124 



[August, 



BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED. 



Alfala. A Compilation of Facts concerning its 

 History, Culture, and Value. By W. E. Pabor, 

 Associate Editor of tlie "Colorado Parmer." A 

 small pamphlet, giving condensed and practical 

 directions for the successful culture of this valu- 

 able forage plant, which seems especially adapted 

 to the sandy lands of the far West, 



Premium List of the International Potato 

 Exhibition, for the encouragement of the best 

 means of Potato Culture, and the introduction 

 and diffusion of improved varieties, to be held at 

 the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, London, England, 

 on Wednesday and Thursday, 20th and 21st Sep- 

 tember. The schedule is most elaborate and 

 liberal. A special prize is ottered for American 

 Potatoes. 



Premium List of the Michigan State Fair, 



to be held at Jackson, Mich., from September 

 18th to 22d. This is a combined exhibition of the 

 State Agricultural Society with the State Horti- 

 cultural Society. The premiums are liberal, and 

 in the horticultural department especially, under 

 the energetic management of Mr. J. J. Lyon, 

 the President, and Mr. Charles W. Garfield, the 

 Secretary, a grand display is expected. 



Agricultural Review and Journal of the 

 American Agricultural Association, for the 

 second quarter of the current year, is received. 

 Its most prominent article is a treatise on the 

 Cattle Industry of the United States, by the 

 lion. J. B. Grmell, of Iowa — a comprehensive 

 and valuable paper, The volume contains also 

 articles on Cotton Culture and Seed, Delaware 

 Peach Orchards, Soiling, Tree Planting, Breed- 

 ing, and other subjects. 



Farm Library, No. 6. The Al Poultry Book. 

 —Fowls and Eggs ; How to make Poultry Pay on 

 a large or small scale. As hi the preceding num- 

 bers of this series, much useful information is 

 given in few words. A good breed, good quar- 

 ters, and good food are considered by the author 

 the secret of success iu keeping fowls at a profit. 

 How to select and manage them are treated in 

 separate chapters, viz.: Best Breeds for Eggs; 

 Best Breeds for Market; Breeding for Eggs and 

 Meat; Management for Egg and Meat Produc- 

 tion; How and What to Peed; Management of 

 Chickens ; Summer and Winter Care of Poultry. 



Transactions of the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society for 1881.— Through the kindness 

 of Mr. Robert Manning, the able Secretary, we 

 are in receipt of these t wo volumes, which are, as 

 usually, characterized by the great amount of 

 useful information contained in them, and the 

 care and precision with which they are gotten 

 up. The President, the Hon. Francis B. Hayes, 

 reviews in his address the affairs of the society, 

 and gives valuable hints about the management 

 of horticultural societies iu general. Among 

 the most valuable papers read before the society 

 were Hardy Rose Culture, by W. II. Spooner; 

 Tropical Fruits and Flowers, by John E. Russell ; 

 Fruits for Market Purposes, by E. W. Wood; 

 Plum and Peach Culture ; Ornamental Trees, 

 Shrubs, aud Plants ; Vegetables and their Cult- 

 ure; Best Roses: Arboriculture, by Dr. J. A. 

 Warder ; Native Plants, by Mrs. I. L. Nelson ; 

 Ornamental Arboriculture, by Professor J. Rob- 

 inson ; Reports on Plants, Flowers, Fruits, Vege- 

 tables, Gardens; Edible Fungi, by Dr. E. L. 

 Sturtevant; Dates of Flowering of Trees and 

 Shrubs in Eastern Massachusetts, by Professor J. 

 Robinson, and others, on interesting topics. 



A Japanese Natural History, by Ito Toh-utaro, 

 University of Tokio, Japan, 2 volumes.— This is 

 to all appearances a wonderful work. Although 

 the illustrations, soino Latin and French names, 

 scientific definitions, and the general style of the. 

 work, are tbe only t hings intelligible to us, enough 

 appears to excite our astonishment and admira- 

 tion. That a people which have up to within a 

 few years been considered little more than a 

 semi-civilized nation, should already enter the 

 field of scientific research and be able to publish 

 a work like this, seems almost incredible. Sev- 

 eral full-page illustrations of plants aud fossils, 

 some of them colored, are interspersed through 

 the work. The execution of the plates is gener- 

 ally so accurate and excellent that improvement 

 seems difficult. In a private letter— which, by 

 the way, might serve as a model of precision and 

 clearness of expression, and in which not a single 



orthographic error occurs— the author writes 

 that " the work was published to congratulate his 

 j grandfather, Ito Kciske, on his eightieth birth- 

 day." 



We extend to Mr. Ito Tokutaro our thanks, as 

 well as our sincere wishes for his success, trusting 

 that his labors may tiud appreciation in his own 

 country to the full degree of their merits. 



CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Jesse Battey, Manchester, N. ./.—Descriptive 

 Price List of the Manchester Strawberry, origin- 

 ated by Mr. Battey. 



Ellwanger & Barry, Mount Hope Nurseries, 

 Rochester, N. Y. — Deseripive Priced Catalogue of 

 Strawberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Goose- 

 berries, Currants, etc., offered for sale summer 

 and autumn. The cultural directions are espe- 

 cially practical and concise. Full-sized illustra- 

 tions of Fay's Prolific Currants, Sharpless Straw- 

 berry, Downiug Gooseberry, and Gregg Rasp- 

 berry, accompany the catalogue. 



G. H. & J. H. Hale, Elm Fruit Farm and Nurs- 

 ery, South Glastonbury, Conn,— Price List of Pot- 

 grown and Layer Strawberry Plants for Summer 

 and Fall. A good, reliable list of old varieties 

 t hat have proved of value all over the country, 

 and the most promising new ones. Manchester 

 Strawberry and Souhegan Raspberry, special- 

 ties. 



J. T. Love it, Monmouth Nursery, Little Silver, 

 N. J. — Summer and autumn pamphlet of Pot- 

 grown and Layer Strawberry Plants, with in- 

 structions for their cultivation. Tlie Manchester 

 a specialty. The " Hansell Raspberry," which is 

 considered the earliest market Raspberry, will be 

 offered for sale iu autumn. 



A. I. Root, Medina, O.— Illustrated Catalogue 

 and Price List of Implements for Bee Culture, 

 with directions for their use. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

 Pansies Dying. — J. M. G., Rochester, N. T, — The 

 sudden death of your Pansies is probably caused 

 by Red Spiders, the most formidable enemies of 

 this plant, It is not practicable in our climate to 

 keep Pansies over more than one flowering sea- 

 son. When a continuous bloom is desired, sow- 

 ings have to be made at different seasons; for 

 spring flowering in August, and for summer flow- 

 ering in January. 



Brussels Sprouts.— Subscriber, Huron, O.— 

 This vegetable is similar in its general character 

 to Cauliflower, and requires about tlie same 

 treatment. The small, solid heads which form 

 around the stem are used, prepared like Cab- 

 bage, but they are more delicate and ten- 

 der. The seed should be sown in April or May, 

 and the plants set out in July. They are moder- 

 ately hardy and may be left out-doors till hard 

 frost, when they should be taken up and placed 

 in a cellar upright, and the roots covered with 

 earth. By keeping the soil moist, the " sprouts " 

 may be had during a considerable part of winter. 



Castor-Oil Beans.— A. N. S., Savannah, Ga. — 

 This plant is a rank feeder, and needs a deep, rich 

 soil, similar to Com land. The seed is generally 

 soaked in hot water for twenty-four hours before 

 planting. Hills are made about six feet apart 

 each way, as for Melons. In these six or eight 

 seeds are dropped and covered two inches. After 

 the plants are well started, all but the best ones 

 j iu each hill are removed. They have to be well 

 cultivated, but not deep, throughout the season. 

 As soon as the pods turn brown, they are har- 

 vested, as by leaving them until entirely ripe, 

 many seeds would be lost. The ripening and 

 , drying is finished on a clean, dry floor large 

 enough to save all the beans which scatter by 

 the snapping of the shells. 



Artichokes.— C. S., Elmira, N. T. — It is unfor- 

 tunate that two plants so different in their uses 

 should have the same popular names. The only 

 I part of the French Artichoke, Oynara scolymus, 

 that is used is the. undeveloped flower-heads, 

 i while of the Jerusalem Artichoke, Helianthus 

 i tuberosus, it is the tubers. Neither is much 

 1 used here as an article of food. The Jcru- 

 ' salem Artichoke is a valuable forage-plant, which 

 i may be grown almost anywhere, and yields a 



i very large amount of nutritious food from a 

 given area. The principal objection against 

 I its more general cultivation is that it is difficult 

 I to eradicate from grouud it has once taken pos- 

 session of. 



MISCELLANEOUS, 



Permanent Tree-Labels.— John J. Thomas 

 recommends long, tapering metallic labels, with 

 the name written plainly on the larger end, so 

 that it would be visible at once, aud the smaller 

 end coiled around a limb of the tree, The name, 

 written on corroded zinc, will last generally as 

 long as the tree. 



Poisoning Potato Sets. — A correspondent rec- 

 ommends to soak cut Potatoes in a solution of 

 Paris green, and then strew them between the 

 rows of planted Potatoes before the latter are 

 up. The Potato beetles eat the poisoned pota- 

 toes, and thus many are destroyed which would 

 otherwise prey on the crop. 



Prairie Hens for New Zealand. — Of twenty- 

 ' eight Prairie Hens recently sent from Topeka, 

 Kansas, to New Zealand, nine survived and 

 arrived in good condition. They were liberated 

 there, aud, protected by the Acclimatization 

 Society under the "Animals Act," are expected 

 ! to soon become acclimated. 



Seedling Pansies raised by Mr. H. P. Olosson, 

 of Vermont, from our Premium German Pansy 

 Seed, arrived in good order aud were of exquisite 

 beauty. One especially, which Mr. C. considers 

 superior to any of the named varieties, is remark- 

 able for its rich crimson color shading into vel- 

 vety deep amaranth purple. 



Flowers for Methodist Ministers.— That 

 plants should be classified according to the de- 

 nominational wants of ministers never occurred 

 to us until the propriety was lately suggested 

 by the following quotation from the letter 

 of a reverend gentleman: "The Gladiolus is a 

 flower specially adapted to the wants of Method- 

 ist ministers." Easily moved, we suppose! 



Farming by Proxy.— Responding to a toast on 

 " The Clergy," Henry Ward Bcecher said recently: 



"If there is auytbiug that a man cannot make 

 money at, who lives in the city, and does it 

 through others, it is farming. I am just as sure 

 of that as I am of my own existence. I have a 

 farm, and it is one of the most productive farms 

 in the country —in the crop of bills. I find there 

 is a great deal of money made; but my men 

 make it, and I pay it all." 



Patent Seed-Tester.— Thisiugenious apparatus, 

 the efficacy of which we had occasion to test 

 lately, serves its purpose very satisfactorily. It 

 is neat, compact, and so simple in its construe- 



' tion that it is not liable to get out of order, mn 

 important item in appliances of this kind. The 

 illustration shows its general construction so well 

 as to require but little exj danation. The seeds to 

 be tested are placed on pieces of cloth, which are 

 kept moist by the capillary action of projecting 

 pieces, the lower part of which is immersed in the 

 water-box below, and covered with small glass 



| globes. The water in the small tank is kept at a 

 temperature of between ninety and one hundred 



I degrees, which is easily regulated by means of 

 the thermometer attached to the miniature 

 boiler. With one of these machines the vitality 

 of seeds can be tested in much shorter time than 

 by the ordinary modes. Messrs. Thorburn & 

 Titus, 158 Chambers street, New York, are the 

 sole agents for the United States. 



