1882.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



243 



flat baps over a bowl of seed in the left and in 

 the right is the seed measure. The left finj^er 

 and thumb squeezes the bag open a little, and a 

 puff of the breath finishes the opening; while in 

 the meantime the right hand is filling the mea- 

 sure and bringing up the seed. The breath has 

 barely opened the bag before the seed rolls in. 

 Twenty bags were filled in a quarter of a minute 

 by the watch ! Another pastes and folds over 

 the mouth of the bag, and she keeps up with 

 the rapid work of the filler. When the girls 

 first get at it they manage to make about fifty 

 cents a day; but those who become experts 

 make from $1.50 to $1 75 at the work. 17,000,- 

 000 of these bags, each chromo-lithographed 

 with the exact variety, so that even he who runs 

 may read, had just been delivered in the rough, 

 to be put together by the nimble fingers just 

 described. But this even is not all. These vast 

 acres of seeds cannot be raised without manure. 

 The great city of Philadelphia does not furnish 

 enough from its stables on favorable terms— all 

 that can be had at reasonable rates is secured ; 

 for the rest South America gives up its bones, 

 which are imported by the ship load, and con 

 verted into super-phosphate on the grounds. 

 And all this worry, toil and trouble is to end in 

 this little five cent package of seeds which a 

 baby can hold in its fingers, and which we burs^t 

 open and the contents scatter in a few momenta 

 of garden work almost without a second thought ! 

 Well was it said to the writer by one of these 

 younger Landreths: "If the pecuniary returns 

 were the only question involved, you might not 

 find us at the head of a concern like this 

 Money can be made faster and with far less of 

 the laborious than in a task like ours. But we 

 take a pride in this great work of our father and 

 grandfather, and in keeping up the high charac- 

 ter connected with their great names. The 

 great national work which they inaugurated 

 shall not go backwards in our hands if any en- 

 deavor we can give it shall be all that is re- 

 quired." To the writer of this, one of the great- 

 est pleasures of this two hours' walk was to hear 

 no slurs on the efforts or character of any other 

 house competing with them for the honors of 

 eminence in the seed trade. Referring to Vick, 

 Mr. Landreth remarked : " I never met him, but 

 the whole seed trade of the United States should 

 never forget the lasting debt they owe him. His 

 intelligent efforts did more to create a demand 

 for seeds of flowers and vegetables than anything 

 that had been done for many years before. He not 



only sowed for his own harvest, but others were 

 enabled to reap more largely of their own har- 

 vests through the influence of the good he did." 



We have not room for more extended remarks 

 on things we saw and thought of on this brief 

 call, but trust this slight sketch of the history of 

 the small seed packet may at least have an 

 interest with the reader. 



Mushroom Culture. — We should be glad to 



know from those who have recently taken up 



the subject of mushroom culture in America, 



how they have succeeded. The following is the 



quantity taken from a bed in England, as given 



in the London Journal of Horticulture. It would 



be interesting to know if the figures of our cul- 



tiMators approach these : 



fts. 



October 362 



November 460 



December 1142 



January 768 



February 662 



March 707 



April 1283 



May laSl 



June 686 



July _265 



7356 



They are from 500 lineal yards. These are grown 

 out of doors. The above cut shows how the 

 bed looks at gathering time. 



Codling Moth. — A friend caught in two weeks, 

 by hay bands, on about 100 apple trees, over 3,000 

 larvae of the Codling Moth. 



The Manchester Strawberry.— The editor 

 had the opportunity of examining this variety 

 at Rochester, and it did not strike him that it 

 was identical with Hovey's Seedling, as some 

 suppose, though only a careful comparison of 

 the two kinds growing side by side should posi- 

 tively determine this. Col. Wilder writes that 

 he has made this test, and that they are not 

 identical. 



