GATMeRer> Wo rl.-d> - w r u) e 



Vegetation Without Foliage.— As a general rule the 

 life of a plant is not long prolonged without the aid of its 

 fsliage. ' ' Recently, " says the Bulletin d' Arboriculture et 

 Floriculture, etc., " we noted the persistence of life in a 

 fir tree, of which the trunk, broken a yard above the 

 soil, and immediately deprived of its branches, has con- 

 tinued to live in this state for eighty-six years. The 

 Revue Horticole reports an analogous fact, except that 

 the duration of vegetation has not been so long. Some 

 trees of Abies excelsa, growing too closely together and 

 already having a thickness of six inches, were felled at 

 eighteen inches above the soil. Ten years later one of 

 the spruces in question, being quite deprived of its 

 branches and leaves, was found furnished with a cushion- 

 like outgrowth all round the cut. According to the jour- 

 nal cited, that was explained by a sort of union or graft, 

 ing by approach amongst the roots of the subject cut 

 down and those of the tree remaining upright about 

 nine inches distant." 



Preserving Greenhouse Benches. — About ten 

 years ago I read, dreamed or discovered that water- 

 lime was a great preservative of wood, and I am sure 

 I have saved several hundred dollars by its use. The 

 life of a common pine or hemlock bench one inch thick 

 is with me about four years, used for ordinary pur- 

 poses. Nine years ago I first tried the cement on a 

 bench which has been used summer and winter ever 

 since, some times with six inches of sod, other times 

 with sand and ashes. That bench has never had a 

 board repaired in it for nine years, and I think it is good 

 for another year at least. It is safe to say the cement 

 will preserve a bench twice as long as without it. The 

 expense is one dollar per barrel and a barrel will do at 

 least 3,000 square feet of bench surface. It should be 

 put on just as thick as it can be spread with a white- 

 wash brush, and not much mixed at a time, as it soon 

 "sets" in the bottom of the pail. It is time and money 

 well spent to apply it to all parts of the benches, tops 

 of the legs, surface of the cross-pieces, in fact wherever 

 the wood comes together. With a little common lime 

 added it is an excellent thing to put on the inside sur- 

 face of the greenhouse walls. It makes the walls 

 plenty white enough and will long outlast paint or com- 

 mon whitewash made of quick-lime. Why the cement 

 should be an excellent preventive of rot is, I think, plain 

 to see. The particles of cement entirely fill up the sur- 



face pores of the wood and stop there to prevent water 

 from getting in. — IVilliat/! Scott, in American Florist. 



How a Little Garden Helps. — Last fall I hired a 

 house and lot of perhaps one-third of an acre. On it 

 some thrifty person had set an apple tree, two plum 

 trees, a peach, two quinces, four pear trees, that ripened 

 from early to late, two cherries in front, half a dozen 

 grapes of two sorts, currants, raspberries, blackberries 

 and strawberries. All these had been growing long 

 enough to bear well during the last summer and fall. 

 Without going beyond this small piece of ground my 

 family have had an abundance of luscious fruit for four 

 consecutive months. Besides this, a small plat was 

 devoted to vegetables. I estimate that we have obtained 

 fresh, appetizing, healthful food to the extent of at leas* 

 $30 already, and we still have quite a quantity of fruits, 

 carrots, parsnips, cabbages, salsify and other things 

 that will help along this winter. Never before have I 

 so fully realized how far a small piece of land econom- 

 ically planted will go toward supporting a family. If 

 every laboring man in the country could be settled as 

 happily as I have been during the past year they might 

 save a little sum yearly which would put them in com- 

 fortable circumstances in old age. Some one asked me 

 why I did not pick a part of the grapes and sell them ; 

 they would bring Ji. 50 per bushel. I replied truthfully 

 that I thought them worth more to hang on the vines 

 for my family's use till late, and so it has proved. — - 

 Neii> York Tribune. 



Sex in Strawberries. — Some say they want a variety 

 that will fertilize itself ; others contend that the pistil- 

 lates, as a rule, are the most productive. To some 

 extent this is true ; but what pistillate will excel Cap- 

 tain Jack and Vick in this respect ? If a variety is good 

 and productive, though a pistillate, I am satisfied with 

 it, as the planting of staminates alongside is an easy 

 matter. Hereafter, if I can have the different sexes, 

 equal in value, my aim will be to plant at least two- 

 thirds of pistillate, to one-third of staminates for the 

 good reason that the staminate varieties are more likely 

 to be nipped with frost on the same grounds with the 

 pistillates. In a letter from a pretty extensive grower, 

 he states that his staminate varieties were injured to at 

 least two-thirds of the crop, while the pistillates escaped; 

 so his crop was cut down to the extent of only 400 

 bushels. I think he did pretty well to get that quan- 



