THE CANADIAN HORTICTTLTUEIST. 



43 



matter of course the flowers were 

 splendid. The ammonia used is rather 

 expensive, as I bought it from a chem- 

 ist's shop ; this year I intend getting 

 agricultural amaionia, which is much 

 cheaper. I have also tried it on straw- 

 berries with the same satisfactory- 

 result, the crop being nearly double 

 that of the others. It is very power- 

 ful, and requires to be used with cau- 

 tion. 



NATIVE AND FOEEIGN CHESTNUTS. 



Among the later novelties in the 

 way of chestnuts the Japan varieties 

 are well worthy of attention. They 

 are probably of the same origin as the 

 common European chestnut, although 

 some of our botanists claim that they 

 belong to a distinct species, to which 

 the name of Gastanea Japonica has 

 been given. But whether originally 

 from the same species or not, the Japan 

 varieties, or at least the kinds that 

 have been introduced, appear to be far 

 more hardy and productive than the 

 varieties usually imported from Europe. 

 The trees grow rapidly when worked 

 on stocks of the American chestnut, 

 and usually commence bearing when 

 three or four years old. One of the 

 first varieties introduced produces a 

 large nut of a rather light mahogany 

 colour, with quite distinct dark lines 

 running from base to apex of the nut. 

 The leaves of this kind are also quite 

 distinct, being narrower than the ordi- 

 naiy European chestnut, and of a pale 

 yellowish green, the underside being 

 covered with a whitish pubescence. 

 The quality is also good for so large a 

 nut, but not quite so sweet as the best 

 of our native varieties. Another Jap- 

 anese chestnut, of which I have seen 

 only a few specimens, has from four to 

 eight nuts in each burr, the more usual 

 number being six. As might be ex- 

 pected with such a number of nuts 



crowded into one burr, they are not of 

 a uniform size or shape, and the centre 

 one is often of a triangular form re- 

 sembling a large beechnut. There are 

 usually three or four large nuts in each 

 burr, and the others smaller and of an 

 irregular shape. The trees of this curi- 

 ous variety are very hardy and won- 

 derfully prolific. Three nuts in a burr 

 appears to be the normal number for 

 the chestnut, but it is not a fixed num- 

 ber either in the cultivated or wild 

 species of this country, at least ; for in 

 the Chinquapin {Gastanea pumila) the 

 nuts are mainly solitary or one in a 

 burr. We really do not know but this 

 is merely a variety that has been pro- 

 duced from the larger or sweet chestnut 

 of our northern forests. The Chinqua- 

 pin is a smaller tree — in fact in some 

 pai'ts of the South where this species is 

 indigenous, it is sometimes only a 

 small shrub, bearing abundantly when 

 but three or four feet high. — A. 8. 

 Fuller, in American Agriculturist for 

 February. 



PROFITABLE GARDEN CROPS. 



Wherever there are manufacturing 

 villages, early cabbages are always in 

 demand, and bring good prices. Spin 

 ach is another saleable vegetable. Beets, 

 parsnips, carrots, turnips, onions, etc., 

 as well as spinach, may be sown in 

 I'ows far enough apart, to be worked by 

 horse implements. The distance be- 

 tween the rows is to be governed by 

 the width of the horse-hoe or cultivator, 

 which should close up as narrow as 

 twenty inches. A market-gardener 

 sows such crops twelve or fifteen inches 

 apart, but the farm -gardener has 

 cheaper land, and can give more space 

 if he can save labor, and substitute 

 horses for hands. Those who propose 

 to undertake farm-gardening, will do 

 well to begin with sweet corn and early 

 potatoes, and not undertake other gar- 



