742 



BUDS, BLOSSOMS, FRUITS. 



he cannot afford vines or trees ? One of the prettiest of 

 the five houses with shaded verandas was twined with 

 bitter-sweet vine dug from the woods near by. It is a 

 dainty, pretty thing, much more so than many of those 

 named in the florists' catalogues. Another piazza had 

 morning-glories. Surely we can all afford a five-cent 

 package of these seeds ! The wild cucumber-vine on the 

 third was not very pretty, but better than nothing. The 

 fourth house had woodbine. Probably it did not cost 

 the owner a penny, for it grows so luxuriantly that folks 

 are glad to give away some of the numerous shoots. 

 The fifth house was the prettiest of all, for close by the 

 veranda grew a large sumac, also brought from the 

 woods. It makes a dense shade, almost like a wall, and 

 is beautiful from spring till late fall. Yes, buy plants if 

 you can ! but don't go without trees and vines. Scour 

 the woods and fields ; you'll always find something suit- 

 able and pretty there. — Sister Gracious. 



Pears for Kentucky. — For some time I have been 

 studying multitudinous conflicting statements about the 

 immunity of certain pear trees from blight. Being anx- 

 ious to plant and to see others plants commercial orchards 

 in my neighborhood, I made inquiries in numerous di- 

 rections, but replies received one day would inevitably 

 clash with those received the next. The futility of beg- 

 ging for information at last dawned upon me, and I 

 resolved to work up statistics on a small scale for 

 myself. 



In the spring of 1889 I planted an assortment of nur- 

 sery stock, including 110 pear trees. Exact results with 

 the latter I tabulated for convenient reference, Here is 

 the table : 



Living. Blighted. Growth. Killed. 



20 Lc Conte 20 7 slightly. Strong. 



20 Kieffer 20 None. Very strong. 



20 Bartlett 18 11 badly. Medium. 2 by blight. 



10 Jefferson 9 None. Strong. i " rabbit. 



10 Lawson 10 i slightly. Delicate. 



10 Clapp's Favorite . . 8 None. Strong. 2 by rabbits. 

 10 D. d'Angouleme .9 " " i " " 



Id VicarofWinkfield . 8 All badly. Straggling. 2 " blight. 



For my own guidance I have summed up matters 

 thus: For a healthy commercial orchard, select in the 

 following order: Kieffer i, Jefferson 2, Lawson 3, Le 

 Conte 4, Clapp Favorite 5, Duchess 6. Bartlett I 

 might accept as a present. Vicar I would not have on 

 the place. I only intend growing the 4 pears first -named, 

 in addition to Idaho and Garber, both of which I hear 

 highly eulogized. — G. D. C. Ellis, Kentucky. 



Cactus Notes. — Some three years ago the Revue 

 Iforticole recommended grafting epiphyllums upon Cc- 

 rcus iiycticalus instead of the more generally used 

 pereskia. Acting upon the suggestion, I grafted a num- 

 ber of different epiphyllums as directed, with the result 

 that plants grafted in the spring made a vigorous growth 

 during the summer, and bloomed profusely the succeed- 

 ing winter. Some advantages of this method are that 

 the scion does not rot at the graft, as is so often the case 

 with pereskia, scaly bugs are much less troublesome, 

 and C. nycticahts seldom branches off below the graft. 



Other species of cactus do equally well on C. nycticalus, 

 so I have echinopsis, echinocereus and some of the 

 smaller mammillarias on that stock, and they all make a 

 vigorous growth. 



Of all the semi-scandent sorts of cereus, there is not 

 one that is more satisfactory or less known than C. 

 Cai'endishii. It is a very rapid grower, and will bloom 

 the second year from a cutting. Moreover, it is a con- 

 stant bloomer during the summer months. I have a 

 specimen now before me that has been almost constantly 

 in bloom since June i. It is two years old, and about 

 five feet tall. The flowers, 4 inches in diameter, are 

 borne upon a tube four inches long . They are pure white, 

 and very double. The petals are laciniated, and have a 

 delightful, jasmine-like fragrance. 



Among all the cactuses that I know, none are so easily 

 raised from seed as Astrof'hytiim myriostigma. The 

 fruit-pod ripens a few days after the flower has wilted, 

 and the seeds do not often require more than a week to 

 germinate. In order to ripen its seed, the plant should be 

 kept exposed to the hot sun, and liberally watered early 

 every morning, The drainage, however, must be perfect. 

 No cactus should ever be potted in any but standard 

 pots. — H. Tallichet, Texas. 



Early History of the Potato in France. — Potatoes 

 were supposed to have been introduced into England 

 about the year 1586, after which time they soon found 

 their way into France and other European countries. 

 Previous to the year 1783 they were considered by the 

 French as dangerous food, and, according to the popular 

 belief, would produce leprosy and other diseases. Not- 

 withstanding the fact that northern countries cultivated 

 them, France rejected their use as pernicious. In order 

 to combat this prejudice, Parmentier, a French cultivator, 

 applied to Louis XVI. for permission to plant potatoes on 

 some acres of sterile ground. Although they were be- 

 lieved to be difficult to cultivate, Parmentier wished to- 

 prove that this belief was unfounded. His potatoes 

 succeeded admirably, and he awaited with great anxiety 

 "the time of their flowering. The first blossom that ap- 

 peared was presented to Louis XVI., who placed it in his 

 button-hole, regardless of the sneers of his courtiers. 

 Parmentier's efforts were crowned with success, though 

 for some time afterward the potato was cultivated more 

 as a curiosity than as an article of food. — R. C. J., 

 PeyiJisylvania. 



Prickly Lettuce, a pestiferous weed {Lactttca Scar- 

 iola), introduced from Europe, and first seen in Ohio in 

 1878, is spreading quite rapidly in various parts of the 

 state. Prof. Aug. D, Selby, secretary of the Columbus 

 Horticultural Society, gives the following description of 

 it: "It is a composite, as are the ox-eye daisy, rag- 

 weed, thistle, etc., and grows from 4 to 6 feet in height. 

 It is biennial, sometimes annual, with a very leafy stem. 

 The lower part of the stem and the lower surface of 

 mid-rib of the leaves are beset with prickles. The 

 leaves are alternate, 5 to 8 inches long, rarely exceeding 

 inches in width at the widest part, clasping at the 

 base with conspicuous ears extending backward, and are 



