FOREIGN NOTICES. 



289 



a pea has been accidentally seen in a field of many 

 acres with a flower larger or smaller, or earlier or 

 later, than the rest ; that it has been marked, found 

 different, perhaps better, perhaps worse, than the 

 rest, but at all events different ; it has been marked, 

 and all the produce saved and sown by itself. It 

 has proved better, has been named, highly spoken 

 of, and sold out at a larjje price ; and but for an 

 accident it would have shared the fate of the rest, 

 been picked and marketed green, been eaten and 

 destroyed. It is impossible to say what may not 

 have been attained had all that has been raised 

 new been saved, instead of going as the rest have 

 gone, and never been heard of. We hope there 

 will be a little more attention paid by market gar- 

 deners, for they are as much interested as any 

 body, and have more opportunities than any other 

 class of men. Hort. Magazine. 



The Sunflower. — Among the old-fashioned 

 subjects that seem pretty well banished from mo- 

 dern gardens, the sunflower may be placed j yet 

 the vakje of that plant is scarcely known. It is 

 true that the same qualities are possessed by other 

 plants, and this, in a great measure, prevents the 

 development of the properties which belong to the 

 subject of our notice ; but they ought not to be 

 lost sight of, for there may be circumstances un- 

 der which its whole value may be appreciated. 

 Let us consider first, then, the uses to whiuh the 

 plant and its parts may be applied. First, then, 

 it yields abundance of seed, wliich is equal to any, 

 if not superior to most food lor poultry. Secondly, 

 the seed yields abundance of oil, and the oil-cake 

 is food for cattle. Third, the plant is full of very 

 strong fibre, capable of being worked into coarse 

 materials cheaper than any other fibre we are 

 acquainted with. These points are well worth 

 the consideration of emigrants, who should on no 

 account neglect to take seed with them, for they 

 are likely to grow well under circumstances un- 

 favorable to many other plants. It is one of those 

 subjects which will grow anywhere, and produce 

 a crop. There may be differences between light 

 and heavy crops, according to the culture, but 

 there will always be a crop, even on land that 

 would bring nothing else in ; at any rate, very 

 little else. To grow sunflowers in perfection, st w 

 thinly all over the surface in the middle of April, 

 in a bed four feet wide, and as long as you require, 

 according to the quantity of seedlings you wish to 

 plant out. Sow thinly, and if the weather be dry, 

 water it even before it is up. It will soon be 

 above ground, and if there are any so close to- 

 gether as to prevent them from growing well, 

 thin them in those parts ; but as they are all to be 

 planted out as soon as they have got four rough 

 leaves, they are not to be thinned much, except 

 where the seed has been huddled together by ac- 

 cident. They must be weeded as soon as they are 

 up, and kept clear of weeds until they have grown 

 strong enough to plant out. If a showery time 



Vol. iil 19 



comes, you may, for the sake of the great advan- 

 tage of wet ground, plant out smaller than we 

 should propose as a general rule ; and so, instead 

 of wailing for four rough leaves, plant them out 

 with only two. On the other hand, we would 

 wait till the last day if there were any prospect of 

 rain, rather than plant out in dry weather. Let 

 the ground be dug or ploughed, and harrowed, 

 ready for planting out, and plant them out in rows 

 three feet from each other, and the plants two feet 

 apart in the rows. Let them be dibbled in, the 

 same as cabbage-plants, except that they must not 

 be put in deep. If they are planted on a large 

 scale, it is as well to plough a furrow every three 

 feet, and plant at the bottom of this furrow ; and 

 unless it be wet weather, they must be watered 

 in ; but this labor can be got rid of by planting in 

 rainy weather. In about a month, when they have 

 become established, and the weeds have grown up 

 pretty thickly, the crop must be well cleared. 

 After this, the plants will overpower the weeds, 

 and they will want no more care till nearly in 

 flower, when five or six of the best advancing buds 

 may be selected, and the buds at the ends of all 

 the other branches may be pulled off. This has 

 the efllect of driving all the strength of the plant 

 into a few heads of bloom, and sending all into 

 flower at one time, otherwise the sunflower will 

 begin with the crown bloom, and contain a suc- 

 cession of lateral flowers for months, so that one- 

 half never ripen the seeds, and the early ones are 

 weakened by the constant opening of the side 

 blooms. There is not a single crop so inviting to 

 small birds ; as soon, therefore, as the seeds ripen, 

 there must be a continual watchfulness : people 

 sent round with baskets to gather the seeds as 

 they ripen, and boys employed to drive away birds 

 as the harvest approaches. The heads are not to 

 remain on the tree until the seeds are all black, 

 but as soon as the seeds are full-grown, and the 

 outside ones are turned black, say two-thirds to- 

 wards the centre, they are fit to gather. They 

 should be placed in the sun upon cloths and per- 

 fectly dried, when they fall out of themselves ; at 

 all events, children may be employed to rub them 

 out, and they are as easily cleared as any seed 

 that is grown. With regard to the plants, they 

 may be treated as hemp and flax for the purpose 

 of using the fibre, or may be burned on the ground 

 after drying, that their ashes may be spread ; but 

 the seed alone, whether used for its oil and cake, 

 or as food for cattle, pigs, and poultry, will re- 

 pay well the cost and trouble of cultivation. Ibid. 



A Note from Paris. — I yesterday spent a long 

 time in the Jardin des Plantes. With the excep- 

 tion of one hill well planted with all sorts of ever- 

 greens, and one superb cedar of Lebanon, the lar- 

 gest in France, it is not particularly interesting 

 in a horticultural point of view. 



I saw there the Mother Paulownia, every termi- 



