Roses. — A "Queer one" 

 writes : " In your answer to M., last month you 

 say that new Roses are ' generally originated ' 

 from seed. Why generally? How can they be 

 raised any other waj"^ ? I should say New Roses 

 are always raised from seed." 



[Just there "Queer one" would be wrong. 

 There are not a few good roses that were raised 

 from bud variation. One branch produced flow- 



ers different from others on the same plant, 

 which, being cut oft* and rooted, preserved its 

 identity through all time, — though sometimes, 

 as in the Beauty of Glazenwood, going back to 

 the original.— Ed. G. M.] 



The Dwarf Catalpa. — Says a "Western cor- 

 respondent : "Are you not mistaken for just 

 this once, when you say in the December num- 

 ber, ' The Dwarf Catalpa is the C. Ksempferi of 

 the nurseries, whatever it may be botanically ;' " 

 and then proceeds to give a list of nurseries 

 in which it is marked as C. Bungei. The writer 

 of this believes himself to be responsible for its 

 earliest introduction and dissemination in this 

 country, and supposed he knew what plant was 

 in the nurseries under this name. He has how- 

 ever reviewed the matter since the receipt of the 

 above, and finds that he was more than right; 

 for both botanically and horticulturally the one 

 which "flowers" is Catalpa Bungei, and the bushy 

 flowerless one, — the one with leaves just like the 

 common one, — is Catalpa bignonoidQS, variety 

 Kpempferi." 



Ampelopsis Yeitchii, and Ampelopsis tri- 

 cuspid ata.—A.G., Cambridge, Mass., asks:" Are 

 we to understand from the statement on page 356, 

 (Dec. Ko.) that Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry have 

 four plants under the two names of Ampelopsis 

 Veitchii and A. tri-cuspidata. It is so stated, 

 but I am not quite sure that this is meant." 



[A. G., will accept our thanks for the gram- 

 matical correction, — though if we were to imi- 

 tate his style and be "not quite sure" of his 

 meaning, we might say that we think there were 

 really more than four plants under these two 

 names. — Ed. G. M.] 



Greenhouse and House Gardening. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



One time window gardening was universally 

 popular. Then came heaters and illuminating 

 gas, instead of open grates and candles, and the 

 pretty room flowers were banished to the houses 

 •of the poor. In almost all our large cities we 

 had to go to the poor quarters to see the win- 

 dow flowers, and even to this day in the large 

 Paris hotels, it is chiefly in the fourth stories 



j where the chamber-maids have their sleeping- 

 j places, that the floral adornments of street^are 

 j seen. But there has been a pleasant change of 

 late years, especially in our own land. The 

 wealthy and refined are taking to house garden- 

 ing. By the judicious employment of screens 

 and plant cabinets, the deleterious atmosphere 

 of night rooms is excluded, and they can now 

 have house plants as formerly. How much the 

 love of window plant culture is spreading, we 

 can judge from our correspondence, which is 



