s 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
The European Larch. — At the Kane 
Co., 111., Fair, a European Larch tree was exhibited from 
the Larch forest of D. C. Scofield, Elgin, 111., of thirty 
feet in bight and twelve inches in diameter at the base or 
collar, which tree was imported from Scotland eleven 
years before, a plant the size of a goose quill. This tree 
was by no means the largest of the thousands growing in 
the above-mentioned forest, but is a demonstrative evi- 
dence of the rapid growth of the larch, which is one 
of the most valuable of all varieties of timber. 
Tree rtained.-"C. W. 11./' Bacon Hill, 
NY. The leaf is that of the Tulip Tree, also called 
Whitewood, and in some parts of the West, Poplar. It 
is one of our most beautiful ornamental trees. The leaf 
6ent is much larger than the usual size, being a foot 
across, and is probably from a young plant. 
**Tlie Diseases of the Wine, how to 
prevent and how to cure them." By J. A. Schmidt, New 
York. The researches of Pasteur upon the various ail- 
ments of wines have attracted much attention abroad. 
For the benefit of American wine makers these have 
been embodied by Mr, Schmidt in a small volume of 47 
pages, illustrated by numerous engravings of the micro- 
scopic characters of diseased wines. A small edition was 
issued to supply subscribers, and the few remaining 
copies are offered at $3 each. 
Cancer Nonsense. — Under the head of 
"Agricultural," the N. Y. "Weekly Tribune publishes the 
following: " Cancer Owed.— 3, W. James, Deerfield 
Centre, N. n. 'My wife had a cancer three inches in 
diameter drawn out by the use of a plaster made of wood 
sorrel. There is no mistake about it. for we did it our- 
selves, and several other cases have succeeded in the 
same way.' " What there is "agricultural" about that we 
fail to see. We wonder what became of that •'cancer" 
when it was drawn out. Bid it crawl off, crab-fashion? 
What an awful hole it must have left ! Why cannot the 
Tribune confine its quackery to its advertising columns, 
and not give an editorial endorsement to such stuff. 
I9Ioou-Si£>'ais. — Unbeliever, Burgettstown, 
Pa., asks : " Bo you believe, as many ao. m me 'signs of 
the moon', in regard to sowing, planting, etc. ?" — Of 
course we do, in our way. We believe if carrots are 
sown in the full of the moon, that they must be hoed and 
weeded very thoroughly in order to get a full crop. If 
pork killed in the wane of the moon " shrinks in the 
pot,** it is a sure sign that the pig wasn't properly fed. 
We have known many a crop to fail when the signs of 
the moon were not observed. There is a great dual in 
signs — if you don't believe it, ask Barnum. 
Pears Do not Bean-.— "A L. B.," Muu- 
roe, Mich., wishes to know why young pear trees, which 
blossom abundantly in spring, bear only four or five years. 
Merely blossoming, that is, the opening of the flower, is 
not all that is necessary to produce fruit. The pistil 
must be fertilized by the pollen, and if a cold, wet spell 
occurs at the time when the pollen is ready to do its 
office, fertilization is apt to fail. Then, again, many 
flowers are incapable of self fertilization, but must re- 
ceive pollen from another blossom of the same tree, or 
from one of a different tree. How far this is the case 
with the pear is not established, but there is no doubt that 
with this and other fruit trees, bees and other insects ma- 
terially assist in the important work of fertilization, 
by carrying pollen from one flower to another. 
The Stark Apple.— A. H. Gaston, Henry, 
111., sends ns specimens of this apple, which he con- 
siders of great value. Mr. G. says if he were to plant 
1,000 trees, 700 of them would be of the Stark. The 
fruit is large, and has every appearance of being a good 
market variety. While Mr. G. seta forth the good quali- 
ties of the fruit at length, he frankly admits that "in 
point of flavor it is not first-rate, but it is as good as we 
can expect." We learn from other sources that it is re- 
garded as a reliable and profitable market variety, and 
our Eastern •rchardists would do well to look after it. 
I So i- 1 {cultural Journals.— The new 
year brings some changes among our horticultural con- 
temporaries. Years ago. llovey's Magazine was the only 
journal of the kind, and in its earlier days showed more 
of vigor than latterly. Mr. Ilovey has been absorbed in 
too many other enterprises to give it that attention it 
needed, and quotations from foreign journals filled a 
large share of its pages. The Horticulturist appeared 
some years later, and was most charmingly edited by the 
late A. J. Downing. It has passed through many hands 
since. The Gardener's Monthly came nest in order, 
edited by Thomas Meehan, one of the most original 
thinkers and careful observers of our day. Last on 
the list came the American Journal of Horticulture, 
which does nut appear to have been edited at all. 
We learn by a 4 * Notice Extraordinary !" of a " Grand 
Horticultural Consolidation. " Hovey's Magazine and 
the American Journal of Horticulture are to ex- 
pire in each other's arms, to reappear as Tilton's 
Journal of Horticulture and Floral Magazine, which 
is a very sensible thing to do. There ought to be talent 
enough at and around the "'Hub" to give us something 
better in the way of a journal than we have yet had from 
there. The Horticulturist changes hands. Mr. Wood- 
ward has probably found that he could not attend to his 
profession and manage a journal too, and has disposed of 
the Horticulturist to II. T. Williams, who will, no doubt, 
infuse fresh life into it. We wish these new enterprises 
much success, which they can only attain by giving the 
horticultural public better journals than either Ilovey's, 
the Horticulturist, or the American Journal of Horticul- 
ture has been of late. As to the Gardener's Monthly, 
we hope it will continue to be as good as it has been. 
Pal nam on Illustrations.— Putnam's 
Magazine for October has an appreciative notice of 
Hoopes' Book of Evergreens, in which it speaks of the il- 
lustrations as " exceptionally good," and supposes that 
they must be the work of Mr. Isaac Sprague, an artist 
who lives near Boston. It says: u If they prove to be 
by another than Mr. Sprague. we shall then be gratified 
with the information that we have two first-rate bo- 
tanical draughtsmen, when we thought ourselves happy 
in only one." We think it a high compliment to the il- 
lustrations to have them taken for Mr. Spragne's work, 
but the reviewer has much to learn about draughtsmen 
and engravers. The illustrations which he thinks are so 
good that the name of draughtsman and engraver should 
be published, were drawn by four different artists, and 
engraved by six different engravers. All the work was 
clone in our own establishment. Boston is a clever 
place but it does not contain all the talent in that line. 
Pine IiCaves. — These, called "pine straw" 
and " pine needles," are used at the South as a mulch 
and for bedding animals. Who can tell about their 
ynlno aa o maumv, oud how la make, them available? 
Cut Cions Early, for when properly kept 
through the winter they are more likely to succeed in 
spring than those cut just before the time to set them. 
Vigorous shoots, which arc the best for cions, often do 
not become so thoroughly ripened that their vitality is 
not more or less impaired by long-continued cold weather. 
Small quantities of cions are best kept in sawdust. J. J. 
Thomas gives a very good method of preserving large 
quantities. They are placed in a box, which should be 
about two-thirds filled ; slats are then nailed across the 
box on the inside, to hold the cions down when it is in- 
verted. The box is then buried upside down below the 
reach of frost in a place where water will not stand. 
Sheep and Plantain, — " Contributor," 
Franklin. Tenn., writes in reference to an item in the 
October Agriculturist: '-If your northern Plantain is 
anything like our narrow-leaved Tennessee Plantain, and 
if your sheep have the same preferences as our Southern 
sheep, your correspondent will find that a small flock of 
sheep will do more in one day in eradicating the pest 
than a dozen hand weeders could do in a week. With us 
it is the favorite food of the sheep, and as they crop very 
close, two years of occasional grazing will get rid of it 
effectually. Indeed, in our State, where our meadows and 
lawns are infested with numberless varieties of weeds, 
we find that sheep and goats are worth their keep for no 
other purpose than as scavengers. Aside from their value 
as mutton and the product of their wool, we can well afford 
to feed a large flock for two months in the winter, (which 
is all that is ever required in our climate.) in order to 
have their services as scavengers. There is no weed or 
4 noxious plant * grown in our latitude which the sheep 
and goat will not eradicate, except the 'wild sage,' and 
the 4 old field broom sedge." "'—The trouble complained 
of was the Broad-leaved Plantain, PI ant ago major ; the 
one to which "'Contributor'" refers is the Rib-wort Plant- 
ain, or Rib-grass. Plant ago lanceolafa> which has been 
cultivated in Europe as pasturage. We quite agree with 
him as to the utility of sheep, but their services are not 
always available in ornamental grounds. 
The Scnppcrnong 4*rape; its History 
and mode of cultivation, with a short treatise on the 
manufacture of wine from it. By J. Van Buren, ofClarks- 
ville, Ga. The above is the title of a neat pamphlet of 
52 pages devoted to the Scuppernoug. which was de- 
scribed in our pa^es in Nov. last. Of course it can be of 
use only to our Southern readers, and such will find full 
directions for the planting, treatment, etc., of this pecu- 
liarly Southern grape, and have some political reflections 
of the author besides. Price of the work not given. 
Tree Peddlers.— " T. M.," Goshen, N. Y., 
writes : " It would be an excellent plan if you would call 
the attention of your readers to the importance of not 
patronizing the men who are going about canvassing for 
fruit trees. I have bought several times, and the trees are 
now beginning to bear, but out of fifty different varieties 
that I purchased, not one is true to name. In fact, they are 
all of one kind of apple, small and sour. I hear this 
complaint all over this section. It is necessary that we 
who want trees should go to some reliable nurseryman, 
and state to him what we waut. One of my neighbors 
bought 300 apple trees and 150 pear trees ; they were to be 
of the best varieties of fruit, and the apples turned out to 
be crab apples, and the pears at present it is hard to uame 
for there is scarcely any taste to the fruit, and it is very 
small. You can do a great amount of good by writing 
an article, and urging upon your readers the importance 
of avoiding such scamps as these tree agents are." 
If frieud "T. 31." had read the Agriculturist for many 
years he would have Been frequent warnings against tree 
peddlers, and the advice to order directly of the nurs- 
eries. As a class, the tree peddlers are a bad lot. They 
get orders and fill them with what they can pick up. In 
condemning all who travel and solicit orders for trees, 
some very worthy people will be included. Some of the 
best nurseries have travelling agents, who will fill orders 
faithfully ; but these are not of the class to which our 
correspondent alludes. It is always the safest to order 
direct, and never safe to order of a stranger unless he 
can give satisfactory proof that he is a duly authorized 
agent of some nursery of good reputation. 
Price of Farming Landis, — " J. K. S." 
"• I notice that farms are sold in the Carolinas for five 
dollars an acre, and in Lam/aster County. Pa., for two 
hundred and upwards. What makes the difference, and 
how can wc make the cheap lands in this vicinity worth 
two hundred?'' — Lands arc worth, for cultivation, any 
sum that they will pay the interest on. The Carolina lands 
do not now pay the interest on five dollars, and the Lan- 
caster County farms do pay the interest ou $'2<m> per acre. 
The difference is not altogether owing to quality of soil. 
Good neighborhood, security for property, health- 
ful climate, facility for getting manures and for mar- 
keting farm products all affect the price of land. Iu 
the South, land is plenty, and the workers with capital 
few. In Pennsylvania, the workers are many, and they 
all want laud. Of course, the price goes up. Bring in 
more workers who have capital, and improve your culti- 
vation, and the price of land will increase. A very in- 
teresting problem for the farmer to solve is— how to make 
an acre of average land pay the interest on $200. 
Field. Peas, — "A Subscriber'' inquires for 
" the name of the field peas raised in Canada for fatten- 
ing hogs/'' — The varieties for field culture are not so nu- 
merous as those grown in gardens. We presume you can 
get them of any wholesale seedsman by ordering Canada 
field peas. The principal sorts arc the gray and the 
white, and the best kinds for splitting are the " Pearl"' 
and the l - Suffolk." 
Pumpkin Seeds. — "J. R. S.," of Perry- 
ville. Pa., wishes to know if pumpkin seeds are good for 
beef cattle. What effects might be expected from an ex- 
clusive diet of these seeds we do not know, but fed with 
the pumpkins they would certainly do little harm. The 
seeds of pumpkins and similar plants, when eaten, pro- 
duce an increased secretion of urine, and check the se- 
cretion of milk in cows, and it may also be better not to 
feed the seeds to fattening animals for the same reason. 
White Laborat the South.— "N. D.," 
Shelbume, Vt. — " I have been thinking of purchasing a 
farm in the Carolinas. Can you tell me if a white man 
can endure labor in that climate ?'*— Many parts of the 
Carolinas are as favorable to the health of white men as 
the North. The river bottoms and rice swamps arc un- 
healthy, even for negroes. On the uplands, iu cleared 
districts, the Northern man endures the sun very well. A 
Southern planter, forced to work by the exigencies of the 
times, says : ■■ I worked hard, took the weather as it 
came, plowed, and hoed corn and cotton beneath the hot 
suns of June and July, pulled fodder, and yet my health 
has been unusually good, better than for many years that 
were passed iu sedentary •ccupations. ilauy persons 
told me I could not stand the hot suns. I have stood 
them very well, and I believe a great many others could 
do the same, if they had the will." Many more white 
men are killed in the South, as well as elsewhere, by their 
vices than by the climate. Germans and Irishmen are 
found as laborers in all the Gulf States, doing quite well. 
