l-±3 
AMERICAN AGrRICUI/TURIST. 
[April, 
"White or Striped Petunia — latter preferred. 
No. 7. Dwarf Convolvulus. 
Sow the seeds in rows, and when large 
enough thin out to about eight inches to one 
foot apart. These inexpensive plants will con- 
tinue in bloom until destroyed by frosts, and 
will present a marked feature in any garden. 
The plants recommended are free growers, con- 
stant bloomers, easily cultivated, and produce a 
fine effect when planted in masses. The pri- 
mary expenditure of fifty cents will prove the 
last outlay, for the cultivator can secure an 
ample supply of seed for the next season. 
Grafting the Chestnut. 
[A correspondent, " D. A.," at Washington, 
D. C, gives the following valuable experience 
in grafting the Chestnut. Some time ago we 
stated that grafting at or below the surface had 
been found successful with hickories, and sug- 
gested that it be tried with the Chestnut. We are 
glad to learn that the method had already been 
tried, and with good results.— Ed.] 
In the spring of '50 I engrafted near Anna- 
polis, Md., some 200 trees with grafts imported, 
and in excellent condition, from Leroy, of An- 
gers, France. 
I placed the grafts, as they do in France, on 
young, thrifty stocks of from one to three inches 
in diameter, at a bight of four feet from the 
ground, when the peach-trees blossomed. Per- 
haps 130 grew satisfactorily ; the following spring 
I found nine tenths of these killed, and, as I had 
afterwards reason to believe, they died from the 
different expansion on freezing of the stock and 
the growth on the graft, the one being com- 
paratively solid and fibrous, the other sappy. 
I had a compulsory absence for three years ; 
on my return I engrafted in the spring of '60 
about 1,000 trees, half of them growing satis- 
factorily ; they died out as before. 
The civil war again absented me. On its con- 
clusion I engrafted a number on a level with the 
(/round, with the usual success as to growth. In 
November, the earth was heaped up around 
them, a foot or more, to prevent their freezing. 
It was effective ; a few of them, that were 
passed over or neglected in covering, died out 
as before. 
There was a difference in the growth of the 
ten varieties employed, the " Black Prince" the 
least satisfactory, and the " Lyons Marrow" as 
good as any. The culture of the European 
Chestnuts in this manner is quite practicable, as 
far north at least as Philadelphia, 
Thorburn's Late Rose Potato. 
BY EDWARD L. COT, WEST HEBRON, N. T. 
In the autumn of 1869, when digging a large 
field of Early Rose, which had been entirely 
ripe for several weeks, a few hills were discov- 
ered, the stalks of which were green, and the 
yield of tubers enormous — in fact, outyielding 
the neighboring hills of Early Rose at least 
three to one. At first I supposed some fertilizer 
or some other local cause had forced an un- 
natural growth and kept the stalks green. But 
a closer examination proved that such was not 
the case. The tubers were a lighter red at the 
seed-end than the Early Rose, and the stalks 
more " stocky " and more upright in growth. 
The leaves were also thicker and more pointed, 
but narrower. The next spring these potatoes 
were cut in pieces of one eye each, and planted 
one piece in a hill ; making three rows through 
the center of a large field of Early Rose. They 
did not come up quite as quick, but made a far 
larger growth than the Early Rose, although the 
latter had two to three eyes planted iu each hill. 
The difference in growth was so marked that it 
could be seen at a great distance. When the 
tops of the Early Rose were entirely dead and 
ripe, these were as green and thrifty as ever. 
They ripened about with the Jackson White, 
thus having nearly the whole season to grow in. 
When dug, the three rows yielded more than 
nine rows of the others. 
I had now enough to test their keeping qual- 
ities, which \ find are unsurpassed. In the 
same cellar, at planting time, when the Early 
Rose were so badly sprouted and wilted as to 
be totally unfit for table use, these had not 
started, and were as crisp aud solid as when first 
dug. A few that were reserved for the purpose 
of testing them, kept in good condition for 
cooking until the new crop of Early Rose came 
upon the table. 
Last season I planted 4?/ t acres on a piece of 
ordinary clay-loam soil. It was on a side- 
hill, so steep that it had to be plowed with a 
side-hill plqw. It was lightly manured, before 
plowing, with barn-yard manure. No other 
fertilizer was used, except a light top-dressing 
of plaster, when they first came up. The field 
was finished out with Early Rose. The Late 
Rose maintained the same marked difference in 
growth, time of ripening, and yield, as before. I 
harvested on that field 1,280 bushels. On the same 
soil, and under the same treatment, the Early 
Rose yielded only 80 bushels per acre. Iu table 
quality they are not surpassed by any. They 
cook very dry and mealy, and have a peculiar 
rich and delicate flavor. They grew verr com- 
pactly in the hill, making them easy to dig. 
The valuable characteristics of this Late Rose 
are so distinctly marked, and have proved of so 
permanent a character for three years, that I do 
not hesitate to pronounce them positive and 
fixed. It isnot,asMr. Campbell has asserted, "a 
sport of a single season whereof the producer can 
give no history or support as to its reli- 
able permanency." But it is a thorough- 
ly tested and invaluable variety of the 
Early Rose. I had a few of them planted 
last year iu different sections, and in every 
case with the same result. I have no 
Late Rose to sell. One of the seed firm 
of J. M. Thorburn & Co., 15 John st., New 
York, made me a visit about the 1st of 
last October, and after thoroughly testing 
their table quality, and examining them 
on my grounds, bought all the .potatoes 
I had to spare. I would here earnestly 
caution the public against purchasing 
Late Rose from irresponsible parties. 
Thej' are being offered under that name 
of all colors, shapes, and sizes. The 
comparatively low price at which the 
Messrs. Thorburn & Co. offer- them, 
places this variety within the reach of all, 
find it a very profitable undertaking, they have 
a perfect right to think otherwise. 
It was too late iu the season when the trap 
was brought to my notice to give it a thorough 
trial, but I was at once favorably impressed with 
its usefulness, and what little I have seen 
of its work has not altered that impression. 
The trap (see figure — A closed, B open) 
consists of two, three, or more thin pieces of 
board, 12 to 20 inches in length, and 2 to 4 
inches wide, with a screw (a) through their cen- 
ter. The screw must be long enough to be 
firmly driven into the trunk of the tree, so as to 
hold the boards in position. The boards are 
cut out on each side of the screw, as at «, to fa- 
cilitate their separation when fastened together 
by the silken threads of the worms, and to bet- 
ter expose the latter when the trap is opened. 
The advantages of this trap so far outbalance 
the disadvantages that it may be considered the 
best We yet have. These advantages may be 
stated as follows: It is cheap, accessible to all, 
easily placed on the tree and removed again ; 
wood forms, perhaps, the most natural covert 
for the worms ; the traps may be collected with 
little trouble, by-the barrowful, submitted to a 
killing heat, in one way or another, and re- 
placed again ; they may be used on the ground 
as well as on the tree. Its disadvantages are 
few. One it has, in common with all other 
snares or traps for this insect, namely, that it 
can never exterminate the Codling-moth, for 
man}' reasons that will suggest themselves to all 
who have any acquaintance with the insect. 
Another is, that where one trap only is used it 
can be attached to but one side of the tree, and 
in this single respect, notwithstanding all the 
theories of my friend Wier, it must always be 
inferior to any trap that encircles the tree. 
The worms will spin their cocoons between 
the inner shingle and the tree as freely as between 
the shingles themselves, and I suspect that it 
will be found less tedious aud cheaper to detach 
the traps and kill the worms by wholesale, than 
to open them on the tree. Those who prefer 
Thomas Wier's Apple- Worm Trap. 
BY C. V. RILEY. 
Mr. Thomas Wier, of Lacon, 111., has hit upon 
a very simple device for alluring apple-worms, 
which is destined to play an important role iu 
counterworking their injuries. 
Iu conjunction with his cousin, Mr. D. B. 
Wier, he has patented the trap, aud though I 
do not think that the patenting of such simple 
devices is quite iu accordance with a progress- 
ive horticultural spirit, or that the patentees will 
WEUi's APPLE-WORM TRAP. 
the latter ruethsd, will be pleased to loarn of the 
means described by Mr. Wier, who says : " The 
quickest aud best way to do this is to have a 
large tin pan bent iu on one side, so as to fit 
closely to the trunk of the tree. When you 
reach the tree, drop upon your knees, place the 
depression in the pan against the trunk of the 
tree, hold it there by pressing your body against 
it, aud you have both hands free to open the 
trap. When opening it, many of the pupa) or 
chrysalids will fall into the pan, and some of 
the worms. Kill the rest or scrape them into 
the pan. The trap must be turned clear around, 
as many will be found between it and the bark 
