122 



CURRENT CARD Eh LORE. 



scales, dotted over with larger rusty ones. The variety 

 E. p.variegata has a narrow yellow margin to its leaves, 

 and is highly ornamental in winter. Sometimes a few 

 of the leaves on the small shoots are wholly yellow. On 

 the other hand, E. p. aitrea marginata has a broad, irreg- 

 ular, yellow band along the margin. Altogether different 

 is E. p. maculata, which has a broad, irregular band of 

 pale yellow along the center, fading to creamy yellow or 

 silvery white after the leaves have reached maturity and 

 •during the winter. A narrow green margin bounds the 

 large central blotch, and sometimes the upper leaves on 

 small branches are wholly yellow. Our illustration 

 gives a good idea of the appearance and variability of 

 the variegation. The shrub is of dwarfer habit than the 



El^BAGNUS PUNGENS MACOl.ATA. 



above-mentioned kinds, and being bushy and very freely 

 branched, it might be put to a variety of purposes with 

 ;good effect, especially in winter, when rich coloring out- 

 doors is comparatively scanty. — Carderiing World. 



Osage Hedges. — In the best farm districts of Penn- 

 sylvania the progressive farmer still sticks to the osage- 

 orange fence. They are by all odds the cheapest, but 

 the leading objection is the robbing of the earth by the 

 roots. The roots of trees grow no further away than 

 the top is allowed to grow. A well-managed hedge 

 only throws out the roots to about ten feet on each side. 

 But even this is begrudged by a good farmer, who can 

 plow to within two or three feet of a post-and-rail fence. 



Staking Roses. 



The Chester-county farmer trims with a corn-knife or 

 hook. They are cut twice a year — hay-time and harvest. 

 A man can cut a mile a day. — Meehans' Monthly. 



Staking Roses. — Most growers at present use cane 

 stakes, and ^ 

 though they \. p 



are by far the 

 neatest in ap- 

 pearance of 

 all kinds that 

 can be used, 

 beinglight they 

 rot off quickly 

 at the surface 

 of the soil, and 

 along toward {| 

 spring, when 

 the sun begins 

 to get pretty 

 hot and heavy, 

 and syringing is 

 necessary in 

 order to keep 



down the red-spider, and they are liable to be knocked over 

 and look bad. To avoid this and keep them always up- 

 right, even though they do rot off, I stretch a heavy wire 

 directly over each row of plants, three and one-half feet 

 above the surface of the soil, to which the top of each 

 stake is fastened with a piece of fine wire, which holds 

 it in position firmly, always cutting the stakes four feet 

 long, which, with four inches of soil, will allow the 

 stakes to extend two inches above the vi\re.— American 

 Florist. 



A Mailing-Case. — This is made of tin, with a screw 

 in the center inversely fixed ; the wooden lid is then 

 screwed down tightly to the case, so as to be readily 

 opened if desired by the post-office officials. It is just 

 the thing for sending cut-flowers, specimens of leaves 

 affected with disease, or any small samples that are 

 perishable, and yet require to be sent a long distance. 

 There is no evaporation at all, and nothing is required 

 in the way of packing to envelop the articles. We have 

 sent perishable articles of this kind so far as Australia 

 without any packing whatever, but just the article itself 

 put in a tin case. These tin cases are made by the Howe 

 Mailing Co., of Detroit, Mich. The appended illustra- 

 tion will make 

 the arrangement 

 plain. — Canadian 

 Horticulturist . 



A Rock-Gar- 

 den. — In too 

 many- c a se s|. 

 owners o f gar- 

 dens seem to hold 

 the view that a 

 rockery is a place 



for the display of rocks, and we have seen many instances 

 where a mass of large stones or clinkers, heaped up 



A Mailing-Case. 



