1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



529 



into Scotland, and wherever thej' settled beau- 

 tiful llowers are now found. 



Since the beginnin'g of this century, how- 

 ever, great improvements have been made in 

 floriculture, and our tlorists vie with those on 

 the Continent. All annuals have been greatly 

 increased in beauty. Compare the tiny crim- j 

 son Petunia, which was cultivated over thirty 

 years ago, with those now growing in many a 

 garden, and mark the difference. 



In our garden are growing "■ Buchanan'' s 

 Hybrids,^'' which are rarely beautiful ; striped 

 lil\;e a banner, blotched like a balsam, double 

 as a rose, and of all the shades of pink, crim- 

 son, purple and white ; forming of themselves 

 a bed of flowers that (juite equals the plot of 

 verbenas near by. 



The Petunia can easily be propagated by 

 cuttings, at almost any season, by inserting 

 them around the edge of a pot filled with a 

 light, sandy soil, which should be kept per- 

 fectly wet. But the best season for this oper- 

 ation is in August or September, as then they 

 will strike root more vigorously and be ready 

 to bloom in the window garden. These flow- 

 ers love warmth, but do not like cold winds, 

 nor the heat of the noonday sun when it 

 scorches. 



Equal parts of well rotted manure, sand, 

 and good garden loam will make the best 

 compost to grow them to perfection. They 

 are easily raised from seed ; and if very fine 

 varieties are procured one season, the next 

 spring they will sow themselves and 3'ou will 

 have thousands of plants. Last summer we 

 saw a bordering of the rarest Petunias, which 

 extended entirely around a vegetable garden. 

 It was a very lovely sight, and this last spring 

 a nuiltitude of plants spnuig up all over the 

 beds. Literally, thousands of plants were 

 given away. Those of our readers who have 

 not seen the new varieties of this common 

 flower can form no idea of its beauty. The 

 double varieties are nearly as fragrant as the 

 Carnation, and are quite as perfectly striped, 

 and blotched, and many of them equal the 

 delicate traceries of the Salpiglossis. 



Double Zinnias are now as efTective a flower 

 as one can raise ; their perfectly cupped petals 

 have quite eclipsed those of the Dahlia. The 

 white varieties are now an established fact, 

 and are very beautiful ; they are of a paper 

 whiteness, and each petal is perfectly formed. 

 These plants should be pruned, and pinched 

 in, to grow in perfection, and not allowed to 

 straggle as they please. A well grown plant, 

 well-trained and pruned, is as fine an object 

 as the flower beds can exhibit. This season, 

 striped Zinnias are the "novelty;" beautiful 

 pink leaves will have a narrow stripe of white 

 down the centre of each, making a very lovely 

 flower. 



Now is the season for extracting perfume 

 from the sweet liowers. Gather quantities of 

 rose leaves, ^sweet geraniums, heliotrope blos- 

 soms, cai'nations, sweet peas, and any fra- 

 3 



grant flowers. Place them in a small earthen 

 jar, and strev;^ salt plentifully between the lay- 

 ers of leaves and blossoms. Set the jar in the 

 cellar, tightly covered up and let it stand for 

 six or seven weeks. Then uncover it, and 

 strain out through thin muslin all the liquid 

 that is in it, squeezing the flowers thoroughly, 

 after the first straining. 



Bottle the small (quantity of fluid obtained, 

 and set in the sun for four weeks, letting it 

 remain out all night in the dew. It will con- 

 tain the essential oil of the flowers, and three 

 or four drops of it will perfume a whole quart 

 of water or alcohol. 



The backward season has prevented the 

 Zonale geraniums offered to S. A. R. from 

 making rapid growth : so she will be obliged 

 to wait for the cuttings until September. We 

 do not keep any plants or cuttings for sale ; 

 but when we know of some one person who 

 has a great aflection for them, we are glad to 

 give them away. J. B. W. shall have some 

 at the same time that the others are sent. We 

 have some thirty-eight Zonale and Tri-colored 

 geraniums coming forward, but all the plants 

 are small, and will not bear cutting back just 

 at present. They will be sent "without money 

 and without price," but from the feeling that 

 "makes us all akin."' s. o. j. 



CoTSWOLD Sheep. — Messrs. Jones & Clark, 

 of Barre, Vt., -wTite to the Mirror and Far- 

 mer that their Cots wold lambs were dropped 

 the last of ]\Iarch and first of April, some of 

 them weighing 12| pounds ; the 20th of June 

 they weighed 75 pounds. YeaTling ewes, this 

 spring, had wool 12 inches long, and crosses 

 with Merinos showed a length of staple 7 

 inches. They sold a Cotswold lamb last fall 

 to one of their neighbors to cross with tine 

 wools, and he has already, at this time of year, 

 been offered S4 per head for his lambs for 

 mutton. These lambs were "dropped the first 

 of April. 



So much has been said against crosses with 

 fine wools that we have experimented until we 

 have become satisfied that with the rigid care 

 and blood for a buck it will prove a. perfect 

 success for mutton, also for wool, as it is fine 

 and of good length. Our ewes averaged six 

 pounds of washed wool ; have sent it to Bos- 

 ton for combing. The buck that sired our 

 lambs sheared Ibh. pounds and weighs over 

 300 pounds. 



Fattexing Cattle ox Grass. — In Great 

 Britain and Ireland the wealthiest and most 

 independent farmers are those who occupy 

 large farms of good grass land and who fatten 

 and sell annually large numbers of cattle. 

 This class of farmers are called graziers ; they 

 keep very little of the land in tillage, do not 

 winter large numbers of cattle, but buy two 

 or three years old heifers and steers in the 

 spring, keep them on choice pasture during 



