January 8, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



19 



inclines me more and more to say not more than three — that 

 is, if you must have your trees of standard height with a bare 

 trunk of four feet and upward, according to their habit of 

 growth. 



More and more I am coming to the conviction that in the 

 north the orchard-grower will do better to be his own nursery- 

 man — that is, to grow his own trees from the ground up. He 

 can thus have just such stocks as he wants, and can train and 

 select them from the very start. All through northern New- 

 England I have noticed that orchards so grown are the best in 

 every way — in thrift of trees, in selection of varieties and in 

 excellence of fruit. 



In the cold north seedling stocks are excluded by the essen- 

 tial condition that not one seedling in a hundred (aside from 

 Siberians, which are short lived) will be hardy and vigorous 

 enough to found a good tree upon. We must, therefore, rely 

 upon root-grafted stocks, and these we will do well to train 

 from the first exclusively by disbudding. A small wound on 

 a nursery tree is comparatively large, and I would avoid it. 



With me, so far, Oldenburgh has proved the best variety to 

 set for top-working, which shoidd be done by budding the 

 second season after setting from the nursery, at three years 

 old. But perhaps we shall find an even better stock among the 

 newer importations. Antonorka looks to me promising, 

 Tetofsky has merits as a hastener of tardy bearing varieties; 

 There is still a great deal to be learned in this direction. 



Northern Vermont. T. H. HoskitlS. 



Celeriac. 



THIS vegetable resembles Celery only in the form of its 

 leaf, the edible part being the root, which in full sized 

 specimens is about three inches in diameter. The top, how- 

 ever, if bleached, can be used, but it has not the crispness of 

 Celery and it is stronger in flavor. I plant seeds about the 

 1st of March in the greenhouse, but they could be set in any 

 sunny window, sowing the seed thickly in^a flat, and covering 

 lightly. Paper should be laid over the flat to retain the 

 moisture, and it should only be lifted occasionally to see that 

 the surface of the soil is not drying. The needed water can 

 be supplied without removing the paper, and the plants will 

 usually sprout in two weeks. The paper should then be taken 

 away to prevent the plants from becoming drawn and feeble. 

 They will grow very thickly, and when an inch high should 

 be transplanted into other flats, setting one plant to each two 

 inches square of surface. Here they remain until set in the 

 open ground in the first half of May. I set them in rows two 

 feet apart, with eight inches between the plants. This is not 

 too thick if the plants are not banked, which is not usually 

 done, as for the production of the root, only the earthing up 

 is not needed. 



The Apple-shaped Celeriac (Henderson) is the best variety, 

 being smooth and having a small top, the roots all growing 

 from the bottom, and not all about the bulb, as in most other 

 varieties. With clean culture in rich land (and it should be 

 grown in no other) this variety will grow to an edible size as 

 early as September, and can remain out and continue to grow 

 till the hard frosts of the last of October, when it should be 

 lifted and brought into a light cellar where a temperature can 

 be kept at about forty degrees. I set them on the ground close 

 together, watering at first, and when the roots have taken hold 

 they will grow and keep fresh without further trouble. This 

 is an easy crop to raise, and those who fail with the blanching 

 Celeries often succeed with this. The root is not injured by 

 blanching the top after, or even before the root is grown, and 

 this makes both top and root available. 



To prepare it for the table, a German friend gives this as 

 the most approved method : Pare or scrape lightly, then boil 

 till tender and slice among cold boiled Potatoes, with may- 

 onnaise dressing ; this makes a specially nice and delightful 

 salad. Celeriac is also used in soups, stews and dressings. 



Its keeping qualities are good — fully equal to those of Celery. 

 Even after the top is gone, as it will go toward spring, the 

 root remains sound and as good as ever. Those who relish 

 Celery will not go amiss in trying this fcrm of it in the next 

 season's garden. 



West Springfield, Mass. IV. H. Bull. 



Clipping Currant Clusters. 



COME experiments were made here last year with Currants 

 ^ by removing the lower half of the flower clusters with a 

 pair of scissors. It is a well known fact that only a few of the 

 berries of any cluster usually mature and the free end of the 

 stem becomes dead before the fruit is ripe. By the re- 



moval of this portion before the flowers upon it have opened, 

 it was hoped that there might be a larger and better fruit pro- 

 duced upon the remaining portion of the cluster. 



In the experiment alternate bushes in a row were treated 

 with the scissors, and in passing it may be said that this 

 method of thinning can be done rapidly. When the fruit was 

 ripe, the whole product from an average bush, of the clipped 

 and of the undipped plants, was picked and spread out upon 

 tables. Judges ignorant of what had been done were then 

 called in to inspect the results. No one failed to notice at once 

 the difference and all pronounced in favor of the fruit that 

 had been treated. The berries were larger and of more nearly 

 uniform size and ripeness. 



Two hundred berries were next removed from the uncut 

 clusters and it required thirty-five clusters to furnish this num- 

 ber. They weighed, clean of all stems, 152 grams. The same 

 number furnished by thirty clipped clusters weighed 163 

 grams. These results show that there were about fifteen per 

 cent, more berries to the cluster upon the cut plants than 

 upon the ordinary ones and that these berries were about 

 seven per cent, heavier. The question of quality was only 

 determined by tasting, but there was no doubt in the minds 

 of the judges that the thinned clusters bore fruit of the finest 

 flavor. Like all other fruit currants sell somewhat upon their 

 appearance, and there is no mistake that from the uniform size 

 and ripeness of the fruit, the absence of dead tips on the 

 stems, the clipped clusters were much more attractive. 



Further experiments, and upon a larger scale, should be 

 made; but the indications are that there is a point of practical 

 importance in the clipping of the tips of currant clusters at 

 the blooming time. Byron D. Halsted. 



Rutgers College. 



Hakea laurina. — Of the many beautiful flowering shrubs 

 belonging to the order Proteacece coming to us from Aus- 

 tralia, this Hakea ranks with the very best. A large bush of it 

 when covered with its axillary, ball-like clusters of brilliantly 

 colored flowers, such as is to be met with in the gardens on 

 the Riviera in October and November, is a picture to be re- 

 membered. I saw several bushes of it in flower recently, and 

 a box of the flowers just received from a friend residing at 

 Cannes suggests that you in America may like to know some- 

 thing of this shrub. In English gardens it is rarely if ever 

 seen in flower, our climate not being favorable to its setting 

 bloom, although jt grows very freely in an ordinary sunny 

 greenhouse. The same circumstance accounts also for the 

 failure here of many other handsome Australian shrubs, 

 which in sunny climes, such as the Riviera, or probably in your 

 southern states, grow and flower profusely. Hakea is a 

 genus of nearly one hundred species, all of them Australian. 

 Except H. laurina none have beautiful flowers, although 

 many are worthy of cultivation on account of their leaves. 

 In Mr. Hanbury's garden at Mentone I saw recently a bush 

 of this species ten feet high, well furnished with branches. 

 The leaves are alternate, six inches in length, oblanceo- 

 late, with prominent parallel nerves and glaucous green 

 in color. The axillary clusters of flowers were very numer- 

 ous and from their form they are called " crimson sea-ur- 

 chins." Each cluster is globose, three inches in diameter, and 

 is composed of a great number of tubular flowers arranged 

 closely together, the styles projecting considerably beyond and 

 suggesting the spires of the sea-urchin. The color of the mass 

 of flowers is a glowing crimson, that of the spire-like styles 

 white. It is difficult to convey any idea of the beauty of such 

 a shrub when seen in full flower, but any one who can grow 

 and flower such plants as Embothrium coccineum, theTelopeas 

 and Proteas should secure plants of this Hakea. It is also 

 grown under the name of H. eucalyptoides. 



Senecio macroglossus. — A Senecio, with the leaves and 

 climbing habit of common Ivy, and bearing all through the 

 winter numerous elegant flowers as large as Paris Daisies, and 

 colored bright canary-yellow, ought to be a popular garden- 

 plant. But, for some reason or other, it is not. In the succu- 

 lent house at Kew there are now two fine specimens of this 

 plant, their branches hanging in profusion from the rafters of 

 the roof, and their flowers both abundant and pretty. I have 

 had a few of these flowers standing in water in a room for 

 more than a week, and they are still fresh. There are several 

 climbing species of Senecio known in gardens, the common- 

 est, in Continental gardens at least, being 5. mikanioides, 

 known as German Ivy. The flowers of this plant are, how- 

 ever, no more ornamental than those of Groundsel. 5. ma- 

 croglossus was introduced from south Africa to Kew, where it 

 flowered for the first time in 1875. lts leaves so closely re- 

 semble those of Ivy that it narrowly escaped being thrown 



