1883.] 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



11 



HORTICULTURE IN MEXICO. 



In an address on Horticultural Improve- 

 ments, before the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society, Mr. John JE. Bussell, Secretary 

 of the State Board of Agriculture, gave the 

 following interesting account of the horticul- 

 tural products of Mexico, a country in which 

 he lived several years, and with whose con- 

 ditions he is thoroughly familiar. 



The speaker said that the Dahlia was in- 

 troduced into Europe by Humboldt early in 

 the present century. When he was a boy, it 

 was thought pretty good gardening in the 

 western part of this State to get Dahlias in 

 bloom before frost ; but now they bloom 

 much earlier. They are natives of the table- 

 lands of Mexico, where the speaker saw them 

 in the single form, which they always bear in 

 their wild state, and which he thought much 

 more beautiful than the double forms into 

 which they have been improved by cultiva- 

 tion, and this opinion has gained ground of 

 late, for premiums have been offered for 

 single Dahlias. 



In Central America he noticed that double 

 flowers invariably and immediately returned 

 to the single form. All plants which are 

 biennials here, seed the first year there. He 

 attempted to acclimate the vegetables of this 

 latitude there, but without success. Potatoes 

 from California returned to their original 

 habit the first year, and produced tubers not 

 larger than marbles. Cabbages and other 

 plants of the genus Brassica shot up like 

 Palm trees, and went to seed in a few weeks. 

 The climate does not vary materially from 

 our summer climate, but it seemed to him as 

 though the native plants told these new- 

 comers that there was no need to lay up a 

 store of food, but that all they had to do was 

 to go ahead and ripen their seed. Indian 

 Corn takes about as long a time to ripen 

 there as it does here, — say, a hundred days, — 

 and in the dry season becomes fodder, which 

 forms almost the entire food of the cattle. 

 Potatoes give only one crop there, though he 

 had seen two crops grown here in one season. 

 Last year the growing season here consisted 

 of two summers, with a dry season inter- 

 jectedbetween, which checked growth almost 

 as much as winter — in this respect resembling 

 the tropical climate, where a dry season 

 comes between the wet, growing seasons. 



The exports of Mexico are of very small 

 amount in proportion to the population of 

 about nine millions. The people are not in- 

 dustrious, and the products are not valuable. 

 The Coffee tree is one of the most valuable 

 productions. In its natural state it grows on 

 dry, even arid land, and produces the best 

 quality of coffee on such soils, while that 

 grown on low, moist, rich land is inferior. 

 The so-called "male berry" grows at an ele- 

 vation of about 3,000 feet above the level 

 of the sea. The high table-lands in the 

 southern part of the country are well adapted 

 to its growth. Th«y are, however, too high 

 for the Sugar-cane, which requires rich, 

 warm bottom lands. These also are found 

 in the southern part of the country, and there 

 it can be grown year after year. Cochineal 

 is abundant ; the Cactus on which the insect 

 which produces the dye is found flourishes 

 well. Corn cannot be grown as well as in 



the northern part of the United States. The 

 greater part of the Indigo used in this coun- 

 try comes from San Salvador in Central 

 America. The manufacture of this dye re- 

 quires a great deal of careful and skillful 

 technical work, and hence its cultivation is 

 not likely to become extensive. 



The agriculture of Mexico has been much 

 injured by the many revolutions, which 

 forced the laborers away from the haciendas 

 into the army, and thus brought about a 

 slovenly condition of agriculture. The 

 country may be described in the words of the 

 missionary hymn, "Every prospect pleases, 

 and only man is vile." A sea-captain who 

 had traded to Mexico, when asked about the 

 manners and customs of the natives, replied 

 that their manners were bad and their cus- 

 toms were nasty. Here the speaker saw the 

 spectacle, which would be incredible to tem- 

 perance reformers, of a people absolutely 

 abandoned without whisky. In Mexico and 

 Central America drunkenness is almost un- 

 known, but the people are bad. 



Mr. Russell did not think Apples could be 

 grown in Mexico, even on the high lands. 

 Peaches can be grown ; he saw them dried 

 and pressed into boxes, and called mataca- 

 tunes by the Indians. Figs grow in every 

 part, and Pineapples in many parts. The 

 Pineapples of commerce compared with those 

 ripened on the plant as a wild pasture Apple 

 compares with a Baldwin. Oranges are pro- 

 duced wherever the ground is not too high. 

 Grapevines in Central America grow most 

 luxuriantly, but produce no fruit. 



HOW A BOTANIC GARDEN IS FORMED IN 

 JAPAN. 



The following extract from a report from 

 Hakodate, Southern Yesso, says the Gar- 

 dener's Chronicle, will indicate the aptness of 

 these intelligent people, the Japanese, to 

 seize a new idea from a foreigner : 



"An inkling was given to three of the 

 principal native storekeepers, by a lady, to 

 start a botanical garden. The idea was 

 jumped at, as this was the very thing they 

 had always desired to have, the Japanese 

 being so very fond of flowers, and more 

 especially of foreign flowers ; but the in- 

 dividuals in question, who are brothers, did 

 not know how to set about it, and what 

 seeds to order, and, when they had them, 

 what to do with them. 



"Accordingly a plan for a garden was 

 drawn up, and some one having an idea of 

 gardening was engaged, after which a spot 

 of ground was selected most suitable for a 

 flower-garden ; but when application was 

 made for it, the Kaitakushi took the matter 

 in hand, and has now started a public gar- 

 den, the foreign directress still being con- 

 sulted on all matters. In order to give it 

 the character of a public undertaking, every 

 ward of the town was induced, in succes- 

 sion, to work there one whole day, besides 

 regular coolies paid by the Kaitakushi. 

 When the whole town had thus contributed 

 its quota of labor, all the singing-girls of the 

 tea-houses, with the other inmates of these 

 establishments, dressed up in gay colors, 

 were engaged there one whole day in smooth- 

 ing down the paths with a stone fastened to 

 ropes handled by about a dozen girls each, 

 singing and dancing all the time ; and, to 

 crown all, one Sunday all the officials, from 

 the highest to the lowest, dressed in laborers' 



working-clothes, were engaged in finishing 

 the 'fusiyama' of the garden, without which 

 no Japanese garden is complete." 



IMMORTELLES. 



The Immortelle (Helichrysum orientate) is 

 principally cultivated in warm situations on 

 the shores of the Mediterranean, where it 

 flowers in June, or at the earliest in the end 

 of May. It generally thrives better in bar- 

 ren, dry soil than in that which is rich and 

 fertile. It produces little seed, and there- 

 fore it has to be propagated by means of 

 cuttings, which are secured in the month of 

 July. These are inserted close together, in 

 well prepared, shady ground, and afterward 

 moderately watered. From fifteen to twenty 

 days afterward they begin to develop roots 

 and new leaves. In the following spring 

 they are transplanted, after all danger from 

 frost is over. The ground is prepared for 

 their reception by being dug about three or 

 four inches deep, very little manure being 

 added. 



With a view to getting the plants well 

 established, the flowers are not gathered 

 the first year. In harvesting the crop the 

 heads are cut off before the buds open, each 

 head containing some twenty flowers ; well 

 established plants produce sixty or seventy 

 stalks, and a plantation will continue pro- 

 ductive from eight to ten years, the flowers 

 being gathered only once in two years. 

 These flowers dried, and dyed sometimes 

 green, red, and black, are much used for 

 crowns and wreaths for the decoration of 

 cemeteries. — Gardening Illustrated. . 



OUR EXHIBITION TABLE. 

 Jefferson Grapes, from Mr. J. G. Burrow. Fish- 

 kill, N. r., received December 15th, after having 

 been off the vines for six weeks, were still in 

 very good condition, proving their extraordinary 

 keeping quality. The berries were very sweet, 

 high flavored and delicious, and as free from pulp 

 as a Grape can well be. 



Dried Apricots and Plums from Mr. Joseph 

 I Sexton, Ooleta, Santa Barbara Co., California.— 

 A box of each arrived iu excellent order, and 

 were admired by all who saw them. The Apricots 

 especially looked as fresh and bright as if they 

 had been but a few hours off the trees. If the 

 freight charges will not increase the price too 

 much, dried fruit of this quality should find a 

 ready market in the East. 



Queen of the Prairie Corn. —A basketful of 

 very large, well-filled ears of this variety is ex- 

 hibited by Mr. Henry S. Kipp, of Bergen Go., N. J., 

 who also favors us with the following interesting 

 and valuable communication in relation to it: 



" My experience at fanning during the last fifty 

 years warrants me to say that this Corn has no 

 equal; it comes nearer the mark than any I have 

 heretofore planted. It has advantages that no 

 other Corn possesses. First. It will grow in a 

 poorer soil. Second. It grows no suckers. Third. 

 It grows quicker and comes to maturity sooner. 

 Fourth. Three bushels of ears will shell two 

 bushels of Corn. 



"I planted about five acres of this Corn near 

 the middle of June. The ground was wet, low, and 

 miry (not accessible by horse). I cut holes with 

 a hoe, varying from two and a half to five feet 

 apart, and dropped in each hole three grains of 

 Com, and covered them up. Nothing more was 

 done, and the yield was seven hundred and fifty 

 bushels of Corn. 



" I still gave it a further test. I planted on the 

 upland six rows of this Corn in the same field with 

 other Corn, all served alike. When ripe, I husked 

 the six rows and six adjoining. The Queen of 

 Prairie beat it two bushels. That convinces me 

 this Corn is now the best in use." 



