150 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 320. 



the water they can use. A good mulch is a great help, as 

 it keeps the roots cool and prevents evaporation. If all the 

 flowers are cut off every morning-, so that no seed forms, 

 the plants will bloom until autumn. 



Notes. 



Some North River fruit-growers find that Black Caps do 

 best when set between rows of Peach-trees. 



An effort is being made by the planters of Ceylon to find an 

 English market for the seeds of the Tea-plant. They contain 

 some thirty-five per cent, of an oil which resembles Olive-oil 

 in appearance and flavor. 



A jewel-box, recently presented to Cardinal Gibbons, was 

 made from a piece of the roots of a Mulberry-tree under 

 which, at St. Mary's, in Maryland, it is believed mass was 

 first celebrated in this region. The date of this service was 

 March 25th, 1634, and when the tree blew down a few years 

 ago it was thought to have been between 300 and 400 years old. 



The North-western Lumberman asserts that, contrary to 

 the belief of most persons, the largest amount of lumber used, 

 even in this country, is not for building purposes. Only about 

 thirty-five per cent, of the total amount is thus employed, 

 while twenty per cent, goes to the making of boxes, and forty 

 per cent, for railroad building, fencing and miscellaneous 

 purposes. 



Good pencil-cedar is getting so scarce that the great firm of 

 Faber & Co. have begun to cultivate forests of Cedar (Juni- 

 perus Virginiana) in Germany. At Schloss Stein there is a 

 Cedar-forest which covers thirteen acres, and the head of the 

 firm has, for many years, maintained nurseries and plantations 

 of Cedars on his land in Bavaria, grown from seed which he 

 imported from Florida. 



The Horticultural College for Women, established in Eng- 

 land a few years ago, is reported as steadily prospering. The 

 course it offers covers a period of two years, and each working- 

 day consists of two hours of theoretical instruction, with five of 

 outdoor practice. Pupils are taught to take charge of large 

 estates as well as of gardens, and instruction with regard to 

 poultry-yards is also given. 



The University of Cambridge has decided to grant a diploma 

 in agriculture to any candidate who successfully passes an ex- 

 amination in botany, chemistry, physiology, hygiene, ento- 

 mology, geology, mechanics, engineering, book-keeping and 

 surveying. We have seen a syllabus of the botanical subjects 

 on which the candidate is to be examined, and if the examina- 

 tion in other sciences covers an equally wide field any one who 

 receives the diploma will certainly deserve the title of Master 

 of Agriculture. 



The Pineapple, according to the statistics of the last year, 

 ranks far above the banana or the fig, and not much below the 

 lemon, in value as a domestic crop. More than 2,000 acres are 

 devoted to its cultivation in Florida, and the estimates of the 

 new crop from that state are fixed at something like 50,000 

 crates. The value of the crop last year was something like 

 $900,000, and almost an equal amount was imported from 

 Cuba and the Bahamas. The supply is now continuous 

 throughout the year, while a few years ago it was only known 

 as a fresh fruit in a few seaboard cities during a few months. 



Professor Munson, of the Maine Agricultural College, has 

 issued a bulletin on Tomatoes. His experiments show that 

 when plants are handled in pots, before they are set in the 

 field, they are more vigorous and show a marked increase in 

 productiveness over those which are set out in the ordinary 

 way from boxes. It has again been shown that the produc- 

 tiveness of a given variety may be largely increased by cross- 

 ing with some of the smaller but less valuable sorts, although 

 such a cross-bred sort will quickly run out. Of the new varie- 

 ties, Burpee's Climax, Maule's Earliest and Brinton's Best are 

 noted among the most promising. 



Mushrooms are just now a little higher, but all winter long 

 the wholesale price has been steady at about fifty cents a 

 pound. A great many more are grown in this neighborhood 

 than ever before, and, perhaps, three times as many have 

 been marketed in this city during the past winter as were sold 

 the year before. The wholesale price of hot-house tomatoes 

 has also held steady all winter at about thirty cents a pound, 

 but these, too, have been much more abundant than ever be- 

 fore. Boston cucumbers retail for twenty cents each. String 

 beans grown under glass come in little bunches of fifty pods, 



which sell for twenty cents. Asparagus is coming from as far 

 north as North Carolina. The cold weather has kept up the 

 prices of all early vegetables from the south, peas, beans and 

 asparagus being most seriously affected. 



In a paper recently read before the American Society of 

 Civil Engineers by Mr. James D. Schuyler, it was said that six- 

 teen miles of thirty-inch wooden conduit are used in distribut- 

 ing water in the city of Denver, Colorado, in addition to a con- 

 siderable amount of forty-four-inch pipe. California redwood 

 was employed, and the cost of the thirty-inch pipe was $1.36 

 per lineal foot, including the expense of trenching and back- 

 filling. The pipes are composed of staves, smoothly dressed 

 to cylindrical sides and radial edges, and held to a cylindrical 

 form by encircling steel bands. The water under pressure 

 fills the pores of the wood and oozes through to a slight extent, 

 thus ensuring the preservation of the conduits. All the 

 framing of the pipes is done in the trenches ; their interior 

 finish is so perfect that the best conditions of flow are secured ; 

 and Mr. Schuyler estimated that the use of wood for the pur- 

 pose had saved the city over one million dollars. The first 

 water-mains employed in New York were of wood, but much 

 more rudely constructed than these. A section of one of them 

 was found, two or three years ago, when excavations were 

 being made in tront of the offices of the New York Sun. 



Two years ago, at the Iowa Experiment Station, the crossing 

 of Rosa rugosa with other varieties of cultivated Roses was 

 begun on a considerable scale, and something like 2o,oooseeds 

 were obtained from Rosa rugosa fertilized with pollen taken 

 mainly from Hybrid Perpetual and Tea Roses. The pistillate 

 parents are Russian types of Rosa rugosa, which vary consid- 

 erably from those introduced from Japan and China, the Rus- 

 sian torms being hardier in the north, somewhat more grace- 

 ful in habit, and earlier to flower. Someot the hybrids showed 

 bloom last year, a few of them before they were four months 

 old, and all of the flowers showed an increase from the five 

 petals of Rosa rugosa. It was hoped that some new Roses 

 might be secured for the prairies of the north-west, where the 

 ordinary garden varieties only survive when carefully pro- 

 tected during the winter. But, so far, the experiment seems 

 to show that the hybrids resemble the male parents in culti- 

 vation, although they flower at an earlier age, and they give 

 no special promise of superior hardiness or freedom from 

 mildew. It seems probable, however, that out of many varie- 

 ties a few may be secured which inherit the hardiness of the 

 mother plant, with leaves resembling those of Rosa rugosa, 

 and flowers with something of the fragrance of the Teas and 

 the special beauty of the Hybrid Perpetuals. 



There are no California oranges in this market now, and there 

 have been no good ones here this year. As a reason for this 

 scarcity it has been urged that western cities have taken the 

 entire supply, so that none of it has reached this market ; but 

 the fact seems now to be demonstrated that California oranges 

 are not up to their usual standard this year. It may be that 

 the freeze in the early part of January, while it did not injure 

 the fruit, so checked the vigor of the trees that they were not 

 able to ripen it properly. At all events, California oranges 

 seem to be unusually light and juiceless. This lack of com- 

 petition with California fruit has kept the price of late Florida 

 oranges high, and many of them have been put in cold storage 

 for later demand. It is also said that western cities which have 

 been disappointed in the quality of the California fruit are 

 now also looking to Florida for late supplies. Good Florida 

 oranges now command $4 00 a box. Grape-fruit brings a dol- 

 lar to two dollars a dozen. For some years the demand for 

 this fruit has steadily grown and has always been greater than 

 the supply, so that the price has ruled twenty-five per cent, 

 above that of oranges. There is a growing belief in the medi- 

 cinal value of this fruit, and those who acquire a taste for it 

 prefer it to oranges. To many persons it has become in- 

 dispensable at breakfast, and it is also cut up and served at 

 later meals after standing some hours in sugar. A Florida 

 paper says that a grove of Grape-fruit has become a profitable 

 possession, since fifty of the fruits fill a box, which brings 

 more than a box of oranges holding from a hundred and 

 twenty-six to two hundred. Catawba grapes of excellent quality 

 can still be had at twenty-five cents for a five-pound basket. 

 The only pears on sale are Winter Nelis, which command a 

 dollar and a half a dozen. These pears have kept unusually 

 well tin's year, while Easter Beurre decayed more rapidly than 

 usual. Strawberries are comparatively scarce, owing to the 

 cold weather in the south, but beautiful ones can be had from 

 Florida at forty-five cents a quart. " Crystallized figs " from 

 California, in limited supply, readily bring fifty cents for a 

 pound and half box. 



