1873.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
23 
which is really more piny than work, there is 
but little left to do outside. TVe shall soon be 
receiving the 
Catalogues for 1873 from seedsmcu, florists, 
and nurserymen, and here is often pleasant read- 
ing. A real horticulturist never ceases to be de- 
lighted at the sight of a new catalogue. It is 
very pleasant to read the names even of our old 
favorites, but then there are the novelties! To 
be sure, when we try these new things, nine out 
of ten of them turnout to be trash, but we once 
in a while draw a prize. Amaranius salicifolius, 
introduced last year, is good enough to make us 
forget many failures. Seedsmen are often blamed 
for selling seeds of plants that prove to be of 
"no account." Things arc introduced abroad, 
and our seedsmen procure them and sell them 
by the foreign descriptions. Certainly this is 
fair, and the very people who rail at the dealer 
when these novelties turn out the reverse of sa- 
tisfactory, would be the first, should he wait a 
year to test the new seeds before he offered them 
for sale, to charge him with a want of enterprise. 
As no man should lend money with any expec- 
tation of getting it back again, so no one should 
invest in horticultural novelties unless he can 
afford to risk his money upon a doubtful chance. 
Those to whom the very pleasure of testing a 
new thing is not 
sufficient return, 
had better not in- 
vest, but stick to 
those seeds that 
have been well 
tried. Fortunately 
for horticulture and 
for seedsmen, there 
are so many ready 
to prove all things, 
that the trouble in 
the case of a well- 
recommended nov- 
elty is not to find 
customers, but to 
supply seeds to 
those who order. 
The same remarks 
apply to new 
things offered by florists and nurserymen. 
I hoped this fall to put up a greenhouse, but 
I could not find the time to attend to the details. 
Upon looking over the advertisements in any of 
the English horticultural journals, I can find at 
least a dozen kinds of ready-made houses of 
styles and at prices that I would jump at, were 
such things to be had here. From the simplest 
glass-coping for a wall, through different kinds 
of "lean-tos" to elaborate span-roofs, houses of 
all kinds, in iron and wood, and portable at 
that, are to be had for the ordering. There 
should be sufficient demand for such structures 
in this country to warrant at least one establish- 
ment. Whoever first devises a cheap style of 
house with an inexpensive heating apparatus, 
will, I have no doubt, find all the business he 
can attend to. 
There is not so much in the English Horticul- 
tural Journals that is practical, as there is in our 
periodicals, and the climate is so different, that 
were one to follow their teachings, he would 
fiud himself, as many have, quite run aground 
by his pilot. But I do like to read their accounts 
of fine parks and places, and their wonderful 
discussions are a source of great amusement, 
but better than all I like to read their advertise- 
ments. "We are not, after all, up to our English 
brethren in devising names for horticultural 
fixtures and appliances. Does frost injure your 
peach-trees ? — Then grow them under the "Port- 
able Fruit-tree Crymobocthus." If this is not 
sufficient protection, cover the glasi with " Fi-i- 
gi-domo" and increase the temperature inside by 
means of a " Calorigen." Should the trees grow 
out of bounds, you can shorten them with an 
" Averruncator" and should scale, mealy-bug, 
and the like molest, you have only to apply 
some " Phytosmcgma." Truly it must be lots of 
fun to "horticult" in England. 
New Roses at Lyons. 
Lyons, in France, is celebrated for its rose- 
culture, the climate being especially favorable 
to the development of this favorite flower. It 
has been our fortune to meet with but very few 
enthusiastic rosariaus, but these have met with 
a success which should induce others to make a 
specialty of rose-growing. There is a common 
belief that our climate is unfavorable to the 
cultivation of the rose, and this in a measure 
is true, but with good culture most gratifying 
results will follow. We give a catalogue, pre- 
pared by M. J. Sisley, of the new varieties of- 
fered at Lyons for the first time, which gives 
the name, class, color, and the name of the 
florist who raised each. These florists have 
Name. 
Class. 
Color. 
Originator. 
Tea-scented, 
Hybrid Perpetual, 
Provence, 
Noisette, 
Hybrid Perpetual, 
Tea-scented, 
Noisette, 
Tea-ecented, 
Hybrid Perpetual, 
Tea-scented, 
Hybrid Perpetual, 
Microphylla, 
Tea-scented, 
it 
Hybrid Perpetual, 
Noisette, 
He Bourbon, 
Hybrid Perpetual, 
Tea-sceuted, 
Dark yellow, 
Light rose, 
Cherry, 
Purple-striped white, 
Dark yellow, 
Crimson, 
Rose, 
Light pink, 
White, 
Yellow, 
Rose, 
Yellow, 
Pure white, 
Light red, 
White shaded rose, 
White yellow center, 
Salmon, 
Dark yellow, 
Purple, 
Pure white, 
Vivid pink, 
Purple, 
White-striped red, 
Bright yellow. 
Ducher. 
Damaizin. 
Guillot Fils. 
Ducher. 
Levet. 
Damaizin. 
Levet. 
GuillotFils. 
Levet. 
Guillot Fils. 
Levet. 
F. Lacharme. 
Guillot Fils. 
Ducher, 
i« 
Levet. 
F. Lacharme. 
J. Schwartz. 
Liabaud. 
Ducher. 
Fernando de la Forest. 
Marie Cointet 
** Docteur Jnttfi 
" Francois Japnin.. 
Peiic de Lyon 
Pierre Seletzsky 
Perle des Blanches 
Reine Victoria, [Amelie, 
Souvenir de la Dtichesse 
Vallee de Chamoumx 
made an arrangement by which any one of them 
can supply the varieties raised by the others. 
Keeping Vegetables and Fruit in Cellars. 
The most common method of guarding vege- 
tables and fruit against the frost during the 
winter months is to keep them in the cellar of 
the house. In avoiding the cold, most farmers 
rush into the other extreme, and damage them 
by too much heat. The windows are stopped, 
and the underpinning of the house is banked 
up all around with earth, and no place i3 left 
for ventilation. The heat makes the vegetables 
grow, the fruit rots, and the farmer comes to the 
conclusion that his cellar does not keep fruit or 
vegetables well. Probably heat destroys ten 
bushels of vegetables where the cold does one. 
If the cellar has a keeper it will generally per- 
form its office well. The whole secret of success 
lies in regulating the temperature and the ven- 
tilation. One window at least in the cellar 
should be hung upon hinges, so that the tem- 
perature can be reduced by leaving it open, or 
raised by shutting it, as the weather outside 
varies. To do this perfectly, it is necessary to 
have a thermometer hung in the cellar, and not 
far from the window. This will of course be 
the coolest part of the cellar, and if the ther- 
mometer do not fall below the freezing point 
the fruit and vegetables will not suffer from frost. 
In the daytime, in pleasant weather, the window 
may be left open, sometimes for hours together. 
Iu cold nights it can be shut tight. Even when it 
freezes outside, the window may be left open a lit- 
tle, and the temperature be very nicely regulated. 
The rule is to keep the cellar as cool as possible 
without freezing, and to maintain an even tem- 
perature. It must not go below 32°, and should 
not rise above 40°. We have a room partitioned 
off from the rest of the cellar, with a single 
wiudow in it, for the purpose of keeping fruits, 
vegetables, salt meats, fish, butter, and other 
winter stores. It is some trouble to regulate 
the temperature, but it is much more trouble 
to have sprouting potatoes, rotting fruit, etc. 
A New Wheelbarrow. 
The English Mechanic gives an illustration, 
which we reproduce on the next page, of a 
new form of barrow, which has been " regis- 
tered," which is equivalent to being "patented." 
The engraving is sufficiently explanatory of the 
manner in which it is built. The inventor 
claims that its durability over the ordinary form 
is tenfold. It can be built very readily, and re- 
quires no iron stays of 'any kind. Where the 
ends of the legs come together at the ground 
they are fastened by a couple of screws. 
A Conservatory in Tasmania. 
It seems strange enough to get letters on hor- 
ticulture from localities like Tasmania, which in 
our scuool days we ouly knew as a place in- 
habited by savages. But the Agriculturist goes 
to the "ends of the earth" and the " isles of the 
sea," and if this thing keeps on we shall be 
obliged to drop the distinctive title of American 
and call ourselves The Agriculturist and let it 
go at that. Mr. Joseph Allen, of Longford, 
Tasmania, wishing a show-room or conserva- 
tory in which to show his plants, devised a cir- 
cular one. He has two half-doors on the east 
and two on the west side; he uses half-doors for 
safety in cold weather and during strong 
winds, and places them east and west, as they 
are most favorable for him, iu hot weather. 
Around the circumference of the house he has 
a narrow stage a foot wide, and in the center he 
has a circular stage gradually decreasing in size 
toward the top. This stage is arranged so as 
to revolve upon an axis. As the lower por- 
tion of the stage has to sustain a heavy weight 
it is furnished with several small wheels. He 
finds that this revolving stage is very useful, as 
the plants cau be brought to the sun or turned 
into the shade, as they may require. 
Mr. A. is a sensible florist, for lie has a house 
in which to show off his plants to his customers. 
He would have to make a pretty careful search 
to fiud any such thing around New York. 
Compost Heaps. — It is reported as said by 
Dr. Voelcker, chemist of the Royal Agricultural 
Society of England, that the escape of ammonia 
from fermenting heaps of manure goes on but 
slightly, that while the escape is great from 
the heated central part of the heap, the ammo- 
nia is absorbed by acids formed by the decom- 
position and by the water present iu the heap. 
All this goes to show that the manure heap 
should be kept well covered with absorbents, 
and that an occasional sprinkling with water is 
beneficial. Besides, good will result from co- 
pious sprinklings of ground gypsum or plaster. 
