Editors' Letter- Box. 125 



Annuals, Kennebunk, Me. — Plant portulaca all over your bulb-bed, and it 

 will sow itself, and come up year after year. The roots do not go deep enough 

 to injure the bulbs, nor do they exhaust the ground. When killed by the frost, 

 clear off the plants, and give a top-dressing of well-rotted manure previous to 

 covering the bed for the winter. 



If you get a good strain of seed, you will have a bed shining with the most 

 gorgeous colors. 



Idem. — Tagetes signata putnila^ a dwarf marigold, is the best yellow bedder. 

 Calceolarias are very pretty ; but they do not stand our sun, and soon grow 



Henry, Hartford, Conn. — Your tree is Virgilia lutea, sometimes called 

 yellow-wood ; one of the rarest and most beautiful of our indigenous trees. 

 It is a native of the Middle States. It grows rapidly when in a congenial soil, 

 but seldom blooms until quite large. 



Can good crops of strawberries be obtained next year from beds set out in 

 August ? — It depends somewhat upon the weather when the plants are set. If 

 the weather should prove very dry, the plants would not get a start so as to pro- 

 duce much next year. We have lately seen a very fine crop of large fruit 

 produced from plants set last August. We planted, last year, the loth of July, 

 and secured an excellent crop this year. We generally prefer spring-planting. 



Subscriber. — At what time in the year should fruit-trees be pruned at the 

 root to make them produce fruit in place of rank growth of foliage, the trees 

 being principally pear-trees .'' — The work maybe done in autumn after the trees 

 have shed their leaves, or early in spring before the trees have begun to swell 

 their buds. Should prefer autumn. Dig a trench around the tree a sufficient 

 distance from the tree, and cut off all the roots with a sharp spade or knife ; and 

 then fill in with some well-decayed manure mixed with loam, and fill up the 

 trench again. By this process, the luxuriance of the tree is checked, and fruit- 

 buds are formed. It is a good method to practise, especially in small gardens. 



W. H. H., Alexandria, Va. — Where can I procure whale-oil soap .'' and what 

 is the price per pound ? — It can be had at any horticultural or agricultural ware- 

 house, or of any seedsman in Boston, and probably in any of the principal cities. 

 The price in Boston is fifteen cents per pound. 



Some persons recommend planting evergreens in August and September. Is 

 it a good time to plant them ? — Evergreens will live planted in autumn ; but 

 spring is far better. We remember planting quite a lot of Norway spruce and 

 American arborvitas, two hardy evergreens, in autumn ; and they suffered so se- 

 verely during the winter and spring, that nearly every one had to be replaced ; 

 and the few that were left were cut out considerably, presenting a ragged ap- 

 pearance. We do not advise fall planting of evergreens at the North. 



