Vol. IV. 



NEW-YORK, MARCH, ii 



No. 



" erican ||iflbi, 



A'MONTHLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL. 



Devoted to the Gardening' Interests of America, 



ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 



SINGLE NUMBER, 10 CENTS. 

 DR. F. M. H EX AM KR. : : Editor. 



B. K. BLISS & SONS, Publishers, 



34 Barclay Streer, New- York, 



To whom- all orders shontil Be addressed. 



Entered at Post-Office at New 1 



3nd-class matter. 



CONTENTS OF 



The American Garden 



For March, 1883. 



Page Forty-one— Contents — Give Credit to Whom 

 Due— Write for Your Paper. 



Page Forty-two— The Vegetable Garden — 

 Seasonable Hints — Conditions of Success in 

 Gardening, by E. R. Billings— Working the Soil 

 too Early, by Th. D. Baird— Dissolving Bones. 



Page Forty-three —The American Racer Pea- 

 Potato Culture, by Chas. E. Parnell — Raising 



Page Forty-four —The Fruit Garden — Season- 

 able Hints — Grafting, by J. Jenkins — Apples 

 for Export. 



Page Forty-Jive — The Kieffer Pear, by J. T. Lov- 

 ett— Fertilizers for the Vineyard, by E. Wil- 

 liams—Selection of Varieties. 



Page Forty-sir — The Flower Garden — March 

 Wind, a Poem — Seasonable Hints — Papaver 

 Danebrog— Degeneracy in Tuberoses— Some 

 Good Gladioluses. 



Page Forty-seven— The Bermuda Easter Lily, by 

 F. R. Pierson — Single Dahlias from Seed — A 

 Floating Garden. 



Page Forty-eight — Lawn and Landscape— A 

 Dozen Good Shrubs, by Ike Ivy— Bare Spots in 

 Lawns— The Window Garden and Green- 

 house— Roses in the House. 



Page Forty-nine— Cyclamen Culture, byR. S.E.— 

 Construction of Conservatories — Success with 

 Mignonette, by L. R. C. 



Page Fifty— Foreign Gardening— Tropical 

 Fruits, by E. S. Rand, Jr.— Foreign Experi- 

 mental Stations — Cactus as a Troublesome 

 Weed. 



Page Fifty-one —Miscellaneous— Wheat-grow- 

 ing, by Prof. A. E. Blount— New- York Horticult- 

 ural Experiment Station — Now- York Horticult- 

 ural Society. 



Page Fifty-two — Books and Pamphlets received 

 —Catalogues received— Answers to Correspond- 

 ents—Our Exhibition Table. 



Page Fifty-tJiree — Premium List — Advertising 

 Department. 



GIVE CREDIT TO WHOM DUE, 



It cannot but be gratifying to any journal 

 to find its contents considered so valuable 

 and timely as to be copied by its contempo- 

 raries. But, as the merchant takes more pleas- 

 ure and pride in selling his goods for a fail- 

 equivalent than in having them stolen, so 

 do publishers and editors prefer to receive 

 proper credit for their wares. 

 I There is rarely a mail that does not bring 

 us some exchanges which have copied from 

 one to half a dozen items and articles ex- 

 pressly written for The American Garden, 

 without giving any credit whatever, and it 

 has occurred even that the same article 

 appeared twice in one issue. Now, when 

 editors are so well pleased with our articles as 

 to copy them twice, common fairness should 

 suggest that they were worth crediting. 



Being aware that editors are as liable to 

 make mistakes as other mortals, we have 

 sometimes drawn their attention to such 

 omissions. All honest exchanges correct 

 such mistakes as far as possible, and as 

 readily and promptly as a merchant would 

 correct mistakes in filling orders ; but the 

 professional plagiarist does not heed it any 

 more to be branded thief, than the pirate. 

 Hereafter, we shall not waste any time and 

 postage in writing to those of our exchanges 

 who we are convinced are purposely and 

 designedly appropriating our articles, and 

 palm them off for their own, but shall simply 

 drop them from our exchange list. 



To our many honorable and esteemed ex- 

 changes we wish to say, that nothing gives us 

 more pleasure than to see those of our articles 

 which they deem worthy of reproduction 

 appear in their columns properly credited. 

 But please " give credit to whom due;" not 

 to Garden, Gardener, A. G., N. Y. Paper, Ex., 

 etc., but to The American Garden. 



We should not have said so much on what 

 may appear to many a trivial matter, and 

 one to which we shall probably not refer 

 again, but for its close relation to the entire 

 agricultural and horticultural interests. 

 What the agricultural press needs, more 

 than anything else, is its improvement and 

 elevation to the standard of its political, 

 literary, and scientific contemporaries; and 

 this can only be accomplished by honorable 

 and fair dealing, and by recognition of real 

 worth wherever found. 



WHITE FOR YOUR PAPER, 



Some of our readers favor us occasionally 

 with short items about their gardening ex- 

 periences, and we assure them that we highly 

 appreciate their attentions. Although it is 

 not always possible to make immediate and 

 direct acknowledgment, the suggestions and 

 information thus received clearly indicate 

 the inclinations and requirements of our 

 readers, and assist us essentially in making 

 The American Garden so as to best serve 

 their interests. 



WHAT THE HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER 

 SATS. 



" The American Garden is a real treas- 

 ure, and I not only peruse its columns at 

 once, but mark certain passages as worthy of 

 remembrance. Dr. Hexamer, its editor, is 

 one of the most experienced cultivators and 

 judicious writers in our land." 



Marshall P. Wilder. 



NOTICES OF THE PRESS, 



The American Garden is loaded with fresh 

 and valuable reading. Every department has 

 something good. Its able editor and the intelli- 

 gent contributors make it a most excellent 

 m onthly .— liepu bit can Standard. 



The American Garden is a bright, wide-awake 

 monthly magazine, devoted, as its name implies, 

 to agricultural matters, and especially to the gar- 

 den. It embraces among its writers some of the 

 best there are on the subjects treated of; indeed, 

 its editor may be said to be one of our foremost 

 agricultural writers. The subscription price is 

 only $1 per annum, and a premium of new seeds 

 thrown in. At this price it is an indispens- 

 able paper to e very farmer and gardener.— Mdora 

 Ledger. 



The American Garden is what everybody 

 who has a garden ought to see; and we have no 

 patience with a farmer who has not a well-kept 

 vegetable and flower garden, especially if he has 

 a family of boys and girls around him. It is now 

 in its fourth year, and is steadily adding to the 

 number of its friends. Something worth know- 

 ing about the vegetable garden, the fruit garden, 

 the flower garden, the lawn and landscape, 

 and about foreign gardening, has a place 

 in every number, and any overplus of attrac- 

 tive matter is stowed away under " Miscel- 

 laneous." This journal is also illustrated, is 

 issued once a month, for the very low price of one 

 dollar a year, by B. K. Bliss & Sons, 34 Barclay 

 street. New- York. If there is anything better 

 than this for the garden published in this country, 

 we have not seen it.— Christian Intelligencer. 



