of liural Art and Taste. 



223 



Effects of Sul2>hate of Iron on Ver/e- 

 tatlon. — Experiments, with this substance 

 diluted, have been made within the circle of 

 our own knowledge, and uniformly resulted 

 faA'orably. We observe that a French scien- 

 tist, M. Eusebe Gris, has been making detailed 

 experiments, and finds the following definite 

 conclusions : That the salt is a stimulating 

 manure ; that it presents no danger when 

 intelligently applied ; that its action is evident 

 upon the coloring principle of leaves ; that 

 from its cheapness a few cents' worth is suffi- 

 cient to treat hundreds of plants ; that it might 

 be applied to cultivation on a large scale, and 

 especially to the cultivation of fruit. His 

 manner of applying the sulphate is as follows : 

 A solution of two drachms to one quart of 

 water is made, and with this the plants, pre- 

 viously placed in the shade, are watered. It 

 is presumed that the earth surrounding the 

 plant is moist ; if this is not the case, a more 

 dilute solution must be used. The solution 

 may be applied dsiilj for five or six days ; 

 about two and a-half ounces are sufficient for 

 each watering of an ordinary-sized plant, as a 

 calceolaria. Plants which have become sickly, 

 colorless, and etiolated, will, under this treat- 

 ment, quickly recover a full green color, give 

 finer flowers, send forth more vigorous shoots, 

 and generally show the good effects of the 

 tonic. 



Eff'ectx of Potash in Curing the 

 Cracking of Pears — The effects of lime, 

 phosphate and potash, as indeed all mineral 

 fertilizers, are always beneficial to trees, but it 

 is a new idea to learn, as thus stated by a 

 correspondent of The Gardener's Monthly, 

 that potash and lime will cure cracking of peai-s. 

 Pears do not crack when the soil is sufficiently 

 supplied with lime and potash ; and they crack 

 most where those salts are deficient. Com- 

 mon wood ashes contain those salts, nearly in 

 the quantity and proportions that pear trees 

 on such soil require — forty per cent, of potash 

 and thirty per cent, of lime. Reasoning from 

 hese facts, I applied ^opd ashes at the rate 



of four hundred bushels to the acre, after the 

 fruit had formed and cracked. Many of them 

 healed up and made perfect fruit the same 

 season, others not until the next season. A 

 friend, at my suggestion, applied it heavily to 

 a favorite Butter pear tree in his own garden 

 for several years in succession, and has had for 

 several years perfect and delicious pears, and 

 I will guarantee it to cure any case, where 

 the ashes are fairly and abundantly applied. 



1 was told by an experienced hand that I 

 would kill the trees; but on the contrary, I 

 cured them. Therefore, do not be afraid ; if 

 one application will ilot suffice, give them a 

 larger dose next year. 



A moist atmosphere undoubtedly encourages 

 the growth of the tree and fruit, while the 

 insufficiency of proper food prevents the per- 

 fection of either ; hence, cracked fruit and 

 " rough old bai-k." 



Tropical Vegetation A Panama paper 



gives a striking illustration of the vigor and 

 rapidity of vegetation in the tropics, by refer- 

 ring to the bushes and trees growing in the 

 ruins of the burnt Aspinwall hotel at Panama. 

 It is scarcely more than two years since this 

 conflagration occurred, and yet there are now 

 growing within the walls trees at least 30 feet 

 in height. They belong to what are called 

 trumpet trees (Cecropia), and the branches 

 are said to be crowding out of the highest doors 

 and windows. 



Diseases of the Potato. — A series of 

 experiments made by Professor Ville, in 

 France, show that the diseases that attack the 

 potato are in part the result of a deficiency in 

 the supply of potash in the soil. For five 

 years in succession the Professor planted 

 potatoes in the same soil without any fertilizer ; 

 to other plots of ground he added fertilizers 

 that did not contain potash. In all these cases 

 the fruit became diseased in the month of 

 May, while on the other plots where potash 

 was supplied in sufficient quantity, the plants 

 were healthy and yielded an excellent product. 

 A Covering of Snow as a Protection 

 against Frost — p]bennayer gives, in his 

 recent work on the influence of the forests, a 

 table of observations, showing the temperature 



