1871 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST. 



6S 



Climbing Plants for tbe WIndo\<r. 



The Massachusetts Ploughman in an article on 

 "House Plants," says : "Ivy may be trained about 

 your picture frames, to creep over the mantle and 

 windows, or to form a border of the paper around 

 the room, close to the ceiling. Tlie most brilliant 

 flowers do not give so prettyan efteet to a room as a 

 thrifty climbing ivy. Money, Wandering Jew, 

 myrtle, etc., grow well when hung in the window, 

 and the effect of the gracefully drooping .tprigs is 

 extremely pleasing both outside the house and in it. 



"Turnips and carrots scooped out, filled with can- 

 ary seed or chicken weed, and suspended by strings 

 in the windows, are very pretty. The leaves sprout 

 from the root underneatli, and the plants spring 

 from the seed simultaneously. Besides the pretty 

 effect, j'Our birds if you keep them can have a feast 

 through the winter upon vegetation. 



"A common pine cone planted in its several crev- 

 ices with canary seed, and placed half-way in water 

 in a hyacinth water glass, is another original and 

 very effective flower vase. For hanging vases, you 

 can make yourself, highly ornamental ones. Bread 

 baskets, sea shells, with three holes drilled for a 

 cord, are very pretty; a common wooden chop 

 basin, covered with little knotted branches, gnarled 

 joints, dried fungi, the whole highly varnished, is as 

 picturesque and ornamental a vase as can be de- 

 sired." 



New Virginia Creeper — Ampelopsis VeitcMi. — 

 This is a minature foliage variety of our Virginia 

 creeper, which clings to any building wit i th ten- 

 acity of the strongest ivy, and producing in great 

 profusion its dense foliage of a glossy green shaded 

 with purple, cannot fail to command great attention. 

 It is of exceedingly rapid growth, requires no nail- 

 ing, and from earliest spring it produces its beautiful 

 purple tinted leaves so thickly as to form the most 

 perfect coating wherever it is planted, the young 

 shoots being quite purple. The leaves are some- 

 times divided into three parts, and are sometimes 

 entire, turning red in autumn, similar to the old 

 kind. It was introduced by Messrs. Veitrh, and 

 long; received first class certificates and prizes at the 

 great shows in London.^ifowe^'* Magazine. 



WrNDOW Plants. — The Gardener's Monthly 

 says that a temperature of 55 degrees will give more 

 flowers to the common window plant than a higher 

 temperature, and names such old fashioned sorts as 

 Mignonette, Sweet Alj'ssum, Zonale Geraniums, 

 Cupheas, Fuchias.Violets, Roses, Chinese Primrose, 

 &c., as among the best for this purpose. 



The Snow Cactus. — An exchange says : "Along 

 the Sierra Nevada, close to the line of snow, a plant 

 grows of sizes varying from an inch to two inches 

 in thickness, and height to the dimensions of the 

 largest cabbages. It is known as the snow cactus, 

 and depends for moisture upon the melted snow. It 

 has been recently proposed to treat the plant as a 

 table vegetable, and it is said that, boiled and served 

 up as asparagus, this cactus is found equally succu- 

 lent and satisfactory." 



We suppose this is the new cactus recently named 

 by Dr. Engleman Eehinocactus Simpsoni. We are 

 fortunate enough to possess a living plant of this 

 species, and it is truly beautiful, — round as a globe, 

 and completely covered with snowy-white spines. 

 Its hardiness will be a great point in its favor. It 

 has the appearance ot a mammillaria, but Dr. 

 Engelman is sure, from an examination of its flower 

 and fruit, that it is an Eehinocactus. — Oardeners' 

 Monthly. 



Cresses out of Water. — A correspondent of 

 the London Journal of Horticulture, says it is not 

 true that water-cresses grown out of water are unfit 

 to eat. He says : Sixpcnnyworth of seed having 

 been sown at Stanmore Lodge, Penge, last spring, 

 in a few weeks we had plenty of cresses, and we 

 have had enough for the family ever since. So far 

 from the plants standing in water, they stand about 

 six inches above the level of the ground. The 

 cresses are excellent." It is doubtful if the same 

 success would attend its growth in our hot sum- 

 mers, but the experiment is worth a trial at least. 



Strawberries in January. — The Los Angeles 

 (Cal.) market was supplied with strawberries in 

 January at fift3' cents per pound. 



Sweet Potato Climbers. — A lady florist says 

 that a very pretty house vine is the sweet potato 

 plant. Put a tuber in pure sand or sandy loam, in 

 a hanging basket, and water occasionally. It will 

 throw out tendrils and beautiful leaves, and will 

 climb freely over the armsof the basket and upward 

 toward the top of the window. Not one visitor in 

 a hundred will know it, but will suppose it to be 

 some rare foreign plant. 



Gardening in California. — The Pacific Rural 

 Press says : "The markets of our cities are supplied 

 with beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, cabbage, rad- 

 ishes, lettuce, celery, salsify, .small onions and other 

 kinds of vegetables, fresh from the grounds of the 

 professional ardenersand in good condition during 

 every montli of the winter season. These vegeta- 

 bles are all grown in the open air. The seeds are 

 planted in August and September, while the ground 

 is warm, and with care, and by attention and irri- 

 gation they are made to germinate and grow until 

 the first rains fall. These rains find the soil warm, 

 and the rains themselves are generally warm, like 

 spring showers. The vegetables thus started grow 

 rapidly and continue to grow during the whole 

 winter." 



