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Acclimation. — It does not seem to be generally un- 

 derstood that there is certainly something in acclimation, 

 though just how far may be a question. It is often 

 argued that the potato is just as susceptible to injury 

 from white frost as it was 300 years ago ; but then there 

 has been no attempt at selecting hardier varieties. In 

 nature, selection of this sort goes on, the weakest not sur- 

 viving when hard times come. The Douglas spruce 

 of Colorado is undoubtedly the same as the Douglas 

 spruce of the Pacific. They are descendants of the 

 same originals, yet the former will endure much more 

 frost than the other. No one can explain just how this 

 was brought about, but the fact of acclimation remains 

 all the same. I have recently had a similar instance in 

 relation io Magnolia grandiflora. Plants from Virginia 

 seed are fairly hardy in Philadelphia, while those from 

 further south never live. — Thomas Meehan. 



Get "Novelty" Seed Potatoes Ready Now. — 

 Some of the seedsmen announce new varieties of pota- 

 toes for the coming year, and offer prizes for the largest 

 yield from one pound of seed potatoes. Those who may 

 wish to experiment in this direction will find it a good 

 plan to procure the seed tubers now, and to cut them up 

 into small pieces with a single eye in each. Get a shal- 

 low box, like a raisin box, fill it with good soil, and 

 bed the cut potatoes in the soil, packing them pretty c!lose 

 together. Give the soil a good showering and place in a 

 warm, sunny window. They will then sprout and send 

 up green stalks. When from two to three inches high, 

 carefully dig them up, pot each little plant in a small 

 pot, and keep in a warm, shady place for 48 hours, and 

 then place in a sunny window. The plants will grow 

 rapidly, and in about a month the tops can be cut off 

 and used as cuttings. Set them in a pot of sand in a 

 ■warm north window, and they will soon root and make 

 new plants that may be potted and placed in a sunny 

 window. When planting time comes, the young potato 

 plants can be turned out of the pots and set in the 

 ground. This plan has been tried by people who have 

 neither frames or hot-beds, and has been found to work 

 well. The young plants will be six inches high when 

 other people are just setting the tubers in the ground. 

 The number of plants will be much larger than if the 

 seed tubers were merely cut up and planted. The larger 

 the number of plants, the larger the crop. In other 

 words, multiply your plants before the growing season 

 begins. — C. B. 



Flavor in Sweet Corn. — In addition to what D. W. 

 says (page 227), in relation to flavor in "sweet" corn, 

 let us add that climate and soil so affect it. that in some 

 sections it is far sweeter than in others. As an example, 

 take an ear of the best Evergreen ; plant a portion on the 

 south side of Long Island, in light sandy soil ; another 

 portion in New England ; a third on the western prairies, 

 and we will have three distinct varieties, so far as flavor 

 goes. The writer's first experience with sweet corn was 

 on the eastern shore of Cayuga lake, where the con- 

 ditions are favorable for richness and sweetness. On 

 coming to the city to live and depend upon the grocer 



SA V. 



for vegetables, our appetite for something from the gar- 

 den was keen. When the season for corn came we were 

 disgusted with the quality offered. Our friends said 

 it was because it had been too long from the stalks, 

 which could not be helped because of the distance be- 

 tween grower and consumer. 



A few years later we moved to a farm fifteen miles out 

 on Long Island. There we expected corn equal to that we 

 had in our Cayuga home. When the corn came it did 

 not bring with it that rich sweetness we had expected. 

 Here was a surprise, mingled with regret. For lack of a 

 better reason we charged it to the cooking. This charge 

 was met with a hint that the fault was with my appetite. 

 But not so, because I found that the same corn grown a 

 mile to the north of us was much richer ; and that corn 

 grown on the borders of the Hudson river had the old 

 time richness. Later, when on a visit to the corn grow- 

 ing districts of Connecticut, I found there the corn 

 vastly superior in quality to any that I had ever 

 tasted, and that the western sweet corn could not be 

 eaten with a relish by any one who had eaten it in New 

 England. Hence our conclusion that the sweetness 

 comes from some natural condition of growth from 

 elements that cannot be furnished artificially, and the 

 quality of the corn is proportionate to the existing ele- 

 ments. — C. L. A. 



Hot-Air Furnaces in Greenhouses. — A subscriber 

 makes the suggestion that in the matter of heating green- 

 houses the common hot-air furnace may yet prove 

 available. The objections against the hot-air furnace 

 are two-fold. The hot-air pipes leak, and gas escapes 

 into the pipes and mingles with the warm air that is dis- 

 charged into the room, this gas being fatal to plant life- 

 The second objection is the difficulty of making the air 

 travel through a long narrow building like a greenhouse. 

 A third objection is found in the "burning," so-called, 

 of the air by coming in contact with the hot radiating 

 surfaces. The air from the register is always dry, but 

 "burned," or "devitalized," it could not be. The dust 

 in the air may be burned and the ashes may mingle with 

 the warm air and it doubtless does, but it is certainly 

 less harmful than the dust, which may often contain the 

 germs of disease. Our correspondent suggests the use 

 of fire-clay furnaces and reports the use of such furnaces 

 in dwelling houses. The idea is no doubt founded on 

 the familiar porcelain stoves to be seen in Germany 

 and Holland. Such stoves give out a soft, mild heat 

 that is said to be free from the defects of our iron hot- 

 air furnaces. If a hot-air furnace could be made of 

 fire-clay or similar materials, and if it could be made 

 absolutely gas-proof, it would answer for a greenhouse 

 and would have the advantage, in a small house, of 

 making it easy to ventilate, because the furnace would 

 be continually discharging warm, fresh air into the 

 building and forcing the bad air out. 



Blossoms are the Joy of Trees, in bearing which 

 they assume a new aspect, vying with each other in the 

 luxuriance and variety of their colors. — Pliny. 



