615 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



which now so generally prevails. This applies more espe- 

 cially to gardeueis, and the highest reach of perfection 

 ought always to be the objective point of their ambition. 

 To reach this point two or three fads must be well under- 

 stood, founded as they are upon the nature and require- 

 ments of the plant, and by acting upon these success 

 •will fo'.low a?, a natural and necessary consequence. These 

 ate a suitable compost in which tu grow the plants; a 

 temperature regulated so as to be in accordance with their 

 natural requirements, and the condition of the soil and 

 atmosphere in teference to moisture. 



Experience tenches that this plant delights in a fresh 

 loam, thoroughly enriched with well rotted manure and a 

 liMle charcoal, broken from about the size of beans to fine 

 dust. Even the tine siftings of coal ashes can be used to 

 advantage; more especially if the compost is very rich, as 

 it restrains any tendency the plants might have to make 

 long-pointed shoots, and encourages instead a rigid symme- 

 trical; growth, which is most to he depended upon for an 

 abundant bloom. 



Charcoal and coal ashes increase tile porosity of the soil, 

 and thereby enlarge its capacity for the absorption of those 

 gases which go to build up the vegetable Structure. But 

 wc dare not affirm that such substances in the soil can be 

 taken up by the roots of plants and assimilated without 

 chemical or other change; and yet, the curious discovery 

 announced by Prof. P. B. Wilson, of Baltimore, seems to 

 favor such an assumption. "The experiment consisted in 

 fertilizing a field of wheat with the infusorial earth found 

 near Uichmond, Virginia. This earth, it is weil known, con- 

 sists of microscopic marine insects (plants?) known as dia- 

 toms, -which under strong magnifying power reveal many 

 beautiful forms that have been resolved, classified and 

 named. After the wheat was grown, Prof. W. treated the 

 straw with nitric acid, subjected the remains to microscopic 

 test, and found them the same kinds of shells or diatoms 

 that were present in the Richmond earth, except that the 

 large-sized shells were absent, showing that only silica par- 

 ticles below a certain degree of fineness can ascend the sap 

 pores of pUuts." 



lu nature, plants of whatever description attain their 

 greatest perfection in a climate the warmth of which is 

 most agreeable to their individual temperaments; and this 

 fact, simple as it is, should never be lost sight of by those 

 who have to deal with exotics, as it will enable litem so to 

 shape their conduct as to meet the drawbacks of climate, 

 and other adverse circumstances in such a way as to over- 

 come them. 



Fuchsias can be grown in a moderately warm house, 

 provided fresh air can be freely admitted, but they do 

 better through the winter months in a temperature not ex- 

 ceeding fifty degrees, and wheu much higher than this 

 they are apt to grow weak and spindling. They are not 

 •weil adapted for out-door culture in this climate, as it is 

 bo warm and dry as to expose them to all the ills living 

 plants are subject to. At the same time, when planted on 

 the north side of houses, fences, or in other shaded places, 

 they grow to a measurable degree of perfection. 



But to insure absolute ana unvarying success, strict at- 

 tention to watering is indispensable, whether in the house 

 or out of doors, in pots, or planted out. And it will be 

 observed, the compost herein recommended for pot culture 

 is of such a character mechanically as 10 insure the most 

 ready exit of all superfluous water— a point of the utmost 

 importance in pot culture. The rule is to water with cau- 

 tion through the dull days of winter, increasing the supply 

 as the season advances, and at no lime to allow J^ie plants 

 to ehow signs of willing. Sprinkling overhead, too, has its 

 advantages, especially in clear weather, and should be the 

 oftener uone as the plants reach their maximum of growth, 

 and continued throughout the season unless in dull, wet 

 weather. If considered desirable at any time to encourage 

 a still more vigorous growth, it can readily be done by 

 ■watering with liquid manure, such as can be got from a 

 barrel containing oarn-yard manure and water; or, instead 

 of manure, as much guano as will slightly color the water 

 Much lime can be saved in watering by painting the out- 

 side of the glass with a paint maoe of while lead and 

 turpentine, in the proportion of about one pound of tend to 

 one quart of turpemine; and this also will protect the foli- 

 age lrom beirg hurt by the direct rays of the sun, an event 

 not unlikely to happen any time alter the middle or end 

 of March. 



In following these directions the plants will not be sub- 

 ject lo the attacks of other enemies than green fly, and to 

 keep clear of these fill ihe house about once in ten days 

 with tobacco smoke and the work is done. 



Subjoined is a list of several varieties worthy of a place 

 in every collection: Double dark corolla, l y rinee Leogold, 

 Sim City i RegaUaa.n6.Fau.Sit. Double while corollaMonuose, 

 /Symbol, Empress and Enchant, as. Single dark, corolla, 

 1). I. Mt/i, Moiutrck, Illimitable, Beauty's Boom and Pi'liice 

 Imperial.. Single while corolla. Mrs. Marshall, Hose of ltd- 

 mark, Bi/riluitc., Bchitier Mrs. Bciljl&lt, Lustre am; BpeciOM, 



Aeio Haven, Conn. A. Veitcu. 



Chlouogalum Pujlevidicano.u Kunth.— This is an 

 interesting plant of the easist management. It forms large 

 tuuecated bulbs, invested with a mass of black, hair-like 

 fibres, which are said to be used for stuffing mattresses, 

 and the bulbs themselves are soaikaline and mucilaginous, 

 that the plant is popularly known as the Soap Plant, and 

 is apt uufrequently used "for detergent purposes. The 

 leaves are broadly linelar, with wavy margins; amid them 

 rises a slender scape, two lo three feet high, with several 

 spreading branches bearing numerous white flowers. Seeds 

 vegetate very readily, and the bulbs grow freely when 

 sufficient space is afforded Ihem, but several years usually 

 elapse before they attain a flowering size. P is a native 

 of California. 



S. B. — London, England. — Can you tell me the 

 the enclosed plaui? 1 understand that it is very common 

 in Canada ana the northern Lnited Stales, and 

 the flowers whivhopen in the autumn. 



Ana. Genlianu tjaponari, L. — This Gentian is rather 

 common in moist woods in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 

 flowering late in the fall, and resembling in general appear- 



ance the G. Pneumonanihe, of Europe. The most beautiful 

 of the genus in this country is the fringed Gentian (67. 

 criniia Froel), growing in low grounds and common, we be- 

 lieve as far west as Wisconsin. The lovely olpine Gentian 

 {G. rerno), so commonly cultivated in England, and so 

 scare here, is another beautiful example of the genus.— 

 Ed. 



Origin of Remarkable Belgian Pears.— The Abbe 

 Hardeupjut. of Mons, was the hrst of the race of Belgian 

 fruitgrowers, In the last quarter of the last century", he 

 obtained from seed the Beurre de Hardenpont, the Passe- 

 Colmar, the Beurre Kancc, and the Deliees d'fiardenpont, 

 some of which still hold places of the first rank in advanced 

 Pomology. 51. Van Aloua, of Louvaiu, quickly followed, 

 having between 1787 and 1854, raised five hundred kinds of 

 new PearB, several of which are of the highest class. 51. 

 Beront, between 1846 and 1854, produced within that de- 

 cade no less than sixty new kinds; in 1828, he produced le 

 Delice d'Flays, which is even liner lhau les Delice d'llar- 

 denpont. The Sociely Van Mons, only produced eleven 

 new Pears during the sixteen years of its existence, show 

 ing that individual perseverance is very generally more 

 successful than combined efforts. 51. Gathoge, of Liege, 

 produced in 1852, Beurre Edouard Morren. In 1828, M. 

 Magnen obtained from seed the Poire Renoz, a good and 

 fertile summer kind; and AI. llenrard, as early as 1840, 

 introduced his Bon Chretien and Veruois, said lo have 

 beeu received from Prance. AI. Legepout, of the Commune 

 of Charneux, produced in 1800, the celebrated Fondante 

 d'Charneux. The Bon Chretien Lamarehe, was found in 

 a convent garden of the province of Leige, where its 

 origin was unknown.— From, "Les Fruits Belves," by AI. 

 Gilbert. 



The Violet and the Napoleons.— The 151 h Novem- 

 ber is the Empress Eugenie's I6te day, and Violets become 

 perceptibly dearer in Paris on that day during the .Second 

 Empire, when there was a perfect Violet ovation, bunches 

 of Violets, not in hundreds, nor iu thousands, but in tens 

 of thousands, being thrown through the iron railiugs of 

 the court-yard of the Tuileiies. i'iie palace servant* piled 

 iheui up into enormous pyramids, which reached as high 

 as the first floor windows; the various doors were decked 

 with them, and the great central balcony. 



AIosses and Lichens.— Weak creatures.' the first mercy 

 of the earth, veiling with hushed sofluess its diutless rocks! 

 creatures fu'l of pity, covering with strange and tender 

 honor the scarred disgrace of ruin — layiug quiet finger on 

 the trembling stones, to teach them rest! No words that I 

 know of will say what these mosses are; noue are delicate 

 enough; none perfect enough; none rich enough! How is 

 one to tell of the rounded oosses of furred and beaming 

 green— the starred divisions of rubied bloom, tine filmed, 

 as if the rock-spirits could spin porphyry as we do glass — 

 the traceries of intricate silver, and fiiuges of amber, Jus 

 nous, arborscent, burnished through every fibre into fitful 

 brightnets and glossy traverses of silken changes; yet all 

 subdued and pensive, and framed for simplest, sweet- 

 est offices of grace! They, will not be gathered like 

 flowers, for chapletor love-token; but of these the wild 

 bird will make its nest, aud the wearied child his pillow. 



And, as the earth's first mercy, so they are its last gift to 

 us. When all other service is vain, from plant and tree, 

 the soft, mosseB and gray lichen take up their watch by 

 the headstone, The woods, the blossoms, the gift-bearing 

 grasses, have done all their parts for a time, but these do 

 service for ever- Trees lor the builder's yard, flowers for 

 the bride's chamber, corn for the granary — moss, for the 

 grave! 



Yet, as in one sense, Ihe humblest, in another they are 

 most honored of earth-children. Unfading as motionless, 

 the' worm frets them not, and the autumn wastes not. 

 strong in lovliness, Ihey neither blanch in beat nor piDe. in 

 frost. To them slow-fingered, constant-hearted, is entrust- 

 ed the weaving Ihe dark, eternal tapestries of the hills; to 

 them, slow-penciled, iris-dressed, the tender framing of 

 their endless imagery. Sharing the stillness of the unim- 

 passioned rock, they share also its endurance; and while 

 the winds of departing spring scatter the white hawthorn 

 blossom; like drifted snow, and summer dims on the parch- 

 ed meadow the drooping of its cowslip gold — far above, 

 among ihe mountains, the silver lichen spots, rest, star-like, 

 on the storm, and the gatheriug orange-stain upon the edge 

 of yonder western peaK reflects the sunsets of a thousand 

 years.— Rutkin. 



The London "World" on Salads.— Of the infinite 

 variety of salads which can be made from wild plants— ihe 

 Salad Burnet, the Ladies' Smock, the Stonecrop, the Sea 

 Bindweed, the Sweet Cicely, the Bucksborn Plantain, and 

 the Ox-eye Daisy— our people know next lo nothing, and 

 allow quantities of excellent food to be wasted on cattle. 

 f'he Dandelion, which is a favorite salad in Prance, aud a 

 herb renowned for its virtue, we should behalf ashamed to 

 see on our tables. Nothing will do for us but the most 

 highly cultivated kinds. First of all there is the Lettuce, 

 which is of two sorts— the Cabbage Lettuce, known in 

 Prance as the Laitue poinrnee, and the Cos Lettuce, which 

 ihe French term the Laitue romaine. Of course — aud 

 there are endless varieties of either — we seem in England to 

 prefer the latter with its long leaves, because it cau be eaten 

 oy itself, while the Freueh probably care more for the 

 former. Then conies ihe Endive, In three classes— first, 

 the broad- caved or Baiavia Endive, which the French call 

 Bcariole— a prime favorite; next the Curly-leaved Endive, 

 'which the French call sometimes Chicoree and sometimes 

 Laitue Irisee; lastly, the wild Endive or Succory (Succory 

 being but the old English word for Chicory), which is call- 

 ed hy the French BaiOe de Capuein. Perhaps next in oi 

 dei of rank deserves lo be mentioned the Celery— but wc 

 only use Ihe bare stalk, whereas the French put the whole 

 plant into ihe salad bowl, from the root at, one end to the 

 leafage at the other. Even better is the Oelerrac— that is 

 a Celery with Turnip-like root, The Celeri-rave ot the 

 Fiench and the Knott-sellerie of the Germans. The latter 

 aie especially fond of it, and go into ecstasies when they 

 talk of it. In Eugland although it may be cultivated whir 

 greater ease and at Jess expense than the common Celery, 

 it, is slighted, though, served up with a dish ot Red Cab- 

 bage, it is particularly alluring. Then there is the Tomato 

 salad; but tor that matter Tomatoes are plentiful enough, 

 and ought to be in everybody's nach. 'the wonder is>hww 

 anyone who knows what a superb thing is a salad of raw 

 Tomatoes can care to desecrate this glorious Apple by 

 cooking it. But I should weary the reader if I went on to 



sound the praises of the Corn salad; the Beet-root salad, 

 the Potato salad, the Saiade de legumes; and of the min- 

 ute accessories— the Tarragon, the Chervil, the spring 

 Onions— which when cunningly applied give a g 

 sparkle to the composition. It is necessary to conclude, 

 and I conclude with the remark that there are salads iu 

 abundance, and with a little trouble we can have them in 

 perfection. 



j/Hchtittg and §onting. 



HIGH WATER. FOB THE WEEK. 



Mar. &.. . ... 



Mar. D 



Mar. 10 



Mar. 11 



Boston. New York. Charleston 



Water Velocipedes. — M. Jobert exhibited a new river 

 velocipede at the Maritime Exposition held last year in the 

 Palais de 1' Industrie, Paris. It was composed ot two cigar- 

 shaped Boats made of tinned plale, united by a platform 

 of very light wood, which carried the seat of the 

 To the platform the mechanism was also attached; audit 

 consisted of a paddle-wheel, with two cranks on the axle , 

 with straps for the feet. The action is exactly that of a 

 terrestrial velocipede, ami therefore requires no further ex- 

 planation. 



To steer the velocipede, a light rudder is placed iu the 

 rear of the apparatus, aud it is handled by cords passing 

 round a pulley turned by the handle in Ihe hand of the op- 

 erator. 51. Jobert claims that a very high speed can be 

 obtained. 



The New Bowing Gear.— Air. Lyman having procured 

 new tools and machinery is now making his Bow Facing 

 Rowing Gear in a most perfect manner and warrants it lo 

 out last any other description of oar. See Ihe advertise- 

 ment. 



Empire Yacht Clup. — At an election of officers of the. 

 Empire Yacht Club, held at their club house, foot of 104ih 

 street, East River, cm the evening of the 1st inst., the fol 

 lowing were chosen for the ensuing year: — Commodore, 

 Wm. O, Davis; Vice Commodore, Dauiel O'Biien; Bear 

 Commodore, Thomas S. Morrell; Piesident, Nathaniel 

 Lockwood; Treasurer, Jas. Gorien; Secretary, Jan. &]c- 

 Ulymont; Measurer, Andrew J. Brush; Board of Trus- 

 tees, Dauiel Quinn, Alonzo Gibson, George Partington; 

 John Farrell, Peter Esterbrook; Regatta Committee, Ed- 

 ward S. Zoble, Theodore W. Reeves, Simeon Gorton, 

 Edward McDonald, Charles E. Alielke. There are twenly- 

 seven yachts enrolled in the squadron— 1 steam, 7 cabiu 

 and 19 open boats. 



—John R. Stewart, Robert T. Holly, Fayette C. 

 Walker, Arthur L. Jackson, John F. Outwater, Robert 11 . 

 Hopkins, Howard Ackerman and James H. Champ! in, 

 have filed a certificate of incorporation iu the County 

 Clerks Office of the Varuna Boat Cluh, of Brooklyn, for 

 "boating, athletic and social sport." 



NEW ENGLAND YACHTING NOTES— 

 THE OUTLOOK FOR 1S77. 



FROM OUR EASTERN CORRESPONDENT. 



Boston, March 1st, 1877. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: — 



Although the weather the past two or three days has 

 been anything but favorable for the pleasant pastime of 

 which I am about to treat (it takes more than slush >u,d 

 rain to deter a yachtsman from his travels), the builders 

 generally are busy, and new interest is beng gradually 

 awakened. 



The most noted of our builders that are busy, are Alessrs. 

 Hutchins & Pryor, R- Bibber, Pierce Brothers, and George 

 Lawley & Son. 



One very noted feature of interest is the hollowing of 

 spars. From hollow masts we go to hollow bowsprits, 

 booms, gaffs, top-masts, top-sail poles aud clubs, Messrs, 

 Lawley being particularly busy in this line. The sloops 

 Kelpie and Rebie are being entirely refitted, Messrs. 

 Lawley have also several orders to build center- board sloops 

 about twenty six leet long. 



Alessrs. Hutchins & Pryor are finishing an extia nice 

 Newport-rigged boat, twenty-two leet long, for Albeit 

 Slone, Esq. Critics pronounce her the finest piece oi 

 work on the point 



5iessrs. Pierce Bros, have just finished a $1,000 Newport- 

 rig, twenty-four teet long boat, for C. A. Spring, Esq. 

 She goes to Anuesqiiam, Cape Ann, They hav L a 

 menced a second order — about nineleen "ieet. Prom (he 

 excellent reputation of the builders, wt predict .spied and 

 comfort. 



Air. Bibber is building tenders, and is finishing very 

 nicely, ihe. sloop Wayward, of New York notoriety, le- 

 ceives two ot them. 



Air. Woods, of East Boston, is building a forty five feet 

 schooner yacht for a Air. Tudor. Air. J. Fierce, ot same 

 place, has jusl got oui an idea in the shape of a square- 

 ended boat, twenty-six feci long, drawing six inches of 

 water; she has a center-board almost the whole 

 her. 



Our yachts this side of Cape Cod are generally small, 

 but we lake just as much (and I don't Know b 

 pleasure as in the larger ones. Some of them are »ery 

 last, and we are conceited enough to want to try w ill] some 

 of your New York flyers. We are not much 

 wander from home, and we wi=h you could persus 

 of your folks to come this way ; they would meet with a. 

 warm welcome, and would find the nicest , 

 in the shapi of a Otub hoi- Come and see 



us. You is, 



