The Seed Industry. — While seed-growing has been 

 carried on as a business for more than a century, it is 

 only within the past thirty years that it has assumed 

 large proportions, More than one-half the seed-farms 

 reported were started between 1870 and 1890. In 1890 

 there were five hundred and ninety-six farms, containing 

 169,851 acres devoted exclusively to seed-raising, of 

 which 96,567^ acres were reported as producing seeds. 

 These seed-farms represent a total value of land, im- 

 plements and buildings of $18,325,935.86, and they em- 

 ployed in the census year 13,500 men and 1,541 women. 



Plants Growing on Sponge. — Many have practised 

 the cultivation of mustard and cress upon moistened 

 flannel, and we know from experiment that the growth 

 can be prolonged beyond the germination stage for 

 a much longer period than could be anticipated. We 

 were reminded of this the other day on the receipt from 

 Mr. Burbidge of a vigorous groundsel in flower, grow- 

 ing on a piece of old sponge which had been laid aside, 

 and which furnished the requisite moisture, and a little 

 more. It is astonishing how small a proportion of solid 

 matter is extracted from the soil by plants in proportion 

 to their bulk. Air and water, light and heat, are each 

 and all more potent factors in the growth of plants than 

 is soil. — Gardener's Clironicle. 



[Grass-seed sprinkled in a wet sponge, occasionally 

 moistened, hung up by a string in a window, in a few 

 weeks will make a beautiful ball of green. — Ed.] 



How to Tie Carnations. — John McGowan says he 

 nails uprights rising about six inches from the soil, along 

 the front and rear sides of the bench. Along these up- 

 rights, and parallel to the bench, he fastens a strip of 

 wood, one inch square, which forms, as it were, a light 

 rail running six inches above the edge of the bench- 

 side. On these rails are fastened strips of wood one- 

 quarter inch square, running from one side of the bench 

 to the other, and laid one on each side of every row of 

 plants. This is a much quicker way than the use of 

 stakes, and it allows of a freer circulation among the 

 plants. — Florists' Exchange. 



Nurserymen's Mistakes. — Ninety-nine per cent, of 

 the so-called mistakes in supplying wrong trees and 

 vines are due to the fraudulent practices of irresponsible 

 tree-dealers or tree-peddlers, who represent nurseries 



that have no existence except in their order-books. The 

 tree-peddler gathers up the surplus stock in the country 

 and bills it out to suit his orders, regardless of variety, 

 often making a dozen or more kinds out of one sort. 

 To suppress the irresponsible dealers we must sell our 

 trees through our own agents, doing our own billing- 

 out, and wholesale only to reliable nurserymen who 

 are directly responsible to the purchaser ; but without 

 the cooperation of the planter it is next to impos- 

 sible to get rid of the objectionable class. The planter 

 should place his orders only with an authorized agent 

 of some responsible nursery, or send his orders directly 

 to the nursery ; there would then be comparatively few 

 mistakes, and the small errors that may occasionally 

 occur — and some will happen under the most careful 

 management — would cause no serious loss to the planter, 

 and the nurserymen could almost invariably make 

 satisfactory amends for such errors. — Flemer i&= Fehilv, 

 in Rural Nero-Yorker. 



A Family Tree. — A pretty custom which was at one 

 time common in some parts of New England was the 

 setting apart of a " family tree." This tree was not of 

 a dry, genealogical kind, but was always one of the 

 finest in the orchard, selected with a view to its apple- 

 bearing abilities and its beauty. In one little village 

 many of the orchards have trees of this description, and 

 the older inhabitants can refresh their memories as to 

 the number of children in the families that have oc- 

 cupied farms at different times, provided the period oi 

 occupancy was long enough to make the setting up of a 

 "family tree" worth while. On one farm there is a 

 large old tree which bears seven different varieties of 

 apples : Baldwin, Jeremiah, Summer Sweeting, Win- 

 ter Pippin, Astrachan, Russet and Gilliflower. The 

 grafts on this tree were made, not one at the birth of 

 each child of the household, as was sometimes the 

 custom, but when each boy or girl grew old enotigh to 

 choose his or her special favorite among apples. The 

 tree is now more than sixty years old, and its present 

 owner shows it with great pride, and gives samples of 

 its fruit to the children of the neighborhood with a 

 free hand. — Youth's Companion. 



Chicory as a Winter Salad. — Chicory deservesrecog- 

 nition as a winter salad-plant on account of its whole- 



