THE Y SA y 



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Hawthorne as a Entomologist. — Nathaniel Haw- 

 thorne's Uncle Manning was a horticulturist, and in the 

 spring of 1822 was much troubled by an insect which 

 attacked his trees. Just at this time there appeared in 

 the Palladium newspaper a minute description of the 

 insect, its origin, progress, and the best method for ex- 

 terminating it. Mr. Manning was so pleased with the 

 article that he ordered several copies of the paper for 

 distribution among his horticultural friends. At this 

 time Hawthorne was a student at Bowdoin College, and 

 happened to arrive home just when his uncle was re- 

 ceiving the paper, and commenting freely on the article. 

 Hawthorne said to a young friend, ' I wrote that article. ' 

 'But what do you know about bugs?' inquired his 

 friend. 'Nothing,' was the reply; "I wrote it to pass 

 away an idle hour, and it was entirely made up from my 

 imagination. Now, if Uncle Robert should find it out, 

 he would be very angry ; so you must keep my secret." 

 Lewis/on Journal. 



The Magnolias will gi\'e us no flowers this year, if 

 the noble specimens on the Manice estate at Queens, L. 

 I., represent the class. The buds of these are all 

 dead; as far as can be seen there is not an exception. 

 The same is true of many of the spiraeas and other 

 flowering shrubs. This is, in part, the result of our late 

 warm winter. 



Roman Hyacinths. — The French growers of these 

 bulbs have formed a syndicate with a view of saving the 

 enormous profits heretofore made by the French mer- 

 chants at the expense of the producers. The growers 

 attribute the falling off of their sales to the high prices 

 charged by the merchants. So far as this country is 

 concerned this supposition is a mistake. It is not the 

 price that has retarded the sales, but the fad that the 

 Roman hyacinth is no 'longer in fashion, and that 

 among us fickle caprice governs the price of all flowers. 

 If the flowers were in demand the florist would gladly 

 pay the price. At present it would not pay to grow them 

 if the bulbs could be had at |io per 1,000. 



Golden Sugar Corn, is without exception, the most 

 delicious sweet-corn we have ever tasted ; for sweetness 

 and richness it has no equal, and it is one of the earliest 

 as well. We shall plant no other this season, and to 

 keep up a succession we shall make several plantings. 

 This must not be confounded with the variety known as 

 New Gold Coin, which is of the same color, but larger 

 and later, and our experience with it last year was not 

 satisfactory, for it was deficient in the qualities that go 

 to make up a good table variety, richness and sweetness. 

 ■We may be mistaken in the quality of this \ ariety, and, 

 when grown under different conditions, it may be desir- 

 able. With us it was not. — Queens. 



Hydrangea Rosea seems a misnomer at first 

 glance, for the flower is a very deep and vivid blue, far 

 darker than H. hortensis. The specific name is no 

 doubt applied with reference to the foliage ; the stems 

 and veins are a bright rosy tint, deeper and more dis- 

 tinct than in any other variety. 



Justicia Carnea is a handsome stove plant, familiar 

 to the older generation of gardeners, which has terminal 

 spikes of beautiful deep flesh-pink flowers. This is a 

 fine addition to the sub-tropical garden. Experiments 

 are constantly increasing the number of stove plants 

 which bear out-door use during the summer. There are 

 a good many showy Justicias, which could doubtless be 

 used in sub-tropical bedding. These plants belong to 

 the Acanthaceae. 



Seeds in Dated Papers is the subject of a short 

 article in one of our valued contemporaries, the Country 

 Gcii/lfiiiaii, written to show how much the buyer suffers 

 at the hands of the merchant in the purchase of old 

 seeds. It does not state the case fairly, or rather fully. 

 In the first place, no seedsman, worthy the name, ever 

 sends out seed without sufficient vitality to germinate 

 satisfactorily. Seeds may be bought at a country store 

 where they have been kept so long as to have outlived 

 their usefulness, but that is no place to buy seeds. The 

 place to buy seeds is at the seedsman's. But the most 

 important query is, are seeds not as valuable when old, 

 even though not more than two per cent, of them ger- 

 minate ? Now, it all depends upon the seeds. All vine 

 seeds are greatly to be preferred when several years old, 

 as they produce grapes with more flesh and fewer seeds 

 than perfectly fresh seeds. Of many kinds of florists' 

 flowers what are considered perfect specimens — very 

 double, cannot be produced unless the seeds are old. 

 Many of our market gardeners buy a sufficient quantity 

 of cabbage seed, as well as other sorts, to last several 

 years, in order that they may know what they have, and 

 many of them find that they get better vegetables from 

 old than from new seed. — C. L. Allen. 



Good Decorative Plants. — Several of the tilland- 

 sias and other-nearly allied bromeliads will be found use- 

 ful in the house or for decoration. The queerly barred 

 7'. zebrina is always admired for its odd, snaky marking, 

 and it bears the dry air of a room excellently. Stand 

 it in a bed of lycopodiums, and the contrast with the 

 soft green is very striking. Others of the plain green 

 foliaged tillandsias will be found very decorative, espec- 

 ially when bearing their flaming spikes of odd flowers. 

 — E. L. T. 



Growers of Azaleas for decorating purposes rarely 

 go in for a large range of varieties ; less than a dozen 

 sorts, well chosen, fill their needs. Madame Vander- 

 cruyssen is a first-rate trade azalea, with flowers a 

 clear rose, well set and profuse ; clean good foliage, a 

 good habit, and good constitution. Bernard Andreas is 

 a favorite red, and B. Andreas alba takes a good rank 

 among whites. These three are always favorites. 



Money in the Soil. — At a recent New York institute, 

 a well known horticulturist related his experience for 

 ten years. He began with a run down 50-acre farm, 

 encumbered for |8, 500, and he had no money to stock 

 it, and he was inexperienced. He grew small fruits and 

 plants. In ten years the sales from that farm have ag- 

 gregated $100,000. 



