410 



TREES, FLOWERS AND VEGETABLES 



gardeners who have been less liberal with manure can 

 produce good crops only in favorable seasons when 

 prices are low. 



August is a month of comparative leisure. The mar- 

 keting of early vegetables is over, the planting done, and 

 the principal work restricted to the battle with weeds. 

 Marketing corn, shell and string-beans, melons, squashes, 

 tomatoes, onions, lettuce, etc., goes on, but the gardener 

 is not so hurried with work in harvesting as he was earlier 

 in the season. Melons that have been started under 

 glass and then planted in the field are the best paying 

 crop for August. 



The marketing of fruit is, with many, a perplexing 

 problem. For those located not more than 6 or lo miles 

 from Boston the employment of an intelligent market- 

 man, selling from his own wagon in the open market, 

 gives best results. For those further away, consigning 

 to a commission-man is thought best. Returns in latter 



case are not always satisfactory, especially when the 

 market is over-supplied, or owing to warm weather the 

 produce arrives in poor condition. Many of our garden- 

 ers are providing themselves with cold-storage houses, 

 where produce is cooled before shipping. Cooling in- 

 sures the arrival of vegetables in market in good condi- 

 tion. The returns from commission-men are very un- 

 satisfactory when produce of second quality is sent them. 

 They take little pains with it. But in selling from a 

 farmer's wagon we find that there is a class of buyers 

 who do not consider quality quite so closely, and prefer 

 to buy produce at a price slightly below regular market 

 figures. 



Boston market laws are very strict. All truck is ex- 

 posed for sale in bushel or barrel boxes of regulation 

 shape. In another letter I will try to give more fully 

 the manner of preparing the various vegetables for mar- 

 ket. — Edw. p. Kirby, Massachusetts. 



TREES, FLOWERS AND VEGETABLES 



GROWING ON THE EDITORS' GROUNDS. 



HE HARDY Ranunculuses.— 

 Gray, in his Manual of Botany, 

 numbers i8 distinct species of 

 buttercups as belonging to the 

 eastern and northern United 

 States. The mere commonness 

 of the wild species testifies to 

 their great adaptability to our 

 soil and climate, and prepares 

 us to expect very rugged stocks from such northern spe- 

 cies and varieties as show special ornamental value. 

 Some forms of ranunculus growing at Woodbanks, which 

 we have never seen outside of our own grounds, are de- 

 scribed below. 



The species shown in our engraving on opposite page, 

 J\a>iiincH/iis atnplcxicaulis, is in all respects one of the 

 loveliest plants of our large collection of hardy peren- 

 nials. It is a neat spreading plant, not above 7 inches in 

 height, and its slender stems bear entire glaucous gray 

 leaves, delicate and handsome. There is nothing weed 

 like in its appearance. To speak of its flowers as ' ' but- 

 tercups" would be wrongly descriptive, for they are of 

 the clearest white, about an inch across, and some of 

 them are semi-double. The plants are not very free- 

 blooming, but atone for this fault by their distinct form 

 and beauty, and their lasting qualities. They bloom in 

 early May. These plants are largely grown by London 

 florists, who sell them when in bloom in clumps from 

 their borders, as pansies and daisies are sold. Our own 

 stock was imported two years ago from T. S. Ware, Tot- 

 tenham, London, England. This ranunculus is not found 

 in American catalogues. Our plant, in the latitude of 

 Niagara Falls, has passed through two winters in the 

 open border without any protection other than the cus- 

 tomary forkful of manure given to all our hardy plants. 



/i'. acotiitif oUus Jlore-plcno, known as Fair Maids of 

 France, has flowers double as roses, and pure snowy 

 white. They are less than an inch across, and are pro- 

 duced in great profusion immediately after amplexicaulis 

 has passed out of bloom. The leaves, instead of being 

 entire, are deeply divided and palmate in form. The 

 plant, judging from our two-year specimens growing in 

 moist sandy loam, will reach a height of 12 to 18 inches. 

 These two forms of ranunculus are favorites with us. 

 We find them perfectly hardy, and they have no weed- 

 like tendency toward spreading. 



R. acris fl.-pl., commonly called Yellow Batchelor's- 

 buttons, is a useful border-plant, producing its double 

 rosette-like blossoms very freely. In color, at least, it 

 reminds us of the tall field buttercup This species has 

 a very acrid or even blistering juice, hence its name. R. 

 acris Ji.-pl. attains its greatest perfection when planted 

 in a moist place. 



R. bulbosiis is a native species rarely found wild out- 

 side of the New England states. It is suitable for only 

 the wild garden. It grows a foot high, and produces 

 glossy deep yellow flowers more than an inch broad, with 

 6 or 7 petals. There is a double variety of this, R. bulb- 

 osus fl.-pl., which produces numerous very double yellow 

 blossoms in early summer. It grows well in any soil. 



R. speciosiis fl.-pl. is a showy buttercup with large 

 double golden yellow flowers, which are produced more 

 or less freely all through the summer. 



Japanese Maples. — Are Japanese maples suited to gen- 

 eral outdoor cultivation as far north as Niagara Falls? 

 For a number of years we have been trying to decide this 

 question. Half a dozen of the hardier varieties have 

 been growing here in the open ground without protec- 

 tion, beyond a slight banking of earth over the roots, and 

 they are yet in a very promising condition. We see no 



