of Rural Art and Taste. 



157 



Hi/flruHgea faniculattt Oritndiflorn. 



Without exception, this seems to us the 

 most gorgeous of the flowering shrubs. We 

 are surprised that it does not become more 

 quickly and favorably known. It is now 

 about six years since its first introduction into 

 this country, and yet only within two years 

 has it been brought forward with much notice, 

 nor do we remember ever seeing it illustrated 

 in the " high art'''' pictorial agricultural jour- 

 nals. 



It is a shrub of remarkable merits. It is 

 'perfectly hardij. This is of immense value 

 to garden plants. Then it is a fast grower. 

 This will please amateurs. Plants have 

 reached four feet high during three years' 

 growth. It is, again, a very profuse bloomer, 

 and flowers are of the most monstrous size, 

 fully six to eight inches in diameter and nearly 

 a foot long. Each branch will bear one of 

 these long panicles of bloom, while an entire 

 shrub will give twenty to forty immense bou- 

 quets of this size. 



The shrub is very compact in growth, and 

 easy to manage. One beauty of the flowers is 

 the durability of their bloom. We have, by 

 dipping the stems in water, kept the bou(|uets 

 for an entire week, and they make most excel- 

 lent parlor, table or mantel decoration. A 

 pitcher full of a group of these panicles, placed 

 before a large pier glass, is more than ordi- 

 narily showy. 



A^.stonislihif) Yield, of Potatoes. 



We had supposed the potato fever was over, 

 but find it revived again by the report of the 

 judges. Dr. Hexamer and P. T. Quinn, who 

 have made public some interesting items I'e- 

 specting the competition for the prizes offered 

 by B. K. Bliss k, Sons. Comptom Surprise 

 ranks 100, and Early Vermont 78, while 

 Peerless ranks 72, and Early Rose 62. Poor 

 King of the Earlies is 40, and Early Good- 

 rich 35. The highest yield was 607 pounds 

 of potatoes from one pound of seed of Extra 

 Early Vermont, and 511 pounds of Comptou 

 Surprise from one pound of seed. 



The verdict of the committee puts Compton 

 Surprise as the most prolific potato cultivated 

 at present. Yields of twelve to twenty pounds 



to the hill are quite common, while in one in- 

 stance 28.1 pounds to one hill were reported. 



The flavor, grain and flesh of the Compton 

 Surprise is very generally commended, al- 

 though, in varieties of such prodigious yield, 

 there is a tendency to weakness which develops 

 after a time. 



One tuber of the Vermo7it was raised 

 which weighed three pounds and twelve ounces, 

 while niany averaged one to two pounds each. 

 It seems to be quite a healthy sort, and free 

 from disease. 



Mr. S<itt4-rtJin-)iiti''.s I'lar Orchard. 



Mr. Satterthwaite's orchard, near Philadel- 

 phia, is quite as celebrated among horticultur- 

 ists as are those of Mr. Quinn, near New York, 

 or Messrs. Wilder & Hovey, near Boston. 



But the peculiarity of Mr. S.'s management 

 is, that every inch of his ground is occupied 

 with other growing crops, and apj^arently not 

 to the detriment of the trees. One of the 

 theories now firmly fastened in the minds of 

 fruit growers is, ^^ that if frxdt trees occupy 

 the ground, nothing else should.'''' But Mr. 

 Satterthwaite goes on regardless of this idea, 

 and his trees seem to help him out in his 

 practice. 



One of Mr. S.'s fields, of about four acres, 

 is devoted to asparagus, which is planted about 

 five feet apart, six of the rows filling each 

 space between the trees, planted thirty feet 

 apart, and ten feet in the rows. Intervening- 

 spaces are economized by gooseberries, rasp- 

 berries, rhubarb, etc. From this orchard 

 nearly $400 worth of asparagus is taken to the 

 acre, and from half the plat he sold this year 

 more than fifty bushels of gooseberries, at 

 about two dollars per bushel. But the pears 

 are the main dependence, although season and 

 crops are very irregular. The ground is very 

 heavily manured, very carefully cultivated, 

 and there seems a plenty for both vegetables 

 and trees. 



In another part of his grounds, Mr. Satter- 

 thwaite grows raspberries among his trees. 

 These yield nearly $400 to $500 per acre, 

 and then other parts are filled with strawber- 

 ries. Every foot of ground is economized, and 

 every tree seems exceedingly healthy. 



