10: 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Maih.ii. 
Orientate, the Prince's Feather, or Ragged-Sail- 
or, a tail species with rather coarse foiiage ami 
drooping spikes of rose colored flowers, is often 
seen in the humbler attempts at gardening, in 
company with Sunflowers, Love-lies-bleeding, 
and other similarly coarse and weedy plants. 
"We have for some years known a species 
which is really worth cultivating, but which 
does not seem to be much disseminated — the 
Polygonum ensjHilatum, a native of Japan. Ii is 
a perfectly hardy perennial, which throws up 
blanching stems three or four feel high, bearing 
large oval leaves, which are long-pointed at t lie 
apex, — hence the name cuspidatum. The small 
white towers are in little clusters in the axils of 
lae leaves, and are succeeded by the fruit, of 
seeds, which being of a pale rose color arc more 
showj' than the Mowers themselves. Though the 
flowers individually are small, they arc produced 
in such abundance and have such a graceful 
droop that the plant is quite showy in flower 
and fruit, and its effect is heightened by the red- 
dish color of the stems. The plant increases 
very rapidly, and soon forms a large clump ; in- 
deed this is its greatest fault, and one which unfits 
it for use in small borders. It is very effective 
for planting where there is plenty of room, and 
it will grow in any soil and situation, even under 
the shade of trees. It blooms in July and Au- 
gust, and continues fir a long time. There 
is a variegated leaved form which is rather 
curious, but the variegation is not constant. 
Mr. Nathaniel Hill, Pleasant Hill, Ohio, has 
another way of arriving at the same result. He 
uses a triangular wooden frame as a guide. The 
frame, fig. 2, is made of two strips of plank 
placed so as to form two sides of a triangle of 
the required length, and provided with a cross 
piece to keep it in shape. Iu laying off an or- 
chard, but one straight line has to be marked for 
a base line and the distances for the first row 
Laying out an Orchard. 
When trees are set equidistant in parallel 
rows, the land is not laid off to the best advan- 
tage. The plan is modified by making the trees 
iu one row alternate with those in the next, a 
method to which the term quincunx is applied. 
Warder differs from others iu his description of 
quincunx, which he says "is constituted by one 
central tree surrounded by six, and all equi- 
distant." This is planting in hexagons, and 
SCrt 20F 20* 
7\ 1 * 
Fig. 1. — PLAN OF THF. ORCHARD. 
while ive legrct that Warder should have given 
to it a name that is likely to lead to confusion, 
we quite agree with him that ii i- the plan upon 
which the greatest number of trees can be set 
upon an acre and all be at equal distances. If 
the trees are to be 20 
feet apart, hi- direc- 
tions are to lay off par- 
allel lilies 17 feet 4 
inches apart, by stakes 
or by marking furrows. 
Crossing these lines, at 
right angles with them, 
arc drawn others, 10 
feet apart. The trees are set at every alternate 
intersection of the cross marks with the longitu- 
dinal ones. The accompanying diagram, fig. 
1, will show the arrangement, and it will be 
seen that each tree is at the corner of an equi- 
lateral triangle, and is also at the centre of a 
heiajon, formed by six other equidistant trees. 
ir 
Fig. 3. — PLANTING GUIDE. 
staked out upon this. Bypiaeing the two arms 
of the frame at the slakes of the first row, the 
places for the trees in the second row are in- 
dicated by the point of the frame, and so on. 
Mr. II. sets his trees oO feet apart, and though 
it requires three men to move the frame, lie 
thinks it less trouble and more accurate than 
any other method. Whatever plan may be pre. 
ferred for laying out the orchard, it is best to 
mark the position of every tree by a stake before 
commencing to plant In this way all inaccu- 
racies may be remedied with much less trouble 
than after the trees have been set. Home years 
ago we figured a planting guide, the useof which 
will insure the placing of the tree iu the precise 
position occupied by the stake. It is a board, 8 
feel long, fig. 3, with a hole at each end and a 
notch in the middle. Lay this on the ground 
with the notch at the stake, drive a pin into the 
ground through each hole, and lift the board off, 
leaving the pins iu the ground. The stake may 
be removed, the hole made; when the board is 
placed again on the pins the notch accurately in- 
dicates where the trunk of the tree should stand. 
Market Gardening around Philadelphia— 
What Vegetables are Grown. 
[In response to a request for a list of the seeds 
iu demand by the Philadelphia Market Gar- 
deners, Mr. Dreer communicates the following. 
Where the varieties differ from those popular 
with growers for the New York markets, we 
add those preferred by the latter, in bracket-. 
Tiie list in this way will present at a glance the 
varieties approve.! by the two largest market 
gardening communities in the country. — Eds.] 
Philadelphia has 1 pg been noted for its 
superior markets, and particularly for the pro- 
fusion and quality of the vegetables found in 
them. The market gardeners of Philadelphia 
arc a thrifty, industrious, and honest class of 
people, not much given to ''book learning," but 
intelligent enough to know what pays best to 
grow, and how to grow it. That portion of the 
city known as the "Neck," (being the strip of 
laud below the built-up portion of the city lying 
between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers,) 
has from lime immemorial been occupied as 
" Truck Farms;" and here many of the descend- 
ants of the original settlers, (Swedes and Ger- 
mans) still live, although the march of improve- 
ment is rapidly encroaching upon them, and 
has already driven many of them to other local- 
ities around the city. 
Iu no one thing are our gardeners more 
fastidious than in the selection of their seeds. 
They want the best, and are willing to pay for 
them; they are great sceptics, and slow to ex- 
periment with new sorts, preferring well tested, 
old varieties. They are also very careful in saving 
many of their own seeds, and have a strong 
prejudice against many of the imported varieties. 
The following is a list of the leading kinds 
grown by them for the Philadelphia market. 
Asparagus. — Lesfier's Mammoth; to grow to 
perfection must be planted four to five feel apart . 
[Gia®tj more depends upon the cultivation 
than upon the variety.] 
Beans. — Dwarf or snap ; for early, Early Mo- 
hawk : for general crop and late planting, the 
Valentine, which we consider the best. [Eur!;/ 
Valentine for early, and Refugee for late.] 
Beans. — Pole or running. Large Lima for 
shelling, and Giant Wo.c for a snap bean. The 
latter is popular iu our markets, but the sup- 
ply has not yet been equal to the demand. 
Beet. — The Early Bassano, known as the 
" Earl}- While Beet," is superseded by the 
Simon'* Early Bed Turnip Beet. It is quite as 
early, much better shaped, dark colored, and is 
the most extensively grown of any, not only for 
early, but in later planting for late use. The 
Half-lo,ng Blood, known also as the "Baltimore 
Beet," is also largely grown. [Short-top Bound, 
Early Blood Turnip, Long Smooth Blood.] 
Cabbage. — Large Early York, Early Waht- 
field, Early Winningstadt,iu\& Early FlatDutch, 
follow in succession; the Largt Early York is, 
however, the leading sort. These varieties arc 
sown iu September and wintered in cold frame-. 
The Philadelphia Drumhead and Flat Dutch 
are sown iu the spring. Of these our garden : - 
will use no other but home-grown seed, they 
have been so often deceived in imported seed. 
[Early Wakefield, Jersey grown seed, preferred 
for early; Elat Drumhead, Late Bergen, and 
Drumhead Savoy for late.] 
(' ltjlifloweb. — Early Paris, Lt Jformaud, 
and Wulciteren. [Early Erfurt fox early ; Thor- 
'.••>i n't Yonpareil for late.] 
Carkot. — Early Shorthorn, Scarlet Horn, 
Long Orange. 
Celery. — Taenia's Incomparable Dwarf, and 
White Solid. Philadelphia growth is preferred ; 
the imported seed is apt lo produce hollow 
stalks. [Dwarf sorts usually grown under the 
names of Em Dwarf, Incomparable Dwarf, 
En';/ Dwarf, Whitt Som,etc.] 
Corn Salad i= very extensively grown for 
early spring use. It is sown in September, and 
covered in the winter with a sprinkling of straw. 
Corn, Indian. — Adams? Ear';/, only salable 
until the Eight-routed Sugar and Evergreen appear 
in market ; the former being hardy can be plant- 
ed much earlier than the others. [Early Darling.] 
Cucumber. — Early White Spined, for salad, 
and the Long Grit n. for pickles. 
Ego Plant.—/,"/',-/. Bound Purple (pricklj 
stein) is preferred. [Mew York Purple.] 
Endive. — Gnen thirled i- the popular sort. 
Kohlrabi. — Early Whit: Vienna, and for 
late,' the Large White, 
Kale ob Bobecole. — The Dwarf German 
and Scotch are sown in the fall, and slights 
covered during the. winter for early greens. 
Leek. — Large flag and Large Musselburgh. 
Lettuce. — For early heading, the Early Cab- 
bage and Brown Dutch ; later use, Royal Oa 
and Ouried Jndia-liead. The latter the best for 
early summer use. [Early Simpson, a variety 
of the Curled Sile-ian, preferred for early.] 
Melons, Musk, are principally grown in New 
Jersey for our market. The leading kinds are 
Jenny Lind for early ; Nested Citron, Pine-apple, 
Nutmeg, Turks-cap and Persian for later, and 
follow in the order in which they are named. 
Melon.-, Water, are also grown in New 
Jersey. TjHjifevoritg variety is the 2louv.ieih. 
