458 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
have done their work. Nothing short of 
uprooting will be certain to destroy them. 
The sudden and unusual cold caught me in 
the midst of bulb planting, and put an effectual 
stop to operations in that 
line. It is much better to 
have bulbs in early, but I 
have planted them late in 
December with good suc- 
cess. Ranunculuses and 
Anemones, which can 
hardly be considered as 
bulbs, should be kept out 
of the ground as late as 
practicable. If planted too 
earl}', they are very apt to 
start if a few warm days 
come before winter sets in. 
The majority of those who 
cultivate bulbs in windows 
make a failure of it, simply 
because they will not wait 
until the bulbs have made 
abundant roots before they 
are brought into the warm 
room. The catalogues di- 
rect to plant three Hya- 
cinths in a pot. "When the 
three are so accommoda- 
ting as to bloom all at the 
same time, the effect is 
very pretty, but this rarely 
happens ; one will get 
much ahead of the others, 
or else one will lag so far 
behind that the rest will be 
out of flower by the time 
it gets ready to open. Last 
winter I put a lot of bulbs 
in a box of earth mixed 
with moss rubbish, kept, 
them cool and dark until 
well rooted, and then 
brought them to the light 
in a back room. "When 
the flowers were about to 
open the bulbs were taken 
up, the earth washed out 
of the roots without break- 
ing them, and then placed 
in pots of moss which was 
kept wet. This method 
is much preferable to 
growing the bulbs in moss 
altogether, or in water, as 
it produces well developed 
leaves and flower stems, which are not usually 
found on plants nourished solely upon water. 
-»-. _•<>«_- — .-^ 
Sopt-wooded Plants as Standards. — 
Lautanas, Heliotropes, Lemon Verbenas, Ge- 
raniums, etc., are usually planted out in spring 
and allowed to grow in their own way, the ob- 
ject generally being an abundance of flowers. 
At the close of the season they are found to be 
too large and too unshapely to house, and they 
are left to be killed by the frost. By proper 
care at the start and an occasional pruning dur- 
ing the summer, the plants can be grown as 
dense bushes or may form pleasing standards. 
Lantanas and Lemon Verbenas may be grown 
to a single stem 5 or G feet high the first season ; 
they are to be kept over the winter in the cellar, 
and the next spring the upper branches only 
are allowed to grow and form a head. These 
plants trained in this way make fine lawn speci- 
mens and will last for years. The oddest thing 
to grow in the form of a standard or tree is the 
Achyranthes, a now common purplish-crimson 
bedding plant. There was at the Horticultural 
Exhibition at Boston, this fall, one with a single 
stem about four feet high, with a regular 
spreading head, which was a noticeable object. 
A NEW FRENCH CURIiAXT— DR. BRETE. 
A New French Currant— Dr. Brete. 
It is doubtful if we shall succeed in producing 
a currant superior in quality to the old Red 
Dutch. The Cherry and Versailles are greatly 
its superiors in size, but do not equal it in flavor. 
Each year some new sorts appear upon the 
catalogues, which, after a trial of a season or 
two, are found to be but repetitions of old or 
well-known varieties, or so much like them, 
that it is not worth while to keep them under 
distinct names. Sir. Win. S. Carpenter has for 
a long time been engaged in testing the new va- 
rieties of French and Belgian currants, and 
thinks that among a large number there are a 
few that are of permanent value. Among 
the new sorts he places the Dr. Brete at the 
head of the list. He has fruited it for four 
years, and says : " Bunch long, fruit of the 
largest size, and first quality. It is a prodigious 
bearer, producing twice as much fruit as any 
other currant in my collection." The engraving 
is an exact representation of a bearing branch 
from one of Mr. Carpenter's specimen plants. 
» ' ■■» ■ . 
The Beet as an Ornamental Plant.— 
Beets and Kale play an important part in the 
ornamental gardening of 
England. The winters of 
that country are so mild 
that these half hardy 
plants retain their beauty 
throughout the season. 
Beauty may seem a mis- 
placed adjective when ap- 
plied to these plants, but 
we have had specimens of 
variegated Kale that were 
really elegant in botli form 
and color ; though we did 
not know how much 
beauty there could be in 
the foliage of the Beet un- 
til Mr. William Chorlton, 
of Staten Island, brought 
us some specimens of the 
recent improved varieties. 
Some of these were of the 
most intense green, with 
stalks of clear gamboge 
yellow, others were a finer 
purple than Perilla, with 
crimson stalks, and others 
presented foliage of various 
shades of red and purple. 
We expect to see the beet 
take rank in our gardens 
as an ornamental plant- 
Grape Cuttings may 
be made as soon as the 
leaves fall, from wood of the 
present season's growth, 
rejecting that imperfectly 
ripened. The cuttings are 
made of two eyes each, 
i. e., with an eye at the top 
and bottom. They are 
tied up in convenient 
bundles and put in a 
moist cellar or buried 
where they will not freeze, 
until the ground is ready 
in spring. "J. J. S." is 
informed that planting the 
cuttings where the vines 
are wanted is not practiced 
by good cultivators. The 
cuttings are started in a 
bed and the next fall the best vines selected and 
planted out, or they may be heeled-in until spring. 
•-• — ■ « ♦■ — »-» . 
The Creeping Saxifrage, (Saxifmga sar- 
metiiosa,) sometimes called "Beefsteak Plant," 
is a very old-fashioned thing, but is neverthe- 
less a capital window plant. It will do best if 
grown in a hanging pot or basket, so that its 
singular runners may hang down. Though of 
modest color, its large pyramid of flowers is 
beautiful. It may be made to flower by keep- 
ing the runners pinched off. It is a good plant 
to cultivate in a cool room, as it will stand a 
moderate amount of freezing without injury. 
A Lilac Blooming in Autumn. — The Bu- 
cyrus, O., Journal, gives an account of an ex- 
periment by a young lady who plucked all the 
leaves from a lilac bush. In about a month the 
shrub had pushed out new foliage and was in 
bloom. This is just what might have been 
expected, and nothing wonderful about it. 
