330 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
The Common Groundsel. — Senecio vulgaris. 
The plant of which an iUustration is here giv- 
en, is a native of Europe, but has kept pace 
with emigration, and is now known in every 
country settled by Europeans. In this country 
it is not very common in the newer States, but 
in the older ones it is quite abundant. Being an 
annual, it can not be regarded as a very trouble- 
some weed, and none but a very careless culti- 
vator will allow it to overrun the soil. In prop- 
erly kept gardens the soil should not lie still 
long enough for weeds from seeds to get much 
of a foothold, and if any are visible they are 
only indications that the soil needs to be stirred. 
The engraving gives a sufficiently good idea of 
the plant without much description. At the 
lower right-hand side a head of flowers is shown 
of the natural size. It will be seen to be much 
like a head of flowers of the lettuce, except 
that while the small flowers in that are all fiat, 
in this they are all tubular. They both belong 
to the same great fami!}-, the Composit<B, the 
fruit in which is so frequently furnislied with 
a tuft of down which allows it to be carried 
from place to place by the wind. The seed of 
the Groundsel is dispersed through this agency, 
and in order to keep the ground clear of it, it 
should never be allowed to flower. The plant 
is also called Simson in England, where it is 
iised in domestic practice and as a medicine for 
bots in horses. It probably has no great amount 
of activity. Birds are quite fond of it, and 
pieces of it are frequently put into the cages of 
singing birds. The generic name, Senecio is 
from Senex, an old man, the crown of the ripe 
heads presenting a tuft of white hairs; the 
specific name, vulgaris, means common. 
»-■ _a*^ — .-» 
Among the Rhododendrons. 
— • — 
Among the shrubs cultivated for ornament, 
there is none more satisfactory and truly ele- 
gant than the hardy Rhododendrons. A single 
plant upon the lawn produces a fine effect, and 
a clump of them of various colors in full bloom 
is something magnificent. Knowing that Par- 
sons & Co., of Flushing, L. I., had the most ex- 
tensive collections of these plants in the coun- 
try, we visited their establishment in the height of 
their bloom. Probably no such floral show can 
be seen elsewhere, as this mass of thousands of 
Rhododendrons, with colors ranging from pure 
while to dark purple. Messrs. Parsons made a 
trial of all the new varieties produced in Europe, 
and have succeeded in selecting a series of per- 
fectly hardy free blooming sorts adapted to our 
climate, — for it is frequently the case that those 
varieties which are fine in Europe, are quite 
unsuiled to this country. Besides importing 
the best European seedlings, they have raised 
many themselves, and have some of their own 
production which excel any of the imported 
ones. Our native species Catawiiense and max- 
imum, crossed with the foreign Ponticiim, 
Caucasieum and arborenm, have given rise to a 
long list of varieties more or less hardy. The 
quality of the leaf is of as much importance as 
that of the flower, as it is only those, the foliage 
of which will endure extremes of our climate, 
that can be recommended for cultivation. Be- 
ing broad-leaved evergreens, the winter's sun is 
very hard upon them, and they do all the bet- 
ter if covered during the winter with a screen 
of cedar boughs, or a thin straw thatch. The 
Rhododendrons need a light, rich soil, free 
from superfluous moisture. A light, sandy 
loam with plenty of leaf mould, suits them best. 
Unfortunately for their general introduction, 
the plants are of such difficult propagation and 
slow growth, that cultivators are obliged to sell 
them at a rather high price. The finer sorts 
bring $2 and upwards each, while the common 
maximum is sold at about half the price. 
The Blight of the Pear Tree. 
Every summer we are in the receipt of nu- 
merous letters enclosing blackened leaves of 
the pear tree, accompanied usually by the state- 
ment that a tree, apparently in full vigor, has 
been suddenly attacked, and a part or the whole 
of it killed. So sudden and so thorough is the 
work of destruction, that many are led to attri- 
bute it to some deleterious matter in the soil. 
This disease or blight is one of the most serious 
drawbacks to pear culture, and has received 
attention from several close observers. In 
some cases the trouble is caused by a borer, 
which comes from an egg laid near the bud, 
and penetrating the stem, soon causes tlie limb 
to perish. The injury seldom extends much 
below the point at which the msect enters, and 
the dead branch may be removed and burned. 
The most common form of blight is not pro- 
duced by an insect, but is attributed to the 
eftect of early frosts, in autumn, upon the un- 
ripeued wood; hence it has received the name 
of " jrozen sap blight." It has been found to 
occur most frequently when early frosts occur 
after a warm autumn. This being the alleged 
cause of the disease, it is obvious that the means 
of preventing it are to select such situations 
and give the tree such treatment as will induce 
it to ripen its wood so early that it cannot bo 
affected by sudden atmospheric changes. A 
wet soil and over-manurmg will, especially in 
a warm autumn, cause the tree to remain in a 
growing state much longer than if it were plant- 
ed in a dry situation. A well drained, rich 
soil is most free from blight, though even here 
the very vigorous sorts may bo attacked by it. 
Root pruning has been recommended to check 
luxuriant growth, and would doubtless be ben- 
eficial. When the attack is but slight, the tree 
will usually recover if the deceased limbs be 
removed, cutting them below the point to 
which the wood is discolored. Dr. Khtlaud, 
whose suggestions are entitled to respectful 
consideration, regards the disease as one pro- 
per for medication, and has recommended the 
application of iron to the soil and to the leaves 
and branches of the tree. He proposes the 
use of blacksmiths' cinders about the roots, and 
sprinkling the tree with a solution of sulphate 
of iron (copperas). How far it is in our power 
to benefit trees by introducing into their circu- 
lation articles not demanded by their growth, 
is a matter upon which we have little or no 
positive knowledge, and is an interesting field 
for careful experiment. 
A Sport of the Rose. 
Some months ago we gave an engraving and 
description of the Green Rose, in which the pet- 
als are replaced by ordinaiy leaves; we now 
have an illustration of a more common, but equal- 
ly striking departure from the ordinary way of 
things, in which one rose appears as growing 
out of another. It is not rare to find roses with 
a bud pro- 
duced from 
the center, 
but we have 
never met 
with one in 
which the ab- 
normal con- 
dition was 
so strongly 
marked as in 
that repre- 
"V •\\M^i9. w^ Bented in the 
^^^^iO^^lfc^^ /WJ^i /i engraving, 
from a sketch 
by "W. L. 
G.," of Wal- 
lace, Ind. In 
flowers gen- 
erally, the 
parts are 
crowded up- 
on a recepta- 
cle, which is 
the end of the 
stem, and is 
rouuded off 
or enlarged to accommodate llieni. Tlie stem 
usually terminates within the flower and it does 
not often grow beyond it. In these sports of 
the rose the stem seems to be endowed with 
unusual vigor, and not contented to stop when 
it has borne a flower, it continues its growth 
and produces leaves and another flower. In 
the present case the growth was so vigorous 
that a second rose expanded above the first one 
