THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[October, 



gation ; the price of my original small plants, 

 which came to me by mail, was fifty cents 

 each. 



Let any one take cuttings of otaksa or pani- 

 culata in June and July ; insert them in sand 

 under glass, at the same time keeping them 

 moderately moist, and I am sure he cannot fail 

 to have all the young plants he may desire. 



THE CYPRESS FAMILY IN TEXAS. 



BY G. OXDERDONK, 



The Cupressus Knightiana and horizontalis, 

 are making an almost incredible growth here. 

 One of the latter, now ten years old, is about a 

 foot in diameter at the ground, and thirty feet 

 high. We in Western Texas have too much 

 lime in our soil for pine, but I believe forests of 

 Cupressus are practicable. I have thirteen va- 

 rieties doing well enough. Every spot seems 

 suited to cedar. I have the common red cedar 

 nine years from the seed bed, and now large 

 enough for posts. Is the wood of the Cupressus 

 Knightiana and sempervirens horizontalis valua- 

 ble? If so, their culture here will be an object 

 for timber purposes. 



The latter rivals the i^ine for thrift and 

 straightness, while the former far exceeds it and 

 everything else I have seen in rapidity of growth. 



CHEAP PAINT. 



BY WILLIAM SUTHERLAND, PHILADELPHIA. 



The past two years I have been experimenting 

 in cheap materials for painting both outside and 

 inside; and find the following gives the most 

 satisfaction where one does not wish to go to 

 the expense of lead and oil paints. 



Take a half bushel of lime, put it in a barrel 

 and pour enough boiled water upon it to allow 

 the lime to slack without its burning; cover in 

 the steam, and, when dry, run it through a 

 medium sized sieve. 



Take a bucket half full of this powder and 

 pour as much sweet milk upon it, as will fill the 

 bucket three fourths full ; the milk must be sweet 

 milk, either new or skimmed will do, but butter- 

 milk must not be used. To every bucket of 

 this mixture add one pound of silicate of soda 

 and stir the whole thoroughly; if too thick, add 

 more milk ; if too thin, add the slacked lime 

 until you have it to suit you. This can be ap- 

 plied outside or inside on smooth or rough sur- 



faces, with almost any kind of brush, and does 

 not require very skilled labor in its application. 



This produces a dull white color ; but if a 

 gray, or black, is wanted, add lamp black. Vene- 

 tian red will produce a reddish brown, or pink 

 color, according to the quantity used. Spanish 

 brown will give another shkde. Ultramarine blue 

 will give any shade of blue that is desired. 



With these materials, all of which are very 

 cheap, almost any desired tint may be produced, 

 which can be applied to wood, brick, stone, or 

 plaster any where. If oil paint has been used 

 before, the slacked lime should be used with half 

 whiting. 



THE SIBERIAN ARBORVIT/E. 



BY ROBT. DOUGLAS, WAUKEGAN, ILL. 



In two publications, not yet a year old, I see 

 the Siberian arborvitse referred to as a native of 

 Siberia, and in one of them it is stated that the 

 oak-leaved mountain ash is in reality a variation 

 of the White Beam tree of Europe. 



I have grown thousands on thousands of 

 trees from the Siberian arborvitse, the seeds 

 gathered from trees standing remote from any 

 American arborvitae in fruit, and in every case 

 have found four-fifths of the seedlings undis- 

 tinguishable from the American arborvitse, ex- 

 cept that, on the whole, they would appear a 

 little more compact in the block after being 

 transplanted than the American ; the remainder 

 would partake more of the appearance of the 

 Siberian, so much so in one instance that we 

 selected about eight hundred from a seeding of 

 over fifty thousand, and set them in a block 

 away from other arborvitaes. Nearly all of this 

 eight hundred had much the appearance of 

 Siberian, but did not grow uniform ; some of 

 them were quite dwarf. Finally we did not find 

 one in the whole lot that we considered worthy 

 of propagation, as being in any respect better 

 than the Siberian. 



We have grown a large quantity of mountain 

 ash trees, both from the weeping mountain ash 

 and the oak leaved mountain ash. The seed- 

 lings from the weeping mountain ash could in 

 no way be distinguished from seedlings grown 

 from the common European mountain ash, 

 where the two stood side by side in seed drills, 

 the plants from, say, five to fifteen inches. I 

 offered Mr. Phcenix the ten rows grown from the 

 weeping if he could distinguish them from the 

 common ; there was not a weeper among them, 



