1871.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
23 
ic, can nourish in sodden earth. The rule 
should be to water just before the plant begins 
to need it. A watchful eye will notice the 
proper time. 
Ai r is another requirement of house plants. 
"We ourselves contrive to survive with an im- 
pure atmosphere, but the plants cannot be de- 
ceived. They must have proper air or they will 
perish. In old-fashioned houses heated by wood 
fires, where there is abundant ventilation, there 
is no difficulty in growing house plants. In our 
modern houses, success with plants is the ex- 
ception. Open the windows whenever there is 
no danger of freezing the plants. 
Dust is the housekeeper's annoyance, and it 
is also that of the plant. Cover the plants with 
papers or a cloth wliile sweeping is going on, and 
as often as practicable set the pots in a sink or 
bath-tub and give them a tine showering from a 
watering-pot. 
Heat. — This must be governed by the require- 
ments of the family. When it can be regulated, 
the temperature for plants at night should be 
from 10 to 15 degrees less than they have with 
sunlight. Here is one great trouble with house 
plants. "We keep the temperature of our rooms 
as high or higher at night than we do in the 
daytime. 
Fertilizers. — Much is written by amateur 
newspaper writers about the use of ammonia, 
and this and that specific for making plants 
flourish. "We have raised a great many house 
plants, and have had about as good success as 
the average, without recourse to any of this 
fancy treatment. The plants are put into good, 
rich, light soil at the outset, and they do not 
need any thing from the apothecary's shop. 
Some who write about plants seem to delight in 
throwing a mystery about their cultivation and 
ascribe their success to certain fertilizers. 
Proper watering, judicious airing, and a low 
night temperature, will do all that can be done 
for their welfare. 
Notes from the Pines. 
There was never any thing finer than the frost 
work the other morning upon the edges of the 
celery 1 Each leaf was fringed with a border 
of pure white crystals which, in contrast with 
the dark green of the leaf, made a filigree work 
so beautiful that it seemed a pity that the rising 
sun should destroy it all. "Winter has its beau- 
ties as well as spring-time and summer. 
Cordox Peach-Tkees. — I have taken a great 
deal of pleasure in a dozen Cordon peach-trees 
trained against the chicken house. A trellis 
was made a foot from the house, the trees plant- 
ed four feet apart. E:ich was cut back to with- 
in a foot of the root, and only a single stem al- 
lowed to grow. How that stem did grow ! I 
watched it morning and eveuiug as it kept on 
growing and growing. Then it put out side 
shoots, and when they had made eight leaves 
they were pinched back to four. Here was oc- 
cupation and amusement, this watching and 
pinching. Of the pinched shoots, some of them 
pushed again, and they were treated just as the 
original shoots were. Now that the leaves are 
off, I have my trees, nearly all, eight feet high, 
and for the greater part of their bight, furnish- 
ed with short brandies, which I shall cut in 
somewhat. Some people see these trees and 
ask what is the use. Such do not know the 
pleasures of horticulture. Setting out an acre 
or ten acres of trees for the profit thereof is one 
thing. Planting a dozeu trees to guide and 
mould under one's own hands, is another. If I 
never get a peach I shall have been amply re- 
paid in the enjoyment I have had in pinching 
and pruning. But if one can prognosticate, I 
shall get peaches ; for my cordon trees are all 
furnished with blossom buds, and if a frost 
comes at blossoming time I can protect them 
with mats, or with newspapers for that matter. 
One peach so raised will be worth a basket of 
Delawares, because it will be mine. Now this 
is just the feeling that we lack in this country — 
the growing of a thing for the sake of growing 
it. In true horticulture, dollars and cents do 
not come iuto the account. 
Spinach. — "Was there ever such a provoking 
thing. I had a patch sown in September. It 
came up and staved up. I am thankful that it 
did not go back into the ground again; but it 
would not grow and give me thinnings for the 
table. Now in these December days it has taken 
a start and is growing famously, and gives 
promise of an excellent crop for spring. 
Scolymus. — I don't know any oilier name for 
it unless it be the French, Scolyme cCEspagne, 
and that can only be translated into Spanish 
Scolymus. Well, Scolymus is as good a name 
as Salsify, and the plant is a great deal better 
than the one that bears that name. It is one of 
the new things I have tried this year, and I like 
it. It bears great thistle-like tufts of leaves 
— and its root goes down and down ; but when 
yoil get it up you have got something. It is a 
long, large, white root, that does not, like Sal- 
sify, turn black upon the slightest exposure. 
It has much the oyster flavor of Salsify, and, 
upon the whole, I am much pleased wiih 
it. A part of the crop has been dug, and the 
rest left to see how it will winter over. Prom 
one season's experience, I am inclined to com- 
mend the Scolymus. 
Weeds. — It is not usual to talk about weeds 
in December; but just go into your garden, 
that you thought was left clean at the clearing 
up, and see the little green tufts, not bigger 
than an old-fashioned sixpence, but they are 
there, and, with the first warm sun in March, 
they will " blossom and bourgeon " in a way 
that will surprise you. Botanlcally, I love 
weeds, horticultural!}', I detest them ; and so 
astonish my man by directing him to do a bit of 
hoeing in December, when the ground and 
the weeds are just right. 
•-. ■■ » »■ >-•- 
About Commission Merchants. 
Whoever raises a crop, whether it be fruits or 
early vegetables, poultry or what not, wishes to 
get the best possible price for it. He thinks, if 
within reaching distance, he can do best in the 
New-York market, and as a matter of course 
sends to the American Agriculturist to know 
who is a "reliable commission merchant." We 
have done with recommending commission 
merchants, for this reason : The nature of the 
business is such that with the best intentions on 
both sides, consignee and consignor, there is like- 
ly to bo a misunderstanding. Some of the best 
men we ever knew in the business have been 
stigmatized as rascals, and some of the worst ones 
have been able to show, in certain cases, a clear 
record. Under the circumstances we do not 
vouch for the standing of any commission mer- 
chant. We know of some with whom we would 
trust ifliy thing, but others living far away might 
send them produce and feel that they had not 
been fairly dealt with. When our friends send 
to us asking us to recommend a commission 
merchant, the best we can do is to send the 
cards of two or three whom we believe to be 
honest, and there our responsibility ends. 
The Edible Polymnia-— Novelties. 
In April last, under the head of "A Proposed 
New "Vegetable," we gave an account of the 
Edible Polymnia {Polymnia edulix), and at the 
same time presented an engraving of the root, 
which had been sent us by a Prussian seeds- 
man. We staled that we had the seeds, and 
proposed to try the plant and give a report of 
it. The seeds, which were carefully sown in a 
hot-bed, did not come up, and we procured a 
second lot, but met with no better success. A 
friend, who is always on the lookout for nov- 
elties, sent to Europe for some seeds, which he; 
received by post, but he did not succeed in 
raising a plant. Thus far we have heard of 
no Edible Polymnia in this country. New- 
comes the Illustration Hordeola with a record of 
the experience with the plant in Belgium. An 
account is given of its history and botanical 
characters, but its value is summed up in the 
concluding paragraphs, which we translate: 
"After all this fine enthusiasm, and after a 
serious examination, it remains thus : the Po- 
lymnia contains 6°| of sugar, and no starch at 
all : it is below mediocrity as an alimentary 
plant, and should only be planted, like the Je- 
rusalem Artichoke, in poor soils, where its tu- 
bers and foliage may be harvested for cattle. 
"This is its true position. It has, however, 
another to fill, and it is this which makes us 
write to-day upon a plant too much praised and 
too much defamed: it is that of a plant of or- 
namental flowers and foliage, for parks and 
large gardens." Then follows a notice of its 
usefulness for decorative purposes. We have 
devoted this much of space to the matter to 
show the difficulties that surround the intro- 
duction of new plants. Our seedsmen, ever on 
the alert for novelties, import and sell them 
with the foreign descriptions. A person who 
buys an untested novelty must not blame our 
dealers if it turu out perfectly worthless. There 
is a great pleasure in experimenting with new 
things, and in watching the development of a 
plant that we have never before known. Dis- 
appointment is the rule; but when satisfaction 
does attend the trial, we forget the ninety-nine 
blanks in our joy over one prize. We would 
not discourage the trial of novelties, for with- 
out this, gardening would lose half its charms, 
but caution our readers to remember that they 
are novelties. If one cannot afford to risk 
a little money for the pleasure of seeing how 
they will come out, he had better purchase only 
well-tested varieties, that can be relied upon. 
Onions. — Many complain that onions do not 
keep. The trouble is in keeping them too warm. 
The onion is a bulb, a plant at rest, and the least 
warmth starts it into activity. It is much better 
that onions should remain frozen through the 
winter, provided they can thaw gradually, than 
to put them in a cellar or other warm place 
where their vegetative powers will be aroused. 
If put in large heaps onions will be sure to spoil ; 
but if spread in thin layers and covered with 
hay and straw, so that if frozen the thawing 
may be gradual, they will keep well through 
the winter. It is the custom with onion growers 
to get their crop to market as soon as possible. 
If they were to provide proper storage, they 
would realize much more for them, when 
sent to market later in the season. 
