THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[July, 



BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED. 

 Indiana State Fair.— Premium List of the 

 Pair to be held at Indianapolis, September 25th 

 to 30tli, 



Tennessee's Attractions to the Immigrant, 

 by John Moffat, Commissioner of Immigration, 

 giving statistics and descriptions of the principal 

 agricultural sections of the State, especially the 

 Cumberland Table-land. 



New Jersey State Agricultural Society.— 



Premium List of its annual Fair to be held at 

 Waverly, commencing Monday, September 18th, 

 and to continue through the week. This is one 

 of the most varied and most liberal premium 

 lists we have yet seen. 



Farm Library No. 5, Luscious Fruits, by 



0. P. Gaiusha, Secretary Illinois State Horticul- 

 tural Society. This little pamphlet is a model of 

 condensation, and contains about as much useful 

 and practical information as can well be squeezed 

 into twenty-four pages. The author treats, in his 

 usual concise style, location and preparation of 

 soil, Purchasing Plants, Varieties, Planting, Cul- 

 tivation, Profits, Diseases and Insects and other 

 topics of interest to the fruit-grower. Published 

 by E. H. Libby, Chicago. 



Bees and Honey ; or, the Management of an 

 Apiary for Profit and Pleasure, by Thomas G. 

 Newman, editor of the American Bee Journal, 

 Chicago, 111. The third edition of this work has 

 been carefully re-written by the author, for the 

 information of the many who are now becoming 

 interested in the pursuit of bee-keeping. It con- 

 tains one hundred and sixty profusely illustrated 

 pages, is " fully up with the times " in all the vari- 

 ous improvements and inventions in this rapidly 

 developing pursuit, and presents the apiarist with 

 everything that can aid in the successful man- 

 agement of the honey-bee, and at the same time 

 produce the most honey in its best and most 

 attractive condition. Chief among the new chap- 

 ters are "Bee Pasturage a Necessity," "Manage- 

 ment of Bees and Honey at Fairs," "Marketing 

 Honey," etc. Price, bound iu cloth, 75 cents ; in 

 paper covers, 50 cents, post-paid. 



Agriculture of Massachusetts. — The Report 

 of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture for 

 1881, an elegant volume of unusual interest and 

 value, is before us. The secretary, Mr. John E. 

 Russell, reviews with much ability and sound, 

 practical judgment the agricultural situation 

 and needs of the country at large, and especially 

 of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The 

 plan of Farmers' Institutes, inaugurated in 

 1878, appears to prove generally satisfactory, 

 and is acknowledged as a most effective means 

 for disseminating agricultural knowledge and 

 experience. The proceedings of the meetings 

 held during the year occupy the greater part of 

 the volume, and contain a large amount of valu- 

 able information which it would be difficult to 

 find in similar publications. Among the principal 

 subjects discussed are: Digestion and Winter 

 Feeding of Domestic Animals, Fruit-Culture, 

 Harvesting Corn, Sugars, Cultivated Mowing 

 Lands, Muck, Forage Crops, Ensilage, Farmers' 

 Homes, Animal Growth and Nutrition, Sanitary 

 Essentials, Commercial Fertilizers, and many 

 other topics of not less importance. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, 

 Summer Pruning Grape-vines.— E. B. W., 



OatsTcill, N. Y.— The " Kniffin System " was fully 

 described in the, American Garden for October, 

 1881. The summer pruning consists simply in 

 pinching or cutting back too rampant growing 

 shoots. Many successful vine-growers do not 

 prune at all during summer. 



Salt and Lime Mixture.— L. M., Porlchesler, 

 N. T.— This is principally used for composting 

 muck. It is made by dissolving one bushel of salt 

 in water, and then slacking three bushels of Line 

 with the salt water. It should be turned over 

 two or three times under a shed before mixing 

 with muck. One bushel of the mixture is enough 

 for a cord of muck. 



Plants for Names.— Miss M. P., Pelham Priory, 

 Westchester County, N. P.— The pretty scarlet- 



tipped plant is Castilleja coccinea, popularly 

 called Painted Cup ; it belongs to the family of 

 Scrophulariaceae. The bright scarlet leaves are 

 not petals, but the floral leaves which are dilated 

 and colored, thus becoming more show}' than the 

 flowers themselves. There is also a variety with 

 yellow bracts instead of scarlet. 



The large yellow flower, with onion-like smell, 

 is Allium Moly, Golden Allium. This is not an 

 indigenous plant, but introduced from Southern 

 Europe. As it is perfectly hardy and multiplies 

 rapidly, it may have escaped from gardens and 

 may become gradually naturalized. 



Sea-Beans.— R. If., Jacksonville, Fla.— Sea- 

 Beans do not " grow in the ocean," nor are they 

 " eggs of fishes." They are the seeds of plants 

 growing in the tropics, where they fall in the 

 rivers, float to the ocean, and are then washed to 

 our shores, sometimes as far north as Long 

 Island and Massachusetts, and are not seldom 

 carried by the Gulf Stream across the Atlantic 

 Ocean to the shores of England and Norway. The 

 larger and smoother Bean is the seed of Entada 

 scanclens, a vine which bears monstrous pods. 

 The smaller Bean resembles, when polished, the 

 tortoise shell, and is used in imitation of the 

 same. This is the seed of Polichos or Mucuna 

 wens. The stiff hairs of the pods of this and 

 other species of the genus are used as a vermifuge. 



Diseased Geraniums.-/. H. D., Toronto, Chit.— 

 Your Geraniums are affected with what is known 

 among florists as the "Spot," a fungus of the 

 peculiar habit of attacking individuals rather 

 than whole colonies. When largo quantities of 

 Geraniums are grown, it happens frequently that 

 six or eight plants become affected while the 

 others remain unharmed, or isolated cases may 

 occur among a healthy group. Plants when first 

 showing signs of disease are always charged with 

 too much moisture, either from excessive water- 

 ing, or too much humidity in the atmosphere — 

 mostly the former. Bad drainage is another in- 

 centive cause. 



The remedy is to dry the plants off pretty well, 

 but not so as to cause the leaves to wilt. Then 

 examine the drainage, disturbing the roots as 

 little as possible, and be sure to have free egress 

 for water; after which, water the plants thor- 

 oughly with permanganate of potash, in propor- 

 tion to as much as will cover a ten cent piece to 

 one quart of water. This should be repeated four 

 or five times, but only when the plant becomes 

 dry. Wo have never known this to fail. 



OUR EXHIBITION TABLE, 



Seedling Carnations, from Messrs. Hallock & 

 Thorpe. A large collection, many of the flowers 

 of exquisite beauty and fragrance, varying in all 

 imaginable tints of scarlet, crimson, rose, and 

 orange. 



Ellwanger & Barry's Seedling Rose No. 5. — 



A flower of this was received by mail in as per- 

 fect condition as if it had been cut but an hour 

 before. It is a seedling of General Jacqueminot, of 

 perfect shape, rich perfume, and of a beautiful, 

 peculiar crimson shading into amaranth. It was 

 much admired by all who saw it. 



Georgia Peaches. — Our thanks are due to Mr. 

 P. J. Berckmans, of Augusta, Ga., for a crate of 

 beautiful Alexander Peaches. They arrived in 

 excellent order, as is always the case with fruit 

 shipped by this careful and experienced pomolo- 

 gist. His commission merchant informs us that 

 Mr. B.'s Peaches are among the best received in 

 New York, and bring always the highest price in 

 market. The net returns for one bushel of Peaches 

 shipped by him on May 30th of last year amounted 

 to thirty-two dollars. 



Gladiolus Colvillei var. alba. — " The Pride." 

 —A bunch of those beautiful spikes has adorned 

 our table for over a week, and the flowers still 

 retain their beauty. It seems strange that this 

 charming plant is so little known by amateur 

 gardeners. Living out all winter, with but slight 

 protection, it bursts into bloom with snowy 

 whiteness the latter part of June. The spikes, 

 growing about eighteen inches high, are most 

 gracefully set with large, well-opened, pure white 

 flowers, resembling, when cut, beautiful feathery 

 sprays. A bed of these in bloom forms a con- 

 spicuous attraction to any flower-garden. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

 Carbolic Acid. — A teaspoonful in two gallons 

 of water is recommended for the destruction of 

 Currant-worms and Rose-bugs, and is said to be 

 as effective as White Hellebore. 



Hardy Raspberries.— "Me Souhegan," writes 

 Mr. G. H. Hale, is the only Raspberry, either red 

 or black, that was not hurt in the least by the 

 last hard winter, while Prandywine near by was 

 damaged and Turner killed to the ground. 



Sweet Potatoes.— Mr. A. P. Arnold, a practical 

 farmer, recommends planting the same ground 

 to Sweet Potatoes three or four years in succes- 

 sion, using special manures freely with each crop, 

 and twenty-five bushels of lime to the acre, pre- 

 vious to seeding to clover. 



Tansy against Cabbage- Worms.— A corre- 

 spondent says that he has used a strongdecoction 

 of Tansy as a remedy for Cabbage-worms. It was 

 applied with a common watering-can through a 

 fine rose, and proved more effective than other 

 highly recommended specifics. 



Liquid Manure.— Whatever harm, real or im- 

 aginary, the "Heathen Chinee" may have brought 

 to our country, they have taught the gardeners 

 of California the use of liquid manures, and have 

 shown them that far better vegetables can be 

 grown with liquid than with solid fertilizers. 



Orange Culture in Florida.— A Florida paper 

 says that, within a radius of eight miles of San- 

 ford, Fla., there are 2,992 Orange-groves, contain- 

 ing 165,235 trees, and although only five per cent, 

 of the trees are now bearing, they produce 2,500,- 

 000 Oranges annually. The entire State is said to 

 produce 50,000,000 Oranges. 



Coal-Tar Water against Melon-Bugs.— This 



is highly recommended by a correspondent. He 

 stirs the tar iu a barrel of water and' lets it stand 

 until the water becomes scented and colored with 

 tar. With this liquid he sprinkles the vines twice 

 a day, and finds that it not only keeps the bugs 

 away, but makes the plants grow healthier and 

 more vigorously. 



The Agricultural Epitomist. — The editor of 

 this paper ought to be a happy man. He needs 

 no bars nor locks to protect himself against the 

 thieving crowd of plagiarists, and yet his paper 

 is overflowing with good things. We do not know 

 in whose head originated the idea of giving an 

 epitome of our entire agricultural periodical litera- 

 ture by extracts and clippings, but it was 

 certainly a happy thought, and our old friend, 

 J. A. Woodward, is just the man to carry it out 

 effectively. 



An Ancient Herbarium.— From an interesting 

 account of Dr. Schweinfurth's African explora- 

 tions iu La Nature, we learn that in a cave lately 

 discovered near Thebes, the breasts of the royal 

 mummies were found covered with garlands of 

 flowers and leaves. Of these the Doctor preserved 

 a large number by moistening them, putting them 

 afterwards in alcohol, spreading on paper and dry- 

 ing them ; thus forming a unique Herbarium^of 

 plants growing nearly four thousand years ago. 

 Nearly all the flowers found were of species grow- 

 ing in that region to this day, either indigenous 

 or cultivated, and, owing to the complete exclu- 

 sion of light and moisture in the cavern, the color 

 of most specimens is remarkably well preserved. 



E. S. Rand, Jr., our esteemed correspondent 

 from Brazil, whose vivid descriptions of the Ama- 

 zonian regions, which appeared in t he pages of the 

 American Garden, have no doubt been read 

 with much interest and pleasure by all of our 

 readers, has arrived in New York. He will spend 

 a few months in the United States, after which 

 he will return to Para, which has been his home 

 for several years. Mr. Rand commenced the col- 

 lecting of Orchids and other tropical plants as a 

 matter of study and pleasure merely, but his ex- 

 tensive experience and superior knowledge of 

 the subject have brought him so many orders 

 from the North, as well as from Europe, that now 

 he devotes most of his time to collecting and 

 filling orders. Among the Orchids which he has 

 brought with him are several new species of 

 great beauty, which have not yet been described 

 or named by botanists. 



