384 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
and formidable than are here shown. 
The Solannm, or Ni^lit-shade Fam- 
ily, lo which this plant belongs, is 
quite remarkable for the widely- 
different character of its menv 
bers. While on the one band 
furnishes us with the useful Potato, 
Tomato, and Egg-plant, it on the 
other hand produces the poisonous 
Stramonium, Henbane, and Tobac- 
co. The plant under consideration 
may or may not be poisonous, but 
it is certainly pestiferous. Its per- 
ennial roots, when once establish- 
ed, are very difficult to destroy, 
and as its prickly stems, which 
grow about a foot high, keep ani- 
mals of all kinds at a respectful 
distance, the plant soon gets pos- 
session of the soil, and forms patch- 
es where it luxuriates to the exclu- 
sion of all other vegetation. Dr. 
Darlington, who had some ex- 
perience with it, informed us that 
he considered it the worst of all 
weeds. The plant is not without 
beauty, as its blue, or white flow- 
ers, as well as its round orange yel- 
low berries, are quite showy. Let ^ 
no one be deceived by the good 
looks of this or the Bladder Cam- 
pion, noticed elsewhere, but whenever they ap- 
pear, let them be thoroughly exterminated. 
This plant is sometimes mistaken fijr the Canada 
Thistle, but differs nruch from it in appearance. 
The Kittatinny Blackberry. 
lu October last we published an engraving and 
some account of a new variety of blackberry, 
called the Kittatinny. At Mr. Williams' request 
we again visited the plants in the present fruiting 
season, and are quite satisfied that we did not, 
in the article referred to, overestimate its good 
qualities. It is very hardy, a great bearer, 
and ripens its fruit gradually through a period 
of six or eight weeks. The berries are very 
large, sweet, and of most excellent flavor, and 
possess the great merit of being ripe when they 
are black. If this variet}' proves as good else- 
where as it does in the neighborhood where it 
originated, it will become very popular. A plant 
of this variety set out last fall in tlie grounds 
of one of the editors, on Long Island, made 
a most promising show of fruit this season. 
Cultivating the Pansy. 
— • — 
We have many complaints of want of success 
with the Pansy. The general cause of failure is 
owing to the fact, that when the seed is sown in 
the spring the plants do not get large enough 
to bloom before hot weather, and as they can- 
not endure the heat of our midsummers, unless 
in a favorably shaded spot, they will dwindle 
and give an unsatisfactory bloom, and often die 
oiU altogether. Tlie best plan is, to take a hint 
from the way in which the plant sows its own 
seeds, which it does as soon as they are ripe. 
Seeds sown this month, will make strong plants 
before winter. At the approach of cold weather, 
cover them with leaves, or other light litter. 
Much better results may be obtained if tliey are 
transplanted to a cold frame, where they will 
flower very early in spring. When a choice 
variety is raised from seed, it is readily contin- 
ued by propagating by layers or by cuttings. 
Moss Eoses. 
Floriculture produces nothing more beautiful 
than a Moss-rose bud. To be in perfection the 
bud must be just on the point of expansion, 
when the swelling petals have spread apart the 
divisions of the calyx and show their pure rose 
tint in a setting of delicate green moss-like 
fringe. To those who really admire Moss-roses 
it may seem as unsentimental as to give the 
chemical analysis of a tear, or an anatomical 
and physiological account of a smile, to say that 
all this beauty is produced by an abnormal 
growth of the flower cup, and that these 
roses are onlj' accidental varieties of common 
roses ; yet such is the fact, and the lovely mossi- 
ness which we so much admire is as much a su- 
perfluity as the extra toe of a Dorking fowl. 
The Moss-rose is supposed to have been intro- 
duced into England from Holland, more than a 
century ago, and for a long time there was only 
one variety known. Of late years, liowevei', 
the number of varieties have been greatly in- 
creased, and we have in the catalogues over 50, 
varying in color from white to dark purplish 
crimson. The little outgrowths of the calyx 
which produce the mossy appearance in these 
roses, are small leafy excresences, which differ 
very much in size and abundance in the difler- 
ent varieties. On some ferns a similar phenom- 
enon is observed, and we have the cristate, or 
crested, varieties of several species. Generally 
the "moss" of the rose is so very fine that it 
could not be represented in our rapidly printed 
pages, but there is one variety called the Crest- 
ed Moss in which it is very coarse and conspic- 
uous and this one we have had engraved. The 
specimen from which the drawing was taken 
was from a fine collection of roses presented at 
our strawberry show, by Wra. H. Burgess, Glen 
Cove, N. Y. This variety is said to have been 
found in Switzerland ; it presents a beautiful 
appearance in the bud, and is one of the prized 
Moss-roses. It is curious tonotice that in this va- 
riety, the leaf shows the same disposition to pro- 
duce the abnormal mossy growth as the flower 
does — a fact not to be wondered at, when we 
consider that the calyx lobes are leaf-like in 
their nature. All the varieties of the Moss-rose 
need a rich, light and well draiucd soil for 
their best development. Among Die best va- 
rieties are : Princess Adelaide, Salet, AVliite 
Moss, Capt. John Ingram, Common Blush, 
Crested, Glory of Mosses, Countesse de Mu- 
rinais, Duchesse d'Ystrie and Luxembourg. 
— «-. — —m-^^ — - — .-« 
Notes on Strawberry Culture.— Answers, 
I 
If there be any who think we devote an un- 
due amount of space to the matter of small 
fruits, they must recollect that il is a subject that 
interests every one who has a piece of ground, 
be it a city lot, or a large farm. While the very 
large sums which are annually paid for small 
fruits, makes their culture important as a 
remunerative branch of industry, there is 
nothing that would so add to the comfort and 
promote the health of our fiirming community, 
as an abundant supply of strawberries, raspber- 
ries, currants, blackberries and grapes. AVe 
judge from our correspondence of the subjects 
our readers feel most interested in, and it is safe 
to say, that half of the letters of inquiry we have 
received this season, have been in reference to 
the culture of small fruits. We have now be- 
fore us some 20 letters, all upon the strawberry. 
If we were to answer each of these in a basket 
item, there would be too many strawberries in 
one basket, so we will make a general article, 
treating the subject so as to answer as well as 
may be, the different queries. In the first place, 
we have three kinds of flowers among straw- 
berries: perfect or hermaphrodite, which have 
both stamens and pistils; the pistillate in which 
the stamens are poorly developed, or wanting ; 
and the barren, orstarainate iu which the pistils 
are im|)erfect. Tlie perfect or hermaphrodite 
are self fertilizing, while the pistillate ones need 
to have perfect flowers near them to enable 
them to bear. Staminate, or barren flowers oc- 
cur rarely and are of no use except to fertilize 
pistillates, an office which can as well be done 
by hermaphrodites. The correspondent whose 
"Hovey's seedling" he has in vain tried to fer- 
tilize with several other varieties, ni<a\' not have 
the Hovey at all, as he procured bis plants of a 
travelling peddler. Boston Pine is the kind 
much used with the Hovey, around Boston, and 
the Early Scarlet and others are also used. 
In garden culture we think it best to plant iu 
beds four feet wide, putting one row of plants 
in the center and a row on each side of the 
center one, 18 inches distant from it; the plants 
are to be 13 to 18 inches apart in the rows. 
September is the most favorable month for 
autumn planting, as the young plants from run- 
ners are stronger than they are in August, and 
there is still a sufficiently long growing season, 
to enable them to get well established before 
winter. A bed set now, in rich and well pro- 
pared soil, will give a fair crop next year. The 
notion which at one time pievailed, that straw- 
berries were injured by high culture is well 
nigh abandoned. An excess of coarse, crude 
manure is injurious, but they will do all the 
better for a generous supply of rich compost. 
Barnyard manure, toell decomposed, suits them 
admirably. In garden culture it is best to keep 
all the runners clipped off. When cold weather 
sets in, give the beds a mulch of any kind of 
litter, taking care not to cover the plants too 
heavily. In field culture, where the work is to 
bo done in part by the horse, the ro;vs are three 
or four feet asunder and the plants set one foot 
