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:;)• EDITuIi'S TABLE, 



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Clltivation of thk Willow. — Lost fall I act about two thousand of the Salix viminalit, or 

 biu*ki't willow, iu a light loamy soil (it will stand a drouth well) from which I had taken sixty 

 bushels of shelled corn per acre. I set them on a quarter of an acre, intending to set out the whole 

 piece in fnturc, making in all throe acres. I wa.s induced to try this kind of business, 

 thinking it would be profitable. Tliey said the willow could Ijc grown on the soil before stated^ 

 and bv paying as much attention to it as I would to corn, I could raise two tons per acre in 

 three or four years, valued form $100 to ?150 ])Qr ton. 



This is new business to me, and I should like to get some information from persons with more 

 experience in the culture of trees, Ac, than I have had an opportunity to obtain. The willow 

 business constituted quite an item in our imports for the last year. $5,000,000 worth were used 

 jn the United States, of which ICew York city is said to have used $2,000,000. If our climate is 

 favorable, soil suitable, and if we can raise them for $50 per ton, I cannot see what other 

 inducements we wish to try and cultivate them. 



Though I am eaying two words for myself to one for somebody else, if these few remarks should 

 BUfff'est something to yonr mind that would be useful hints for all, then I have not written in 

 vain. L. A. Beabdsley. — South JEdincsfon. 



There are other points to bo considered beside the mere growing of the ■willow. They 

 must be peeled and prepared for market in the same way as those imported from Europe. 

 "We hope Mr. Beardsley's inquiries will elicit some information on the subject, as it seems 

 to attract considerable attention at this time. 



PEnoAPS what I may have to say is old to old gardeners, but to young ones, like myself, the 

 result of a little experiment in the culture of cabbages, may be both new and useful, 



I planted the ground occupied with such peas as Stubb's Dwarf and Champion of Eiu/land, and 

 after the peas had been removed, with cabbage plants of the variety of Premium Flat Dutch. 

 August was considerably advanced before I got them in the ground, and, as I might have expected 

 when winter came but few of them were good for anything, most of them not being headed at all, 

 or only very loosely. I dug a trench in the ground deep enough to receive tbe cabbages, and 

 placed them in it heads down, and threw straw loosely over them and covered them up, just as I 

 did well-headed cabbages for spring use. Now for the result : — Upon opening the trench the 

 other day, (April,) I was surprised to find that these loose cabbages had become as hard as wooa 

 — indeed, perfect cabbages, thougli small. I have related the circumstance to several profes- 

 sional gardeners, who say that they knew before that cabbages would keep when buried, but did 

 not before know they would head when buried. It seems to me a very useful fact. J. G. "W. 



CANADIAN FLOV/ER aATHERER. 



BY ME3. TUAILL, AUTHOR OF "FOREST GLEANINGS," OAKLAND, RICE LAKE, C. W. 



Adantttm capillaire — Madien Hair Fern. — Early in the month of May may be observed by 

 those who suffer their eyes to be occupied by what is going on among the lowly plants and herbs 

 that spi-ing up in their path, a most charming fern, known by the familiar names of Maiden hair and 

 Fairy fern, from its elegant lightness. It is one of the most graceful of all that graceful tribe of 

 plants ; its botanical name is Adantium or Maiden hair ; it grows in wild swampy and tangled 

 thickets; it may be seen by the road side, but mostly docs it love the rich, black, spongy mould 

 on the banks of creeks, and there you must often have noticed it. At first the leaf comes up 

 curiously curled, having the appearance of a brown hairy catcrpiller. A few warm hours of sun- 

 shine or soft rain makes the leaf imroll, and the tender leaflets expand. In three or four days 

 what a change has been effected ? The thick covering of brown hair has dlsappeai'ed — no trace 

 of its infant dress remaining ^asible on the whole plant The stem becomes smooth, and black, 

 and elastic, like fine whalebone, supporting its exquisite foliage on foot-stalks of haii'-like light- 



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